Plex and Anaplan integration

What moves between them

Purchase orders, inventory balances, and GL accounts flow from Plex into Anaplan. After Plex data is mapped into Anaplan's planning modules, ml-connector starts a pre-created Import action to refresh supply chain forecasts and budget variance reports. Supplier and cost center reference data flows both directions so Anaplan forecasts align with Plex's chart of accounts and procurement taxonomy. GL postings are read-only in Anaplan, so ml-connector does not write actuals back to Plex.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector polls Plex on a configurable interval using the REST OAuth2 endpoint or SOAP API, filtering by modified_date to capture only changed records. For Plex SOAP, it authenticates with the username, password, and PCN (company code) to route to the correct data partition, and tests each datasource for duplicate behavior since semantics vary per customer configuration. On the Anaplan side, ml-connector stores the workspace and model IDs (lowercase and UPPERCASE hex respectively), starts a named Import action via POST with the Plex data as CSV payload, polls the taskId until status is COMPLETE, then verifies the import count. Rate limits on both sides are handled via exponential backoff. Every record carries a full audit trail and can be replayed if a downstream action fails. Plex role-based permissions are enforced on every poll.

A real-world example

A mid-sized discrete manufacturer uses Plex for production scheduling, purchasing, and general ledger, and runs Anaplan for quarterly supply chain planning and budget reforecasts. Before the integration, the supply planning team exported purchase orders from Plex each week and manually keyed them into Anaplan's procurement module, then refreshed forecasts by hand. With Plex and Anaplan connected, each week's live purchase orders flow into Anaplan automatically, the import action refreshes the supply chain forecast, and the planning team starts with current data without re-keying. Budget variance reports now compare actual GL balances from Plex to Anaplan forecasts, eliminating the stale actuals problem that used to plague month-end reviews.

What you can do

• •Sync purchase orders and inventory from Plex into Anaplan planning modules on a configurable polling schedule.
• •Trigger Anaplan Import actions to refresh supply chain forecasts and budget variance reports as Plex data arrives.
• •Map Plex GL accounts and cost centers to Anaplan's planning lists so forecasts align with your chart of accounts.
• •Authenticate Plex via OAuth2 or SOAP with PCN routing, and Anaplan via Basic Authentication or OAuth2, handling rate limits and retries.
• •Maintain a full audit trail on every record polled and imported, with replay capability if an action fails.

Questions

Which direction does data move between Plex and Anaplan?

Purchase orders, inventory, and GL accounts flow from Plex into Anaplan. Reference data such as suppliers and cost centers can flow both directions to keep Anaplan lists aligned with Plex. GL posting actuals in Anaplan are read-only, so ml-connector does not write forecast updates or adjustments back to Plex.

How does ml-connector handle Plex's role-based permissions and SOAP datasource variety?

ml-connector tests each Plex SOAP datasource for duplicate behavior at setup time, since semantics vary per customer configuration. The integration user is provisioned with the correct Plex role to access the entities being polled (suppliers, orders, inventory, GL accounts). If role permissions are insufficient, API calls return 403 or empty results, which ml-connector logs and surfaces via the audit trail.

What happens when Plex or Anaplan rate limits are hit?

Plex does not publish rate limits but returns HTTP 429 under load; ml-connector implements exponential backoff on 429. Anaplan enforces a strict 600-requests-per-minute tenant-wide limit. ml-connector tracks request counts, backs off and retries on 429, and reports sustained rate-limit hits via the audit trail so you can request higher limits if needed.