Product Availability: To Export Product Availability Data

In this activity, you will specify the default availability settings for the BigCommerce store, specify the availability settings for particular stock items, export product availability data to the BigCommerce store, and review the results of the export.

Story

Suppose that the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company sells several kinds of jams in its online store. The jams can be ordered in the online store as follows:

  • Banana jams (BANJAM96 and BANJAM08) should always be available for purchase regardless of the quantity in stock.
  • Pear jams (PEARJAM96 and PEARJAM08) should be available for purchase only if there is a sufficient quantity in stock. If there is no quantity in stock, the item becomes unavailable for purchase.
  • Plum jams (PLUMJAM96 and PLUMJAM08) should be available for purchase when there is sufficient quantity in stock. If there is no quantity in stock, the availability to purchase the item should be determined by the settings specified for the item on the product management page in the BigCommerce store.
  • Cherry jam in 96-ounce jars (CHERJAM96) is currently unavailable for purchase but you expect it to be restocked soon and want to accept orders for it regardless of its available quantities.

Only the quantities that are available for shipping from the JS1 location in the RETAIL warehouse should be available for purchase in the online store.

Acting as an implementation consultant helping SweetLife to set up the integration of MYOB Advanced with the BigCommerce store, you need to configure the system so that the items' availability will be tracked according to the business needs.

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 following features have been enabled:
    • Multiple Warehouses, which provides the functionality of working with several warehouses (including virtual warehouses)
    • Multiple Warehouse Locations, which supports multiple locations for each warehouse
  • On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, the RETAIL warehouse and the JS1 warehouse location have been configured.
  • On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the stock items have been created in the system and assigned the availability settings as listed in the following table.
    Stock Item Availability When Qty. Unavailable
    BANJAM96 Store Default Store Default
    BANJAM08 Store Default Store Default
    PEARJAM96 Set as Available (Track Qty.) Set as Unavailable
    PEARJAM08 Set as Available (Track Qty.) Set as Unavailable
    PLUMJAM96 Set as Available (Track Qty.) Do Nothing
    PLUMJAM08 Set as Available (Track Qty.) Do Nothing
    CHERJAM96 Set as Pre-Order Store Default

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

  1. On the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form, update the default availability settings for the BigCommerce store.
  2. On the Storage Details by Item Warehouse Location (IN408055) form, review the quantities of stock items available in the RETAIL warehouse.
  3. On the Prepare Data (BC501000) form, prepare the product availability data for synchronization, and on the Process Data (BC501500) form, process the prepared product availability data.
  4. In the BigCommerce store, review the availability settings and quantities of the exported stock items.

System Preparation

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

  1. Make sure that the following prerequisites have been met:
  2. Launch the MYOB Advanced 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.
  4. Open the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form.
  5. In the Store Name box of the Summary area, select SweetStore - BC.
  6. On the Entity Settings tab, select the Active check box in the row of the Product Availability entity.
  7. On the form toolbar, click Save.

Step 1: Updating the Default Availability Settings

Now you need to specify the availability settings that the system will apply by default to stock items and non-stock items exported from MYOB Advanced to the BigCommerce store. While you are viewing the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form for the SweetStore - BC store, do the following:

  1. On the Inventory Settings tab, specify the following settings:
    • Default Availability: Set as Available (Track Qty.)

      With this setting, by default, a stock item exported to the BigCommerce store will be available for purchase through the storefront, and its quantity will be tracked.

    • When Qty. Unavailable: Set as Pre-Order

      With this setting, after the synchronization of the Product Availability entity, if the stock item's quantity becomes zero, the stock item will no longer be available for purchase in the BigCommerce store, but customers will be able to place pre-orders.

    • Availability Mode: Available for Shipping
    • Warehouse Mode: Specific Warehouses
  2. In the Warehouse Settings table, add a new row and specify the following settings:
    • Warehouse: RETAIL
    • Location ID: JS1

    For each item, only its quantity available for shipping at the JS1 location in the RETAIL warehouse is synchronized with the BigCommerce store.

  3. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the settings.

