Detailed project case study
Real-Time API Fulfilment Transformation
A shift from four-hour EDI batches to API-led order movement that completed in as little as sixty seconds.
Transformed fulfilment from slow batch processing into real-time API-driven order movement, reducing processing from hours to seconds while improving reliability and visibility.
Context
Retail and fulfilment operations depended on a brittle mix of EDI messages, FTP drops, files and custom mappings. Slow batches and opaque failures delayed orders and left service teams without a clear explanation.
My mandate
Replace slow, opaque fulfilment hand-offs with an observable integration model while orders continued to move across live partners and internal platforms.
Scope
- Business-critical order flows
- Retailers, carriers and trading partners
- EDI, files, APIs and middleware
- Order, inventory, shipment and cancellation data
Selected technologies
Key decisions
- Introduce APIs around a controlled coexistence model rather than attempt an unsafe big-bang replacement of every EDI flow.
- Make traceability, retry handling and exception ownership part of the architecture.
What the team delivered
- Designed a controlled API and middleware model for routing, transformation, validation and synchronisation.
- Connected orders, inventory, shipments, status and cancellation flows across partners and internal platforms.
- Introduced message traceability, operational monitoring, exception queues and retry handling.
Trade-offs
Speed could not come at the cost of traceability or partner compatibility; legacy and modern integration patterns had to coexist safely.
Outcome
Reduced from a four-hour EDI batch cycle.
Evidence available in interview.- Reduced fulfilment processing from four hours to as little as sixty seconds.
- Improved real-time order visibility and made rejected messages actionable.
- Created a scalable integration pattern for retailers, carriers and trading partners.
Evidence
Operational timestamps measured the reduction from four-hour batches to flows completing in as little as sixty seconds.
What this demonstrates
Integration architecture, operational reliability and delivery across legacy and modern platform boundaries.