Initial Configuration: General Information

Before you can start using the e-commerce functionality of MYOB Acumatica Retail Connectors, you need to set up a BigCommerce store, establish a connection between the MYOB Acumatica instance and the BigCommerce store, and perform the initial configuration of the connection.

Learning Objectives

In this section, you will learn what general steps are involved in establishing a connection between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store and in performing the initial configuration of these systems.

Steps for Establishing the Store Connection and Performing the Initial Configuration

In order to connect the MYOB Acumatica instance to the BigCommerce store, you perform the following general steps:

Set up a BigCommerce store.
Obtain the BigCommerce API keys.
Prepare the MYOB Acumatica instance.
Establish the connection to the BigCommerce store.
Perform the initial configuration of the store connection.
Configure the entities enabled for synchronization.
Start synchronizing data.

Each of these steps is described in greater detail below.

Setup of a BigCommerce Store

Before you can connect MYOB Acumatica to a BigCommerce store, you need to set up the store. For a test implementation, we recommend that you sign up for a BigCommerce trial site. For more information, see Initial Configuration: To Set Up a BigCommerce Store.

Obtaining of the BigCommerce API Keys and WebDAV Information

When you create a BigCommerce store in MYOB Acumatica, you need to specify the following details:

Store admin path, which is the URL of the BigCommerce store followed by /manage
API credentials (API path, client ID, and access token)

For details on obtaining API information, see Initial Configuration: To Establish and Configure the Store Connection.

Preparation of the MYOB Acumatica Instance

During the configuration of the connection to the BigCommerce store, you need to specify certain values coming from the MYOB Acumatica instance, such as the numbering sequence to be used for generating the identifiers of customers imported from the BigCommerce store, and the payment methods that will be mapped to the payment methods configured in the BigCommerce store. Some of these values can be defined at the time of the initial configuration. However, we recommend that the MYOB Acumatica instance be prepared in advance.

For more information, see Initial Configuration: To Prepare the MYOB Acumatica Instance.

Establishing of the Connection to the BigCommerce Store

Once you have captured the API account details for your BigCommerce store, you proceed to set up the connection on the Connection Settings tab of the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form. You specify the store name, the admin path to the store, and the API account details. Once you have specified these settings, you click Test Connection on the form toolbar to ensure that the data has been specified correctly.

Initial Configuration of the Store Connection

After you have successfully established a connection to the BigCommerce store, you perform the basic required configuration. This step involves the following substeps:

