Getting Started with your SAP eCommerce Software Integration: Outline Your On-Line Shopping Cart Options
To get the most out of Bizweaver (or any integration and automation utility) for your eCommerce store integration with SAP Business One, we recommend that you start by carefully considering the steps your customer follows for a typical on-line purchase.
You’ll quickly identify essential elements to consider for your eCommerce integration, including:
Your eCommerce store software version and related features
On-line pricing and payment options for your eCommerce shoppers
Shipping options on your web store
Inventory and quantities available for eCommerce
Your SAP Business One database.
This simple “shopping cart review” – you can conduct whiteboard sessions with your stakeholders or just start with a “back of the napkin” sketch – is the perfect starting point for your SAP eCommerce software integration project, as it creates a basic outline for all the data elements you’ll need to connect for your web store and SAP Business One.
With your eCommerce steps and data clearly defined, you can also map when your data should flow from one system to another, and back again.
For the team at Third Wave, we find this process so valuable and insightful because you know the flow of your on-line sales better than any outside integration expert. By simply taking the time to map things out, you’ll create a ready-made guide that any SAP Business One partner may follow. And, you’ll save time and money too.
From our decades of experience supporting SAP Business One, our basic advice is this – when it comes to your eCommerce integration, take the time to think things through first, and don’t work too hard at it. As you map out your transaction steps, you’ll likely find other details you may have overlooked before. That’s ok. Just note them down. And, if you need assistance with this initial exercise, Third Wave is here to help.
The key is to understand your eCommerce steps first before you select your integration technology or partner. By doing so, you’ll avoid much bigger headaches and costs down the road.
As you explore options for your eCommerce for SAP Business One integration, you’ll likely find several solutions touting their “out of the box” functionality. Typically, these are packaged by integration consultants as “pre-built” SAP Business One connectors for WooCommerce or Amazon, etc. Before your proceed, make sure that these canned connectors are flexible and easily support modifications without additional and expensive custom software development.
As you’ll learn below, the unpredictable and complex nature of eCommerce means that no solution can possibly anticipate the unique needs of your customers and your business. That’s OK. Bizweaver empowers and enables any user to configure their own SAP eCommerce software integration however they need without developers.
While it’s true that many providers offer ready-to-use integration platforms – at Third Wave, ours is called “Bizweaver” – they will most certainly need to bend their solution to fit your challenges. That’s how data integration works. We’ve built hundreds of tailored eCommerce integrations for our SAP Business One customers with Bizweaver.
Let’s get started.
5 things to consider when planning your SAP Business One eCommerce integration.
1. For your on-line store, make sure you know which eCommerce software version and features you’re using.
Most eCommerce solutions – Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce and the rest – are available in multiple tiers of functionality (“Pro,” “Premium,” etc.) typically stratified by feature set as well as the number of transactions you may process in a given day or month.
And, every eCommerce solution bundles these options differently, so it’s important to take note of what you have. When it comes to your eCommerce integration for SAP Business One, it’s key to determine whether your store software version gives you complete access to your database and system APIs. With Bizweaver Third Wave supports any eCommerce platform, but how we access and integrate your data with SAP Business One will vary based upon the on-line store version you run.
Read more:
Shopify and SAP Integration Made Simple
How to Integrate SAP Business One Deliveries with Shopify API
Shopify API for SAP Business One Items
2. When your customer places an on-line order, what pricing and payment options do they have?
It’s important to think through the pricing and payment options your on-line customers have when they add items to their shopping carts, because all of these choices factor into your SAP Business One eCommerce integration.
When it comes to pricing, do both your retail and wholesale customers order on-line? (SAP Business One classifies each transaction type differently. You’ll need all your matching price lists in SAP Business One for your web store.)
For payments, do you support credit cards as well as customer invoicing, and what about down payments for bulk or seasonal orders?
Do you have multiple discount options for different customer types, and what about special offers or bundled purchases? Each of these options have implications for the inventory and sales transactions you’ll be syncing with Business One.
Does your store support multiple currency types?
How are your sales taxes calculated? Does your on-line store handle taxes as part of its core functionality, or are you using a third-party tax application like Avatax?
Be assured, there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to your on-line pricing and payment options. This data, however, is invaluable when it comes to planning your eCommerce integration for SAP Business One.
