Anyone connecting Salesforce and Business Central tends to think in terms of one switch: on or off. In practice, a good Salesforce Business Central sync is a series of small choices, made per object. Customers behave differently from invoices, and a chart of accounts differently from a sales order. This article walks through the choices you make for each object when setting up Influx for Business Central.

Which objects you can connect

The connector exchanges these objects, among others, between the two systems:

  • Customers, contacts and vendors
  • Items and item categories
  • Dimensions
  • Sales orders, sales invoices and purchase invoices
  • The chart of accounts

You don’t have to connect everything at once. Start with what causes the most double entry today, usually customers and items, and expand from there.

Choice 1: direction

For each object you decide whether data flows one way or both ways. Two-way sync sounds attractive, but it only works well if you agree in advance which system is the source of truth. If sales and finance edit the same customer at the same time, it has to be clear which change wins.

A common split: sales maintains customer and contact data in Salesforce, while invoices and the chart of accounts come from Business Central. Choose one-way sync wherever you can. Every extra direction brings conflict rules you have to manage later.

Choice 2: real time or scheduled

For each object you choose whether data syncs immediately or on a schedule. A few rules of thumb:

  • Real time for data a colleague is waiting on, such as a new customer who needs to be able to receive an order straight away.
  • Scheduled for data that rarely changes or can be processed in bulk, such as the chart of accounts or item categories.

This keeps the load on both systems under control, along with the moments at which data is updated. You can read more about this trade-off in how often data is synchronised.

Choice 3: including dimensions

If you use dimensions in Business Central, such as cost centre or project, you can include them in the sync. Analytical breakdowns are then available in Salesforce too, so sales and finance speak the same reporting language. Decide up front which dimensions you really need in Salesforce, so you don’t make the data model heavier than necessary.

Error handling: agree it before something goes wrong

Every synchronisation is logged, and when something fails you get a clear message. That makes troubleshooting easy, but only if someone actually sees the messages. So agree who checks the log and what that person does when a sync fails: fix the data in the source system, or adjust the connection.

Getting started in practice

You set up the connection through a visual drag-and-drop mapping, with no programming. You authorise both systems via OAuth. You are usually live within 24 hours. You need an active Salesforce account, an active Business Central environment and API access to both systems. Influx for Business Central costs 85 euros per month per administration.

Help with the setup

Unsure about direction, timing or dimensions in your situation? Get in touch and we will go through your setup together.