Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the engine driving modern organisational efficiency. While Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has been the standard for digitising documents for years, MuleSoft is taking the technology to the next level. With the launch of MuleSoft Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), powered by Salesforce Einstein, the days of traditional template-based or zone/location-based OCR style data extraction are coming to an end.
By leveraging AI, IDP (Intelligent Document Processing) allows organisations to modernise their workflows using prompts rather than traditional template/positional/coordinate-based mapping.
The extraction is no longer based on a static location as fields can be detected in within different parts of a document without specifying exactly where the data is and with variable lengths unlike previous technology.
In this blog article, we will explore how IDP connects to a company’s internal systems, the core benefits of MuleSoft IDP and how it empowers businesses to integrate unstructured data into their internal systems, with reliability and privacy in-mind using Einstein.
Empowering Businesses to Unlock Unstructured Data with IDP
Unstructured documents have historically been one of the biggest barriers to automation. As a result, companies often rely on manual data entry, email triage, or swivel chair processes to move information from documents into systems.
MuleSoft IDP changes that dynamic.
By combining AI‑powered extraction with MuleSoft’s integration and automation capabilities, businesses can:
- Reduce operational costs
- Eliminate manual data entry
- Improve compliance and auditability
- Accelerate customer response times
- Free employees to focus on higher‑value work
Most importantly, IDP turns previously inaccessible data into actionable insights. Whether it’s processing invoices, purchase orders, customer orders, organisations can finally treat documents as a strategic data source rather than a bottleneck.
Here’s an example of IDP in action. By leveraging MuleSoft’s IDP feature, SKOPE partnered with Adaptiv to successfully automate their order processing, reducing time and risk while improving overall efficiency by 20%.
Traditional OCR can achieve this somewhat, however IDP excels beyond. Below is a comparison between Traditional OCR vs IDP, which outlines the key benefits and differentiators between the two:x
| Feature | Traditional (Zone based) OCR | MuleSoft IDP (AI-Powered) |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | High-volume, static forms (e.g., internal standardised templates). | Varied or unstructured documents (e.g., invoices from 100 different vendors). |
| Accuracy | High on clean, printed text in fixed positions. It will struggle with changing positions or varied lengths. | High across multiple variable layouts and messy scans. |
| Speed | Faster raw processing (simple pattern matching is computationally “light”). | Slower per-page (LLMs require more “brain power” to think). |
| Maintenance | High. Requires manual updates every time a form layout changes. | Low. AI adapts to new layouts automatically without intervention. |
| Intelligence | None. It sees objects but doesn’t know what they mean. | High. It understands context, can summarize, and can “reason.” |
How IDP Connects to Internal Systems
IDP is a MuleSoft hosted solution that enables sending up unstructured documents (PDF, JPG, PNG etc.) and processing the extract, either based on a series of pre-made templates that Mulesoft has created or custom prompts defined once by a user, or a combination of the two.
Basic example of an IDP Process using MuleSoft applications
1 and1.1: Files are presented to the process layer to pass up to IDP
2: File is processed and sent up to IDP for processing via HTTP
3: Once the file is processed, a webhook is sent from IDP to the process API
4: Document extract is then mapped into a CDM format and processed to the system layer to end core internal systems (eg. ERP, CRM etc.)
Reliability
While manual inputting relies on the focus and precision of human workers, it is inherently vulnerable to fatigue, typos, and silent errors where a person might guess at a blurry value.
MuleSoft IDP provides a more reliable alternative by combining the speed of machine processing with Einstein AI’s contextual reasoning.
Unlike a human who might transpose digits or overlook a line item after hours of repetitive work, IDP applies consistent perfect precision to every character and assigns an objective Confidence Score which gives a percentage score to each element it extracted to confirm if it was accurate or not.
If the processing in AI encounters ambiguity, it doesn’t guess; it flags the field for a Human-in-the-Loop review, ensuring that only verified, high-quality data reaches your internal systems. By shifting the human role from data entry to data auditor, you eliminate the risks of manual processing faults while maintaining a level of accuracy that human effort alone cannot sustain at scale.
Privacy with Einstein
A primary concern for any organisation adopting AI is data privacy. Because IDP is powered by Salesforce Einstein, it benefits from the Einstein Trust Layer. This ensures that:
- Data Masking: Sensitive PII (Personally Identifiable Information) can be masked before processing.
