An integration is more than moving data between two systems. It needs rules for ownership, timing, permissions and recovery. We start with a specific workflow and make its normal and failed outcomes visible.
Identify the source of truth for customers, products, orders and financial states. Map identifiers, required fields, currencies and timestamps. Specify which direction each field moves and how an existing record is matched rather than duplicated.
02
Authentication and access
Use the permissions needed for the agreed workflow and protect credentials on the server. Separate test and production access. Define token renewal, revocation and tenant boundaries; redact sensitive values from operational logs.
03
Delivery and failure handling
Choose scheduled synchronization, request/response calls or webhooks according to provider capabilities. Define safe retries, duplicate-event handling and out-of-order updates. Some actions need a reconciliation process rather than an automatic retry.
04
Monitoring and handover
Record enough context to trace a transfer without exposing secrets. Show pending and failed work to the responsible team. Agree how to reconcile systems, recover from an outage and respond when a provider changes its API.
From requirements to rollout
01
Trace the workflow
Use example records to map origin, destination, ownership and the outcome when either system is unavailable.
02
Connect in a test environment
Implement mappings and access checks, then exercise duplicate, delayed, invalid and unauthorized requests.
03
Reconcile before going live
Compare source and destination totals or records. Release with monitoring, credential ownership and a documented recovery path.
Systems to connect, API documentation and provider limitations.
Example records, stable identifiers and field ownership.
Frequency, expected volume and acceptable delay.
Test accounts, permissions and the team responsible for failures.
Questions to plan around
Can any two systems be integrated?+
It depends on their interfaces, permissions, contractual access and supported operations. Discovery verifies what each system exposes before promising a connection.
Will the connection be real time?+
That depends on the workflow and provider capabilities. Define the acceptable delay first; not every process needs or supports immediate synchronization.
How do you prevent duplicate records?+
Use stable identifiers and explicit matching rules. Where the provider supports them, idempotency mechanisms help repeated requests produce one intended result; reconciliation remains necessary.