ERP and API integrations: how systems are connected so data is entered once
Orders typed twice, stock that is wrong online, invoices reconciled by hand — integration is the cure. What an ERP and API integration project includes, the patterns that make it reliable, and what to have ready before connecting anything.
A company runs on several systems — an ERP, a webshop, a CRM, a courier platform, a bank, an invoicing tool — and the cost of running them unconnected is paid daily in re-typing, errors and stock that does not match. Integration is the work of making them exchange data automatically and reliably: products and prices flow from the ERP to the shop, orders flow back, invoices go to e-Factura, bank statements reconcile themselves.
What an integration project includes
- Mapping — which system owns which data (the source of truth), what flows in which direction, how often, and what happens on conflict.
- Connectors — built against the ERP’s API or database, the shop’s API, the courier’s, the bank’s; where no API exists, file-based exchange done safely.
- Reliability patterns — queues and retries, idempotency so nothing is duplicated, reconciliation so nothing is silently missing, alerts when something stops.
- Transformation — units, VAT, currencies, customer groups, product variants: the edge cases that break naive integrations.
- Monitoring and operations — dashboards and logs you can read, and a maintenance plan, because APIs change.
Typical integrations
ERP ↔ Magento or WooCommerce (catalogue, stock, prices, orders, customers); ERP ↔ invoicing and e-Factura; webshop ↔ couriers (AWB, tracking); bank statements ↔ ERP; CRM ↔ website and ERP; marketplaces; POS; warehouse systems.
What to prepare
- The systems involved, their versions and who administers them.
- API documentation or access, and whether the vendor must be involved.
- Volumes: products, orders, documents per day.
- The rules: which system wins, what must never be overwritten.
Details on the ERP and API integrations page.