Choose the right way – Integrate your webshop in the best way

It is well known to everyone that integrating different software solutions can be a very stressful and painful process. If we do not know well enough the software solutions we want to integrate, as well as their method of operation, specificity, and limitations; integration can take a long time and can eventually lead to the abandonment of integration. Otherwise, if we know our business processes well, the software we use, its limitations and specifics, as well as the software we want to integrate into one complex system; the integration process can be simple and fast. So, how you will experience the integration process depends only on you, your knowledge and willingness to improve and elevate your information system to a new level. In order to help you integrate ERPAG as easily as possible with your webshop, we will give you some tips below and explain the specifics of ERPAG and webshop. This text is about integration with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and Square platforms. Before reading this text, you are also advised to read the instructions for integrating each of these stores individually:

Shopify – https://www.erpag.com/news/shopify-and-erpag-integration

WooCommerce – https://www.erpag.com/news/woocommerce-and-erpag-integration

Magento – https://www.erpag.com/news/magento-and-erpag-integration

Square – https://learn.erpag.com/project/integration/square

So, we will continue with a thought that you have read and understood the integration process outlined in the links above, and we will move on further.

Choose the right way

The order of steps that you need to take during initial integration depends on whether you already have a webshop before you became an ERPAG user (hereinafter referred to as Situation 1); are you an ERPAG user and are now opening a new webshop (hereinafter referred to as Situation 2); or you already have a webshop that you use independently of ERPAG and now want to link them (hereinafter referred to as Situation 3)). The difference is significant because you certainly do not want to overwrite some of the information if you already have a webshop. The most important thing to remember is that no matter what the situation, ERPAG always syncs (pairs) products based on SKU; that is, a product in a webshop that has an identical SKU with a product in ERPAG. In the webshop for each product, you MUST have a UNIQUE SKU, otherwise, ERPAG will not allow synchronization until the problem is resolved.

Situation 1 – I already have a webshop and I want to link it to my new ERPAG account

In this situation, you certainly don’t want to transfer over the dummy and unverified data from ERPAG to your existing webshop.

With new ERPAG users, this is a common case. You created a new ERPAG account and found dummy data there. You may have entered another item yourself and tried to understand how ERPAG works. Now you have decided to connect your webshop to find out how ERPAG integration works.

Since you already have dummy data in ERPAG, you must delete it. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin – Database/Backup

• If you want to keep basic ERPAG settings (localization, email accounts, warehouses, entered products, etc.), hit the “Delete all transaction” button
• If you don`t want to keep ERPAG data (all data and settings), hit the “Clean database” button

2. Go to Inventory – Products and Services

3. Go to Sales – Webshops and enter webshop settings. Mark fields as following:

• Update Qty to webshop – NO
  • Conflict resolver
    1. Product – WebShop win
    2. Price – Webshop win
  • Verify API connection – hit Verify button
  • Save changes – hit SAVE button

Why did we set the parameters in this way? The answer is very simple. We want to download the data from the webshop to ERPAG, and at the same time we do not want to send quantities for products (which initially there are none in ERPAG) to the webshop, and thus possibly prevent customers from purchasing from our webshop.

4. From the Product and Services list hit the webshops button

a. Choose your webshop (it will be displayed by name)
b. Wait until ERPAG is getting is all necessary information about products, product variations, categories, etc. from a webshop (it may take a couple of seconds to 10-15 minutes and it depends on the number of products and number of product variations)

When downloading the product list, ERPAG will first perform a logical check of the data received, as well as whether each product individually has a unique SKU. In the event that some items have duplicate SKUs (some webshops support this feature), or if SKU does not exist, ERPAG will interrupt the download process and allow you to view the list of problematic products. You must first correct such products in your webshop and then repeat the download process.

When downloading data from the webshop, ERPAG checks the product types. Depending on the webshop platform, product types may be different, or each platform names them differently (see the comparative table of product types at the end of the blog).

Upon successful completion of synchronization, products will appear in ERPAG. It is important to know that ERPAG will download all products from the webshop product list that are active, it will not download the ones that are temporarily excluded and that are in the webshop Trash.

Situation 2 – I have ERPAG account and I want to send products from ERPAG to my new webshop

In this case, your webshop should be empty, eg. you shouldn’t have any products entered. Before sending products to your webshop, setup the webshop in ERPAG as follows:

1. Go to Sales – Webshops and enter the webshop settings. Mark fields as following:
   • Update quantity to webshop – YES
   • Conflict resolver:
     1. Product – ERPAG win
     2. Price – ERPAG win
   • Verify API connection – hit Verify button
   • Save changes – hit SAVE button

2. Before synchronization, it is very important that we first select (configure) the products we want to send to the webshop, which means that we do not have to sync all the products. ERPAG allows you to choose your products through the BULK ACTION option or by entering each product individually and changing the syncing settings.

