Survey
Which systems are involved, which data overlaps, and what is moved by hand today.
The technical part is nearly always solvable. The real work is agreeing inside the company which system counts as the master for each kind of data.
Which systems are involved, which data overlaps, and what is moved by hand today.
What goes where, how often, and who is the master for each entity.
We map product items, partner records and units of measure between the systems.
Through the standard programming interfaces, or through a layer of our own if there are none.
What happens when a system is unreachable: retry, a queue, alerting a person.
We watch it run and tell the responsible person when the exchange has stopped.
A straightforward data transfer we set up in about two weeks, while linking several systems with shared reference lists takes six weeks and more.
We study the reference lists on both sides. As a rule duplicates and discrepancies come to light that have to be cleared up before the start.
The transfer scheme, precedence rules, the order for resolving conflicts.
Development on a test environment with real data rather than invented data.
At first alongside the manual transfer, after which the manual one stops.
Data edited in two systems at once is the main source of conflicts. A sales manager corrects a client phone number on the site, an accountant does the same in the ledger, and the exchange overwrites one with the other. That is why an owner system is assigned in advance for every entity, while in the second one the field is locked against editing.
Put things in order before the exchange, and that is a job for whoever keeps the records, not for a programmer. Joining up databases full of duplicates and discrepancies merely spreads the mess across both at once.
Very rarely. Most tasks are served well by once an hour or a few times a day, and that arrangement is noticeably more reliable. Instant exchange is needed where a decision is made right now, for example when checking stock at the moment an order is placed.
Workarounds come to the rescue: transfer through files, direct access to tables, replaying operator actions. Each is inferior to the standard route and calls for care during updates, yet the result is usually achieved.
Write which systems you move data between by hand. We will price the work and say what needs tidying up beforehand.
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