Can you explain the Order Import Process?
Converting a website cart to an ERP order consists of gathering cart data from the website and importing that data into the ERP system.
The WebAlliance Order Exporter (the exporter)
The WebAlliance exporter polls the website every 60 seconds looking for carts that have been purchased.
When it finds a new cart, it creates the needed files in the correct format as required by the ERP system to import the order.
The files are saved in a particular location (specified when setting up the import in the ERP system).
Once the files are saved, the WebAlliance system polls the file location "watching" for the ERP system to complete the import.
After the import is complete, WebAlliance reads the order number and error information (if it exists) and updates the website.
Web Cart Statuses
- PENDING - The cart has been submitted online
- PROCESSING - The cart is on its way into the ERP but the website has not received a status update from the ERP system
- PROCESSED - The cart imported successfully into the ERP system. The "ERP Number" field should be updated at this point.
- ABORTED - The cart was not able to successfully import into the ERP system. The website will display a message sent back by the ERP to explain what went wrong.
The Scheduled Import Service Manager is located in the "Setup" section in the "Import" folder
After selecting the Scheduled Import Service Manager, click the "Start" button to begin importing orders into P21
The P21 Scheduled Import Service (the importer)
The scheduled import service manager is a function that is started inside of a P21 session.
While the importer is running, it polls a specified location looking for new files to import.
When it sees a new set of files, it creates a new order from the data in those files, then saves the response files that indicate whether the import was successful.
This process repeats at a specified interval as long as the importer is running (and the P21 system isn’t shut down).
After starting the importer, that client cannot interact with P21 anymore until the scheduler is stopped. This means that in most cases the importer runs on a dedicated client or RDP session.
The scheduled import service is commonly run on the SQL box because it needs to be restarted any time the system has gone down for any reason.
For P21, the cart number imports as the Web Reference Number in Order Entry.
For TrulinX, the cart number imports as the Mark Number.