- No Data Retention: Your proprietary document data isn’t used to train the underlying Large Language Models (LLMs) used by third parties.
- Compliance: You maintain a clear audit trail of how data was extracted and who verified it.
Documents can be sent up to IDP without the worry that your data being used to by AI or to teach its engine based on your data.
IDP in Action
Example Document
IDP Extraction Designer
This is using the generic Purchase Order template that Mulesoft provides. Additionally, users can place any custom prompts in the “Prompts” section.
Document Extracted in Structured Format
{
"documentId": "doc_a7c4e2f1-3b8d-4e9c-9f1a-6d2b8c4e7a3f",
"documentType": "PurchaseOrder",
"templateUsed": "Generic_Purchase_Order_Template_v1",
"processingStatus": "COMPLETED",
"processedTimestamp": "2026-05-01T10:15:32.847Z",
"confidence": 0.92,
"extractedData": {
"purchaseOrderNumber": "HTECHS-PO-2026-0147",
"purchaseOrderDate": "08 January 2026",
"subtotal": "10,720.00",
"tax": "1,072.00",
"total": "11,792.00 AUD",
"amountDue": "11,792.00 AUD",
"emails": "forders@testcompany.com",
"parties": {
"buyer": {
"name": "Your Company Name",
"headerName": "Your Company Name",
"headerAddress": "15 Market Street, Melbourne VIC 3000"
},
"billTo": {
"name": "Your Company Name",
"street": "15 Market Street",
"city": "Melbourne",
"state": "VIC",
"zipCode": "3000",
"address": "Your Company Name Accounts Payable 15 Market Street Melbourne VIC 3000",
"addressBlock": "15 Market Street Melbourne VIC 3000"
},
"shipTo": {
"name": "Your Company Name",
"street": "22 Industrial Drive",
"city": "Melbourne",
"state": "VIC",
"zipCode": "3026",
"address": "Your Company Name Warehouse Receiving 22 Industrial Drive Melbourne VIC 3026",
"addressBlock": "22 Industrial Drive Melbourne VIC 3026"
},
"vendor": {
"street": "42 Aurora Crescent,",
"city": "Sydney",
"state": "NSW",
"zipCode": "2000",
"address": "42 Aurora Crescent, Sydney NSW 2000",
"addressBlock": "42 Aurora Crescent, Sydney NSW 2000",
"headerName": "HorizonTech Supplies Pty Ltd",
"headerAddress": "42 Aurora Crescent, Sydney NSW 2000",
"headerPhone": "+61 2 5550 8822"
}
},
"table1": [
{
"lineNumber": "1",
"productCode": "DS-900",
"description": "USB-C Docking Station (Model DS-900)",
"quantity": "25",
"unitPrice": "129.00",
"price": "3,225.00",
"purchaseOrderNumber": "HTECHS-PO-2026-0147"
},
{
"lineNumber": "2",
"productCode": "WIRE-0215",
"description": "Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Combo",
"quantity": "40",
"unitPrice": "79.00",
"price": "3,160.00",
"purchaseOrderNumber": "HTECHS-PO-2026-0147"
},
{
"lineNumber": "3",
"productCode": "VU-27Q",
"description": "27\" IPS Monitor (Model VU-27Q)",
"quantity": "15",
"unitPrice": "289.00",
"price": "4,335.00",
"purchaseOrderNumber": "HTECHS-PO-2026-0147"
}
]
}
}
Conclusion
The transition from traditional OCR to MuleSoft IDP marks a shift in modernising document extraction and processing into backend systems. By replacing brittle templates with AI-powered prompts, organisations can finally bridge the gap between unstructured documents and their core internal systems.
Backed by the Einstein Trust Layer, IDP offers a good combination of high-speed automation and enterprise-grade privacy. It doesn’t just eliminate manual data entry; it transforms documents from operational bottlenecks into a strategic stream of actionable data.
Ready to transform your document workflows?
Adaptiv brings proven expertise in implementing MuleSoft Intelligent Document Processing. We can assist in building seamless, end-to-end automations that bridge the gap between your unstructured documents and your core backend systems.
