Meeting Title: Polytomic + Netsuite: ODBC Connection Date: 2025-03-18 Meeting participants: Nathan Yergler, Uttam Kumaran, Ghalib Suleiman, Alex K
WEBVTT
1 00:00:10.220 ⇒ 00:00:11.150 Ghalib Suleiman: Hello!
2 00:00:11.150 ⇒ 00:00:11.900 Nathan Yergler: Hello!
3 00:00:13.240 ⇒ 00:00:20.370 Ghalib Suleiman: I’ll drive this one, Nathan. Really, the premises just to learn. These guys want to. Netsuite integration. Seems maybe it’s suite analytics.
4 00:00:20.810 ⇒ 00:00:24.320 Ghalib Suleiman: But this is a call just to confirm what they need. So we know what to build
5 00:00:24.320 ⇒ 00:00:24.920 Nathan Yergler: Sounds good
6 00:00:31.260 ⇒ 00:00:37.309 Ghalib Suleiman: With Tom, who’s joining as the data consultants working with them. And then the other person is the employee of this company.
7 00:00:54.410 ⇒ 00:00:56.510 Ghalib Suleiman: Hey, Hi, Tom, how’s it going
8 00:00:56.510 ⇒ 00:00:57.500 Uttam Kumaran: Good. How are you guys
9 00:00:57.500 ⇒ 00:00:59.699 Ghalib Suleiman: Good, not too bad. Meet Nathan. Our CTO.
10 00:00:59.700 ⇒ 00:01:00.640 Uttam Kumaran: Nice to meet you next time
11 00:01:00.640 ⇒ 00:01:01.340 Nathan Yergler: Thank you.
12 00:01:01.340 ⇒ 00:01:03.139 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, thanks for taking the time.
13 00:01:03.290 ⇒ 00:01:03.770 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, yeah.
14 00:01:03.770 ⇒ 00:01:04.200 Nathan Yergler: Of course.
15 00:01:04.200 ⇒ 00:01:10.140 Ghalib Suleiman: I’ll happy to just drive this one or Tom. Really, it’ll just be netsuite diligence like I mentioned
16 00:01:10.240 ⇒ 00:01:10.820 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect.
17 00:01:10.820 ⇒ 00:01:14.019 Ghalib Suleiman: Just to see. Is it something we support? If not
18 00:01:14.601 ⇒ 00:01:17.319 Ghalib Suleiman: what’s the exact stuff we need to build? That’s all.
19 00:01:20.610 ⇒ 00:01:23.480 Ghalib Suleiman: Hey? There, good good afternoon.
20 00:01:23.480 ⇒ 00:01:28.540 Alex K: Hi! Afternoon, Alex, how are you? I’m Garland from Polytonic. I’ve got our CTO. Nathan on the line as well.
21 00:01:29.120 ⇒ 00:01:30.610 Alex K: Nice to meet you
22 00:01:31.350 ⇒ 00:01:35.370 Ghalib Suleiman: Likewise. Yep, Alex, actually, before anything, do you mind introducing your role
23 00:01:35.370 ⇒ 00:01:40.199 Alex K: Yeah, sure. I’m a head of engineering here at urban stems. So any of the
24 00:01:40.860 ⇒ 00:01:46.620 Alex K: stuff we have to build or implement. Usually. Yeah, it’s my responsibility. Right?
25 00:01:47.260 ⇒ 00:01:54.899 Ghalib Suleiman: Person we want to speak to. Then really, this call should be pretty brief. We’re here to just do diligence on what Tom had mentioned netsuite.
26 00:01:55.610 ⇒ 00:01:56.650 Ghalib Suleiman: And
27 00:01:57.290 ⇒ 00:02:05.810 Ghalib Suleiman: well, there’s regular netsuite, there’s netsuite suite analytics. There’s netsuite open air, which I believe is now renamed to suite analytics. Pro it’s really just understanding
28 00:02:05.970 ⇒ 00:02:12.379 Ghalib Suleiman: what exactly, is netsuite on your side. And what’s the data you want exported from it?
