Data & integrations

Three kinds of plumbing

Connectors do one job between two systems: sales from a platform into the ledger, coded and summarised. They are bought per client and judged on whether the ledger entry is right. Automation platforms link any two tools with a trigger and an action: an accepted proposal creates the practice-system job, a new client in the practice system creates the folder in the document system. They are bought once for the firm and judged on how many manual steps they remove. Data layers pull from several systems into a warehouse or a reporting model, for the firm's own dashboards or a client's. They are bought when the firm has outgrown the reports its tools ship with.

What to look for

For connectors: a summary entry the bookkeeper can reconcile, not a thousand lines; tax handled by rule; fees and payouts split; and a clear answer when the source changes its data. For automation platforms: native connections to the practice system, the ledger and the document system the firm actually uses, error handling that tells someone when a step fails, and a log the firm can read. For data layers: the connectors to the practice system and the ledgers, a schedule, and a model someone in the firm can maintain after the consultant leaves.

In every case, ask who owns it. Plumbing built by one enthusiastic team member is plumbing nobody can fix when they leave.

Where the time goes

The automations worth building in a small firm are boring: new client to folder to engagement letter to job; accepted proposal to billing schedule; signed document to client record; month-end close item to reminder. Each removes a step someone forgets in the busy season. Firms that do this well keep a written list of every automation, what it does and who owns it, and review it twice a year.

The automations not worth building are the clever ones that touch client data across three systems and fail silently. If a failure would not be noticed for a week, it should not be automated without a check.

Pricing and how firms recover it

Connectors price per client connection per month; automation platforms by the number of runs or tasks; data layers per source, per user or by data volume. The directory records what vendors publish; it does not say what a firm should charge for integration work, and nothing here is fee advice. Firms describe passing connector costs through per client, absorbing automation platforms as firm overhead, and pricing data-layer builds as projects with a monthly element for maintenance.

Integration as a service

Some firms sell the plumbing: setting up a client's sales connector, building the client's dashboard from a data layer, automating the client's own back office. It is real work with real margin, and it is also a support obligation the firm has to be willing to carry. The engagement letter should say what the firm maintains and what the client does when the source system changes.

What to avoid

Connectors that post every line. Automations with no owner and no log. A data layer only the consultant understands. Automating across systems where a silent failure would go unnoticed. And buying plumbing before the practice system, ledger and document system are settled, because every change to those breaks the pipes.