The advantage of the BULK ACTION option is the quick marking of the products we want to synchronize, however, each product will be individually set to default values.

To customize each product individually, you need to open the product and choose which webshop you want to sync with.

After selecting a webshop, a separate panel will appear for each selected webshop, where you can adjust the data for each webshop individually (see also the photo at the bottom of the text).

To know which products will sync with the webshop, just look at the Webshops column in the product list.

3. In the end, activate option Webshops by clicking on the button and choose with which webshop you want to synchronize.

4. After the synchronization is completed, log in to your webshop and check the items you synced.

Note: ERPAG sends to your webshop a basic set of product information that is required for the product to be displayed on your shop. However, a successful shop requires much more than basic information. These are one or more gallery related photos, SEO optimizations, related or similar articles, detailed descriptions and more. Each webshop platform also allows you to download additional plugins that will allow you to customize your webshop. ERPAG does not have the ability to recognize thousands of different plugins, so synchronization works at a basic level. Therefore, we recommend that when you initially submit items to the webshop, any subsequent changes to the products (except possibly prices and quantities) work on the webshop, but be sure to correct the parameter in the webshop settings – Conflict resolver – Product – Webshop wins. This will allow the product to be promoted on the webshop and, by synchronization from ERPAG, the product will not reset to a predefined value.

Situation 3 – I already have a webshop which works independently from ERPAG, but now I want to connect them

This is logically the most complex case and requires special attention given that there is already data in both ERPAG and the webshop and we do not want confidential information (products we do not want to sell, wholesale or price tiers prices, etc.) appear on the webshop. it is very important to configure the Conflict resolver correctly, as we do not want to overwrite the data in the webshop. It is important to note again that synchronization is based on pairing products on both sides based on SKU. As for the data already entered in the ERPAG, there will be no problem, since the data coming from the webshop is entered in a separate panel intended for the webshop, and the synchronization will flow according to the following conditions:

• If there is a product in the webshop and it does not exist in the ERPAG; a new product will be created in ERPAG
• If there is a product in ERPAG that is marked for synchronization with the webshop and does not exist in the webshop; a new product will be created in the webshop
• If there is a product on both sides with an identical SKU; then synchronization will be performed based on the defined Conflict resolver:
  • ERPAG wins – the product information in the webshop will be overwritten with the information defined in the * panel for the product from ERPAG
  • Webshop wins – Product information in panel * from ERPAG will be overwritten with information defined in the webshop
    • *(please view the picture of the panel at the bottom of the text)

Therefore, the webshop settings should be set up as follows:

1. Go to Sales – Webshops and enter webshop settings:
   • Update Qty to webshop – YES or NO (depends on your needs)
   • Conflict resolver
     1. Product – Webshop win
     2. Price – ERPAG win or Webshop win (depends on your needs)
   • Verify API connection – hit Verify button
   • Save changes – hit SAVE button

In this configuration, one logical question arises: Why should a conflict resolver be set for a product as Webshop win? The answer is simple. We want to get the data from the webshop into ERPAG without simultaneously allowing the product already set up in the webshop (image galleries, SEO optimization, linked products, etc.) to be overwritten with default values from ERPAG.

2. From product and Services list hit the Webshops button

• Choose your webshop (it will be displayed by name)
• Wait until ERPAG is getting all necessary information about products, product variations, categories, etc. from the webshop (it may take couple of seconds to 10-15 minutes and it depends on the number of products and number of product variations)

When synchronizing the product list, ERPAG will first perform a logical check of the data received and whether each product individually has a unique SKU. In the event that some items have duplicate SKUs (some webshops support this feature), or if SKU does not exist, ERPAG will interrupt the download process and allow you to view the list of problematic products. You must first correct such products in your webshop and repeat the synchronization process.

Synchronizing Sales Orders from the webshop

Initially, by default ERPAG will get orders from the last month. After it successfully syncs, ERPAG will remember the last sync date, so the next sync will be after that date. If you want to get orders from the previous period:

1. Go to Sales – WebShops and enter the webshop settings
2. Update “Synchronized” date to a new date
3. Save Changes – hit SAVE button

4. From Sales Order list click on the Synchronization button (from the right side menu)

• Choose your webshop (it will be displayed by name)
• Wait until ERPAG is getting information about webshop orders. It may take couple of minutes and depends on number of new orders. If there are orders that have already been downloaded, they will be ignored. Also, if some orders contain items that do not exist in ERPAG product and services list, ERPAG will try to get product information first.

5. In the end, if you have pop-up info about drafted orders in ERPAG, that means that some orders have items that don’t exist at both sides (ERPAG and Webshop), so ERPAG can’t detect the right SKUs used in the webshop. In that case, you have to manually edit these orders.

The Panel view in the product window, with an example where the product is synced with multiple webshops:

The comparative table of product types in ERPAG and webshops