The information in this topic relates exclusively to Exact Online. It does not affect other platforms such as Yuki, Visma.net, Twinfield, Loket or NMBRS.
The information in this topic is not related to the changes of rate limits for Exact Online as of July 1; it is exclusively about expected issues around other API changes such as refresh tokens, error handling and “mandatory filtering”. Invantive SQL provides all APIs including support for the sync APIs.
Exact Online Changes effective July 1, 2021
Exact Online has indicated that as of July 1, 2021 it will make a number of breaking changes. As indicated last February, in the current approach, this is expected to be accompanied by production stops for products based on Invantive SQL. The main reasons this cannot be anticipated are:
- lack of clarity in specifications,
- lack of testing capabilities,
- unjustified email warnings about exceeding the new limits, and
- lack of support.
In addition, Exact Online has experienced several breaking changes in recent months that were not disclosed in advance, such as in the areas of traffic, error handling and token usage. Finally, a number of changes involve making concessions in the area of security contrary to the security standards prescribed by industry standards.
For Invantive SQL-based products, the rate limitation has no major implications. The sync APIs as far as stable are available and can be used for production purposes.
For more background information, please refer to:
- Impact Exact Online API adjustments July 1, 2021
- Je app heeft onderstaande API-limieten overschreden: Data Hub (Dutch)
- Itgenoda219 op Exact Online: Error "Old refresh token used." bij verbinden (Dutch)
- Itgeneor192/itgeneor229 Exact Online: no remaining capacity (Dutch)
Crucial date.
July 1, 2021 marks the start of a new VAT period and the conclusion of the previous one. Traditionally, these weeks are the most crucial periods. In addition, it is the start of the summer period.
The combination of a crucial date at the beginning of the vacation period and the expected and unpredictable failures over thousands of administrations simultaneously mean that Invantive anticipates that not the service levels can be realized that are needed.
Invantive feels responsible towards its users to deliver working software. However, as described above and previously communicated last February, we expect a large amount of problems with the current approach and need to make choices which product/market combinations will be prioritized. We also want to make it known as early as possible that there are discontinuity risks so that users are aware of them as early as possible.
Continued Products.
The following products will continue unchanged within their corresponding subscriptions:
- Invantive Cloud with Bridge Online and App Online.
- Invantive Control for Excel
- Invantive Composition for Word
- Get My Report
- Invantive Query Tool
- Currency Tools
Non- or diffrently-supported Products: Data Hub and Data Replicator
The following products will continue in combination with Exact Online only in a modified form within the corresponding subscriptions:
- Invantive Data Hub
- Invantive Data Replicator
Invantive Data Hub and Invantive Data Replicator predominantly run decentrally with large numbers of their customer servers that need to be individually customized. In addition, those servers are under customer control and not under the control of Invantive.
Given the unpredictability of the modifications and lack of control over the process, to mitigate the risks we can give users of Invantive Data Hub and Invantive Data Replicator two options:
- Terminate subscription agreement by July 1 and switch (if possible) to Invantive Cloud.
- Convert subscription to a new subscription with replacement of article 3 “incidents” and explicit inclusion of incidents caused by the Exact Online API changes as “force majeure”/“force majeure.”
Terminated all subscriptions to Invantive Data Hub and Invantive Data Replicator by July 1, 2021, taking into account the contractual deadlines. If continuation under the new conditions is desired, an email to support@invantive.com will suffice to have it transferred to the new conditions. Each user will receive an e-mail indicating that either option must be chosen. If no choice is made, the subscription will be terminated July 1.
With the second option (continuation without coverage on incident support), services based on Time & Material by Invantive or our partners can be used.
Should the expected risks be resolved or worsen, agreements will be refined if necessary. Users who terminate the subscription and have paid an advance will be credited the remainder pro rata.
Rate limits
The changes in rate limits are not a reason for this change in conditions. For both soft rate limits (per minute) and hard rate limits (per day), the Invantive products can work fine under the new limits.
The Invantive products support all Exact Online APIs.
The uncertainty whether the software will still work after July 1 is not related to the adjustment of the rate limits. It is purely about the fact that Invantive currently cannot estimate if and how many outages will occur, how severe they will be for users and whether they are solvable in a realistic amount of time. It is not possible for us to make this estimate in advance because there are no test environments and no relevant information is available.
This is apart from the fact that it is additionally not realistically possible for the large numbers of companies that Invantive runs for to plan, execute and live an upgrade plan in such a short time frame.
Workarounds
Using an on-premises tool such as Data Hub or Data Replicator is sometimes absolutely necessary because access to local resources is required. Currently, the following tips are available to still process data from Exact Online locally:
Other apps
You may receive emails about other apps that may not meet the new requirements from Exact Online. An example can be read at "Je app overschrijdt de nieuwe API-limieten in Exact Online" (Dutch). Other apps that your organization may also face uncertainty about required changes. Many apps use significantly fewer API links than the over 1,000 that Invantive users deploy. You can find an overview of the apps used as described at Hoe zie ik welke Exact Online apps wij gebruiken? (Dutch). It is worth considering asking the various apps whether they are sure that the app will continue to work undisturbed after July 1 and if not what the expected resolution times are.
Furthermore, it appears that the emails from Exact about exceeding API limits are not always correct: despite a warning about API usage, API usage may do meet the standards as of July 1, 2021. Unfortunately, we as Invantive cannot help with this within the coverage on support and the content of the email is not externally traceable or verifiable. When in doubt, please ask Exact Online support to share the traceable data.