Designing The Solution

Overview

At Coupa we would like to understand the design, technology involved, implementation methodology, error handling, performance security of the ERP connector solution. We have developed obligatory test cases for the certification but we also expect partners to provide detailed documentation on the following topics when they submit a product for Coupa ERP Connector Certification.

Chart of Accounts (CoA)

In Coupa, the Static Accounting Model and Dynamic Accounting Models can be used. We expect Partners ERP Connectors to work with both models.

Static Accounting Model

Each accounting string is a simple combination of all accounting segments. It requires no validation in Coupa, and provides a very lean integration to Coupa via standard Accounts integration. Key Objects: Chart of Accounts and Accounts.

Dynamic Accounting Model

Account strings are not created until they are used and only valid combination are integrated and presented to the Users. It allows controlled relation between segments and allows Coupa to use Dynamic Approvers. ERP to Coupa CoA mapping is required and Integration design/complexity is higher via Lookup Values integration. Key Objects: CHart of Accounts, Lookup and Lookup Values.

ERP Integration Playbook

Coupa has developed Playbooks explaining CoA design considerations for NetSuite, Oracle, SAP ERP systems. See ERP Integration Playbooks for full details.

Architectural Considerations

Coupa Common CSV Flat File templates are designed to import many records from a single file sent to Coupa, not designed to process a high volume of files containing a single record each. For integrations where a single record needs to be processed at a time, the Coupa API provides a RESTful interface to facilitate this type of workflow.

For Coupa Common CSV Flat File integration, true CSV parser should be used to parse the data. Parser should be able to handle line breaks, special characters or delimiter in the values. File should be parsed by mapping column header names to values as opposed to using a position based parser to avoid issue with new release additional fields.

Coupa requires delta records, or files containing only records which have been created, changed or require updating since the last time the integration was run. Coupa does not support the concept of full data loads.

With Coupa releases, as we introduce new objects or new attributes it is possible that we will add new fields to our flat file formats and our object available via API. Hence, you need to take this into consideration while designing the integration routines on your side.