29 00:02:13.010 ⇒ 00:02:14.040 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, we subscribe.
30 00:02:14.040 ⇒ 00:02:22.659 Ghalib Suleiman: Or it’s some of these other ones. We can easily build. It’s really just us doing diligence so that Nathan can tell his team to get going on
31 00:02:22.660 ⇒ 00:02:38.202 Alex K: Absolutely so. The the keys for us are we use our transact like, what am I trying to say? Our operational integrations utilize their sweet talk. Api so like, that’s we’re kind of capped out on requests there. So what we’ve done recently is,
32 00:02:39.220 ⇒ 00:02:43.359 Alex K: you know, netsuite, in my opinion kind of sucks. So they make you buy
33 00:02:43.360 ⇒ 00:02:43.860 Nathan Yergler: The odp.
34 00:02:43.860 ⇒ 00:02:56.039 Alex K: Connection, right? So we had to shell out for that so that we could get the Odbc. The suite analytics, I think, is what it’s called. But basically so we could connect via that that Odbc driver to
35 00:02:56.680 ⇒ 00:03:03.430 Alex K: use their data in a way that wasn’t bottlenecking us because we were extremely bottlenecked during the last holiday period.
36 00:03:03.916 ⇒ 00:03:04.889 Ghalib Suleiman: You mean
37 00:03:05.610 ⇒ 00:03:10.719 Alex K: Yeah, they they have a lot of concurrency governance setups. Right? So like
38 00:03:10.720 ⇒ 00:03:11.250 Nathan Yergler: Yes.
39 00:03:11.250 ⇒ 00:03:37.599 Alex K: We we were, you know, to to be fair. We weren’t perfectly optimized right, but it was one of those things where we had a high scale holiday, and it was kind of the new, the new setup, because we had migrated recently to shopify as well. So it was a whole new integration. So we had some pains there. That that caused us to bust out the wallet for the Odbc, so we can isolate our bi flows right pulling all of our reporting analytics separate from our like actual calls that are manipulating data inside netsuite
40 00:03:37.620 ⇒ 00:03:43.390 Ghalib Suleiman: Hmm, yep, makes sense. And then, okay, all this makes sense, Nathan. Any questions from you, so far
41 00:03:44.796 ⇒ 00:03:50.270 Nathan Yergler: No. Yeah. Well aware of the concurrency limits. So it makes sense
42 00:03:50.270 ⇒ 00:03:54.429 Ghalib Suleiman: Yep. And then, as far as data to be exported for analytical purposes, is it
43 00:03:54.680 ⇒ 00:03:59.719 Ghalib Suleiman: just transactions, or is it other things in addition, or instead of
44 00:03:59.720 ⇒ 00:04:09.510 Alex K: Yeah. So what we did is we kind of hooked everything up in stitch, which is our current one of our current, like Etl vendors. And
45 00:04:09.610 ⇒ 00:04:32.190 Alex K: we pulled pretty much all of the item level stuff. The inventory, you know, balances locations, all that stuff, the inventory numbers we use that so pretty much all the inventory related items, and then the transactions related items right? So the transaction lines and etc, etc. The only other piece I think that we care about at the present is the
46 00:04:32.510 ⇒ 00:04:42.790 Alex K: just the main like account subsidiary. You know the the high level stuff. But essentially, we’re using netsuite right now as like a glorified inventory management
47 00:04:43.070 ⇒ 00:04:43.900 Ghalib Suleiman: Platform
48 00:04:43.900 ⇒ 00:04:54.409 Alex K: Right, so that those are the pieces like pos like, procure to pay all the way to you know, or order to cash right, tho those components of netsuite are what we care about most
49 00:04:54.560 ⇒ 00:05:01.809 Ghalib Suleiman: Yup, yeah, Nathan, so it seems like, there’s sort of a mix of netsuite vanilla, netsuite and suite analytics.
