salesforce-erp-manufacturing-integration@azx-sport-canada:~/case-study
Manufacturing / Sports Equipment 6 months 2020

Salesforce-ERP Manufacturing Integration

@ AZX Sport Canada — Salesforce Developer

Connecting sales operations to manufacturing floor through real-time Salesforce and Rootstock ERP integration

100% Inventory Accuracy
75% Faster Order Processing
Zero Manual Data Entry

$ 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:

1
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.

2
Automated Order Fulfillment

Won opportunities automatically create sales orders in Rootstock. No manual data entry, no errors, no delays.

3
Production Visibility Dashboard

Lightning dashboard showing production schedules, enabling accurate delivery date promises during sales conversations.

4
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

Salesforce Flow Lightning Web Components Salesforce Connect

☁️ Infrastructure

Salesforce Shield MuleSoft Salesforce Event Monitoring

$ cat ARCHITECTURE.md

The integration uses Salesforce platform capabilities:

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Salesforce CRM ←→ Apex Integration Layer ←→ Rootstock ERP
      ↓                    ↓                      ↓
  Opportunities        Sync Jobs            Sales Orders
  Products/Inventory   Event Handlers       Production
  Customer Portal      Error Handling       Inventory

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:

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public class InventorySyncBatch implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
    
    public Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext bc) {
        // Get products needing sync
        return Database.getQueryLocator([
            SELECT Id, ERP_Product_Id__c 
            FROM Product2 
            WHERE Sync_Enabled__c = true
        ]);
    }
    
    public void execute(Database.BatchableContext bc, List<Product2> products) {
        // Call ERP API for inventory levels
        Map<String, Decimal> inventory = ERPService.getInventoryLevels(
            getERPIds(products)
        );
        
        // Update Salesforce records
        List<Product2> toUpdate = new List<Product2>();
        for (Product2 p : products) {
            if (inventory.containsKey(p.ERP_Product_Id__c)) {
                p.Available_Quantity__c = inventory.get(p.ERP_Product_Id__c);
                p.Last_Inventory_Sync__c = DateTime.now();
                toUpdate.add(p);
            }
        }
        
        update toUpdate;
    }
}

Automated Order Flow

Won opportunities automatically create ERP orders:

Trigger Logic:

  1. Opportunity stage changes to “Closed Won”
  2. Validate all required fields for ERP
  3. Call Rootstock API to create sales order
  4. Store ERP order ID on opportunity
  5. Notify fulfillment team

Error Handling:

  • Validation errors → notify sales rep
  • API failures → queue for retry
  • Partial failures → create tasks for manual review
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trigger OpportunityTrigger on Opportunity (after update) {
    List<Opportunity> wonOpps = new List<Opportunity>();
    
    for (Opportunity opp : Trigger.new) {
        Opportunity oldOpp = Trigger.oldMap.get(opp.Id);
        
        // Check if just moved to Closed Won
        if (opp.StageName == 'Closed Won' && 
            oldOpp.StageName != 'Closed Won') {
            wonOpps.add(opp);
        }
    }
    
    if (!wonOpps.isEmpty()) {
        // Async callout to ERP
        ERPOrderService.createOrdersAsync(wonOpps);
    }
}

$ echo $RESULTS

100% Inventory Accuracy for Sales Team

100% Inventory Accuracy Real-time sync eliminated guesswork
75% Faster Order Processing Automated flow eliminated manual entry
Zero Manual Data Entry Fully automated order flow
50% Fewer Delivery Delays Accurate availability at time of sale

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

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