Document each ERP, PIM, CRM, fulfilment, tax, payment, search, subscription, support, and reporting flow as a data contract. Define ownership, IDs, events, ordering, retries, reconciliation, alerts, security, manual fallback, cutover sequence, and legacy shutdown before implementation.
Treat each connection as an operational contract
For each connected system, define which records move, in which direction, which system owns the value, and how identities match. Include timing requirements and the consequences of a missed update. Product publishing, inventory, orders, refunds, and fulfilment often have different rules even when they share one connector.
Test duplicate events, delayed updates, rejected records, and a period when one system is unavailable. Give operations a way to see failures and recover safely. Plan the changeover from the old integration to the new one so both do not continue writing the same records. Reconciliation after recovery is as important as the initial connection succeeding.
What to check before deciding
- Assign a source of truth, identifiers, direction, and timing for each flow.
- Test retries, duplicates, failures, and out-of-order changes.
- Provide alerts, reconciliation, and an owned manual fallback.
- Sequence old-connector shutdown and new-connector activation.
