Zoho Books and Fishbowl integration

What moves between them

The main flow runs from Zoho Books into Fishbowl. When a bill or purchase order is created or updated in Zoho Books, ml-connector detects it via webhook or polling and writes the purchase order into Fishbowl with the vendor and item codes mapped to Fishbowl's local product and vendor IDs. Vendors and items are synced in both directions so Fishbowl's reference data stays aligned with Zoho Books. The connector polls Zoho Books whenever a webhook is not received, ensuring no purchase orders are missed.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores the Zoho Books OAuth2 credentials (client_id, client_secret, and refresh token) encrypted and refreshes the access token proactively at 55 minutes so no request fails with a 401. It routes all Zoho Books API calls to the correct regional base URL determined from the OAuth2 token response and includes the required organization_id query parameter on every call. On the Fishbowl side, the connector logs in once per customer with the supplied username and password, caches the session token, and re-authenticates if a request returns a 401. When a bill or purchase order arrives from Zoho Books, the connector looks up the vendor and items in Fishbowl by code, verifies they exist, and writes the purchase order into Fishbowl via its REST API. If an item or vendor does not exist in Fishbowl, the record is queued for retry until the reference data is aligned. Because Zoho Books webhooks may be delayed or missed, ml-connector also polls the Zoho Books purchase order and bill endpoints on a daily or weekly schedule to catch any records that did not arrive via webhook. Zoho Books rate limits (100 req/min, daily caps per plan) are managed with standard backoff and retry logic.

A real-world example

A small manufacturing company uses Zoho Books for accounting and invoicing, and runs Fishbowl Advanced on-premise to track inventory and manage purchase orders for parts and materials. Before the integration, the procurement team received bills in Zoho Books, found the matching purchase order in Fishbowl, and manually added or updated the line items so inventory counts stayed correct. At month-end, discrepancies between Zoho Books bills and Fishbowl purchase orders caused delays in inventory reconciliation. With Zoho Books and Fishbowl connected, each bill or purchase order created in Zoho Books flows automatically into Fishbowl with the correct vendor and item codes, so the purchase order record is complete and inventory is updated without re-keying.

What you can do

• •Sync purchase orders and bills from Zoho Books into Fishbowl Advanced without manual re-entry.
• •Map Zoho Books vendors and items to Fishbowl product and vendor IDs for consistent reference data.
• •Handle Zoho Books OAuth2 token refresh and region routing automatically.
• •Authenticate to Fishbowl with session tokens and detect token expiry.
• •Poll both systems on a regular schedule and receive Zoho Books webhooks to detect changes without missing any records.

Questions

Which direction does data move between Zoho Books and Fishbowl Advanced?

The main flow is from Zoho Books to Fishbowl Advanced. Purchase orders and bills created in Zoho Books are synced into Fishbowl so your on-premise inventory reflects what you have on order. Vendors and items are aligned in both directions so Fishbowl's reference data stays consistent with Zoho Books.

Does the connector handle Zoho Books region routing and organization ID?

Yes. ml-connector stores your OAuth2 credentials and automatically refreshes the access token at 55 minutes so no request fails with an expired token. It routes all API calls to the correct regional base URL determined from the OAuth2 token response and includes your organization_id as a query parameter on every call.

How does the connector detect changes in Zoho Books if Fishbowl has no webhooks?

ml-connector can receive Zoho Books webhooks for purchase orders and bills if they are enabled in your account. If webhooks are delayed or missed, the connector also polls Zoho Books purchase order and bill endpoints on a daily or weekly schedule to ensure no records are lost.