Visual Integrator is one of the most useful tools in the Sage 100 ecosystem when information needs to move between Sage and another business system.
It is also a tool that is easy to underestimate.
At first glance, Visual Integrator can look like an import-and-export utility. That is certainly part of what it does, but Sage designed it to handle much more than a one-time spreadsheet import.
What Is Visual Integrator?
Visual Integrator, often shortened to VI, is Sage 100’s data import and export tool for connecting Sage data with other applications and data sources.
Sage describes Visual Integrator as a way to facilitate integration between Sage 100 data and other business applications.
Depending on the job, VI can import information into Sage 100, export information out of Sage 100, or become part of a larger automated workflow.
That makes it useful for recurring processes where employees would otherwise re-enter the same information manually.
VI Can Import From ODBC-Compliant Sources
One important capability is Visual Integrator’s support for ODBC-compliant data sources.
Sage documentation states that VI can import from or export to an ODBC-compliant source without requiring an intermediary file such as an ASCII-delimited file or Microsoft Excel workbook.
That matters because many business systems already expose data through ODBC.
Instead of always creating a temporary file, moving it somewhere, and then importing it, VI can be designed to work directly with an appropriate ODBC source.
It Can Still Work With Traditional Data Files
Visual Integrator is not limited to ODBC.
Sage also documents import and export support involving traditional data files, including ASCII-delimited files.
That flexibility is useful because not every integration starts with a database connection.
Sometimes the source is a file produced by another application. Sometimes it is a recurring export from a customer, vendor, warehouse, or vertical software package.
The important part is that the process can be defined as a repeatable VI job rather than rebuilt manually every time.
Import Jobs Can Include Rules
A Visual Integrator job can do more than map column A to field B.
The Sage documentation describes conditional importing, allowing a value to be assigned based on another field in the incoming data.
For example, Sage gives the example of assigning a sales tax code based on the state in a customer address.
That kind of logic is important because real-world imports rarely arrive in the exact final form Sage needs.
A good import job often has to interpret, translate, validate, or conditionally assign information as part of the process.
You Can Test and Preview a VI Job
Visual Integrator includes testing and preview capabilities.
Sage documents a Test button that allows sample data to be viewed before committing to a full import. It can also sample an entire file and display or print import log statistics.
That is a very important part of building a reliable import.
The ability to test a job gives the person building the integration a chance to verify mappings and logic before the process becomes part of production.
VI Jobs Can Be Scheduled
Visual Integrator becomes particularly powerful when a job needs to run repeatedly.
Sage documents several scheduling methods.
A job can be run manually from an Integrator job menu, triggered through Windows scheduling or an external Windows program or script, or configured to run on a cycle inside Visual Integrator.
The Sage documentation gives examples of schedules such as once per day, once per hour, or once per minute.
That means a process that originally required an employee to remember to import a file every afternoon may be a candidate for automation.
Imports Can Be Chained Together
Another useful capability is job chaining.
Sage describes situations where one import can automatically follow another.
For example, a customer import could run first and an invoice import could follow it.
That matters because business data often has dependencies.
An invoice cannot be imported correctly if the customer it belongs to does not yet exist.
By sequencing jobs, Visual Integrator can help preserve the order in which related data needs to arrive.
VI Can Run Scripts and Additional Functions
Visual Integrator can also participate in a larger automation process.
Sage documentation describes the ability to run additional commands, scripts, or functions around job events.
That includes actions associated with events such as before a job starts or after a job completes.
Sage also describes the ability to run a script file automatically after a successful import.
This gives VI a role beyond the import itself.
It can become one step inside a broader workflow involving other programs or processes.
VI Can Export Data Too
Visual Integrator is not only about putting data into Sage 100.
Export jobs can move Sage 100 data to ODBC databases or ASCII-delimited files.
Sage states that export jobs can use the same kinds of logic and selection criteria available to import jobs.
That can be useful when another system needs a predictable set of Sage data on a recurring basis.
Jobs Can Be Moved Between Systems
Sage also provides job import and export functionality for the VI job definitions themselves.
A job definition can be exported for transport to another computer or location, and jobs created elsewhere can be imported and run.
That is useful when an integration is developed or tested in one environment and later needs to be deployed somewhere else.
What Kinds of Processes Are Good Candidates for Visual Integrator?
Visual Integrator makes the most sense when there is a repeatable data movement problem.
Examples might include:
- Importing customers from another system
- Importing invoices or transactions from a vertical application
- Moving recurring operational data into Sage
- Exporting Sage data for another business application
- Synchronizing information between systems
- Automating a recurring import or export process
The exact design depends on the source data, the Sage module involved, and what the business is trying to accomplish.
Visual Integrator Is Not the Same Thing as ODBC
ODBC and Visual Integrator are related, but they are not interchangeable terms.
ODBC is a standard method applications can use to connect to data sources.
Visual Integrator is the Sage 100 tool that can use ODBC-compliant sources as part of an import or export process.
A useful way to think about it is:
That distinction becomes important when deciding how an integration should be designed.
The Mapping Is Only Part of the Job
When people talk about imports, the conversation often begins with fields.
Where does the customer number go?
Which incoming column becomes the invoice number?
What does this date field map to?
Those questions matter, but a dependable integration also needs to consider the process around the data.
For example:
- Where does the source data come from?
- How often does the job run?
- What has to exist before the job runs?
- What happens when a record cannot be imported?
- How will the results be reviewed?
- Who owns the process when something changes?
A job that works once during setup is not automatically a reliable integration.
Testing Matters Here Too
The same philosophy we use for Sage upgrades applies to integrations: test before making production the experiment.
Source data changes.
Field formats change.
Another application may begin producing a value nobody expected.
A customer may add a new location, tax code, product, or transaction type.
A Visual Integrator job should be understood well enough that those changes can be identified and addressed instead of becoming mysterious accounting problems later.
Visual Integrator Can Turn Manual Work Into a Process
That is probably the best way to understand what VI actually does.
It takes a recurring data-movement task and gives it structure.
The source can be defined.
The mappings can be defined.
Conditional logic can be applied.
The job can be tested.
The process can be scheduled.
Multiple jobs can be sequenced.
Additional scripts can be triggered.
And the same process can be run again without rebuilding it from scratch.
For companies where Sage 100 needs to exchange information with another application, that can make the difference between an integration people trust and a spreadsheet ritual somebody has to remember every Friday afternoon.