# “We will connect it to your existing system.” What needs checking first?

A single integration requirement can hide substantial work. Check data access, documentation, the other supplier’s fees and failure handling.

An integration may occupy one line in the brief and still require coordination between teams at different companies with different schedules. Before asking for a price, investigate both ends of the connection.

Start with a sentence: “System A sends data X to system B when Y happens.” If you cannot complete it, speak to the people who use that information before defining the technical work.

## Describe what moves and when

Name the information: a case identifier, status, date or attachment. Record the direction, expected frequency and which system takes precedence when records disagree. “Data synchronisation” does not answer these questions.

Include a failure scenario. What should staff see when the other system is unavailable? Will the operation be retried, and how will duplicate submissions be prevented? These questions expose work that may never appear in a design mockup.

## Check whether the team can actually start

Ask the existing system's owner for interface documentation, a test environment and a technical contact. Establish whether enabling access requires a separate service or fee. “We have an API” does not confirm that the operations you need are available.

Record who provides test data, issues access and approves the result. Put these dependencies in the schedule rather than treating them as background administration.

## Price the unknowns separately

If documentation is incomplete, consider a separate technical investigation. Its deliverable should describe a workable connection, its limitations and the remaining work. That makes clear what answer you are paying for.

Before approving the budget, check that it covers both suppliers' work and responsibility for later interface changes. Your main contractor may have priced its own part accurately while the overall connection remains underfunded. A complete estimate needs the other side of the integration too.

Źródło: https://tender.rtfct.com/en/blog/integrations-what-to-clarify-before-pricing/