50 00:05:02.430 ⇒ 00:05:06.060 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think objects concerned
51 00:05:06.770 ⇒ 00:05:13.691 Nathan Yergler: Yeah. But I mean, the Odbc bit is the common thing, and that makes sense that you would. I want to isolate that. So
52 00:05:15.410 ⇒ 00:05:20.209 Nathan Yergler: yeah, I think just getting that that part enabled
53 00:05:20.640 ⇒ 00:05:23.720 Nathan Yergler: on our end would unlock most of these things.
54 00:05:24.030 ⇒ 00:05:27.950 Nathan Yergler: you know, immediately, and then there might be a couple of lead that are, you know, trailers
55 00:05:28.600 ⇒ 00:05:35.240 Alex K: Yeah, that that’s my understanding as well. Like, so far, we think everything that we’ve expected to get, because they’d also don’t give you like
56 00:05:35.950 ⇒ 00:05:37.280 Alex K: or anything right. They’re just like
57 00:05:37.280 ⇒ 00:05:38.160 Ghalib Suleiman: No, no, yeah.
58 00:05:38.160 ⇒ 00:05:39.640 Ghalib Suleiman: Find out? Right?
59 00:05:39.640 ⇒ 00:05:40.699 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, yeah. We know.
60 00:05:40.700 ⇒ 00:06:10.070 Alex K: Yeah, yeah. So we we we we everything. So far, we we got this deal signed last week. So we’ve been putzing with it for a week, and we think everything that we need is in that we can access via that Odbc connection. So like short term, we’re covered right? I think that’s like from from an analytics, you know, getting those analytics in but obviously, as we’re kind of shopping around to see like, what’s the best path forward for us right with these Etl tools. I think that’s why Utah wanted to connect us together, just to make sure that you know, cause, you know, if there’s other Odbc connections you have great. I just know that.
61 00:06:10.070 ⇒ 00:06:16.112 Alex K: Get it to work like with some of our lambdas. We gotta do some really wacky rolling of drivers right? So
62 00:06:16.400 ⇒ 00:06:20.179 Ghalib Suleiman: We? Yeah, this is which is our full time jobs in some sense with the team
63 00:06:20.180 ⇒ 00:06:22.259 Alex K: Right? Right? So like, yeah, you all know, that’s why
64 00:06:22.260 ⇒ 00:06:44.139 Ghalib Suleiman: It’s yeah, it’s it’s his netsuite, certainly one of the more painful, comprehensive ones. You know, like, I said, we have full support for regular netsuite, and then open air as well, which has been really old. And really it’s just the Odbc connection is the bit that we all our integrations are built on request. Hence, having this cold. And so it’s just a case of assigning supports here which you know, Nathan, not anything. Give you. The Heebie Jeebies here
65 00:06:44.280 ⇒ 00:06:50.670 Ghalib Suleiman: sounds like pretty standard stuff as far as our history. Okay, cool anything else needed from you, Nathan.
66 00:06:51.550 ⇒ 00:06:55.650 Nathan Yergler: Nope, I think that clarifies our I mean, I’m really just trying to understand the objects and
67 00:06:55.890 ⇒ 00:07:00.889 Nathan Yergler: got a good understanding or a good overview of that. And yeah, we need to work on this
68 00:07:01.660 ⇒ 00:07:07.569 Alex K: Yeah, I guess I guess that’s kind of like my, my follow up question is like, obviously A, you know, we’re not like under contract or anything right now. So like
69 00:07:07.570 ⇒ 00:07:07.930 Ghalib Suleiman: One more.
70 00:07:07.930 ⇒ 00:07:08.720 Alex K: Kind of
71 00:07:08.890 ⇒ 00:07:19.030 Alex K: like. Have there been other customers that this like falls under? Are we like the 1st one for y’all with that, or like, how how does that all work? I’m just trying to figure out like level of cause. I saw a good number of connectors. Right? I’m just curious
72 00:07:19.030 ⇒ 00:07:19.670 Ghalib Suleiman: How are you?
