Online store and ERP: how to stop retyping orders
Short answer
The store is linked to the ERP without replacing either: the certified invoicing program stays, and every order leaves it with the document issued. Before any technology, decide in writing who owns each piece of data, and send integration errors to a visible queue that someone reviews every morning.
When the online store and the management system do not talk to each other, someone acts as the bridge: they copy product codes, addresses and quantities, several times a day. Every copy is time lost and an error waiting to happen. Linking the two systems does not mean replacing either of them.
The golden rule: who owns each piece of data
Before any technology, decide in writing who owns each piece of data. Does the ERP (the management system where orders, stock and invoices live) own stock levels and cost prices? Does the store own descriptions and photos? Without this decision, the two systems overwrite each other and nobody trusts either.
The certified program stays
The certified invoicing program the law requires stays where it is, and the right integration leaves it in place. In Portugal, invoicing lives in software certified by the tax authority; other countries have their own rules, and the principle is the same. The store is linked to that program, and every order leaves with the document issued, with no manual retyping.
Where the errors go
In a well-built integration, errors go to a queue that someone reviews every morning. Every integration fails sometimes: a product with no match on the other side, a tax number with a digit missing, a connection dropped in the middle of a sync. The difference between a professional integration and a fragile one is where those errors end up: in that queue, or in a silence that is only discovered when a customer complains.
How to know if the company is ready to integrate
A company is ready to integrate when its data and its people are in order: consistent product codes, an owner for the error queue and a known process.
- The catalogue has unique, consistent product codes on both sides.
- There is one person who can own the error queue.
- The current process is mapped: it is known who touches the order, and when.
If any of these is missing, fix it first. That is where Draypec’s operations diagnostic begins. Integrating on top of messy data only spreads the mess faster.
Questions
Do we have to replace our invoicing program to connect the store?
No. The certified program stays where it is and keeps issuing the documents. The integration links the store to it, so each order leaves with its invoice issued and nobody retypes data. Replacing the management system is a separate project, and rarely the first one.
Who owns the stock, the store or the ERP?
Decide it in writing before linking anything. The usual choice is that the ERP owns stock levels and cost prices, and the store owns descriptions and photos. Without that decision, the two systems overwrite each other and nobody trusts either of them.
What happens when the integration fails?
It fails at some point: a product code missing on the other side, a tax number with a typo, a sync that stops halfway. In a well-built integration, each failure enters a visible queue that someone reviews in the morning. The alternative is finding out when the customer complains.