Sage 50 and Fishbowl integration

What moves between them

The main flow runs from Sage 50 into Fishbowl. Vendors created or modified in Sage 50 are synced to Fishbowl's vendor master on a polling schedule. Purchase orders and inventory changes are also polled from Sage 50 and pushed into Fishbowl to keep stock levels and purchase commitments in sync. Inventory counts, parts, and orders created in Fishbowl may be read back into Sage 50 on the same cadence to prevent divergence. Both systems are queried by date range (LastModifiedDate in Sage 50, creation/modification timestamps in Fishbowl) on intervals of 5-15 minutes.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector runs on a Windows machine with Sage 50 installed and the SDK configured. It authenticates to Sage 50 using the supplied username, password, company data path, and (for US edition) ApplicationID, then queries modified records since the last poll. For Fishbowl, it connects to the customer-supplied server URL and port, logs in once per session, and refreshes the bearer token if a request returns 401. Vendors and purchase orders are matched by external ID or name; inventory items are matched by SKU or part number. Because Sage 50 uses local file access and Fishbowl uses HTTP, ml-connector handles the transport layer differences, retries poll requests if the server is temporarily unavailable, and maintains a transaction log of every vendor, PO, and inventory record moved between the systems. Sage 50's exclusive-access constraint means the polling session must not overlap with interactive Sage 50 usage.

A real-world example

A mid-sized distributor runs Sage 50 on a Windows server for accounting and Fishbowl Advanced on-premise for inventory and order management. Before the integration, the warehouse team created new vendors in Fishbowl and the accounting team separately entered them in Sage 50, leading to duplicate vendor records and mismatched payment terms. Purchase orders were planned in Fishbowl but had to be manually keyed into Sage 50 to match the accounting records. With Sage 50 and Fishbowl connected, vendors created in Sage 50 flow to Fishbowl automatically, and purchase orders sync in both directions, so the warehouse sees the orders the accountant approved and the accountant sees what the warehouse committed to. Inventory counts taken in Fishbowl also update Sage 50 so the general ledger and the warehouse are in agreement.

What you can do

• •Sync vendors and vendor master data from Sage 50 to Fishbowl, keeping the two vendor lists in agreement.
• •Move purchase orders from Sage 50 to Fishbowl to track purchasing commitments in both systems.
• •Sync inventory items and stock counts between Sage 50 and Fishbowl, preventing divergence between accounting and warehouse records.
• •Authenticate Sage 50 with Windows-local credentials and SDK configuration, and Fishbowl with session tokens over REST.
• •Poll both systems on a schedule, handle retries, and maintain a full audit trail of every record moved.

Questions

How does ml-connector handle Sage 50 running only on Windows?

ml-connector runs on a Windows machine where Sage 50 is installed and the SDK is configured. It authenticates using the Windows-local username and password, company data path, and application ID (US edition only), then polls the Sage 50 SDK directly for modified records. This approach avoids the need for remote APIs while keeping the polling process local.

Which direction does data move between Sage 50 and Fishbowl?

Vendors and purchase orders primarily flow from Sage 50 into Fishbowl, so the warehouse sees what accounting has approved. Inventory counts and modifications can flow back from Fishbowl to Sage 50 so the GL is in sync with the warehouse. Both systems are polled on the same cadence to catch changes in either direction.

Does the integration require Fishbowl to be on the same network as Sage 50?

Fishbowl runs on a customer-supplied server at a URL and port that ml-connector connects to over HTTP/HTTPS. Sage 50 runs locally with the SDK, so the Windows machine running ml-connector must have network access to both the Sage 50 company files and the Fishbowl server URL.