One other reason why your on-line pricing and payment options are so helpful for integration pros is that your store may very well use third-party solutions to generate this data instead of your eCommerce provider. Finding these additional complexities upfront is key to tightly scoping your eCommerce integration for SAP Business One.
Read More:
SAP Business One Credit Card Processing
PayFabric B2B Payments
3. How do you handle shipping for your on-line orders?
Does your business manage its own shipping for your on-line orders, or do you use a 3PL partner?
Here, though the types of data leveraged for your SAP Business One eCommerce integration are similar regardless of your shipping and fulfillment approach, the source – and the data formats they support – do make a difference. So, consider your shipping options before you proceed with your SAP Business One eCommerce integration.
Other shipping details that matter: your shipping carriers and methods (overnight, ground, freight, etc.), and even the timing of when you process orders for shipping and when you notify your customers about their deliveries. For instance, whether you reach out in real time about the status of orders or bulk these notices at the end of your business day impacts when and how to sync your data with SAP Business One.
Read more:
ShipEasy and SAP Business One
Leveraging SAP Business One for Inventory Management
Modernizing B2B Integration with EDI-Compliant Automation
4. How much of your inventory is used for on-line orders, and how do you determine your available quantities?
The complexity of your inventory makes a big difference when it comes to your eCommerce for SAP Business One. Here again – much like whether you use a 3PL – when properly understood upfront these inventory considerations may have little impact on the overall cost of connecting SAP Business One with your on-line store.
However, these details are critical to understanding how your inventory data flows from one system to the other, and – absent that understanding – the costs implications could mount. Simply, you do not want to start your SAP Business One eCommerce integration with one set of assumptions about the inventory on your on-line store only to find out later your inventory management practices don’t match up. That kind of disconnect can be costly when overlooked.
As you approach your eCommerce integration for SAP Business One, determine what percentage of your inventory is available in your on-line store, and consider:
Do you have multiple warehouses?
Do any roll up for your inventory counts, for example do you have both a bulk location and a main warehouse?
Do your warehouses correspond with locations on your website?
How do you handle damages when calculating on-line inventory?
Do you use a WMS like WiSys? (Your SAP Business One integration should sync with that too. We’ve built many WiSys integrations with Bizweaver.)
As you start exploring your SAP eCommerce software integration, we advise you to keep in mind all facets of your inventory. It’s easy to overlook a few.
Read More:
Inventory Management Partnership Spotlight: Triple S Sporting Supplies, SAP Business One and Third Wave
Which Industries Use ERP for Inventory Management the Most?
5. What database platform are you running with SAP Business One?
If your answer to this last item for consideration is: “I have no idea,” don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Your SAP Business One system is backed by either a SQL or HANA database, and both are capable, resilient and have their virtues. (HANA is SAP’s proprietary “in-memory” format.) And while your SAP Business One data format has no impact on your on-line pricing options, or how you allocate your inventory for your web store, or your shipping and WMS providers, your database platform does have unique characteristics that govern how elements are queried and processed, and which APIs are used for connectivity.
As you wade into your SAP eCommerce software integration, it’s wise to understand your SAP Business One database back-end and its functionality. If your organization doesn’t have the IT resources to help, we’re here to help. It’s okay to connect with Third Wave even if you’re just starting to sketch out your eCommerce integration.
Read more:
SAP Business One 10.0: Highlights of the Latest Version
Bizweaver and your SAP Business One eCommerce integration
As you consider your options for your SAP Business One eCommerce integration, we want you to know that our Bizweaver product handles them all.
Bizweaver is Third Wave Business Systems’ integration and automation platform, and it powers how we connect your eCommerce store with SAP Business One. Bizweaver controls the flow and synchronization of information throughout your business, all with an intuitive application and a low-code approach.
Bizweaver simplifies this integration process, allowing anyone with a solid understanding of your business processes and a strong knowledge of Business One to execute powerful, paradigm-shifting integrations and automations.
Bizweaver provides:
-
- Support for leading digital platforms: Including integration options for SAP Business One and all eCommerce stores.
- Easy workflow organization and reusability: Assemble data processing steps in the familiar flowchart metaphor. Easily copy, organize, and repurpose your workflows.
- Verify and Deploy: Multi-speed testing and detailed tracing reduces your time and effort from concept to deployment.
When you work with Third Wave, you gain a consultant for life—a dedicated partner who guides and supports your Bizweaver implementation every step of the way. Reach out to our team today to get started with your eCommerce integration for SAP Business One.
