Nowadays, many companies that create their own websites to establish a presence on the web decide not to give up their ERP. In cases like these, it’s necessary to develop an integration, a micro-application responsible for enabling the web system to “communicate” with the company’s own application. At Codeby, we have encountered many successes and failures, and we are here to share them with you, possibly revealing the “formula” for integration. Check it out!

1. Test the Data of the Initial Application

Before starting any part of the project, conduct tests. Tools like Postman are designed precisely for this purpose. Make all possible requests. This is done so we can discover how the data will arrive at our developed micro-application. Believe it, each request test can completely change the direction of the integration being developed, and it also helps us identify errors that might not be in our software.

2. Test the Data of the Target Application

The idea is to check how the information should be sent to the final system. This helps us study what transformations are necessary in the data from the initial system so that it fits its destination.

3. Planning Is Essential

After testing, it’s time to get down to business. As obvious as it may seem, it is at this point that the development of the integration can become compromised. There are situations where both the initial system and the target software have flaws. And it is in these cases that the planning of the micro-application must consider both ends of the communication and be impeccable. Poor planning leads to a longer integration development process and constant corrections that could have been avoided at this step. Make flowcharts, talk to the client, don’t worry about wasting time here. The more time lost in preparing your software, the more time is gained in the development itself and the more mature it will become. Excellent tools such as Draw.io are there to help you, but, despite the programmer working daily with a computer, they should never abandon paper and pen.

4. Focus on the Functional

The task should be simple and direct: integrate. Any features like administrative panels for viewing information from this communication should come as an additional. This is a type of functionality in the project that, as cool and important as it may be, is not essential for the basic functioning of the proposal. Of course, the client may demand something like this, but never waste time on a task that can be done quickly when the core is not yet finished.

5. Research, And A Lot!

It’s possible and likely that one of the tools you’re spending more than 6 hours a day developing has already been published on the internet. The web developer community is very large, and there are many existing libraries to meet various needs. Don’t reinvent the wheel, this can be a setback for both you and the client.

6. Will the Data Be Merged?

At this point, you will need to decide what will happen to the data from the initial system. Should they be merged into the final system? Should they be simply stored but separated by some specific attribute? This moment depends not only on the developer. The fate of the data should be studied with the client, weighing the pros and cons of each possibility.

7. The Integration Will Never Be Perfect

Despite the title of the article talking about perfect integration, this is unfortunately a myth. Every application is subject to exceptions. The developer’s role in the planning process up to the effective conclusion of any system is, in addition to building it, to find as many exceptions as possible. However, the biggest challenge in this process is that we don’t have control over all the possible reactions of a software.

• For this, there are various frameworks or robots developed to find a large number of possible exceptions that prevent the proper functioning of the software.

In conclusion, the perfect integration is the one that works and achieves its goal. Even if your client is a large company, developing a system integration should not be a huge task. It can be complicated, have ups and downs, and in the worst case, a functional integration, but with great difficulties for maintenance. However, always strive to achieve your final goal and never lose transparency with the client.