Customer success story
Educate 360 replaced failing custom APIs across five brands
Five professional-training brands, one Salesforce org, one Business Central ledger and a layer of custom APIs that broke every time either vendor shipped an update. Rapidi replaced the lot with a no-code integration.
Educate 360 runs New Horizons, Project Management Academy, Six Sigma Online, Velopi and Watermark Learning. Salesforce handles sales and customer management, Business Central handles accounting, and custom APIs used to join them. They could not carry the volume, broke on every semiannual update, and needed a developer for any change. Rapidi now syncs 100+ transactions a day across all five brands, with no code.
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Summary
Educate 360 runs five professional training brands across multiple countries. The company uses Salesforce for sales and customer management and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for accounting. Before Rapidi, custom APIs connected these systems. Those APIs broke down under high transaction volumes, forced staff to enter data manually, and created inconsistencies across departments.
At a Glance:
Rapidi replaced the custom APIs with a no-code, bidirectional integration that now automatically handles all data transfers between Salesforce and Business Central.
I highly recommend Rapidi to anyone facing integration challenges. Its performance, reliability, and support have been outstanding. Rapidi is not a tool. It is a partner in our growth.
Who is Educate 360?
Educate 360 is an umbrella company in the professional training sector. Its brands share one mission: helping professionals and organisations gain skills for a technology-led economy.
The five brands under Educate 360:
- New Horizons: An IT certification provider specialising in technical development, cloud computing, information security, and government-sponsored training programs.
- Project Management Academy (PMA): Prepares project managers at Fortune 100 companies for business growth. Offers PMI certification exam preparation and Agile training.
- Six Sigma Online: Provides self-paced Six Sigma Certification training, a set of management techniques for reducing errors and improving business processes.
- Velopi: An Ireland-based enterprise project management training provider supporting multinational enterprises and government agencies across Europe.
- Watermark Learning: A leader in Business Analysis and Leadership certification preparation, focused on training, consulting, and coaching.
When Educate 360 acquired Project Management Academy and Watermark Learning, the umbrella company ran its own homegrown system for centralised customer and business management. Most of Watermark Learning's processes were still manual. Educate 360 needed to bring these into a single, standardised system.
Educate 360's Data Management Challenges
Watermark Learning was acquired in 2019, and most of its processes were still being run by hand. At the end of that same year Educate 360 implemented Salesforce, converting the homegrown system into Salesforce for most of the business. The Accounting Department used Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Connecting Salesforce and Business Central through Educate 360's central system meant building a range of custom APIs. This created three problems.
First, the custom APIs could not handle the volume of transactions generated daily by five brands. Syncs failed. Data sat in one system but not the other. Staff had no way to know which system held the correct record.
Second, every change to either Salesforce or Business Central risked breaking the API layer. Semiannual updates from Microsoft and Salesforce, along with API version changes, both required developer intervention to keep connections working.
Third, the custom setup required dedicated developer time for every adjustment. Adding a new data field, changing a sync rule, or onboarding a new brand all needed code changes. This slowed the entire organisation.
What Educate 360 Needed
- A direct connection between Salesforce and Business Central to replace the failing custom API layer.
- Automated data flow to eliminate manual data entry across systems and reduce errors.
- Real-time data sync so orders, customer details, class schedules, and shipping data stayed current in both systems.
- A no-code platform that their team could adjust without deep programming knowledge.
- Multi-brand support that could grow as Educate 360 acquired new brands or launched new services.
- High-volume transaction handling across all five brands without failed syncs or bottlenecks.
- Accurate data across platforms to remove the need for manual data cleanup between systems.
After exploring custom APIs , Power Automate, and other integration platforms, the Educate 360 team could not find a solution that handled their customised setup and transaction volume. Then they found Rapidi.
Rapidi is the way to go. It is the most cost-effective solution on the market, and it works.
How Rapidi Solved the Integration Problem
Rapidi built a complete, bidirectional data integration between Salesforce (CRM) and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (ERP) for Educate 360.
The integration now syncs the following data automatically between both systems:
- Customer and account records
- Open sales orders
- Invoices and credit memos
- Financial reminders
- Items, prices, and supplier data (from Business Central to Salesforce)
How the Integration Was Set Up
The initial setup required close collaboration between Rapidi and Educate 360's IT team. Educate 360's systems were heavily customised. Standard connectors alone would not cover every data point.
