Epicor Kinetic and IBM Sterling integration

What moves between them

ml-connector polls Epicor Kinetic on a schedule to retrieve new and updated purchase orders, converts them to EDI 850 format, and sends them to IBM Sterling for routing to suppliers. Inbound EDI 810 invoices arrive in IBM Sterling's mailbox; ml-connector polls the mailbox, extracts the invoice payloads, parses the EDI, and creates AP invoice records in Epicor. Reference data such as vendors, ship-to locations, and line items are mapped between Epicor's data model and EDI segment requirements.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector maintains separate credential sets for Epicor and IBM Sterling, encrypted at rest. For Epicor, it handles OAuth2 token refresh (bearer tokens expire in roughly one hour) and adds the required API Key header along with credentials. For IBM Sterling, it authenticates with HTTP Basic Auth to the customer's B2Bi host and port. Both systems are poll-only, so ml-connector runs scheduled jobs to check Epicor for new POs and IBM Sterling's mailbox for new EDI documents. PO data is enriched with Epicor vendor details, formatted as EDI 850 segments, and posted to IBM Sterling for transmission. Inbound EDI 810s are extracted from IBM Sterling mailbox messages, parsed into line-item detail, and transformed into Epicor's two-step AP invoice pattern (GetNewAPInvoice followed by UpdateMaster). Edge cases include Epicor's Company segment requirement in OData URLs, IBM Sterling's requirement that non-admin user accounts be used for API authentication, and Epicor's known issue with /APInvExpTGLCs that requires using UpdateMaster for GL detail lines.

A real-world example

A mid-size electronics distributor runs Epicor Kinetic for purchasing and finance and uses IBM Sterling to manage EDI order transmission to component suppliers. Before the integration, the procurement team entered purchase orders into Epicor, then manually exported them to CSV, mapped fields, and uploaded them into IBM Sterling for EDI 850 translation and transmission. Inbound EDI 810 invoices from suppliers arrived in IBM Sterling, were downloaded and re-keyed into Epicor's AP module by hand, introducing delays and entry errors. With Epicor and IBM Sterling connected, each new PO flows automatically from Epicor through IBM Sterling to suppliers as a compliant EDI 850, and supplier invoices arriving as EDI 810s are automatically parsed and posted into Epicor's GL, eliminating the manual steps and cutting the AP processing cycle by three days.

What you can do

• •Convert Epicor Kinetic purchase orders to EDI 850 documents and route them through IBM Sterling to suppliers.
• •Poll Epicor and IBM Sterling on a schedule and detect new purchase orders and inbound EDI invoices.
• •Extract and parse inbound EDI 810 invoices from IBM Sterling mailbox messages and post them into Epicor as accounts payable records.
• •Map Epicor vendors, line items, GL dimensions, and ship-to locations to EDI segment requirements.
• •Handle OAuth2 token refresh for Epicor and HTTP Basic authentication for IBM Sterling across multiple polling cycles.

Questions

Which direction does data move between Epicor Kinetic and IBM Sterling?

Purchase orders flow from Epicor Kinetic into IBM Sterling as EDI 850 documents for transmission to suppliers. Inbound EDI 810 invoices from suppliers arrive in IBM Sterling's mailbox and are extracted, parsed, and posted into Epicor as accounts payable records. Reference data such as vendors and ship-to locations is enriched in both directions to ensure valid EDI segments and Epicor GL posting.

Why does the integration poll instead of using webhooks?

Neither Epicor Kinetic nor IBM Sterling support outbound webhooks in their standard APIs. Epicor offers polling only with OData date filters to retrieve changed records. IBM Sterling's REST API supports polling its mailbox for new EDI documents but does not push them. ml-connector runs scheduled jobs to check both systems on a cadence you define.

How does the integration handle Epicor's two-step invoice pattern and IBM Sterling's mailbox extraction?

Epicor requires a GetNewAPInvoice call to generate a new AP invoice record, followed by an UpdateMaster call to insert GL detail lines and post the invoice. IBM Sterling stores EDI documents as payloads inside mailbox messages, not as REST resources; ml-connector extracts the raw EDI 810 payload, parses it into line-item segments, and maps each line to an Epicor GL account and cost center before calling UpdateMaster.