Financial System Integration with CobbleStone Software

Financial System Integrations 

Financial record systems are systems that can send/receive financial metadata and keep track of records pertaining to financial issues.  Some examples of popular financial record systems are QuickBooks, Wave Accounting, and Sage 50 Accounting. 

Common Use Case Scenarios

Typically, these financial systems are integrated with the CobbleStone® platform to provide several functions.  Some of the typical use case scenarios are: (diagrams below) 

• Syncing Customer/Vendor Metadata between systems 
• Syncing Purchase Order/Invoicing between systems 
• Automating workflow between systems 
  • Ex: A new Purchase Order in CobbleStone® triggers a new Invoice in QuickBooks 
  • Ex: Line item details are changed on record in Sage triggers update on related records in CobbleStone® 

Setup

Once connections are established linking the CobbleStone® platform with the client’s financial system, the integration setup can commence. 

Each system has its records identified by an Internal key.  CobbleStone® will automatically auto-increment new records and assign them their own unique identifier (i.e. : first new vendor “123 Company” will have VendorID 1 when created.  No new vendor records will have that VendorID).  The same process applies to the records created within financial systems (i.e. : QuickBooks creates an Internal Key for new records within the system).   

For the integration to properly function, a record sync must be performed.   The unique identifier for a record must be appended to the correct record between systems.  If a system cannot correctly identify existing records, the results are normally erroneous (i.e. : duplicate records, incorrect amounts/costs, misappropriation of funds, etc.). 

To ensure that these keys match up, there are actions that can be taken: 

• New fields must be created to store external record identifiers (Ex: QuickBooks Vendor ID created in CobbleStone® system/CobbleStone® Vendor ID created in QuickBooks) 
• CSV Files containing the unique identifiers for records from one system matched to records in the integrated system and imported to be stored on those records

Integration Maintenance

To ensure ongoing automation and accuracy with these integrations, record syncing must remain constant.  Depending on the frequency of record changes in a system, the frequency of the sync of the records between the systems must match. 

Ex: Line items can be added frequently on a record in CobbleStone®.  These changes need to reflect in QuickBooks quickly to ensure accurate invoicing.  This data sync should be performed frequently (i.e. : every 5-10 minutes). 

Ex: Vendor records in a client’s QuickBooks system rarely change.  The sync of record metadata between that system and CobbleStone® system doesn’t need to happen as frequently. A daily or weekly sync may be all that is necessary. 

Financial Systems Common Functionality Diagrams