73 00:07:19.670 ⇒ 00:07:20.380 Alex K: Approach.
74 00:07:20.490 ⇒ 00:07:24.100 Ghalib Suleiman: In broadening that in general.
75 00:07:24.810 ⇒ 00:07:31.100 Ghalib Suleiman: actually, a bit of a stronger statement to make here. There’s a rule we actually don’t build connectors unless customers request them.
76 00:07:31.300 ⇒ 00:07:40.840 Ghalib Suleiman: And so customers span, you know something from the 2 person startups to see who do you know? On the larger side, Webmd, do you know Webmd Webmd is a customer. Octa is a customer
77 00:07:40.840 ⇒ 00:07:41.360 Alex K: Yeah.
78 00:07:41.853 ⇒ 00:07:50.809 Ghalib Suleiman: The whole Nfl League. These are ones I can mention every team in there, some pretty big situations, and whether we are small or large. We just don’t build them unless customers request them.
79 00:07:51.000 ⇒ 00:07:59.039 Ghalib Suleiman: And so that’s as simple as it goes as far as timelines. Typically, I think something
80 00:07:59.190 ⇒ 00:08:15.250 Ghalib Suleiman: an extreme. And suppose we had 0 netsuite support right? We had to connect to regular netsuite, which is a mix of rust and soap, and that whole circus, that sort of integration, if it didn’t exist, would I’d say, 3 to 4 weeks is fair game. So 3 to 4 weeks tends to be an extreme, and then
81 00:08:15.550 ⇒ 00:08:20.959 Ghalib Suleiman: our record has been 2 h from customer request to shipping, but we never promised that officially
82 00:08:20.960 ⇒ 00:08:22.019 Alex K: What? What was that for?
83 00:08:22.784 ⇒ 00:08:23.549 Alex K: This
84 00:08:24.050 ⇒ 00:08:29.239 Ghalib Suleiman: Security Company wanted an integration with Statsig.
85 00:08:29.460 ⇒ 00:08:35.750 Ghalib Suleiman: Statsake is oh, God! I know I’d be insulting if I call them an A B testing platform. But they’re
86 00:08:36.110 ⇒ 00:08:36.770 Ghalib Suleiman: basically
87 00:08:37.409 ⇒ 00:08:38.039 Uttam Kumaran: Basically
88 00:08:38.049 ⇒ 00:08:39.939 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, they they
89 00:08:40.432 ⇒ 00:08:50.749 Ghalib Suleiman: more than that. But yes, it was a a b testing platform that had them various collections from a rest. Api. But I’d say, yeah, something like this definitely falls in the
90 00:08:50.989 ⇒ 00:08:55.469 Ghalib Suleiman: I, Nathan, not to put you guys on the spot, but probably a 1 to 2 week, I’d say, Yeah, yeah.
91 00:08:55.470 ⇒ 00:08:59.080 Alex K: I’m not looking for timelines or anything. It’s just like we’re not a customer yet. That’s why I’m like wondering
92 00:08:59.423 ⇒ 00:09:06.969 Ghalib Suleiman: Here’s the thing to do right. The thing to do is for us to implement, and you just to try it out.
93 00:09:07.200 ⇒ 00:09:08.360 Ghalib Suleiman: And
94 00:09:08.910 ⇒ 00:09:15.870 Ghalib Suleiman: if it ends up doing what you want it to do, because I know, for your particular business. Mother’s day is probably sensitive.
95 00:09:16.070 ⇒ 00:09:21.250 Ghalib Suleiman: Mother’s day is coming up in may, and so on. And so somebody has prioritizes rather quickly.
96 00:09:22.000 ⇒ 00:09:29.629 Ghalib Suleiman: turn it on. Look at the data. If it does the job, then you can get going. Otherwise no harm, no foul. But you do get to try it.
