API integration planning starts with the business operation, not a connector catalog. Define which record moves, who owns it and what confirms success. Technical connectivity alone cannot establish that both systems interpret a price, status or customer identifier the same way.
Describe one operation end to end
In a hypothetical workflow, an approved CRM opportunity becomes an ERP order. Specify the required customer mapping, product identifiers, quantities and currency. Determine whether an ERP rejection reopens the CRM item or sends it to an operator.
| Planning item | Required answer |
|---|---|
| Ownership | Which system may change each field? |
| Identity | How do external and internal IDs map? |
| Contract | Types, required values and version policy |
| Access | Needed scopes and service-account owner |
| Success | Destination record and reconciliation evidence |
| Recovery | Retry, manual correction and unresolved state |
Verify the API before fixing the estimate
Obtain current documentation and an authorized test environment. Check the actual endpoint, authentication, pagination and limits. A platform's logo on a connector page does not prove support for your specific operation.
MDN HTTP request methods explains HTTP method semantics; the business API may add its own contract. Stripe webhook delivery provides a concrete example of asynchronous event delivery rules at Stripe. Treat those as vendor-specific reference points, not universal promises.
Design for changes and exceptions
Keep accepted and rejected payload fixtures. Monitor failures without exposing credentials in logs. Make missing mappings visible to the operating owner. A workflow that quietly drops unknown products can appear successful while losing orders.
What should the first delivery include?
One complete tested operation, error handling, reconciliation and handover. Additional record types should follow after their rules are defined. For automation and data engineering, bring the source record, expected destination and exception cases before selecting the implementation tool.