Salesforce-ERP Manufacturing Integration
@ AZX Sport Canada — Salesforce Developer
Connecting sales operations to manufacturing floor through real-time Salesforce and Rootstock ERP integration
$ cat PROBLEM.md
Sales Team Flying Blind on Inventory
AZX Sport's sales team used Salesforce for customer management, but inventory and manufacturing data lived in Rootstock ERP. Sales reps couldn't see real-time stock levels, leading to overselling, delivery delays, and frustrated customers. Order entry required duplicate data entry between systems.
Key Challenges:
- Sales reps checking inventory by calling warehouse — delays and errors
- Orders entered in Salesforce, then manually re-entered in ERP
- No visibility into production schedules for delivery estimates
- Customer service couldn't track order status without switching systems
$ cat SOLUTION.md
Real-Time Bidirectional Integration Platform
We built a seamless integration between Salesforce and Rootstock ERP, giving sales teams real-time inventory visibility and automating order flow to manufacturing.
Technical Approach:
Real-Time Inventory Sync
Inventory levels sync from Rootstock to Salesforce every 5 minutes. Sales reps see accurate stock directly on product records and opportunity pages.
Automated Order Fulfillment
Won opportunities automatically create sales orders in Rootstock. No manual data entry, no errors, no delays.
Production Visibility Dashboard
Lightning dashboard showing production schedules, enabling accurate delivery date promises during sales conversations.
Order Status Tracking
Customer service portal with real-time order status from manufacturing through delivery.
$ cat tech-stack.json
🚀 Core Technologies
Salesforce (Apex, Lightning)
CRM and custom application
Why: Existing CRM platform, Lightning for modern UI components
Rootstock ERP
Manufacturing and inventory management
Why: Salesforce-native ERP for seamless integration
Apex
Business logic and integration
Why: Native Salesforce programming for triggers, batch jobs, and REST callouts
🔧 Supporting Technologies
☁️ Infrastructure
$ cat ARCHITECTURE.md
The integration uses Salesforce platform capabilities:
| |
System Components:
Inventory Sync Service
Scheduled Apex job syncing inventory every 5 minutes
Order Automation
Trigger-based order creation in ERP from opportunities
Lightning Dashboard
Real-time manufacturing visibility for sales team
Customer Portal
Self-service order tracking for customers
$ man implementation-details
Inventory Sync Architecture
Real-time inventory required careful design within Salesforce limits:
Sync Strategy:
- Scheduled Apex runs every 5 minutes
- Delta sync — only changed inventory levels
- Batch processing for large product catalogs
- Error handling with retry logic
Implementation:
| |
Automated Order Flow
Won opportunities automatically create ERP orders:
Trigger Logic:
- Opportunity stage changes to “Closed Won”
- Validate all required fields for ERP
- Call Rootstock API to create sales order
- Store ERP order ID on opportunity
- Notify fulfillment team
Error Handling:
- Validation errors → notify sales rep
- API failures → queue for retry
- Partial failures → create tasks for manual review
| |
$ echo $RESULTS
100% Inventory Accuracy for Sales Team
Additional Outcomes:
- Sales reps close deals faster with real-time inventory confidence
- Customer satisfaction improved with accurate delivery estimates
- Operations team freed from data entry to focus on production
$ cat LESSONS_LEARNED.md
Start with Data Model Alignment
We spent first 3 weeks mapping Salesforce objects to ERP entities. This investment prevented painful refactoring later.
Apex Governor Limits Require Design Thinking
Batch processing and bulkification patterns aren't optional in Salesforce. We designed for scale from day one.
Business Users Need Training, Not Just Features
The integration was technically perfect but underutilized until we invested in training sales reps on new workflows.
$ cat README.md
Related
Experience: Salesforce Developer at AZX Sport
Technologies: REST APIs, PostgreSQL
Related Case Studies: CRM Integration Platform | Hospital ERP System
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