CRM and ERP automation
Synchronization without retyping
Sales lives in the CRM, stock and finance in the ERP — and between them, a person retyping data. For a manufacturing company we built an automation layer that keeps both systems aligned on its own: every night, with an audit trail of every change and with safeguards in case something goes wrong. Orders to the supplier now go out electronically, without a single e-mail sent by hand.
Each kind of company data has a single source of truth: clients and business relationships live in the Raynet CRM, goods and finance in the Helios ERP. Every night, the automation compares the two, works out the differences and writes only the actual changes. Every write is counted, logged and reversible. A backup is taken before each synchronization, so there is an “undo” button. And when an order in production is ready to be sent, the system converts it to the electronic EDIFACT format on its own and delivers it to the supplier. Confirmations are processed just as automatically in the opposite direction.
Technology
At the core is the n8n automation platform in a Docker environment, with a PostgreSQL database for the audit log and synchronization states. We write the custom modules for Raynet, Helios and EDIFACT in TypeScript and generate the workflows from a typed DSL — automation definitions are versioned code, not clicks in an editor. Production access is protected by Cloudflare Access, and communication with the ERP runs over mTLS certificates. Conversational control is provided by our own MCP server, which exposes operational tools to the Claude AI assistant.
The brief
Synchronization between the CRM and the ERP was done by hand — laborious, prone to typos and without an audit trail. Orders to the packaging supplier went out by e-mail. Yet with data that invoicing and production depend on, every discrepancy is expensive. The brief: make the systems reconcile themselves, make every write traceable and reversible — and make the whole operation manageable without a programmer.
The solution
We built the automation on the n8n platform with our own modules for Raynet, Helios and the EDIFACT format. The synchronization is designed so that nothing throws it off. Every record carries a fingerprint that tells the system which changes have already been written. Every write is checked to make sure the record pairing hasn't changed in the meantime, and everything goes into an audit log. Before a live run, the daily API limit is checked, and new code always runs in dry-run mode first. Electronic order exchange runs on the EDIFACT standard and AS2. And the extra layer we like best: operations can be managed conversationally through an AI assistant. System status, the sync schedule and restoring from backup are all available to Claude as tools, while writes stay behind a security gate.
Key features
- nightly Raynet CRM ↔ Helios ERP synchronization with no manual retyping
- every write audited, with a fingerprint against duplicates and a pairing check
- backup before every run and one-command restore — the “undo” button
- daily API limit monitoring and dry-run mode for safe testing
- electronic supplier orders in the EDIFACT standard over AS2
- conversational operations via an AI assistant (MCP tools for Claude)
- 19 workflows and 8 custom modules generated from TypeScript definitions
Results & benefits
- CRM and ERP data reconcile themselves — manual retyping is over
- supplier orders go out electronically instead of by e-mail
- every change traceable in the audit log, every run reversible from backup
- even a non-technical person can oversee operations — conversationally, via AI
- running in production with an automatic nightly run
