Triage supplier capacity risk with Groq, Gmail, Slack, and Google Sheets

Quick overview

This workflow runs daily to pull supplier performance data from an HTTP endpoint, calculate fulfillment and delay risk metrics, use Groq (Llama 3.3) to classify supplier risk and generate mitigation actions, then notify via Gmail and Slack and log outcomes to Google Sheets.

How it works

1. Runs every day at the scheduled time.
2. Fetches supplier performance data from an HTTP API and stops if the supplier has no orders.
3. Normalizes the supplier fields and calculates fulfillment rate, delay, rule-based flags, and a risk score.
4. Sends the metrics to Groq (Llama 3.3) to classify risk (Low/Medium/High) with a reason and confidence, then merges the AI result with the computed metrics (falling back to the rule-based classification if parsing fails).
5. If the AI risk is Medium, Groq generates three mitigation actions and the workflow fetches backup supplier options from an HTTP API, then combines both into a single alert payload.
6. Sends the mitigation actions by Gmail email and Slack message, then appends a “high risk” audit row to Google Sheets.
7. If the AI risk is not Medium, appends a “no alert sent” audit row to Google Sheets with the assessed risk details.

Setup

1. Add Groq API credentials for the two Groq Chat nodes used for risk classification and mitigation action generation.
2. Replace the mock HTTP URLs with your real supplier performance and backup-supplier data endpoints (or ensure the mock endpoint returns the expected fields such as supplier, orders, delivered, avg_delay_days, category, and region).
3. Add Gmail OAuth2 credentials and set the recipient(s) in the Gmail node.
4. Add Slack OAuth2 credentials and select the target Slack workspace and channel.
5. Add Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials and update the spreadsheet/document and sheet selection used to append the audit log rows.
6. Review and adjust the risk thresholds (risk_threshold, min_fulfillment, max_delay) and the daily schedule time to match your operational requirements.

Additional info

How To Customize Nodes

• Initialize Risk Config

  • Modify thresholds based on business needs.

• HTTP Request Nodes

  • Replace mock API with real ERP or supplier system.

• AI Prompts

  • Customize:
    • Risk classification logic
    • Recommendation style

• Slack Node

  • Change channel ID or message format.

• Gmail Node

  • Modify subject and email template.

• Google Sheets

  • Add more columns like region, category, or delay.

Add-ons (Enhancements)

• Add SMS alerts using Twilio
• Integrate with ERP systems (SAP, Oracle)
• Add dashboard (Power BI / Tableau)
• Store logs in database instead of Google Sheets
• Add multi-supplier batch processing
• Include historical trend analysis

Use Case Examples

1. Detect suppliers with declining delivery performance
2. Prevent supply chain disruptions before they occur
3. Automate vendor risk monitoring for large enterprises
4. Improve procurement decision-making with AI insights
5. Reduce dependency by suggesting backup suppliers

There can be many more use cases depending on your business needs.

Troubleshooting Guide

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
No data fetched	API URL incorrect	Update HTTP Request node with valid endpoint
Workflow stops at validation	Missing fields in API response	Ensure supplier, orders, delivered exist
AI output parsing fails	Invalid JSON from AI	Check prompt or fallback logic
No alerts sent	Risk condition not met	Verify IF condition node logic
Gmail not sending emails	wrong credentials or permissions	Reconnect Gmail OAuth
Slack message not delivered	Wrong channel ID	Verify Slack configuration
Google Sheets not logging	गलत sheet mapping	Check column mapping and access

Need Help?

If you need help setting up this workflow, customizing nodes or building advanced automation solutions, feel free to reach out.

Our n8n workflow developers can assist you with:

• End-to-end workflow setup
• AI integration and optimization
• Custom automation solutions
• Enterprise-grade workflow scaling

Let us help you turn your business processes into smart automation.