Before You Build an ERP Integration, Verify What Data You Can Access

Start with what the application needs to show

In an ongoing business application rebuild, our team had been defining what a project dashboard should show. The next discussion moved one step upstream: where would the data come from, and how would the application get it?

The team reviewed which tables could be read from the ERP and which the application would still need to maintain. That distinction mattered because some of the relationships already mapped in the application would need to change if the underlying data came from a different source. An integration decision could affect the data model before it affected a single dashboard screen.

Test the access options against a real requirement

The team discussed two possible routes: the ERP’s web API and an ODBC connection, which would let the application query data through a database driver. The team still needed to confirm whether the web API exposed the records and identifiers the application required. The connection requirements for ODBC also needed checking.

To compare the two options, pick one dashboard requirement. If the dashboard needs to show cost by project, check three things.

• Can you retrieve the cost records at the level of detail the dashboard needs?
• Is there a reliable project ID that links each cost record to the right project?
• Can the application retrieve and join those records using the permissions it will have in production?

Keep source access and page queries separate

The team was also working to move queries for the summary and cross-functional pages into stored procedures. That work raised a separate design question. Once the data is available, how should the application combine it for each page?

Keeping the two questions separate helps the team test each part. First, verify that the ERP access route supplies the required records and identifiers. Then verify that the page query produces the expected result from those records.

Before committing to an ERP integration approach, write down the records each page needs, where those records will be maintained, and how they link together. Prove the access route on one real requirement before building the rest of the integration around it.

Have a project in mind or a business process you’d like to improve? Tell us what you’re trying to achieve, and we’ll talk through where Matsyaa can help.