Rapidi started with pre-configured templates for the standard Salesforce-Business Central data flows: customers, contacts, orders, and invoices. Then the team mapped Educate 360's custom fields and non-standard objects to the correct destinations in each system.
Beyond the core data sync, Rapidi's solution also covers:
- Event management and logistics: Venue and location data in Salesforce corresponds to the matching fields in Business Central. Class schedules stay aligned across both platforms.
- Product catalog sync: Product details (event codes) in Salesforce map to dimension values in Business Central. When a new course or certification launches, the catalog updates in both systems.
- Order tracking: Tracking numbers flow from Business Central to Salesforce. Sales and support staff see shipping and delivery status without leaving Salesforce.
The Rapidi team was phenomenal. The combination of the flexible Rapidi tool and their assistance meant we finally had an integration solution that works perfectly to run our daily business.
Rapidi did an amazing job integrating our Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Rapidi is the go-to integration partner when you need integration between Salesforce CRM with Dynamics.
Rapidi's integration provides Educate 360 with full transaction transparency and the ability to generate detailed sales reports. Sales managers and executives work from a single source of truth that accurately reflects revenue across all five brands.
Results: What Changed After Rapidi
Manual data entry eliminated. Before Rapidi, staff entered customer records, orders, and invoices into both Salesforce and Business Central by hand. The integration now transfers this data automatically. Rapidi's no-code platform reduced manual data handling by 90% across all five Educate 360 brands.
Data accuracy across systems. Customer details, open sales orders, invoices, and credit memos now sync in real time. Staff in any department see the same information. Data cleanup tasks that previously took way too many hours per week dropped to near zero.
Multi-brand support without extra development. The integration covers all five Educate 360 brands through a single platform. Adding new brands does not require custom code or new API connections.
High-volume transaction processing. Educate 360 processes 100+ transactions per day across all brands. Rapidi handles this volume without the failures and bottlenecks that plagued the custom API setup.
No programming needed for changes. When Educate 360 needs to add new data fields, adjust sync rules, or onboard a new brand, their team makes changes directly in Rapidi's platform. No developer involvement is needed for standard adjustments.
Event management and logistics sync. Venue locations, class schedules, product codes, and shipping tracking numbers all flow automatically between Salesforce and Business Central. Sales managers see tracking data in Salesforce without switching systems.
Foundation for future growth. The integration lays the groundwork for future connections, including potential integrations with CRM Sales and HubSpot, without requiring complex programming.
The peace of mind Rapidi brings, knowing our data integration runs smoothly in the background, allows us to focus on our core mission of providing quality education. It is an essential part of our IT strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to integrate Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?
With Rapidi's preconfigured templates, a standard bidirectional integration can take as little as 3 hours . This covers customer/account sync, open orders, invoices, credit memos, and ledger entries. Custom integrations with non-standard fields or complex business logic take longer, typically days rather than weeks. Compare this to custom API development, which often requires 50 to 100+ hours per connection point.
What data types sync between Salesforce and Business Central through Rapidi?
Rapidi syncs customer and account records, contacts, open sales orders, invoices, credit memos , financial reminders, items, prices, and supplier data. All of these transfer bidirectionally. For Educate 360, the integration also covers event codes (product details), venue and location data, and order tracking/shipping numbers. Both standard and custom objects can be transferred through the platform.
Do I need a developer to maintain the Salesforce-Business Central integration?
No. Rapidi is a no-code platform. Your business team adds fields, changes sync rules, and adjusts data mappings without writing code. This is a common concern on the Dynamics 365 Community forum, where users report spending significant IT resources maintaining custom API integrations. Rapidi removes that dependency.
Why did Educate 360's custom APIs fail, and how did Rapidi fix this?
Educate 360 built custom APIs to connect their homegrown system with Salesforce. When they also needed to connect to Business Central, the API layer could not handle the transaction volume or the complexity of their customised setup. Common failure points with custom APIs include data format mismatches between systems, no built-in error handling for sync conflicts, and the ongoing developer effort needed each time either system updates. Rapidi solved these issues with pre-built connectors that handle data mapping, conflict resolution, and high-volume transfers without custom code.
