Synchronizing Customers: To Synchronize Customers with Multiple Locations

The following activity will walk you through the process of setting up the synchronization of customer locations and performing the synchronization of customers with locations between MYOB Acumatica and the BigCommerce store.

Attention: The following activity is based on the U100 dataset.

Story

Suppose that the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company works with corporate customers that order items to be delivered to multiple locations. The company's sales managers keep track of customer addresses by using the customer address book functionality in the BigCommerce store and need the addresses from the BigCommerce store to be in sync with customer locations in MYOB Acumatica.

Acting as an implementation consultant helping SweetLife to set up the integration of MYOB Acumatica with the BigCommerce store, you need to set up the synchronization of customer locations between the two systems, as well as test it and explore how the synchronization works in both systems.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, the following tasks have been performed for the purposes of this activity:

  • On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the Business Account Locations feature has been enabled.
  • On the Customer Classes (AR201000) form, the ECCUSTOMER customer class has been defined.
  • On the Numbering Sequences (CS201010) form, the ECCUSTOMER and ECLOCATION numbering sequences have been defined.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

  1. On the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form, update the settings of the Customer and Customer Locations entities.
  2. In the control panel of the BigCommerce store, create a new customer with two addresses.
  3. On the Prepare Data (BC501000) form, prepare the customer and customer address data for synchronization.
  4. On the Process Data (BC501500) form, process the customer and customer address data prepared for synchronization.
  5. On the Customers (AR303000) form, review the imported customer data.
  6. On the Customer Locations (AR303020) form, review the imported customer address data and update one of the customer locations.
  7. By using the Sync History (BC301000) form, synchronize the updated customer location with the BigCommerce store.
  8. In the control panel of the BigCommerce store, review the updated customer address.

System Preparation

Before you perform the instructions in this activity, do the following:

  1. Make sure that the following prerequisites have been met:
  2. Launch the MYOB Acumatica website with the U100 dataset preloaded, and sign in with the following credentials:
    • Username: gibbs
    • Password: 123
  3. Sign in to the control panel of the BigCommerce store as the store administrator.

Step 1: Configuring the Synchronization Settings of the Customer and Customer Location Entities

To review the synchronization settings of the Customer and Customer Locations entities, do the following:

  1. On the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form, select the SweetStore - BC store.
  2. On the Entity Settings tab, do the following:
    1. In the row of the Customer entity, make sure that Sync Direction is set to Bidirectional.
    2. In the row of the Customer Location entity, select the Active check box.
      Tip: All settings of the Customer Location entity (including the synchronization direction) are the same as those of the Customer entity and cannot be edited.
  3. On the Customer Settings tab, make sure that the following settings have been specified:
    • Customer Class: ECCUSTOMER

      When a new customer is imported from the BigCommerce store to MYOB Acumatica, its default settings are defined based on the customer class selected in this box.

    • Customer Numbering Sequence: ECCUSTOMER

      Each new customer imported from the BigCommerce store will be assigned an identifier based on the numbering sequence selected in this box.

    • Location Numbering Sequence: ECLOCATION

      Each new customer location imported from the BigCommerce store will be assigned an identifier based on the numbering sequence selected in this box.

  4. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

Step 2: Creating a Customer in the BigCommerce Store

To create a customer with two addresses, in the control panel of the BigCommerce store, do the following:

  1. Open the control panel of the BigCommerce store.
  2. In the left pane, click Customers > Add to open the Add customer page.
  3. In the Customer details section of the Customer details tab, specify the following details:
    • First name: Isabelle
    • Last name: Bober
    • Company name: Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes
    • Email: hoppy_info@example.com
  4. In the Password section, specify the following settings:
    • Password: !Q123456
    • Confirm password: !Q123456
  5. In the lower right, click Add customer to save the new customer record.

Step 3: Adding Two Addresses for the Customer

To add the first address for the customer record that you created in the previous step, do the following in the BigCommerce store:

  1. While you are still signed in to the control panel of the BigCommerce store, on the View customers page, click the row of Isabelle Bober.
  2. On the Edit customer page, which opens with the details of Isabelle Bober, on the Customer address book tab, click Add an address.
  3. On the Add customer address page, which opens, in the Customer address details section, specify the following settings:
    • First Name: Isabelle
    • Last Name: Bober
    • Company Name: Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes
    • Phone Number: 212-555-0143
    • Address Line 1: 3690 Taylor Street
    • Suburb/City: New York
    • Country: United States
    • State/Province: New York
    • Zip/Postcode: 10007
    • Address type: Commercial
  4. In the lower right, click Save and add another.
  5. To add a second address for the customer, on the Add customer address page, which opens, specify the following settings:
    • First Name: William
    • Last Name: Duncan
    • Company Name: Hoppy Wellby
    • Phone Number: 212-555-0164
    • Address Line 1: 2671 Simons Hollow Road
    • Suburb/City: New York
    • Country: United States
    • State/Province: New York
    • Zip/Postcode: 10001
  6. In the lower right, click Add address.

