Accounting systems
Data exchange with an external accounting system, through CSV and Excel or through a dedicated interface built for it.
Integrations
Integrations, starting with the machines on your floor
Alibera reads data from CNC machines, Omron PLCs, Universal Robots and other IoT devices, and can send control commands back. Everything else connects through a REST API, a dedicated interface or files.
You will not find a wall of software logos on this page. We describe what we connect to by category, because the work depends on which version you actually run, not on whose badge is on the box.
01Machines and IoT
Reading the machines, and talking back to them
This is the most concrete thing we do, so it goes first. Alibera connects to industrial hardware on the floor and moves data in both directions.
CNC machines
Machine data read into the system that already holds the production order.
Omron PLCs
Controller state read out, commands written back.
Universal Robots
Robot cells on the same data as the plan they are working to.
Other IoT devices
Devices that can speak to our API or to an interface we agree on.
- Data is read from machines and control commands can be sent to them.
- On-premise installation is the usual answer when the integration has to be local.
- Machine integration work is specified, built and tested with you before go live.
02Business systems
What else Alibera connects to
Named by category rather than by product. On the call we will talk about the specific system you run and what it can actually expose.
E-commerce platforms
Orders, stock and prices kept in step between the shop and the ERP, one way or both ways depending on what the business needs.
CRM systems
Contacts, quotes and leads synchronised, so sales and production are not keeping two versions of the same customer.
Warehouse and logistics systems
Stock, orders, receiving and shipping synchronised, with barcode and parcel tracking supported.
BI and reporting tools
Alibera has its own reporting modules, and the data can be exported or fed to an external BI tool through the API.
03API and files
A REST API, and the boring option that works
Anything without a ready connector can be built against the REST API. When a project does not justify that, files still do the job, and we would rather say so than sell you a connector you do not need.
- A REST API that requires security keys and signed tokens
- Excel and CSV import and export as standard
- New integrations built against the API are custom development and are billed as such
- Integrations can run one way or both ways, decided by the business need rather than the default
- Field mapping between the two systems is done by us, then tested and adjusted with you
- Changes made through the API are recorded in the audit trail, with the user, the time and the action
How a connection gets agreed
- What data moves
- Which direction it moves
- How fields map across
- Who signs it off
04Migration
Coming off an old ERP
Migration is usually the longest part of an implementation, so it gets its own plan rather than a line in a schedule.
You export the old data
Out of the existing ERP or accounting system, ideally as CSV or Excel.
An NDA is signed
Before your data goes anywhere near our side of the project.
A specification is written
What moves, what does not, and what the fields become on the other side.
We build and test the connection
Then you check the result against what you know your data should look like.
You sign it off, then it goes live
Go live happens after your sign off, not before it.
Badly prepared exports are one of the most common reasons a project runs late. The earlier you look at your own data, the better this goes.
05Timelines
How long an integration takes
These are the ranges we actually use with customers. If your case looks like the long end, you will hear that during discovery rather than in month two.
- Simple integrations
- About a week
- Complex integrations
- One to two months or more
- Free fixes after go live
- One month
- How new connectors are billed
- Custom development
- A connector to a system with a clean, documented interface is the fast case.
- Machine integration, two way sync and messy historical data are the slow cases.
- We will not quote a timeline before we have seen what the other system exposes.
06After go live
What happens once it is running
For the first month after go live, fixes and adjustments to the integration are free. After that it moves into a support package or is handled by agreement, and everything goes through the ticket system so there is a record of it.
See how support works- One month of free fixes and adjustments after go live
- Then a support package, or by agreement
- Tickets are the preferred channel, because they leave a trail
- Phone and email support during business hours
- Cover for critical incidents outside business hours is available as a paid extra
Tell us what has to talk to what
List the systems and the machines you want connected. We will tell you which ones are a week of work, which ones are two months, and which ones are not worth integrating at all.
Machine and IoT integration is the work we are most confident about, and the part worth asking us hard questions on.