Checklist

This checklist an overview of all technical design decisions you need to make before starting to build an API integration with Tradecloud One.

This is divided in:

• Architecture Design

• ERP Design

• API Integration Design

Checklist Architecture Design

When you are going to connect your ERP to Tradecloud One, you have to make some integration architecture decisions:

Connector or API Integration?

• Should I buy a Connector or build an API integration?

This mainly depends on your ERP system.

If your ERP is compatible with one of the Tradecloud connectors below, we advise to use one of our connectors. These connectors already contain the necessary components, message flows and data transformations to connect with Tradecloud One. They are battle-tested by our customers and will speed up your onboarding onto the Tradecloud One platform.

If your ERP is not compatible with one of these connectors, it is possible to build an integration with our JSON/XML API. This will require in-depth knowledge about your ERP and a partner or in-house software developer that has experience with web-based API integrations.

Tradecloud One Connectors

Together with our partners, Tradecloud offers the following connectors.

ERP-specific connectors:

• AFAS Connector (by Improvit)

• Tradecloud templates at Copernicus Niklas integration platform

• Exact Globe Connector (by AB Software)

• Infor LN Connector (by Xibis)

• Isah API Connector (by Tambien)

• Isah SCI Connector (by Isah)

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Connectivity Studio (by To-Increase)

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations Connectivity Studio (by To-Increase)

• SAP SOAP Connector - for single SAP ERP instances

• Slim4 Forecast Connector (by Slimstock)

Generic Connectors:

• CSV Connector (by Supply Drive) Compatible with any ERP that supports the CSV format

• Edifact Connector (by Supply Drive) Compatible with any ERP that supports the Edifact format

• SCSN Connector (by Supply Drive) Compatible with any ERP that supports the SCSN format.

Middleware or 1-1 connection?

• Should I buy or build middleware or build a 1-1 connection?

Using Message-oriented Middleware You will need message-oriented middleware if one of the following applies:

• You have multiple business systems, like ERP, WMS and PLM systems, that have to integrate with Tradecloud One

• You plan to integrate with the outside world, eg. with webshops or logistics partners

Examples of message-oriented middleware that some of our customers use are:

• ConnectPlaza, Mulesoft, Orbis and WebMethods.

• Microsoft Azure Integration Services mostly using API Management, Logic Apps and Service Bus.

Be aware you still have to build and maintain message flows & data transformations and install and configure the middleware components.

Using a 1-1 connection If you have only one ERP system and are planning to connect to Tradecloud only, building a 1-1 connection without message-oriented middleware will suffice.

Some Tradecloud customers build 1-1 connections using the tools provided by the ERP system. Be aware that these tools may be limited, and may miss for example a HTTP client or server, or security or data transformation features.

Required team members

• Which team members do I need?

• When using a Tradecloud One Connector, in most cases a partner consultant will install, configure and maintain the Connector for you.

• When using message-oriented middleware, you will need an integration consultant with ERP knowledge to build and maintain the message flows & data transformations and install & configure the middleware components.

• When building an API integration, you will need developers and a tester, both with ERP knowledge, to build and maintain the message flows & data transformations and install & configure the components.

In all cases you will need a cloud or system engineer, to configure a firewall, configure SSL, install and configure a web server or Microsoft Azure Integration Services components.

Message flows

• Which message flows should I build?

This depends on the Tradecloud One modules that are agreed upon in the contract with Tradecloud.

Within each module, there are several message flows possible dependent on the buyer or supplier role. The more flows are implemented, the less manual work remains. Whether a flow can be implemented depends on:

• The process flow in your business

• The capabilities of your ERP system

• The capabilities of the integration

We are happy to support you in making this decision, sharing our expertise of the ERP and Supply Chain landscape.

As a buyer

For more information about the available message flows for buyers, check out:

• The buyer order process

• The buyer shipment process

• The forecast process

As a supplier

For more information about the available message flows for suppliers, check out:

• The supplier order process

• The supplier shipment process

Checklist ERP Design

This part of the checklist is not applicable if you use a Tradecloud One Connectors

Before starting the actual implementation, you need to verify the capabilities and requirements of your ERP system for an integration.

• Use a delivery schedule or single delivery per order line? A delivery schedule consists of one or more deliveries, having a position, date & quantity, for the same item, prices and terms within one order line. If your ERP system does not natively support multiple deliveries per order line, you should use the so called single delivery feature. Else, we advise to use delivery schedules.

Delivery schedule

• Can you split a delivery schedule? Does you ERP system support delivery or order lines split by a supplier? A supplier may split a line into multiple lines. A split line will have no position assigned by Tradecloud. The ERP system must assign a position to the split line and update the order line to Tradecloud.

Delivery schedule

• Receive only changed or all order/shipment lines? When order updates are sent from Tradecloud One to your ERP, what does your ERP require? Does your ERP expect only new and updated lines, or does it always expect all lines of an order in an order/order response and all shipment lines in a shipment message?

Order/response Tradecloud sends only touched lines in an order/response message. It is no problem when your ERP needs all order/response lines, you may fetch the complete order, see:

#using-get

Shipment Tradecloud sends always all lines in a shipment message. It is no problem if you only need touched shipment lines, you may filter out lines based on the 'lastUpdatedAt' field, see:

Shipment line meta information

Checklist API Integration Design

This part of the checklist is not applicable if you use a Tradecloud One Connectors

When starting to build and integration with the Tradecloud One API, make sure to check the following:

• Use Basic or JWT authentication? Your integration must either use Basic Authentication or authentication based on a JWT token:

Authentication

• Use JSON or XML? By default, Tradecloud works with JSON but some API endpoints also work with XML and more will be added on request:

JSON versus XML

• Use webhooks or polling? Depending on the capabilities of your integration, you may choose for using Webhooks or Polling:

Webhook versus polling

• If using webhooks, use Basic, Bearer Token or OAuth authentication? In the Tradecloud One webportal, you can configure your webhooks to use either Basic Authentication, a static Bearer token, or OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials Grant.

• Use Ip source filtering? When using webhooks, you might consider to add ip source filtering to your firewall as additional security, as a webhook does not use MFA or SSO. You may find the Tradecloud egress ip addresses here:

Source IP addresses

• Are you forward compatible? Your integration must follow the forward compatibility rules:

Compatibility

• Do you have a test environment? Tradecloud provides a test environment which you may use to develop and test against:

Acceptance test environment

• Usage rules There are rules and limits which you may want to check.

• Tools There are tools which you may want to use. Let support know if you need some example.

Support

If you have any question, just ask:

Support