Automation and Operations
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Workflow
AI Document Routing
Every document reaches the right person, team or queue based on what's in it, without anyone sorting the inbox by hand.
When documents land in one shared inbox, someone has to open each one and decide where it goes. That sorting eats hours and things still end up in the wrong place. AI Document Routing reads the content of every document, matches it to your rules and sends it to the right person, team or queue. Anything it cannot place with confidence waits for a person.
- Documents sorted by what they contain, not by filename
- Unclear documents held for a person instead of misrouted
- Shared inboxes cleared without anyone sorting by hand
$5,500
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $275/mo
What it is
AI Document Routing reads what's in each document and sends it to the right person, team or queue, based on rules you define around content, not just a filename or a folder it happened to arrive in. Documents it cannot match with confidence wait in a review queue rather than going to the wrong place.
Why businesses buy it
A shared inbox full of invoices, claims, applications and contracts needs someone to sort it, and that person becomes a bottleneck. Misfiled documents sit in the wrong queue for days, and nobody notices until a customer chases. After this build, each document is read on arrival and sent where your rules say it belongs, by type, region, amount or client. Your team works from queues that are already sorted. The Scope Card spells out the document types, routing rules and destination systems before you order, so the scope is settled in writing.
Problems this solves
Documents land in a shared inbox and wait for someone to sort them
Document Routing reads what is in each document and sends it to the right person, team or queue. Routing follows rules you define around content.
Files go to the wrong team because of where they arrived
Routing is based on content, not a filename or the folder something happened to arrive in. A misnamed document still reaches the team that handles it.
Wrongly routed documents bounce between teams for days
Documents the system cannot match with confidence wait in a review queue. A person decides, rather than the document being sent somewhere wrong and passed around.
A good fit if
Documents arrive somewhere central, but someone still has to read each one and decide who should actually handle it.
Which person or team a document should reach depends on what's inside it, such as its type, region or amount, not a fixed default.
You want a clear record of where every document was sent and why, not just that it left the inbox.
You're comfortable with unclear cases going to a person to route manually, rather than guessing a destination.
Not the right fit if
You need to decide whether a document is accepted, not just who it reaches. See AI Document Approval, which handles the sign-off decision after Routing gets it to the right place.
Your documents haven't been sorted by type yet, so there's nothing to route on. See AI Document Classification, which tags documents before Routing can act on that tag.
You need documents held long-term after routing is done, not sent onward. See AI Document Archiving, the stage for retention once a document's active life is over.
Your documents are contracts that need clause-level analysis before anyone decides where they go. See AI Contract Intelligence, built for that document type.
You want document data read straight into your system of record. AI Document Extraction covers intake to your system in one build.
How it works
- A document arrives through the intake route you connected, often one that's already been tagged by AI Document Classification.
- Routing reads the document's content, such as its type, region, amount or client, against the rules you defined during setup.
- It's matched to the person, team or queue those rules point to, whether that's a named inbox, a system queue or a specific individual.
- The document is delivered there directly, with a note of which rule sent it and why, so the destination is never a mystery.
- Anything the rules don't clearly cover is held in a review queue for the person you named, instead of guessing a destination.
- We test routing against 100 real sample documents before launch and hand you a report showing where each one was sent and why.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- Your business information (company basics, hours and brand voice), shared during intake, or confirmation we can reuse what you gave us on an earlier order.
- At least 20 real sample documents for each document type Routing should handle, redacted if you need to.
- The routing rules that decide which person, team or queue a document reaches, and based on what content.
- Access to the destination systems or inboxes documents should be delivered into.
- The name of the person who reviews documents the rules don't clearly cover.
- Admin access and API keys for every connected system, shared by adding our team as a user or creating a key you control, never by email.
- One decision-maker who can approve the routing rules and sign off at launch.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified, sample documents and routing rules confirmed.
Weeks 1–2
Content-matching and routing logic built for your document types.
Week 3
Destination systems and queues connected and tested.
Weeks 3–4
100 sample documents processed, routing report shared with you.
Week 4
Your review and two rounds of changes.
Go-live
Live, handover report sent, support starts.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $5,500 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $6,450 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $7,450 |
What you receive at handover
- AI Document Routing configured on one intake route and connected to your source and destination systems
- Content-based routing rules for up to three document types
- A human review queue for documents that cannot be matched with confidence
- A test report from 100 sample documents, with an accuracy report
- An admin guide and a written handover report
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can get documents to the right desk sooner.
