Business Connect

Business Connect is a specialized integration module built for ERP developers, functional consultants, and integrators working with enterprise resource planning systems. It's the power-user counterpart to the standard External API setup — instead of defining endpoints one at a time, Business Connect lets you authenticate against your ERP instance and import the full API surface in a single step.

Business Connect is designed for users who already understand their ERP's API model. If you're not familiar with concepts like tenants, endpoint versions, or OAuth scopes, work with your ERP administrator to gather the required credentials before continuing.


Supported ERPs

Business Connect currently supports the following ERP vendors:

  • Acumatica

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

  • Sage

Each vendor exposes a different set of connection parameters — described in detail below.


How It Differs from the Standard Setup

Capability
Standard External API
Business Connect

API discovery

Manual entry or OpenAPI schema upload

Automatic import using ERP instance credentials

Setup style

Endpoint-by-endpoint configuration

One-time vendor configuration, full API surface imported

Target user

General developers / integrators

ERP developers, functional consultants

Authentication

Basic, API Key, Bearer, JWT, OAuth 2.0

Vendor-specific (OAuth 2.0, username/password)

Best for

Any third-party REST API

Acumatica, Dynamics 365, Sage integrations


The Business Connect Wizard

Business Connect runs as a 4-step wizard:

  1. Select the type of connector — choose your ERP vendor (Acumatica, Dynamics 365, or Sage)

  2. Enter connector information — provide instance URL, credentials, and authentication details

  3. Select function — pick which endpoints to import

  4. Select collection to save — choose where to file the imported endpoints

The sections below walk through each step.


Step 1 & 2: Configuring the Connection

Acumatica exposes its data through contract-based REST endpoints, where each endpoint is a versioned, named bundle of entities (e.g., the built-in Default endpoint, or any custom endpoint you've extended in the Web Service Endpoints screen, SM207060). Business Connect authenticates against the Acumatica instance's built-in identity server and pulls in the entity schema for the endpoint you select.

ERP context:

  • Each Acumatica tenant runs its own identity server at Base URL + /identity/connect/token

  • The combination of Endpoint Name + Endpoint Version determines which entities (e.g., Customer, SalesOrder, Bill) are exposed and what fields they carry

  • Multi-tenant Acumatica instances require the Tenant Name (called Company in Acumatica's UI) so the token is scoped to the right database

Required fields:

  • Base URL (required) — your Acumatica instance URL e.g., https://your-company.acumatica.com

  • Endpoint Version (required) — the contract-based endpoint version configured under Web Service Endpoints e.g., 22.200.001

  • Endpoint Name (required) — the endpoint to expose e.g., Default

  • Tenant Name (optional) — the Acumatica tenant/company; required for multi-tenant instances e.g., Company

Authentication Type: OAuth 2.0 or No Auth

Use No Auth only for endpoints intentionally exposed without authentication (rare, typically internal sandboxes). Production Acumatica instances should always use OAuth 2.0.

When using OAuth 2.0, only the Password Credentials grant type is supported. Provide:

  • Access Token URL — defaults to Base URL + /identity/connect/token

  • Username (required) — Acumatica user (the same login used in the Acumatica UI)

  • Password (required) — Acumatica user password

  • Client ID (required) — Client ID from the Acumatica Connected Applications record (SM303010) e.g., xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

  • Client Secret (required) — Client Secret generated alongside the Client ID

  • Scope (required) — OAuth scopes e.g., api offline_access (use offline_access if you need refresh token support)

Register the Connected Application in Acumatica under System → Integration → Connected Applications, choose the Resource Owner Password Credentials flow, and assign it to the Acumatica user whose credentials you'll enter here.


Step 3: Selecting the Endpoints to Import

Once the connection is validated, Business Connect queries the ERP instance and lists every available endpoint. ERP APIs are large — Acumatica's Default endpoint alone can expose hundreds of entities, and a fully extended Dynamics 365 environment can surface thousands of endpoints. Step 3 is where you cut that list down to only what your application actually uses.

How the selection screen works

  • Grouped by HTTP method, then by name — endpoints are organized first by type (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) and then alphabetically by endpoint name, making it easy to scan related operations together (e.g., all GET reads, all POST creates)

  • Per-endpoint checkboxes — tick the checkbox beside any endpoint to include it in the import

  • Search bar — filter the list by name to quickly locate the entities you need (e.g., Customer, SalesOrder, Item)

  • Select All / Deselect All — bulk-toggle the entire (or filtered) list when you need to start from a clean slate or include everything in a small endpoint group

Selection guidance


Step 4: Choosing the Collection

In the final step, pick the collection the selected endpoints will be saved into. Collections are the same containers used by the rest of the External API flow — you can:

  • Save into an existing collection to keep all endpoints for one ERP under a single connector

  • Create a new collection for a clean separation (e.g., one collection per ERP module, or one per app)

Once saved, the imported endpoints behave exactly like any other External API function — they appear in the AI's available toolset during app generation, can be combined with custom External API connections, and can be edited or extended after import.


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