Multiple 1C Databases and Legal Entities in One B2B Portal: How to Set It Up
Contents
Corporate groups often grow this way: a new business line, a new region, or a new warehouse gets a separate legal entity and a separate 1C database. For a dealer, it is one company, but internally there are three databases with different directories. You can connect them to a single portal, but not through direct connections.
Typical situations
- multiple legal entities with separate 1C databases, shared product range;
- a parent company and regional branches with their own warehouses;
- manufacturing and a trading house in separate databases;
- one database handles accounting, while another manages the warehouse;
- part of the business runs on 1C, part on MoySklad.
Key questions
One product or three product cards
In different databases, the same product can have different codes and names. You need a unified directory on the integration layer side and a mapping table.
Whose client is this
A dealer may work with two legal entities under different contracts. The portal must know which legal entity and contract the order is placed under.
Where the order goes
A dealer order can contain items from different warehouses of different legal entities. You need rules: split the order, select one warehouse, or offer the dealer a choice.
Whose prices to show
Prices can vary by legal entity. The dealer must see the price that will actually be invoiced.
Architecture
| Layer | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1C databases | Accounting for its own legal entity, source of its own data |
| Integration layer | Collects data from all databases, matches records, maintains a unified model, routes orders |
| Portal | Shows the dealer a unified catalog with their prices and stock balances |
| CRM | The manager sees all client orders regardless of the legal entity |
Connecting each database directly to the portal works with two databases and breaks with three. Every new database adds connections without providing a unified picture.
Order routing
The most common options:
- By warehouse: items are distributed across databases depending on where stock is available.
- By contract: the dealer selects a legal entity, and the entire order routes to its database.
- By business line: different product groups belong to different legal entities.
- Hybrid: a primary rule plus manual review of edge cases.
It is important that the dealer understands the outcome: if an order is split into two invoices from different legal entities, show this before submission.
Reconciliation
With multiple databases, reconciliation is especially critical:
- whether all portal orders reached the right database;
- whether the totals match;
- whether any counterparties exist in one database but are missing in another;
- whether shared limits, if any, are calculated correctly.
Frequently asked questions
Can you merge the databases into one instead of integrating them?
Sometimes this is the right decision, but it is a major accounting project that affects bookkeeping and reporting. An integration layer lets you launch the portal without waiting for the merger.
What if one database runs 1C and the other runs MoySklad?
The integration layer connects to both systems through their data exchange mechanisms and aligns the data to a unified model.
How do you handle a shared credit limit across a dealer's group of legal entities?
You calculate it in the integration layer using data from all databases and check it with every order.