On the Entity Settings tab of the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form, you activate the needed entities—that is, you select the Active check box in the row of each entity whose records you want to synchronize between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store.
The synchronization of a particular entity may require that some other entities also be synchronized as a prerequisite. When you select the Active check box for such an entity, the system automatically selects it for all other entities required as a prerequisite. Similarly, when you clear the Active check box for an entity that is a required entity for other entities, the check box becomes cleared for all dependent entities.
In this substep, you also review the following default synchronization settings for each entity for which the Active check box is selected, and make sure the default settings are appropriate for your configuration needs:
- Sync Direction: The direction of the synchronization, which can be Import (data is imported to MYOB Acumatica), Export (data is exported to the BigCommerce store), and Bidirectional (data is both exported to the BigCommerce store and imported to MYOB Acumatica).
- Primary System: The system, ERP (MYOB Acumatica) or External System (the BigCommerce store), whose data takes precedence if conflicts occur during the synchronization.
- Real-Time Import: The status of the real-time import process. At the time of the initial configuration, this status is either Stopped (that is, real-time synchronization is currently not running in the Import direction) or Not Supported (that is, real-time synchronization cannot be started in the Import direction).
- Real-Time Export: The status of the real-time export process. At the time of the initial configuration, this status is either Stopped (that is, real-time synchronization is currently not running in the Export direction) or Not Supported (that is, real-time synchronization cannot be started in the Export direction).
- Real-Time Mode: The mode of the processing of the synchronization records, which can be either of the following:
  - Prepare: As soon as a push notification about a change to data is received, the corresponding synchronization record is placed in the processing queue.
  - Prepare & Process: As soon as a push notification about a change to data is received, the corresponding synchronization record is placed in the processing queue, and the data synchronization process is immediately started for the synchronization record.
- Max. Number of Failed Attempts: The maximum number of errors that are allowed during the import or export before the record is automatically skipped. By default, 5 attempts are allowed.
Although all settings except Real-Time Import and Real-Time Export can be changed, we recommend that you leave the default values during the initial configuration. For more information about configuring synchronization, see Data Synchronization: General Information.
On the Customer Settings tab, you specify the following settings, which will be applied to customers and customer locations imported from the BigCommerce store to MYOB Acumatica:
- Customer Class: The customer class from which default customer settings will be populated for new customers that are imported from the BigCommerce store.
  If the Multiple Base Currencies feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the Restrict Visibility To value of the customer class on the Customer Classes (AR201000) form should be set to the branch selected in the Branch box on the Order Settings tab of the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form or to the company this branch belongs to.
- Customer Numbering Sequence: The numbering sequence the system will use to automatically generate the identifiers of the customers that are imported from the BigCommerce store.
- Location Numbering Sequence: The numbering sequence the system will use to automatically generate identifiers of the customer locations (that is, addresses) that are imported from the BigCommerce store.
- Generic Guest Customer: The customer account to be used in orders placed in the BigCommerce store by non-registered customers. This customer account is used only if guest orders are allowed in the BigCommerce store.
If your company uses segmented keys that consist of multiple segments for customers and customer locations, you also need to specify the numbering templates in the Customer Numbering Template and Location Numbering Template boxes.
On the Inventory Settings tab, you specify the following settings that apply to inventory items:
- Default Stock Categories and Default Non-Stock Categories: The sales item categories that are assigned to stock and non-stock items, respectively, when the items are exported to the BigCommerce store, if these items are not assigned any item sales category in MYOB Acumatica.
- Related Items: The types of related items information about which can be exported to the BigCommerce store. In the drop-down list, you select the check box of each type of related items to be exported, and the system displays the selected categories in the box, separated by commas.
  If an item is specified as a related item of any of the selected types for a stock item or non-stock item on the Related Items tab of the Stock Items (IN202500) or Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form, information about this item is exported to the BigCommerce store during the synchronization of the Stock Item or Non-Stock Item entity, respectively.
- Default Availability: The default availability assigned to stock and non-stock items exported from MYOB Acumatica. You can select any of the following options:
  - Set as Available (Track Qty.): The exported items will be available in the store, and their quantity will be tracked.
  - Set as Available (Don't Track Qty.): The exported items will be available in the store, and their quantity will not be tracked.
  - Set as Pre-Order: The exported items will be available for pre-order—that is, the Purchasability of the items in BigCommerce will be set to This product is coming soon but I want to take pre-orders.
  - Set as Unavailable: The exported items will not be available for purchase—that is, the Purchasability setting of the items in BigCommerce will be set to This product cannot be purchased in my online store.
  Note: The default availability can be overridden for each particular item on the eCommerce tab of the Stock Items or Non-Stock Items form.
  If you select Set as Available (Track Qty.), in the When Qty. Unavailable box, you also need to select the action to be taken if after the synchronization of the Product Availability entity the item's available quantity becomes zero. You can select one of the following actions:
  - Do Nothing: The system should perform no action. The item's availability settings in the store remain unchanged.
  - Set as Unavailable: The system should make the item unavailable for purchase.
  - Set as Pre-Order: The system should make the item unavailable for purchase but available for pre-order.
- Availability Mode: You select which item quantities need to be synchronized with the BigCommerce store: all available items, items available for shipping, or items on hand.
- Warehouse Mode: You specify if you want to use all warehouses or only specific warehouses for quantity calculations. In the latter case, you need to specify the warehouses whose quantities are to be included in calculations.
  Note: If Multiple Warehouse Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS101000) form, you can specify warehouse locations whose item quantities should be used for calculating the items' available quantities in the BigCommerce store.
On the Order Settings tab, you define default settings for the BigCommerce store as follows:
- In the General section, you select the branch that will appear on sales orders imported from the BigCommerce store. The base currency of the branch must match the default currency of the BigCommerce store, which is displayed in the Default Currency box of the Store Properties section on the Connection Settings tab.
- In the Order section, you select the order types to be assigned to sales orders and return orders imported from the BigCommerce store and order types that should be exported to the store. Here you also specify if discounts should be aggregated on the level of the entire document or for particular items in the order (if discounts are provided), and select the non-stock item that will represent gift certificates that you can sell in the BigCommerce store and accept as payment. For more information about order synchronization, see Order Synchronization: General Information. For details about importing refunds from the BigCommerce store, see Importing Non-Card Refunds: General Information and Importing Card Refunds: General Information.
- In the Taxes section, you specify if taxes need to be synchronized with the BigCommerce store. If synchronization of taxes is enabled—that is, if the Tax Synchronization check box is selected—you can also specify in the Default Tax Zone box, the tax zone that the system will assign to imported sales orders if no tax zone was identified during the order import. In some cases, for example, if you use an external tax calculation service, you might need to always assign a particular tax zone to imported orders. In this case, you select the Use as Primary Tax Zone check box. For more information about tax synchronization, see Import of Taxes: General Information.
- In the Substitution Lists section, you can select the substitution lists that you will use to map tax codes and tax categories between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store.
  In this section, you can also specify a substitution list that maps Ship Via codes with the names of shipping carriers used in the BigCommerce store. During the synchronization of the Shipment entity with an external system, the retail-commerce connector checks whether a substitution value exists for the Ship Via code in the substitution list. If it exists, the connector will try to generate the tracking link based on the substitution value. Otherwise, the retail-commerce connector exports the Ship Via code as the carrier name, and the link is generated if the Ship Via code matches the carrier name.
On the Payment Settings tab, you map the payment methods defined in the BigCommerce store (that is, the values in the Store Payment Methods column) to the combination of the payment method and cash account defined in MYOB Acumatica (that is, with the values in the ERP Payment Method and Cash Account columns, respectively). To indicate that payments by a specific payment method should be processed in MYOB Acumatica, you select the Active check box for a particular store payment method; you can also indicate that payments based on a specific payment method that are imported from the BigCommerce store should be released on import automatically by selecting the check box in the Release Payments and Refunds column.
On the Shipping Settings tab, you specify the Ship Via options for the combinations of the shipping zone and shipping method configured in the BigCommerce store. For each combination of the store shipping zone and store shipping method, you can optionally specify the shipping zone and shipping terms to make the mapping more granular. The values specified in this table appear on the Shipping tab of orders imported to MYOB Acumatica from the BigCommerce store.
On the form toolbar, you click Save to save the settings.

Configuration of the Entities Enabled for Synchronization

For each entity that you want to synchronize between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store and that you have activated on the Entity Settings tab of the BigCommerce Stores form, you can also set up the mapping of custom fields for synchronization and synchronization filtering settings on the Entities (BC202000) form.

For more information about defining filtering and mapping settings for the needed entities, see Preparing Entities for Synchronization: Filtering and Preparing Entities for Synchronization: Field Mapping.

Synchronization of Data

After you have performed the initial configuration, you can start to synchronize data between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store. First, you perform manual synchronization for entities in a specific order. Then you set up synchronization to run automatically, either in real-time or according to a specific schedule. For information about synchronization, see Data Synchronization: General Information.