How does Rapidi handle data conflicts when both Salesforce and Business Central update the same record?
Rapidi uses transfer logic that lets you define which system is the "master" for specific data fields. For example, you might set Business Central as the master for pricing and financial data, while Salesforce is the master for contact details and sales activity. For fields where both systems need to update records, Rapidi supports bidirectional sync with conflict detection. This is one of the top integration challenges cited on the Dynamics 365 Community and Salesforce developer forums.
What makes Rapidi different from Celigo, SmartConnect, or Power Automate?
Rapidi specialises in Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics integrations. The platform has preconfigured templates built specifically for Salesforce-Business Central data flows, reducing implementation time. Power Automate works best for simple trigger-action workflows. Rapidi handles complex bidirectional sync with high transaction volumes. Broader platforms like Celigo or MuleSoft support many types of integrations but also at higher costs and with a steeper learning curve. Rapidi has extensive expertise in the ERP-CRM integration space and has done so since 1996.
Is Rapidi a good fit for education and training companies?
Yes. Education and training companies have specific data needs: class schedules, course catalogs, venue management, certification tracking, and student/participant records. Educate 360's integration covers all of these through custom field mapping. Event codes in Salesforce map to dimension values in Business Central. Venue and location data correspond across both systems. This makes Rapidi a strong fit for training providers, online education platforms, and certification bodies that run both Salesforce and Business Central.
What happens to the integration when Salesforce or Business Central releases an update?
Rapidi is a cloud-based platform. When Salesforce or Microsoft releases updates, Rapidi manages connector compatibility on our end. Your team does not need to rewrite API calls or rebuild integrations after platform updates. This is a common frustration for companies using custom APIs, where a single Salesforce API version change or a Business Central semi-annual update breaks existing connections and requires developers to fix them.
Does Rapidi work within Salesforce API governor limits?
Yes. Salesforce enforces strict API call limits. Rapidi operates within these limits by batching requests and syncing only changed records (delta sync) rather than full datasets. Companies that exceed Salesforce API limits face failed syncs and data gaps. Rapidi's approach keeps API consumption within allowed thresholds while still delivering real-time data accuracy.
What security measures protect data during the integration?
Rapidi holds both Salesforce and Microsoft certifications. Data transfers use encrypted connections. The platform runs in the cloud with no data stored on local servers. Access controls let you define who manages the integration and what data each user sees. For industries with compliance requirements, such as education providers handling student data, this is a necessary baseline.
Take it with you
The whole story as a PDF
Five brands, a heavily customised setup, and a CRM and ERP deployed at the same time.
Is Rapidi the Right Integration for Your Company?
Do you need to connect Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central without building custom APIs?
Rapidi offers pre-configured templates that connect Salesforce and Business Central out of the box. You map your data fields through a visual interface. No programming is needed. Standard implementations take as little as 3 hours to bidirectionally sync customers, orders, invoices, and credit memos.
Do you have custom APIs and homegrown systems that need to work with Salesforce and Business Central?
Rapidi reads your specific Salesforce and Business Central configurations and supports custom field mapping. Unique data structures, non-standard objects, and business-specific fields all transfer accurately. Educate 360 had a heavily customised setup, and Rapidi handled every custom data point.
Do you run multiple brands or subsidiaries that need a shared data integration?
Educate 360 operates five separate training brands through one Rapidi integration. The platform handles data from all brands through a single connection. When you acquire or launch a new brand, you add it to the existing setup without building a new integration from scratch.
Gilmore adds one piece of context that makes the rest of the story sharper. Most Rapidi customers start with an ERP and add Salesforce later; Educate 360 deployed both at once. “In retrospect, it was insane,” he says, “but so even more crucial for us to find an integration solution that met our complex needs effectively.”
Educate 360 is a collective of specialised brands united by the mission to empower individuals and organisations with the skills necessary for success in a technology-driven economy. It offers integrated learning and development in Management & Leadership, Data Science and IT, tailoring programmes for every level from C-suite to entry-level: private group training, discounts on public courses, and on-demand training through a learning management system. Its specialisms are certification preparation, business analysis and skill-based training, and its brands include the Project Management Academy, established in 2009. More about the company at educate360.com.
Contact Rapidi to learn more about a tailored integration for your business.
Beate Thomsen, Co-founder & Product Design
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