The Crucial Role of an ERP as the Source of Truth: A Case Study of 🥚 Big Green Egg

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of modern business architectures, composable architecture has emerged as a flexible and scalable approach to building complex systems. Composable architecture emphasises modular design, allowing different components to be assembled and interconnected to create powerful and adaptable solutions. However, amidst the flexibility and componentisation, there arises a crucial need for a single source of truth that can serve as a reliable foundation for the entire system. This article explores the significance of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system as the source of truth within a composable architecture, with a specific focus on a case study involving Big Green Egg and Rotate°.

The Role of ERP as the Source of Truth

In a composable architecture, various services and microservices work together to form a cohesive system. These components often have different life expectancies, with some being replaced or upgraded more frequently than others. Therefore, having a single, centralised source of truth becomes vital to ensure consistency, accuracy, and reliability across the entire architecture.

An ERP system, such as Brightpearl in the case of Big Green Egg, is designed to integrate and manage core business processes, including product data, shipping, pricing, tax rules, returns, order management, and fulfilment. By storing and managing this critical information within the ERP, it becomes the trusted source of truth that provides a unified view of the business operations. This allows other services and microservices within the architecture to access and leverage accurate and up-to-date data.

Rotate° implemented a solution for Big Green Egg that showcases the importance of an ERP as the source of truth in a composable architecture. In this case, all data is stored in Brightpearl as the ERP, serving as the central repository for core product information and various business processes.

By connecting with commercelayer, a headless commerce platform, through custom microservices, Rotate° enabled seamless integration between the ERP and the commerce layer (pun intended). This integration ensures that product details, inventory levels, pricing, and other critical information are synchronised between the platforms.

The choice to make Brightpearl the source of truth aligns with the composable architecture's principles. While the various microservices and components of the system might have different life expectancies and undergo changes, the ERP serves as a stable and long-lasting foundation for the entire architecture. It guarantees consistency and accuracy in the data flowing through the system, irrespective of any changes or updates made to other components.

Here's the benefits...

• Data Consistency: By centralising core business data within the ERP, a single source of truth eliminates data discrepancies that can occur when information is stored across multiple systems. This ensures consistency and reliability throughout the composable architecture.

• Enhanced Efficiency: Accessing accurate and up-to-date data from the ERP enables faster and more efficient decision-making across different components of the system. It eliminates the need for redundant data management and synchronisation efforts.

• Scalability and Adaptability: An ERP system provides a robust infrastructure that can scale alongside the business. As new services or microservices are added or replaced within the composable architecture, the ERP remains the reliable foundation, accommodating the evolving needs of the organisation.

• Simplified Integration: With the ERP serving as the single source of truth, integration between different components becomes more straightforward. By leveraging APIs and custom microservices, as in the case of Big Green Egg, seamless data synchronization and communication can be achieved.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in the world of modern business architectures, composable architecture has proven to be a flexible and scalable approach to building complex systems. However, amidst the flexibility and modularity, the crucial role of a single source of truth cannot be overlooked. This Case Study highlights the significance of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system as the source of truth within a composable architecture.

The case study demonstrated how an ERP system, such as Brightpearl, served as the central repository for core business data and processes. By integrating with a headless commerce platform through custom microservices, Big Green Egg ensured seamless communication and synchronization between the ERP and other components of the system.

The benefits of having an ERP as the source of truth were evident, with data consistency, enhanced efficiency, scalability, and simplified integration being among the key advantages. By relying on the ERP as a stable foundation, organisations can make informed decisions and adapt to changing business needs while maintaining accuracy and reliability across the architecture.

Read more here about the project → Big Green Egg