Guide
ERP procurement integration: the second interface is the expensive one.
The first supplier interface is a project everyone remembers fondly. The problem is that it establishes a pattern, and the pattern is what you end up maintaining.
Architecture guide
What actually has to cross the boundary.
Procurement integration is usually described as if it were one flow. It is at least four: supplier master data, catalog and pricing data, orders going out, and order status coming back. Each has a different owner, a different frequency and a different tolerance for being wrong.
Bundling them into a single per-supplier interface is what makes each interface fragile. Separating them by concern, and standardizing each one before it reaches the ERP, is what makes the enterprise side stable.
02The boundary
What actually crosses between procurement and the ERP.
Four flows cross the boundary, in two directions. Each one is a different problem, and each one is where interface count turns into maintenance cost.
- 01Your ERP and procurement
Master data goes out
Suppliers, entities, sites, cost centres and account structures — the ERP’s version of the truth.
What crosses, and which way
Out of the ERP, which stays the system of record for all of it.
What it costs per supplier
Built once against one contract, rather than re-derived for each supplier feed.
- 02Suppliers
Catalog data comes in
Products, units, packaging, prices and availability, in whatever shape each supplier can produce.
What crosses, and which way
Into the layer, where the shape is reconciled before anything goes further.
What it costs per supplier
This is the flow that multiplies point-to-point: one parser per supplier, forever.
- 03The integration layer
Carts and requisitions move
A cart returns as structured lines and becomes a requisition in the buying system.
What crosses, and which way
Into the platform your buyers already use, with its own process untouched.
What it costs per supplier
One mapping to your item and account structure, not one per catalog source.
- 04The integration layer
Purchase orders go back
The approved requisition becomes an order with the ERP’s numbering and accounting rules.
What crosses, and which way
Back into the ERP, which keeps authority over the commitment.
What it costs per supplier
The second interface — the one that is always more expensive than the first.
- 05Suppliers
Order status returns
Confirmations, delivery dates and the data that makes invoice matching possible.
What crosses, and which way
Back through the same supplier connection that carried the order.
What it costs per supplier
Usually skipped in a first phase, and usually the reason for a second one.
03The four flows
Four flows, four different problems.
- 01
Supplier master data
Low frequency, high consequence. Governance stays with the ERP; the layer supplies consistent identity rather than claiming authority.
- 02
Catalog and pricing
High frequency, high volume. This is where staleness lives, and where validity dates do the most work.
- 03
Orders outbound
Transactional and unforgiving. Structure matters more than speed: a malformed line costs more than a slow one.
- 04
Order status inbound
Often skipped, then rebuilt later as a follow-up email process. Worth designing in from the start.
04Cost shape
Where the two architectures diverge.
The divergence is not in the first year. It is in every year after it.
One interface per supplier
- Cost scales with supplier count
- Each supplier change is a change on your side
- Testing surface grows with every addition
- Failures are per-interface and found late
- The long tail never gets connected
Connectivity layer
- Enterprise side integrated once and kept stable
- Supplier changes absorbed in mapping
- One place to observe connection state
- Onboarding becomes a repeatable operation
- The long tail becomes reachable
What does not change
- The ERP remains the system of record
- Master data governance stays where it is
- Your security and access model still applies
- Direct API access remains available
Named ERP connector support is published only once verified. [TO BE CONFIRMED]
05Operability
The integration you can see is the integration you can trust.
Connection state per supplier answers the first question of every incident before anyone opens a ticket.
- Admin
- Connections
| Supplier | Method | Scope | Last exchange | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nordwerk Industrie | API | CatalogPricingAvailabilityOrders | 00:02 | Connected |
| Ferralux SAS | Catalog file | CatalogPricing | 06:14 | Syncing |
| Vantage Labo | Supplier workspace | CatalogPricingOrders | 00:47 | Connected |
| Meridian Tools | Web catalog session | CatalogAvailability | 00:11 | Connected |
| Kessler Technik | Catalog file | Catalog | 31:22 | Needs attention |
| Aumont Équipement | Supplier workspace | Catalog | — | Onboarding |
Downstream systems
Where the standardized flow is delivered
- ERPPurchase orders, supplier master data
- Procurement platformCatalogs, carts
- Kelqio ApproveRequisitions, approvals
Connection methods shown are illustrative. Supported protocols are published only once verified.
- 01
Method and scope per supplier
What is connected, how, and for which of the four flows.
- 02
Last successful exchange
Surfaced per supplier rather than reconstructed from logs.
- 03
Onboarding in the same view
Partial rollout is a visible state, not an unknown.
- 04
Downstream delivery
Where the standardized flow lands, so change impact is knowable in advance.
Integration questions.
- Does a connectivity layer duplicate our ERP data?
- It standardizes and moves catalog, cart and order data. The ERP keeps authority over master data and purchase orders — the layer is not designed to be a second system of record.
- Which ERPs do you connect to?
- Kelqio is designed to connect through APIs, ERP connectors and procurement platform integrations. We publish named product support only once verified, so ask for the confirmed list.
- What happens when a supplier changes their catalog format?
- The change is absorbed in the supplier-side mapping. The enterprise-side integration does not change, which is the point of separating the two sides.
Next step
Bring your supplier list. We’ll show you the flow.
A working session with our team, using your systems and your supplier mix — not a generic slide deck.
- 01
Where your suppliers sit today: connected, semi-connected, or not at all
- 02
How each channel would route through Kelqio into your ERP and procurement platform
- 03
What connecting the next twenty suppliers would actually involve
Enterprise integration product. No credit card, no self-serve trial — a conversation with someone who knows procurement systems.