Connecting to what already runs: ERP, inventory system, Excel

New software rarely replaces everything. In most companies we talk to, an ERP or inventory management system has been running for years, holding customers, articles and prices – and that is not supposed to change. So the question is not “new or old” but: how do the two work together without anyone typing things in twice?

The ERP stays in charge

That is the ground rule of every integration we build: your ERP remains the leading data source. Customers, articles, prices and stock levels are maintained where they are maintained today. The new software fetches what it needs and returns what it produces – an order, a stock count, a report from the field. There is no second truth, and nobody has to enter anything twice.

Three ways systems talk to each other

Technically there are three common ways, and which one fits depends on what your ERP offers:

• Interface (API). The ERP provides an access point through which other programs read and write data. The most direct way, when it exists.
• File exchange. The ERP regularly exports files – article lists as CSV, for instance – and imports orders the same way. Less elegant, but very common and reliable.
• Database access. The new software reads directly from the ERP's database. Possible when the vendor allows it; we only use it when it can be done cleanly.

We adapt the integration to the interfaces your system has. You do not have to switch or rebuild your ERP for the new software to work with it.

What we need from you

• The name and version of your ERP. Enough for the first conversation.
• A contact person for it. Your IT, your systems house or the vendor – whoever enables interfaces and sets up exports today.
• Access to a test environment, or sample exports. So the integration is not tried out in live operation on day one.
• An example. An order as it looks in the ERP today – with all the fields that matter in daily use.

And lead time: some vendors take a while to enable an interface. That is why the question of how the integration works belongs in the first two weeks of the sprint – and why we already ask it in the first conversation.

When the ERP has no interface

It happens, especially with older systems. But almost always there is at least a file export, and that is enough for many processes. If truly nothing works, we tell you in the first conversation – together with the alternatives that exist. The answer is not “then replace your ERP”. An ERP migration is a separate, large undertaking and not a prerequisite for an MVP Sprint.

And the spreadsheets?

The lists that sit between the systems – the price list from the field team, the stock list from the warehouse, the overview that is updated by hand every Monday – are often the most honest description of your process. We want to see them. Some of them disappear because the new software takes over their purpose. Others stay because they work well. Both are fine.

Where our experience comes from

Our own ordering platform QuickSelect passes wholesale orders to each dealer's ERP via interface or file exchange – and there, too, the ERP stays in charge. From that work we bring experience with ERP interfaces and SAP integrations. What is different in your company, we build; what we have solved before, we do not have to reinvent.