Integration with Other Applications > Introduction to Windchill ESI > Using ERP Connector > Technical Overview of ERP Connector
  
Technical Overview of ERP Connector
The following outlines the functions of the key components of an ERP Connector system.
Info*Engine provides the standard interface to Windchill, creating a single channel to multiple external environments.
ERP Connector interfaces with the ESI Services to produce output from Windchill in a format that can be easily accepted by one of the three types of distribution targets. This output can be processed and mapped to a distribution target such as a file system. The output from Windchill is in XML format.
ERP Connector does not contain the middleware business logic that would allow for two-way communication. Instead, ERP Connector communicates in one direction only (from Windchill PDMLink to the distribution target).
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ERP Connector can be configured to work with closed loop transactions. With such a configuration in place, and with the relevant customizations, it is possible to achieve a two-way communication between Windchill and the distribution target. For more information, see Introduction to ERP Connector.
ERP Connector allows for the manual customization of all Windchill components in order to create business objects in a format that is acceptable for each individual distribution target.