Preparing Entities for Synchronization: Implementation Activity

In this activity, you will define a subset of stock items maintained in MYOB Advanced that should be synchronized with the BigCommerce store. You will also learn how to exclude a particular customer from synchronization, and map a custom field on the customer registration form in BigCommerce to the corresponding attribute form in MYOB Advanced.

Story

As an implementation consultant helping SweetLife to set up the integration between MYOB Advanced and the online store deployed on the BigCommerce platform, you need to configure the synchronization of only a subset of stock items that will be available for sale on the e-commerce website. The SweetLife store is going to sell jams, and all stock items that need to be prepared for synchronization belong to the Jam item class.

You also need to configure the generic retail customer, RETSALE, to be excluded from the synchronization processes.

Additionally, you want to update the customer registration form in the BigCommerce store to have an additional field that you use to collect information about the size of your business customers. You want this information to be imported to MYOB Advanced along with the other customer data.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will first review the stock items that need to be exported to the BigCommerce store on the Stock Items (IN202500) form. Then on the Entities (BC202000) form, you will configure the filtering options for the Stock Item entity to include in the synchronization only stock items of the Jam item class.

While remaining on the Entities form, you will set up the filtering options for the Customer entity to exclude the RETSALE customer from synchronization.

Finally, you will create a custom field on the customer registration form in the BigCommerce store, add the ORGSIZE attribute to the customer class of e-commerce customers (that is, the ECCUSTOMER class) on the Customer Classes (AR201000) form, and map the attribute to the BigCommerce organization size field on the Entities form.

System Preparation

Before you start the synchronization process, do the following:

• Make sure the connection to the BigCommerce store has been established and the minimum configuration has been performed, as described in Initial Configuration: To Establish and Configure the Store Connection.
• Sign in to the MYOB Advanced instance with the U100 dataset preloaded by using the gibbs username and the 123 password.

Step 1: Reviewing the Stock Items to Be Sold Online

To find the stock items that will be sold online, do the following:

1. Open the Stock Items (IN2025PL) form.
2. Filter the stock items to display only the items of the Jam item class as follows:
   1. In the Item Class column, click the column header.
   2. In the menu that opens, select the Equals filter condition.
   3. In the box at the bottom of the menu, type Jam.
   4. Click OK to apply the filter.

   Now all stock items of the Jam item class are displayed. These are the stock items that will need to be exported to the BigCommerce store.

Step 2: Configuring the Stock Item Entity to Export a Subset of Stock Items

To configure the Stock Item entity to export to the BigCommerce store only stock items of the Jam item class, do the following:

1. Open the Entities (BC202000) form.
2. In the Store box, select SweetStore.
3. In the Entity box, select Stock Item.

   Notice that this entity is configured to be only exported to the BigCommerce store (the Sync Direction is set to Export), and only two tabs, Export Mapping and Export Filtering, are displayed.

4. On the Export Filtering tab, add a row to the table, and in the row, specify the following settings to define the filtering condition:
   • Active: Selected
   • Field Name: Item Class
   • Condition: Equals
   • Value: Jam
5. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

   Now when you synchronize the Stock Item entity, only the stock items of the Jam item class will be exported to the BigCommerce store.

   Note: Filtering rules do not affect data that has already been synchronized. For example, if you first synchronize the Stock Item entity without filters, apply the filter described above, and run the synchronization again, previously synchronized stock items will remain synchronized; however, they will be excluded from subsequent synchronizations.

Step 3: Configuring the Customer Entity to Not Sync a Particular Customer Record

To configure the Customer entity to exclude the RETSALE customer from synchronization, do the following:

1. Open the Entities (BC202000) form.
2. In the Store box, select SweetStore.
3. In the Entity box, select Customer.

   Notice that this entity is configured to be both imported and exported (that is, Sync Direction is set to Bidirectional), so four tabs—Import Mapping, Import Filtering, Export Mapping, and Export Filtering—are displayed on the form.

4. On the Export Filtering tab, add a row to the table, and in the row, specify the following settings to define the filtering condition:
   • Active: Selected
   • Field Name: Customer ID
   • Condition: Does Not Equal
   • Value: RETSALE
5. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

   Now when you synchronize the Customer entity, the RETSALE customer will be excluded from the process.

Step 4: Reviewing the Organization Size Attribute in MYOB Advanced

Step 5: Adding a Custom Field to the Customer Registration Form in BigCommerce

To add a new field to the customer registration form in the BigCommerce store, do the following:

1. Sign in to the BigCommerce store by using the administrator credentials.
2. In the left pane, click Advanced Settings > Account Signup Form.
3. On the Account Signup Fields tab of the Form Fields page, which opens, click Create a New Field > Pick List.
4. In the Create a Radio Buttons dialog box, specify the following settings:
   • Field Name: Organization size

     This field name corresponds to the description of the ORGSIZE attribute in MYOB Advanced.

   • Instructional Text: Tell us how large your company is
   • List of Values:
     • 1-100 employees
     • 100-500 employees
     • Over 500 employees

     These values correspond to the descriptions of values of the ORGSIZE attribute in MYOB Advanced.

5. Click Save to save the new field.

Step 6: Mapping the ORGSIZE Customer Attribute in MYOB Advanced to the Custom Organization Size Field in BigCommerce

To map the ORGSIZE customer attribute that you configured in Step 4 to the Organization Size field that you configured in Step 5, do the following:

1. Open the Entities (BC202000) form.
2. In the Store box, select SweetStore.
3. In the Entity box, select Customer.
4. On the Import Mapping tab, specify the following condition:
   • Active: Selected
   • ERP Object: Customer → Attributes
   • ERP Field: Organization size
   • External Object: Customer → Form Fields
   • External Field / Value: Organization size
5. Click Save on the form toolbar to save your changes.

Now if a customer selects a value in the Organization size drop-down box on the BigCommerce registration form, after the Customer entity is synchronized with MYOB Advanced, the selected option will appear on the Attributes tab of the Customers (AR303000) form.

You have configured the filtering and mapping settings for customers and stock items and can now proceed to the synchronization of these entities.