Question 1

Does this replace Pastel or Sage?

Accepted Answer

No, and it is not trying to. Your accounting system keeps the ledger, the invoice numbers and the stock valuation. Marula Flow owns the operational side — where the order is, who is picking it, which truck it is on, and what came back. The two stay in step through the connector.

Question 2

Who is it actually for?

Accepted Answer

Businesses that take orders from other businesses and have to get the goods out the door — on your own vehicles, or off your counter. Wholesale, food and beverage, packaging, cleaning supplies, agricultural supply. The common shape is: repeat customers, order-specific pricing, and a day that has to be planned every morning.

Question 3

We are small. Is this overkill?

Accepted Answer

If one person can hold the whole day in their head, probably. The moment two people need to know the same thing about the same order — office and warehouse, or warehouse and driver — a shared board starts paying for itself.

Question 4

Our customers collect. We do not deliver.

Accepted Answer

It still works. An order can be marked for collection, and it then skips the delivery stage entirely — no vehicle, no run, no route, no stop order. You keep intake, the board, customer-specific pricing, picking, the short-and-damaged review, the back orders and the whole document trail; you simply never open the delivery side. Being straight with you: delivery is where this product has the most road behind it, so if everything you sell is collected, tell us early and we will show you that path rather than the truck demo.

Question 5

We already have an ERP. Why this?

Accepted Answer

Because the part that hurts is usually not the ERP. It is the run planning, the pick sheets, the short deliveries and the paperwork chase, which most ERPs treat as an afterthought. Marula Flow sits on top of what you have rather than asking you to replace it.

Question 6

What does the connector actually sync?

Accepted Answer

In: customers, branches, products, stock levels, price lists, customer-specific pricing and buying history. Out: the priced order, ready to capture, and the invoice number read back onto the order. Deliberately narrow — operational data lives in Marula Flow and is not read back out of accounting.

Question 7

Which systems do you connect to?

Accepted Answer

Sage 50cloud Pastel Xpress today — the on-premise desktop product, and that pairing is deliberate: Pastel keeps the books on its machine in the office, and Marula Flow puts the operational day in the browser for everyone else. The connector is a thin layer, so writing one for another system is real work but not a rebuild. If you are on something else, ask — that is how the next one gets built.

Question 8

Does it touch our accounting data?

Accepted Answer

It reads. Orders go across as a file your team captures the normal way, so nothing is posted behind your back and your accountant's process does not change.

Question 9

Where does the connector run?

Accepted Answer

On a Windows machine inside your own network, next to your accounting data, over a secure outbound link. There is no inbound hole in your firewall and your data does not leave your premises except as the specific records listed above.

Question 10

How long does it take to go live?

Accepted Answer

The board itself is days, not months. The connector adds setup time because it is real integration work on your hardware. The usual pattern is: run one delivery day on it alongside your current process, then stop doing the old thing.

Question 11

What about our history?

Accepted Answer

Customers, products and pricing come across through the connector. Past orders stay where they are — you keep your existing records and Marula Flow starts from the day you go live.

Question 12

Can customers order themselves?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with the portal. Each customer gets a login, their own prices and their own buying history, and can attach their own purchase order number. Their order lands on your board already priced.

Question 13

What happens when we need something it does not do?

Accepted Answer

You tell us and, if it generalises, it gets built into the product. Most of what is described on this site started as a working business saying "this part is still painful". Anything specific to only you is scoped and quoted before it starts.

Straight answers, including the unflattering ones.

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