What gets built
- An inventory of systems, permissions, and sources
- API or export data flows
- Deduplication and master-system rules
- Migration validation and rollback plan
Guide controls and deliverables
- A data map and named owners
- Documented transformation rules
- Validation controls before a workflow changes
Operational signs to review
- The team copies and pastes the same information across spreadsheets, email, the CRM and the ERP
- Two systems show different data and every team loses time deciding which one is correct
- Reports arrive late because files must first be gathered, cleaned and reconciled by hand
How data integrations work
Source inventory
We list the tools and files where information lives (ERP, accounting, CRM, spreadsheets, WhatsApp) and which data each one holds.
Connection
Each source is connected through an API, a scheduled export or automatic reading of emails and files. No manual copying.
Common model
Data is translated into a common model (contact, order, invoice) with cleaning and deduplication rules.
Output
With documented sources, definitions, and permissions, reports, alerts, or queries can be configured within the agreed scope.
Workflow description
Before
The team copies and pastes the same information across spreadsheets, email, the CRM and the ERP
After
The data updates across tools workflow defines a master source, transformation rules, rejected records, and validation before each update.
Master system, transformation rules, rejected records, and applied validations.
What the company needs before starting
- A list of the current tools and who administers them
- Access or API credentials for each one
- One key piece of data copied by hand today: that's the first flow
- Agreement on which system wins when two disagree
Common integration mistakes
Integrating everything at once
One data flow at a time, validated, before connecting the next.
Ignoring duplicates
Without deduplication, integration multiplies the mess.
Not defining the master system
If two tools hold the same data, one wins. Decide before connecting.
Migrating without validation
Every migration is compared against the original source before switching the old one off.
What to review during operation
- Hours of copy-paste in data updates across tools per month
- Inconsistencies detected between systems
- Delay between an event and its reflection in reports
- Automatic versus manual reports
Terms worth knowing
- API
- A door through which one system lets another read or write its data automatically.
- Master system
- The tool that holds the official version of a piece of data when several store it.
- Deduplication
- Detecting and merging repeated records, such as the same contact written three ways.
- Data pipeline
- An automatic sequence that extracts, cleans and loads data from one source to another.