Which direction does data move between Exact Online and Fishbowl?

Purchase orders and vendor data flow from Exact Online into Fishbowl Advanced. Suppliers in Exact map to vendors in Fishbowl, and purchase orders sync from Exact into Fishbowl's inventory module. Fishbowl is polled for confirmation and status updates, but the primary data flow is inbound to Fishbowl.

How does the integration handle Exact Online's OAuth token expiry and Fishbowl's on-premise session tokens?

ml-connector refreshes Exact Online's access token before its 10-minute expiry and tracks the rotating 30-day refresh token to re-authorize if needed. On the Fishbowl side, it logs in with username and password to receive a session UUID token, stores it encrypted, and refreshes it before timeout to maintain a valid connection to the on-premise server.

What happens if Fishbowl webhooks are not available or enabled?

Fishbowl has no outbound webhook capability, so ml-connector polls Fishbowl's REST endpoints on a 5-15 minute schedule to detect purchase order and vendor changes. Exact Online webhooks are used when available for faster purchase order notifications, but polling ensures data stays current even if webhooks are not configured in Exact.

Exact OnlineFishbowl

Exact Online and Fishbowl integration

Exact Online manages accounting and purchasing for SMEs across Europe and North America. Fishbowl Advanced handles inventory and manufacturing on-premise. Connecting them keeps your vendor master data and purchase orders in sync across both systems. New suppliers in Exact Online sync to Fishbowl as vendors, and purchase orders flow from Exact into Fishbowl's inventory module without manual re-keying. ml-connector bridges the very different authentication models and polling requirements of each system.

How Exact Online works

Exact Online exposes suppliers, purchase orders, purchase invoice lines, GL accounts, cost centers, items, and bank accounts through a REST API with OData v3 query syntax, using region-specific endpoints (Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Germany, France, Spain, USA). Authentication uses OAuth 2.0 with access tokens valid for 10 minutes and rotating refresh tokens valid for 30 days until internal review approval permits cross-instance connections. Exact Online supports webhooks for significant resource types including purchase orders, suppliers, GL accounts, and bank entries, with HMAC-SHA256 signature validation, but related entities require separate API calls since expand is not supported. Division ID must be included in every API call.

How Fishbowl works

Fishbowl Advanced is deployed on-premise with a customer-supplied server URL and configurable port (typically 2456). It exposes vendors, purchase orders, sales orders, parts, inventory, manufacturing orders, and customers through a REST API using session token authentication - login returns a UUID token that is passed as a Bearer token on all requests. Fishbowl has no webhook push capability and must be polled for data changes, with a recommended interval of 5-15 minutes. Customers are queried through a data-query SQL endpoint rather than a dedicated REST endpoint, and GL accounts are not exposed through the REST API.

What moves between them

Purchase orders and vendor data flow from Exact Online into Fishbowl Advanced. Suppliers defined in Exact Online map to vendors in Fishbowl, with purchase orders from Exact syncing to Fishbowl purchase orders on a polling schedule. Item details, order status, and delivery information move in the same direction. Since Fishbowl has no webhook system, ml-connector polls both Fishbowl for changes and listens for Exact Online webhooks to detect new or updated purchase orders, ensuring timely synchronization without excessive polling overhead on Fishbowl's on-premise deployment.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores both credential sets encrypted: Exact Online's OAuth app credentials and refresh token, and Fishbowl's username, password, and appId. On the Exact Online side, it refreshes the access token before expiry (10-minute lifetime), tracks the rotating refresh token (valid 30 days), and re-authorizes if the token expires. On the Fishbowl side, it logs in once per session, stores the returned UUID bearer token, and refreshes it periodically to avoid session timeout. The integration accepts Exact Online webhooks when available for fast purchase order notifications but falls back to polling if webhooks are not enabled, detecting the Exact division ID from the OAuth user profile. Purchase orders are mapped by synchronizing the supplier/vendor relationship first - Exact suppliers (Accounts entity with IsSupplier flag) are queried and created or updated in Fishbowl as vendors. Purchase order lines are matched by item SKU and quantity, and order status flows from Exact to Fishbowl. Since Fishbowl is on-premise, the customer must open network access and supply the server URL; ml-connector validates connectivity at configuration time. Every record carries a full audit trail for replay if a downstream call fails.

A real-world example

A mid-sized wholesale distributor in Belgium runs Exact Online for accounting and purchasing and Fishbowl Advanced on a local server for inventory and order fulfillment. Before the integration, the purchasing team created purchase orders in Exact Online and manually entered key data into Fishbowl's vendor and purchase order modules to keep inventory records current, a time-consuming process prone to errors. With Exact Online and Fishbowl connected, suppliers created in Exact automatically appear in Fishbowl's vendor list, and purchase orders sync without re-keying, so warehouse staff see real-time order status and inventory levels align with procurement without duplicate data entry.

What you can do

Sync Exact Online suppliers to Fishbowl vendors, keeping your vendor master data current across both systems.
Push purchase orders from Exact Online into Fishbowl on a polling schedule, with item details and order status.
Handle Exact OAuth 2.0 token refresh and Fishbowl session token management, including token expiry and re-authentication.
Accept Exact Online webhooks for purchase order changes when available, falling back to polling if webhooks are not enabled.
Store both credential sets encrypted and validate Fishbowl server connectivity at configuration time.

Questions

Which direction does data move between Exact Online and Fishbowl?: Purchase orders and vendor data flow from Exact Online into Fishbowl Advanced. Suppliers in Exact map to vendors in Fishbowl, and purchase orders sync from Exact into Fishbowl's inventory module. Fishbowl is polled for confirmation and status updates, but the primary data flow is inbound to Fishbowl.
How does the integration handle Exact Online's OAuth token expiry and Fishbowl's on-premise session tokens?: ml-connector refreshes Exact Online's access token before its 10-minute expiry and tracks the rotating 30-day refresh token to re-authorize if needed. On the Fishbowl side, it logs in with username and password to receive a session UUID token, stores it encrypted, and refreshes it before timeout to maintain a valid connection to the on-premise server.
What happens if Fishbowl webhooks are not available or enabled?: Fishbowl has no outbound webhook capability, so ml-connector polls Fishbowl's REST endpoints on a 5-15 minute schedule to detect purchase order and vendor changes. Exact Online webhooks are used when available for faster purchase order notifications, but polling ensures data stays current even if webhooks are not configured in Exact.

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