What are ERP integrations?
Last reviewed 7 October 2026
ERP integrations are the connections that move data and actions between an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which runs finance, purchasing, inventory and similar core processes, and the other applications around it. Typical examples link the ERP to a CRM, an online shop, a warehouse system or a payroll tool. They are usually built on the ERP vendor's APIs and its data import and export services.
Also called: ERP integration, ERP system integration, ERP connectors.
Why ERP integrations matters
The ERP is usually the system of record for money and stock. Orders, invoices, purchase orders and inventory counts end up there, whether they start in a web shop, a sales tool or a supplier portal. If those systems are not integrated, someone re-keys the data, and errors in the ERP flow straight into financial reporting.
ERP integrations are also where projects run late. ERP data models are large and strict, a sales order may need many related records to be valid, and mistakes are expensive to unwind once posted. Choosing the right pattern for each flow matters more here than in most integration work.
How it works
Microsoft's integration guide for Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps is a useful model of the choices any ERP presents. It separates synchronous patterns, where the caller waits and business logic runs immediately, such as an OData call that creates a product record, from asynchronous patterns, where the caller submits a batch and checks back later.
The guide steers real-time, lower-volume needs, such as a customer portal reading order status, towards OData or custom services, and large periodic loads, such as importing many sales orders from a front-end system, towards its batch data API. As a rule of thumb it suggests the batch API once volumes pass a few hundred thousand records, and stresses that its figures are guides, not hard limits.
Error handling follows the pattern. With a synchronous call, the caller gets the error straight away and must deal with it. With a batch import, the caller only learns that the job was scheduled and must poll for the result. A failed batch that nobody polls for can go unnoticed until the month-end figures look wrong.
Worked example: online orders into the ERP
A company sells through an online shop and runs finance and stock in its ERP. Each new web order needs to become a sales order in the ERP so stock is reserved and an invoice can follow. Because the warehouse needs orders quickly and volume is modest, the integration uses the ERP's synchronous API: when the shop reports a new order, a flow maps the customer, lines, tax and delivery method to the ERP's sales order format and creates it.
If the ERP rejects the order, for example because a product code does not exist, the flow records the error and sends the order to a person in operations to fix. Every night a separate batch job exports stock levels from the ERP and updates the shop, so customers do not order items that have run out. Two flows, two patterns, each chosen for its timing and volume.
How Swfte relates to it
Built in the product
Swfte is not an ERP and does not replace one. What Studio provides is the workflow layer around it: a workflow can receive an event, map fields and write to an accounting or ERP tool. QuickBooks, Xero and Odoo appear in Studio's integrations catalogue; for an ERP that is not listed, a workflow can call its API through the HTTP request integration or the API for custom systems.
There is no prebuilt SAP or Dynamics 365 connector in the catalogue, and Studio does not manage large batch data loads the way an ERP's own import tools do. Where Studio adds most is the judgement and approval around ERP postings: reading a supplier document, drafting the entry and pausing for a named person to approve before anything posts.
Related terms
- Software integration
Software integration is the work of connecting separate applications so they can share data and trigger actions in each other, making them behave like parts of one system.
- API integration
API integration is the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) to connect software, so that one application can read data from, or trigger actions in, another through a documented interface.
- System integration
System integration is the work of joining separate IT systems, such as applications, databases and sometimes hardware, so they operate as one coordinated whole and share data and processes.
- iPaaS (integration platform as a service)
iPaaS, short for integration platform as a service, is a hosted set of tools for connecting applications, data sources and systems without running your own integration servers.
- Business process automation (BPA)
Business process automation (BPA) is the use of software to run a complete business process, such as onboarding a new hire or paying a supplier, across the systems and people involved.
Common questions
- What does ERP integration mean?
- ERP integration means connecting an enterprise resource planning system to the other software a business runs, so orders, invoices, stock levels, employees and customers move between them automatically. The aim is one consistent record in the ERP, without people re-keying data from shops, CRMs, warehouse tools or supplier portals.
- What are common ERP integrations?
- The usual ones connect the ERP to a CRM for customers and orders, to an online shop for orders and stock, to a warehouse or logistics system for shipments, to payroll and HR tools for staff costs, to banks for payments and statements, and to procurement tools for purchase orders and supplier invoices.
- Should ERP integrations be real time or batch?
- Decide per flow by timing, volume and frequency. Microsoft's guidance for Dynamics 365 finance and operations recommends synchronous APIs for real-time, lower-volume needs and batch data APIs for large periodic loads. Many companies run both: real time for orders and status checks, nightly batch for bulk updates.
- Can AI agents work with an ERP?
- They can prepare work for it, such as reading a supplier invoice, matching it to a purchase order and drafting the posting. Because ERP entries carry financial weight, keep a person approving postings above an agreed limit, restrict which records the agent can touch, and log what it read and proposed.
Sources
Definitions on this page were read on the sources below on 7 October 2026. Where sources define the term differently, the page says so. The full glossary lists more terms.