Connect MaXXflow to the systems you run

Import BOMs through MaXXlink, post invoice or bill data to your finance system, and manage integrations in one place. Which connections come first is agreed in discovery.

Integration questions can stall a project before it starts

Integration matters, especially when a new system has to work alongside the ones you already run. But it can also become a reason to put off fixing the process at all, when every system has to be connected before anything else can happen.

There's a second worry behind it, and it's a fair one: that MaXXflow becomes one more place to update the same information. If it doesn't remove more friction than it adds, it isn't the right fit.

The useful question isn't whether everything can be connected. It's which connections your first phase actually needs.

Start by deciding which system owns each kind of data

How MaXXflow fits alongside your existing systems depends on which system currently owns your customer, product, inventory, purchasing, finance and production data.

That matters because many manufacturers already have a source-of-truth problem. One person trusts a spreadsheet, another trusts the accounting system, another relies on verbal updates. Connecting systems without settling this just moves the confusion around.

During discovery, Central Innovation works through:

which information must be available in MaXXflow
which system should remain the source of each data type
which integrations are essential for the first phase
which data exchanges can be introduced later
where spreadsheets or manual handovers can be removed

Integration requirements are assessed individually, rather than assuming every existing system has to be connected before MaXXflow creates value.

Separate what phase one needs from what can follow

In many cases, the better path is to improve the highest-value workflow first, then expand integration once the process and data requirements are clearer. The same applies to data: the first phase needs the information that workflow depends on, not every historical record from every system.

Timing is part of it too. Essential integrations are one of the factors that set how long implementation takes, which is another reason to keep phase one's list to what's genuinely essential.

Two questions turn a broad integration concern into a specific scoping discussion:

Which integration would be essential for the first stage to work, and what information would need to move between the systems?
Where are people entering or checking the same information more than once today?

Two connections today, managed from one place

These are the connections MaXXflow offers today.

BOMs from engineering, through MaXXlink

Where BOMs start in CAD or PDM, MaXXlink improves the flow of that engineering information into manufacturing. In MaXXflow, you can import BOM information through MaXXlink, assign BOMs to products and control how they're taken in. Connector scope and related requirements are confirmed with you. How the two products work together is covered in MaXXflow with MaXXlink.

Invoice and bill data to your finance system

MaXXflow can post invoice or bill parameters to a finance system through a scoped API integration. Your finance platform stays the system of record for invoicing. Compatibility, the data exchanged and any configuration or development work are confirmed during discovery.

That split suits how the two systems are built. Accounting systems are strong at recording transactions. MaXXflow focuses on the planning decisions that come before those transactions turn into delays, shortages or cost problems.

Integration administration

Integrations are configured, tested, activated or deactivated from one administration area, and sensitive credentials such as API keys and passwords are masked there.

Beyond these, any other exchange is a scoping question, not an assumption. Data ownership, MaXXlink requirements, finance API exchanges and any configuration or development scope are agreed before work starts, and form part of your proposal.

MaXXflow can work alongside an ERP or accounting system

MaXXflow isn't anti-ERP. For some businesses it's a more manageable starting point than a full ERP transformation. For others, it works alongside existing systems, covering a manufacturing-planning gap that's still being handled with spreadsheets and workarounds.

Having an ERP or accounting system doesn't rule MaXXflow out. What matters is whether those systems actually solve the planning problem, and how data should move between them is settled in the same discovery work described above. See Already running an ERP and Planning in your accounting software.

Questions about integrations

Which systems does MaXXflow integrate with?

The connections available today are BOM import through MaXXlink and a scoped API integration that posts invoice or bill data to a finance system. Other requirements are assessed individually during discovery.

Do we need every system connected before we start?

No. Discovery identifies which integrations are essential for the first phase and which can come later.

Does MaXXflow replace our finance system?

No. Your finance platform remains the system of record for invoicing.