Source of truth
Name the authoritative system and the circumstances under which another system may change availability.
Availability across the operational stack
Keep stock decisions anchored to one reality.
Synchronize inventory and availability across ERP, warehouse, storefronts, marketplaces, and other channels without making every system an unreliable source of truth.
The operating problem
Inventory disagrees across systems.
A stock number is useful only when its owner, timing, allocation rules, channel buffers, and exception behavior are clear. Inventory work is architecture work before it is integration work.
- Identify the source of truth by SKU, location, and availability rule
- Define reservation, allocation, safety stock, and oversell behavior
- Account for update timing, rate limits, retries, and delayed events
- Reconcile discrepancies before they become customer issues
Representative route
Available-to-promise is a controlled calculation.
OwnERP / WMS stock
ApplyAllocation rules
ProtectChannel buffers
PublishStore / marketplace
VerifyReconcile
Design decisions
Define what the number means.
Freshness and priority
Set acceptable delay, event order, batch windows, rate limits, and conflict behavior.
Reconciliation
Detect missing or conflicting updates and define a safe repair path for each channel.
Connected context
Use case, industry, systems, and offer.
Wholesale & distribution
Multi-location, supplier, and channel rules create visible stock risk.
View industry context →ERP, WMS, channels
Review operational system categories and viable access methods.
Explore integrations →Order processing
Reservations, holds, cancellations, and fulfillment change what can be promised.
Explore order processing →Integration Blueprint
Resolve ownership and business rules before synchronizing the number.
View the Blueprint →Feasibility and scope
Define what can be promised before synchronizing stock.
The same on-hand quantity can produce different sellable inventory after reservations, safety stock, channel buffers, damaged units, inbound stock, and timing rules are applied. The workflow needs an agreed meaning for every published number.
- An authoritative source for on-hand, reserved, allocated, inbound, and available quantities
- Stable SKU, variant, location, warehouse, and channel identifiers
- Reservation, backorder, oversell, safety-stock, and channel-allocation rules
- Update frequency, acceptable staleness, event ordering, and rate-limit constraints
- A reconciliation method and named owner for discrepancies between systems
Build-versus-buy decision
Choose the route by ownership, timing, and recovery needs.
Inventory synchronization is not automatically a real-time problem. The right design may be event-driven, scheduled, or hybrid depending on the source of truth and the cost of stale or conflicting data.
Use built-in inventory sync
Choose it when location mapping, allocation rules, channel buffers, update timing, and discrepancy handling match the business policy.
Transform and route updates
Use a configurable path when supported systems need field mapping, location routing, controlled schedules, or moderate business-rule handling.
Control complex availability
Use bounded custom logic when availability depends on several systems, event ordering, multi-location allocation, or reconciliation the standard connector cannot express.
Questions to resolve
Answer the operating questions before implementation.
Review the fictional inventory synchronization workflow →Which system should be the inventory source of truth?
The answer depends on where stock is physically controlled and where reservations are authoritative. ERP, WMS, or another operational system may own different parts of the calculation, but that ownership must be explicit.
Does inventory need to update in real time?
Only when the cost of delay requires it and each system supports the necessary event and rate-limit behavior. A controlled short interval can be safer than unreliable real-time updates.
How are inventory differences repaired?
A reconciliation job compares authoritative and published values, identifies the reason for drift, and routes exceptions to an owner before any automated correction is applied.
Discuss the workflow