ERP9 May 20266 min read
Reading a vendor's integration promises
Six questions that turn "fully integrated, API-first" into something you can put in a contract.
ERP Practice
Daad Consulting
"Fully integrated" and "API-first" are not specifications. They describe an intention, and intentions do not survive a payroll interface. These are the six questions we ask before integration language enters a contract.
01The six questions
- Which objects are exposed, and which are read-only?
- Is there a documented rate limit, and what happens at the limit?
- How are bulk operations handled — batch endpoints, or a loop?
- What is the authentication model, and who rotates credentials?
- Are webhooks available, or is polling the only change feed?
- What is the versioning and deprecation policy, in writing?
02Test with your own data
Request a sandbox and push a realistic slice of your own records through it — including the awkward ones: names with diacritics, historical records with missing identifiers, the supplier with fourteen addresses.
Integration is proven by a working end-to-end flow with your data, or it is not proven.
03Write it into the contract
Object coverage, rate limits, uptime for the integration surface specifically, and a deprecation notice period. Everything else is a conversation you will be having again in year two, without leverage.