    The system saves the second address and displays the list of addresses in the customer's address book.

Step 4: Preparing the Customer and Customer Location Data

To prepare the customer and customer location data for synchronization, in the MYOB Acumatica instance, do the following:

  1. Open the Prepare Data (BC501000) form.
  2. In the Summary area of the form, specify the following settings:
    • Store: SweetStore - BC
    • Prepare Mode: Incremental

    This setting controls which data will be loaded. Incremental indicates that only the customer records that match the filtering conditions and have been modified since the previous processing of the data have been prepared for synchronization.

  3. In the table, select the Selected check box in the row of the Customer entity, and on the form toolbar, click Prepare.

    Because customer locations are synchronized automatically along with customers during the synchronization of the Customer entity, the Customer Location entity is not listed in the table and cannot be prepared separately.

  4. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, review the results of the processing, and click Close to close the dialog box and return to the Prepare Data form.

    Notice that the Prepared Records column shows the number of synchronization records that have been prepared and are ready to be processed.

Step 5: Processing the Prepared Customer and Customer Location Data

To process the customer and customer location data you have prepared for synchronization, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Prepare Data (BC501000) form, click the link in the Ready to Process column of the row with the Customer entity.

    The Process Data (BC501500) form opens with the SweetStore - BC store and the Customer entity selected in the Summary area.

  2. In the table, select the unlabeled check box in the only row, which has a number in the External ID column but does not have any value in the ERP ID column.
    Tip: The empty ERP ID indicates that the record has been created in the BigCommerce store but has not yet been synchronized with MYOB Acumatica.
  3. On the form toolbar, click Process to process the selected synchronization record.
  4. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, click Close to close the dialog box.

Step 6: Reviewing the Imported Customers and Customer Locations

Perform the following instructions to review the customers and customer locations that have been imported to MYOB Acumatica:

  1. Open the Customers (AR3030PL) form.
  2. In the list of customers, in the Customer Name column, locate the Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes customer, which you created in the BigCommerce store, and click the link for this customer in the Customer ID column.
  3. On the Customers (AR303000) form, which opens for Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes, on the Locations tab, review the locations the system created when the customer record was synchronized.

    Notice that the table displays the following locations (shown in the screenshot below):

    • The location with the MAIN identifier, which is the location that you have created first for the customer in the BigCommerce store. This location is also marked as the default (that is, the Default check box is selected for this location).
    • The location with the identifier that the system assigned to it based on the numbering sequence selected for locations in the store settings on the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form.
    Figure 1. Customer locations imported from the store


  4. Click the MAIN link in the Location ID column.

    On the Customer Locations (AR303020) form, which the system has opened in a pop-up window, on the General tab, review the location details that have been imported from the BigCommerce store.

    Notice that the Company Name value from the address in BigCommerce has been imported as the Location Name of the Location Info section and the Account Name box of the Additional Location Info section.

    The address lines, city, state, country, and postal code have been imported to the appropriate boxes of the Location Address section.

    The first and last name of the address in BigCommerce have been imported to the Attention box of the Additional Location Info section.

Step 7: Updating the Customer Location

Suppose that you need to update the contact and address details of the MAIN customer location of the Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes customer. Do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the MAIN customer location on the Customer Locations (AR303020) form, on the General tab, in the Additional Location Info section, type Gail Anderson in the Attention box.
  2. In the Location Address section, change Address Line 1 to 3650 Taylor Street.
  3. On the form toolbar, click Save & Close to save your changes and close the pop-up window.

Step 8: Synchronizing the Updated Location with the BigCommerce Store

To synchronize the updated customer location with the BigCommerce store in order to update the address in the store, do the following:

  1. On the Sync History (BC301000) form, in the Selection area, specify the following settings:
    • Store: SweetStore - BC
    • Entity: Customer Location
  2. On the Processed tab, select the unlabeled check box in the row of the MAIN, Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes location, and on the form toolbar, click Sync.
    Tip: When you change a location of a customer, the e-commerce connector recognizes the customer record as having been modified as well. So in this step, you could have selected the synchronization record for the Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes customer and clicked Sync, and the updated customer location would have been synchronized as part of the customer synchronization process. Alternatively, you could have prepared the Customer entity for synchronization on the Prepare Data (BC501000) form and then processed the prepared synchronization records on the Process Data (BC501500) form.

Step 9: Reviewing the Updated Customer Address in the BigCommerce Store

To review the updated customer address in the BigCommerce store, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Sync History (BC301000) form, in the row of the MAIN, Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes, click the link in the External ID column.

    The Edit customer address page of the control panel of the BigCommerce store opens for the corresponding address of the Hoppy Place Coffee and Cakes customer.

    Attention: If you are not signed in to the control panel of the BigCommerce store in the same browser, you will need to enter your sign-in credentials.
  2. In the Customer address details section, review the updated details of the customer address.

    Notice that the First Name box now displays Gail, Last Name is set to Anderson, and the Address Line 1 has been changed to 3650 Taylor Street.