LimeChain & Provide showcase how to synchronize Dynamics 365 & Google Sheets through the Baseline Protocol

The two companies have developed a demo showcasing how big businesses’ ERPs like Dynamics 365 can stay in sync with Google Sheets through the power of the public Ethereum mainnet.

About

LimeChain and Provide — under the umbrella of the Baseline Protocol — released a demo source code and video that shows how verifiably consistent records can be maintained between an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and a simple spreadsheet. This is another milestone for the Baseline Protocol initiative, which launched in March 2020 and released an integration between SAP and Dynamics 365.

The use case

Businesses spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ERP, CRM, and other internal systems of record. Failure to properly synchronize these systems between organizations causes disputes, lost inventory, inflated capital costs, regulatory actions, and other value leakages. To avoid these problems, systems need a common frame of reference, an integration layer that typically only the largest partnerships can afford. The Baseline approach uses the public Ethereum Mainnet as its common frame of reference, which means it’s always on, companies can’t be locked out, and firms only pay for what they use.

Most SMBs are heavily relying on using products like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to track and manage aspects of their business. It’s not uncommon for even more developed companies to use these products extensively despite having access to a more robust enterprise-grade business solution.

It is also traditional for bigger supply chain actors to work with a wide array of smaller companies that have niche specializations. These smaller manufacturers rarely have a business solution in place as they lack the resources to implement and support costly ERP software.

IDC estimates that as many as 30% of partners doing business with large companies are either too small or don’t do enough volume to warrant the cost and complexity involved in cross-company business process automation. They often resort to fax and PDFs. As many as thirty-three percents of these documents contain errors, with each error costing an average of $53.

LimeChain with the help of Provide has developed a demo with Google Sheets and Microsoft Dynamics 365 using Baseline Protocol as a way to create a common frame of reference. This approach creates multiple benefits for both bigger companies that already have ERP in place, as well for the smaller companies that are using spreadsheets as a business tool, allowing both parties to easily engage with each other.

The scenario that was created while validating the integration is one where data gets pulled and sent and exchanged from both the d365 and the system following these steps:

• A buyer using Microsoft Dynamics 365 sends an RFP to the supplier using a spreadsheet.
• A supplier is able to produce and send an offer to the buyer via the spreadsheet, which automatically updates the buyer’s Microsoft Dynamics365.
• The process continues with setting agreements in place and issuing Purchase Orders.

This is the second Baseline Protocol integration for Microsoft Dynamics 365. Our previous integration was released integrating Dynamics 365 with the SAP ERP solution.

With the Baseline Protocol approach and thanks to the public Ethereum Mainnet, there’s now a path to secure and verified data exchange with even the smallest partners.

More information on the demo and access to the open-source code can be found here.

About LimeChain

LimeChain is a Blockchain & DLT solution company. We help businesses in the area of digital transformation using blockchain. Our services range from custom development and consulting to Blockchain & DLT Education for both business and technical audiences. Our products and solutions are backed by Ethereum Community Fund, ETH Prize, and Maker DAO. The company’s flagship product is EtherLime — a dev suite for Ethereum. LimeChain is a contributor in multiple initiatives including Baseline protocol, Hyperledger, and many others. The company has over +70 completed projects with clients varying from startups for Fortune 100 companies. The company offices are located in London, UK, and Sofia, Bulgaria.

For more information go to https://limechain.tech/

About Provide

Provide Technologies offers low-code tools, protocols, and services that help organizations build and scale their blockchain investments. The company’s mission is to make application development accessible across any cloud or protocol. Provide’s tools take the time and complexity out of efforts to reshape markets through decentralization.

For more information go to https://provide.services

About Ethereum OASIS

Baseline is part of the Ethereum OASIS Open Project, which provides a neutral forum for supporting open-source projects and specifications that advance interoperability for blockchain applications worldwide. Ethereum OASIS communities work to develop clear, open standards, first-rate documentation, and shared test suites that facilitate new features and enhancements for Ethereum. The initiative is hosted by the nonprofit OASIS standards body. Everyone is welcome to contribute to Baseline, and suggestions for new Ethereum OASIS projects are encouraged.

For more information go to https://github.com/ethereum-oasis/