PXM Field Guide · Published 2026-09-16 · Practitioner review pending · Editorial owner: Luke Thompson
List every connection and its direction
Draw each system that will send or receive product data or assets: ERP, PLM, supplier portals, PIM, DAM, CMS, ecommerce, marketplaces, print, and retailer portals. For each pair, record the direction, the trigger (scheduled, event, manual), the expected volume, and the frequency. A diagram with arrows and owners exposes gaps that a feature checklist hides.
Assign one owner per field
For each attribute and asset property, name the system of record and the systems that only read it. Decide what happens when a downstream system edits a value it does not own. Include identifiers, units, prices, inventory flags, translations, image-to-product links, and usage rights. Write the exceptions down: a regional description a local editor may override, a price that only ERP may change.
Define the transformation rules
Record how units, enumerations, category trees, and image renditions convert between systems. Note which rules live in the source, which in the integration layer, and which in the destination. Ask each vendor whether a rule is standard configuration, a paid connector setting, partner work, or custom code. Keep the rules in a document the business team can read.
Specify failure handling before the first record moves
For each connection, define: how a failed record is reported, who receives it, how long it may wait, how a retry works, and how duplicates are prevented on retry. Require a demonstration of a failure as well as a success. A connector that hides failed records in a log nobody reads will cost you a launch.
Ask about APIs, events, and rate limits
Confirm which APIs the vendor documents for the objects you will exchange, whether the platform can push events when data changes, and what rate or volume limits apply to the proposed edition. Ask how a full resync works after an outage and how long a catalog of your size takes to move. Akeneo, for example, documents a REST API for products, families, and attributes and lists event capabilities separately.
Test with a controlled change
During evaluation, publish one specification change and one asset replacement through the proposed connection. Record what each destination shows, how long propagation took, where approval sat, and how the team learned about a failure. Repeat the test with an intentionally incomplete record. Keep the input and the observed result so another evaluator can repeat it.
Write the integration into the contract
Name each connection in the statement of work with its owner, the responsible party for defects, the environments it will run in, and the acceptance evidence. Separate the connector license from the work to configure and maintain it. Include the operating cost of monitoring and the person who will handle the error queue after the implementation partner leaves.
Sources and scope
Official sources checked 2026-09-15. Vendor statements establish documented scope, not completed testing. The evaluation tasks are PXM Field Guide’s proposed approach.