97 00:09:30.710 ⇒ 00:09:31.420 Ghalib Suleiman: Does that make sense
98 00:09:31.420 ⇒ 00:09:34.570 Alex K: Obviously, yeah, that’s, you know, favorable to us. Right? So
99 00:09:34.570 ⇒ 00:09:37.370 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah. And that’s generally how we work the
100 00:09:37.880 ⇒ 00:09:48.470 Ghalib Suleiman: integrations markets is just. I’ve been in data for over a decade. And so integrations market is full of false promises. And so we are just very careful about telling people. Look, just try this stuff
101 00:09:48.950 ⇒ 00:09:53.480 Ghalib Suleiman: rather than you know bait and switch, or anything on that end of the spectrum
102 00:09:54.370 ⇒ 00:10:01.289 Ghalib Suleiman: makes sense. All we do is just build. You run, look at the data, and just work through. Or Tom, and let him know if that’s good enough.
103 00:10:02.890 ⇒ 00:10:03.950 Ghalib Suleiman: That makes sense
104 00:10:04.330 ⇒ 00:10:04.880 Alex K: Yep.
105 00:10:05.180 ⇒ 00:10:12.080 Ghalib Suleiman: Again, because if it’s not going to be you, someone else is going to be requesting us at some point, and so our general guiding light internally. Is is there some human being with a request
106 00:10:12.700 ⇒ 00:10:14.700 Ghalib Suleiman: has a serious problem to be solved
107 00:10:14.940 ⇒ 00:10:17.789 Ghalib Suleiman: that tends to be enough, whether they become a customer or not?
108 00:10:18.610 ⇒ 00:10:19.480 Alex K: Makes sense.
109 00:10:20.100 ⇒ 00:10:22.400 Ghalib Suleiman: Cool, Nathan. Anything else from you?
110 00:10:22.400 ⇒ 00:10:23.590 Nathan Yergler: Nope, I think that’s it.
111 00:10:23.760 ⇒ 00:10:29.800 Ghalib Suleiman: Okay. And you guys, Alex, you did say you signed a deal with Netsuite. So there is an instance ready to Odbc connect to
112 00:10:29.800 ⇒ 00:10:30.710 Alex K: Correct. Yep.
113 00:10:30.710 ⇒ 00:10:33.899 Ghalib Suleiman: Okay, cool. We’ll work with with Tom. Then on that
114 00:10:34.304 ⇒ 00:10:41.969 Ghalib Suleiman: at some point we’ll go through a time where you can, or maybe he can set up a connection so that testing can commence. It will be relatively soon
115 00:10:42.680 ⇒ 00:10:43.180 Alex K: Perfect.
116 00:10:43.180 ⇒ 00:10:50.840 Uttam Kumaran: And currently, it’s getting piped into redshift. So that’ll be the the destination. And then, yeah, as soon as you guys know what you need.
117 00:10:51.100 ⇒ 00:10:52.820 Uttam Kumaran: We can sort of get that set up
118 00:10:52.820 ⇒ 00:11:00.177 Ghalib Suleiman: Yeah, the 1st thing we’ll send you a link of a time to, we’ll get on our side people to spin up documentation online and just augment it with how to connect to
119 00:11:00.500 ⇒ 00:11:02.320 Ghalib Suleiman: or Dbc Netsuite connections.
120 00:11:03.150 ⇒ 00:11:05.689 Ghalib Suleiman: And then from there you can make the connection and we can get going
121 00:11:07.070 ⇒ 00:11:10.130 Ghalib Suleiman: cool. Okay. Nothing else needed. Alex. Thanks again. So much.
122 00:11:10.460 ⇒ 00:11:11.880 Alex K: Awesome. Yeah, it was great talking with you.
123 00:11:11.880 ⇒ 00:11:12.729 Nathan Yergler: Likewise nice to meet you
124 00:11:12.730 ⇒ 00:11:13.140 Ghalib Suleiman: Thanks.
125 00:11:13.140 ⇒ 00:11:14.650 Uttam Kumaran: Thanks everyone, bye.