Step 2: Reviewing the Available Quantities of Items

To review the availability quantity of the stock items, do the following:

  1. Open the Storage Details by Item Warehouse Location (IN408055) form.
  2. In the Selection area, in the Warehouse box, select RETAIL.

    The system displays the quantities of all items stored in the RETAIL warehouse.

  3. Click the header of the Location ID column, and in the dialog box that opens, select Equals, type JS1 in the box below, and click OK.

    The system now displays only the items that are stored in the JS1 warehouse location. Because you have set the Availability Mode setting to Available for Shipping, the quantities of the items displayed in the Qty. Available for Shipping in Location column (which is shown in the following screenshot) will be synchronized with the BigCommerce store. Notice that the BANJAM96, CHERJAM96, PEARJAM96, and PLUMJAM96 stock items are available at the JS1 location (a nonzero quantity is displayed for each of these items in the Qty. Available for Shipping in Location column), whereas the BANJAM08, PEARJAM08, and PLUMJAM08 stock items have zero quantities.

    Figure 1. Quantities of stock items available for shipping


Step 3: Synchronizing the Product Availability Data

To synchronize the availability settings and the quantities of the stock items, do the following:

  1. Open the Prepare Data (BC501000) form.
  2. In the Summary area, make sure the following settings are specified:
    • Store: SweetStore - BC
    • Prepare Mode: Incremental
  3. In the table, select the Selected check box in the row with the Product Availability entity.
  4. On the form toolbar, click Prepare.
  5. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, click Close to close the dialog box.
  6. Click the link in the Ready to Process column in the row with the Product Availability entity.

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

  7. On the form toolbar, click Process All to process the prepared synchronization records of the stock items you updated in the previous steps.
  8. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, click Close to close the dialog box.

Step 4: Reviewing the Synchronized Data

To review the synchronized availability data in the BigCommerce store, do the following:

  1. In the left pane of the control panel, click Products > View.
  2. On the View Products page, which opens, review the BANJAM96 and BANJAM08 stock items.

    In the Stock Level column, notice that for the BANJAM96 stock item, the green bar is displayed, which indicates that the quantity of this item is tracked and the item is in stock. For BANJAM08, the bar in the Stock Level column is gray, meaning that the item's quantity is tracked and the item is currently out of stock. The system also shows Pre-Order right of the product name.

  3. Click the Banana jam 96 oz. link in the Product Name column.

    On theView Products page, which opens for the Banana jam 96 oz. item, notice the following:

    • In the Inventory section, the Track inventory check box is selected, the On the product level option button is selected, and 40 is displayed in the Stock box.
    • In the Purchasability section, the This product can be purchased in my online store option button is selected.
  4. In the left pane of the control panel, click Products > View.
  5. On the View Products page, click the Banana jam 8 oz. link in the Product Name column.

    On the View Products page, which opens for the Banana jam 8 oz. item, notice the following:

    • In the Inventory section, the Track inventory check box is selected, the On the product level option button is selected, and 0 is displayed in the Stock box.
    • In the Purchasability section, the This product is coming soon but I want to take pre-orders option button is selected.
  6. Repeat Instruction 5 to review the PEARJAM96, PEARJAM08, PLUMJAM96, PLUMJAM08, and CHERJAM08 stock items.

    The following table summarizes the settings and available quantities that have been set for the exported stock items.

    Item Name Inventory Stock Purchasability
    PEARJAM96 Track inventory check box selected; On the product level option button is selected 35 This product can be purchased in my online store option button selected
    PEARJAM08 Track inventory check box selected; On the product level option button is selected 0 This product cannot be purchased in my online store option button selected
    PLUMJAM96 Track inventory check box selected; On the product level option button is selected 42 This product can be purchased in my online store option button selected
    PLUMJAM08 Track inventory check box selected; On the product level option button is selected 0 This product can be purchased in my online store option button selected
    CHERJAM96 Track inventory check box cleared The box is hidden This product is coming soon but I want to take pre-orders option button selected

You have now configured the synchronization of product availability data and exported the items' availability settings and available quantities to the BigCommerce store.