- Helps cut the back-and-forth when something lands in the wrong place.
- Frees whoever used to sort the shared inbox for other work.
- Time from arrival to the right team
- Compare arrival and pick-up times for a sample of documents before and after launch.
- Misrouted documents
- Ask teams to log documents they had to pass on. Compare the month before launch with the month after.
- Documents held for review
- Count review-queue items weekly and watch the trend as rules are refined.
Before you start: Count documents arriving in the shared inbox per week and who sorts them. Note how many get passed between teams.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build price is one-time. Running Document Routing costs roughly $30 to $200 a month in your own accounts, covering OCR and AI usage plus storage, and it moves with how many documents pass through routing each month.
AI usage during the build and testing is billed to your own accounts too, so every provider relationship stays yours, not ours.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
If you need more than three document types, more than 25 rule fields per type, or a second intake route than the Scope Card lists, add a note at checkout. You get a written Change Quote, and that work only starts once you accept it. Larger or bespoke projects go through the Custom AI request form instead.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
Monthly maintenance covers monitoring, fixes, updates, a health report and change hours each month, enough to add or adjust a routing rule. It starts after the 30 days of support end, bills monthly, and can be cancelled any month.
$275/mo (5% of the build price a month, includes 2 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A workflow-routing SaaS charges per user or per automation every month | A custom agency quotes after discovery calls | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Scope | A workflow-routing SaaS is a general tool you build every rule in yourself | An agency agrees scope during the project | Ours is written on the Scope Card before purchase |
| Routing logic | A workflow-routing SaaS usually routes on filename or folder, not content | An agency build depends on what was scoped | Ours reads the document's content to decide |
| Delivery | A workflow-routing SaaS is instant to sign up but slow to configure well | An agency usually takes several weeks | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
Questions about this product
How much does AI Document Routing cost?
The fixed price for each delivery speed is shown in the price and delivery panel on this page, so you see it before you order. It covers everything on the Scope Card: routing rules for up to three document types, the connection to your source and destination systems, and the routing report you review before launch. New destinations are quoted in writing first.
How is AI Document Routing different from AI Document Approval?
Routing decides where a document goes, matching it to the right person, team or queue based on its content. AI Document Approval decides whether that document is accepted once it arrives, tracking sign-off through a defined chain. Many pipelines run Routing first, then Approval on whatever reaches its destination, so each step stays simple.
Does AI Document Routing read the document's content, or just its filename?
It reads the content, such as a document's type, region, amount or client, against the rules you defined, rather than relying on filename or folder alone. That's what lets it handle documents named inconsistently or dropped in the wrong folder, since the routing decision comes from what's actually inside each one.
How much does AI Document Routing cost to run each month?
Running costs are paid in your own accounts, and we charge nothing per document routed. Expect roughly $30 to $200 a month for OCR and AI usage plus storage, scaling with how many documents pass through routing. Short emails and forms cost less to read than long scanned files. Monthly maintenance is optional if you want rules adjusted over time.
What happens when AI Document Routing can't confidently match a document to a rule?
It's held in a review queue for the person you named instead of guessing a destination. That person routes it manually, and repeated patterns can be added as a new rule later through monthly maintenance, so the same kind of document is matched automatically the next time.
Is our document content safe with AI Document Routing?
Yes. Every credential and connected account is shared by adding our team as a user or creating a key you control during setup, never by email, and documents move only between the systems and destinations you connected. Routing reads content to decide where a document goes; it doesn't store or share it elsewhere, and samples can be redacted before we see them.
How long does AI Document Routing take to launch?
The delivery time for each speed is shown in the price and delivery panel on this page, counted from the day your intake is complete and access is verified. Most of the build goes into writing the routing rules and testing them against your real documents, so include awkward examples that your team usually argues about.
Can I add a new routing rule later?
Yes. Adding or adjusting a routing rule within your existing document types fits inside the monthly change hours that come with maintenance. A new document type or a new destination system is a bigger change and gets a written Change Quote first.
Guides on this topic
All guides Stop sorting the inbox to figure out who handles what.
Order AI Document Routing and it sends every document to the right person or queue on a fixed delivery date. The scope above is what you get, in writing, before you pay.
Works well with
