API & integration
Nothing here becomes a second place to key data
Your PLM stays the master for specifications, your ERP for transactions. The passport is a view over them that adds the two things they cannot hold: an access policy and evidence for each claim.
- Protocol
- REST over HTTPS
- Push
- Signed webhooks
- Master data
- Stays yours
Definition
How does a passport platform integrate with an ERP or PLM?
It sits above them rather than replacing them. Specifications stay in PLM, transactions in ERP, footprint calculations in the accounting tool. Data flows into the passport through a REST API, scheduled exports and supplier submission, and webhooks notify your systems when the passport changes.
The part most integration plans underestimate is the third input. Tier-two composition and certification data usually exists in none of your systems, because until now nothing required you to hold it.
Responsibility
Which system owns what, after integration
| Data | System of record | What CirculeID adds |
|---|---|---|
| Product specification | PLM | The passport projection and its required-field gap report |
| Transactions and batches | ERP | Batch identity bound to a resolvable passport |
| Carbon footprint | LCA or carbon accounting tool | The figure held against the product with its methodology |
| Supplier evidence | The supplier | Signed credentials, so the claim carries its author |
| Supply chain events | WMS, MES and logistics partners | One EPCIS 2.0 history, queryable by object |
| Access policy | CirculeID | Who sees which field, evaluated at resolution time |
Interfaces
How data moves
REST API
JSON over HTTPS for passports, events and credentials, with scoped keys per environment.
Scheduled import
For systems that cannot call out, mapped on receipt rather than reshaped by you.
Supplier submission
The route for data you do not hold — signed by the supplier, not transcribed by you.
Signed webhooks
Passport, event and credential changes pushed to your systems, retried with backoff.
Field mapping
Your field conventions mapped to the standards model once, then applied per import.
Change history
Material changes recorded as dated events so two reads can be reconciled.
Sequence
A realistic integration order
- 01
Agree the system of record
Decide which system owns each data class before writing any mapping. Skipping this is what produces duplicated master data.
- 02
Map one product group
Import a real export and read the gap report. It tells you what the delegated act needs that nobody currently holds.
- 03
Start supplier onboarding
Begin immediately and in parallel. This is the long pole, and it is a relationship exercise rather than a technical one.
- 04
Wire the callbacks
Subscribe your systems to passport and credential changes so downstream processes react rather than poll.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Which system stays the master for product data?
Yours. PLM remains the master for specifications, ERP for transactions, and your carbon accounting tool for footprint calculations. CirculeID holds the passport — the assembled, access-controlled, evidence-carrying view over those systems — and does not become a second place to maintain the underlying data.
How does data actually get in?
Three ways, usually combined: the REST API for systems that can call out, scheduled exports for systems that cannot, and supplier submission for data you do not hold at all. The third is normally the largest part of the work, because tier-two composition data rarely exists in any of your systems.
What happens when the source data changes?
The passport updates. Where the change is material — a composition correction, a new certification — it is recorded as a dated event rather than silently overwriting the previous value, so a passport read last year and this year can be reconciled.
Do you have prebuilt connectors?
For the common ERP and PLM systems, yes, and they shorten the mapping rather than removing it: every implementation has its own field conventions and its own history of workarounds. Treat a connector as a starting point for the mapping conversation, not as a substitute for having it.
How do our systems find out something changed?
Webhooks. Passport, event and credential changes emit signed callbacks your systems subscribe to, so a downstream process reacts to a new supplier credential without polling. Delivery is retried with backoff, and the failure log is visible rather than silent.
Next step
Bring one PLM export
We will map it, run the gap report against your product group, and give you a realistic view of where the work actually is.