Overview
This article provides details on the Live Data Take-over Plan, which is one of the key tools / documents involved in planning a successful complex integration project. It only applies if you are integrating with a system that is already live and there is risk of screwing up that live system while developing, testing, and/or going live with the integration.
This is literally just a written plan that outlines the steps that need to be taken (mainly with regards to the existing and soon-to-be-synced data) to insure the live system still operates as designed.
This plan document is created by the Solution Architect as part of the overall integration strategy.
Part of a Series of Articles
The article you are currently reading is part of a series of articles that are all organized and summarized in this Integration Reference Guide (Using the CIMcloud API).
Critical for Complex Integrations
The concepts presented in this article are particularly critical for complex integration projects.
Additional Context (Video Wal-through)
The Live Data Take-over Plan is produced by the Solution Architect on an integration project. The videos & content in The Solution Architect article talk more about this document (adding some valuable context to the written content below). We recommend that you read that article and watch the videos to gain a better understand of what this tool / document it (and why it is needed).
Audience (for This Article)
The intended audience for this article is CIMcloud customers (and their contractors / partners) that are considering building and/or managing / supporting an integration between CIMcloud and any other software system.
Live Data Take-over Plan Overview
This is an overview of the Live Data Take-over Plan document:
- This only applies if 1) the software that is the destination for data that will be syncing is already live, and 2) the data that will be touched by this integration project is in use and critical to the current live operation of the destination software. In short, you need a plan to make sure this new integration won’t screw up the live operation of your existing software.
- This plan insures 1) you can safely test your integration work (i.e. on a sandbox environment using non-live copies of data), 2) your live roll-out will not break the live site or cause material degraded experiences for your users / customers, and 3) you have an internal and/or external communication plan so users that may be impacted by the change are notified that it is coming (and know how / where to report issues if they find any after go live).
- This is a written plan (i.e. in a document) that just outlines the steps that will be taken, in order, to insure that your go-live will be safe and communicated to the appropriate parties (before and directly after the live cut-over). It also includes tests/checks that will happen directly after go live to verify that the result matches expectations (i.e. the data is correct as observed by testing the application and verifying it is behaving as expected).
Example Scenario
This is an example scenario showing why this plan is needed / how it is used.
- You are live on CIMcloud.
- CIMcloud is currently syncing with your live ERP system (including products, inventory levels, pricing, etc).
- You are changing ERP systems / platforms.
- You will write a sync tool that calls the CIMcloud API to add/update products, inventory levels, pricing, sales tax settings, order history, invoice history, etc from your new ERP system (the “source” system) to CIMcloud (the “destination” system).
- This new application (ERP system and sync tool in this case) will take over and replace the previous ERP sync that was adding / updating / deleting those records.
- You will need to make sure your take-over strategy does not result in 1) duplicate records, 2) orphaned / expired records (that are still in the system but are not needed), and 3) gaps or missing records (that are needed to run the application but are not longer being updated).
- For example, if existing Sales Tax settings already existing in CIMcloud, and the new SOR (System of Record) for those tax settings will be the new ERP, this strategy will cover whether or not the new ERP will take over the already existing sales tax settings in CIMcloud… or if those records will be removed / disabled so brand new records can be synced (and take over driving the CIMcloud sales tax engine calculations).