SAP and Shopify Integration Made Simple

SAP Business One is a phenomenal ERP for growing businesses. It’s the ERP of choice for more than 70,000 small and mid-sized companies because it delivers an integrated solution that’s right-sized for those ready to grow and thrive.

It’s one of the leading platforms businesses to turn when they’re ready to move on from basic accounting software that’s been augmented over time with a patchwork of customizations in an attempt to keep up. SAP Business One brings sales, CRM, inventory, distribution, manufacturing, financials and more all into a unified and scalable ERP.

And though SAP Business One delivers organization-wide visibility, powerful workflow automations, and data-driven customer insights in a single integrated package, it doesn’t deliver a full-service ecommerce experience.

Similarly, Shopify is an extremely strong choice for growing businesses that need an eCommerce solution. It’s intuitive and easy to use and might be the fastest way to launch an online retail presence. Users don’t need many technical skills to get started, but the technical heft is there behind the scenes when you’re ready to scale.

The Challenge with Shopify and SAP Integration:
It’s Complicated

Unfortunately, without the help of in-house database administrators or developers, getting SAP Business One and Shopify to work together using the two solutions’ embedded tools and APIs is a challenge for small businesses that lack the IT staff or experience.

The two solutions have some similarities with respect to data, and — as on-line orders from Shopify represent just a portion of sales for most businesses — often these eCommerce transactions overlap with SAP Business One data in inconsistent or unpredictable ways. Added on top, other third-party solutions also connected to SAP Business One and Shopify for warehouse management, tax calculations, shipping and more.

The flow of on-line orders plus disparate data elements plus even more software can make any SAP Shopify integration quite complex.

To keep your eCommerce and related operations running smoothly, you need all of these elements to sync between systems consistently, predictably, and, better yet, automatically.

To get the most out of both solutions, businesses need a better answer for integrating their Shopify stores with SAP Business One. Third Wave Business Systems has the answer: our integration and business process automation app, Bizweaver.

Throughout this blog series, we’re examining the most important data elements for any Shopify and SAP Business one integration, and how Bizweaver streamlines your eCommerce transactions between both systems.

Be sure to check out the other posts in the series:

• Shopify API for SAP Business One Items
• Integrating Shopify Orders with SAP Business One
• Integrating SAP Business One Inventory with Shopify
• How to Integrate SAP Business One Deliveries with Shopify API

Understanding Your Data Elements

Before we explore how Bizweaver (and our related web app, Versago) can solve your SAP and Shopify integration woes, let’s recap the four key data elements that transfer between the two applications.

Business One Items

Your inventory items originate in SAP Business One, which is your system of record. In Business One, Items are used to maintain accurate records of your physical inventory. Each item entry can be as straightforward or as complex as you need, with data organized into nine categories.

Shopify Orders

Order data is captured in Shopify at every step of the sales transaction. Some of this data correlates directly to data in Business One, for example orders directly relate to the inventory in your warehouses.

Business One Inventory

The Inventory module in Business One captures additional inventory data beyond that utilized with item master data. Related transactions, price lists, discounts, goods handling, transfers, serial and batch numbers, and other such inventory data live here. Businesses typically need to sync some of these data elements with Shopify as well using the Shopify inventory API.

Business One Deliveries

Deliveries data in Business One houses shipping, transit and related tracking numbers for your Shopify orders. As on-line customers from your Shopify store need to know the status of their orders every step of the way, Deliveries data must be synced with both systems.

Keeping Transaction Data in Sync Is Vital

With all these data elements, we cannot overstate the importance of keeping your transaction data in sync and up to date—accurate, timely, and error-free. That’s because, as your system of record, SAP Business One is the ultimate destination for all data relating to sales, orders, inventory, fulfillment, delivery, and so forth.

And, as SAP Business One is a powerful and flexible platform that accommodates data from virtually any third-party system, sometimes you may need a little help to ensure that all your transactions integrate seamlessly across your business.

That’s where Third Wave Business Systems’ Bizweaver and Versago apps come into play.

How Bizweaver and Versago Help

Bizweaver is Third Wave’s integration and process automation platform.

It’s a user-friendly app that bridges the gap between SAP Business One and any third-party tools you use for other facets of your business—including your on-line Shopify store.

Bizweaver handles and automates the synchronization of your transaction data, giving you a powerful way to route data to and from Business One and your other tools.

We’ve also created the complementary Versago web app, a utility that’s perfect for those who aren’t deeply versed in SAP Business One. It allows less technical users to easily update and access any data being managed or handled by Bizweaver — all available in a friendly browser interface.

We’ve found staging tables to be especially successful for SAP Business One integrations with eCommerce providers such as Shopify because they make reviewing and modifying high-volume data from the Versago web UI incredibly simple.

Staging tables effectively decouple Shopify from SAP Business One so that neither system is directly connected to or affected by the other. Staging tables provide a mid-point for your data where it can be reviewed, updated, and corrected as needed.

Used together, Bizweaver and Versago significantly expand your capabilities in SAP Business One.

The Third Wave Difference

At Third Wave, everything we do is governed by “the 4 Cs”:

• Your Core SAP Business One ERP
  
• Connecting Your Enterprise
  
• Communicating with Your Team
  
• Controlling Your Operations and Finance.

We’re so committed to these core principles that we didn’t stop at being a premier SAP Business One partner. We built our own apps to add a flexible user-friendly interface to the experience.

Because we’re a partner, not merely a vendor or reseller, we are free to take the right approach. And, for Third Wave, that means your business first, then Business One.

Instead of cramming your requirements into a set mold or workflow, we work to truly understand your challenges and your needs. We then build your best-fit solution around you, and connect it with SAP Business One.

Bizweaver: Powering Your SAP Business One and Shopify Integration

At the center of your SAP Shopify integration is Bizweaver, acting as both heart and brain as it controls the flow and synchronization of information throughout your business. This intuitive platform gives you the power to perform data integrations using 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.

Consider everything Bizweaver can deliver to your organization:

• Comprehensive and intuitive data mapping to and from SAP Business One: Bizweaver acts as a translator, mapping the appropriate data from one application to the right locations in the other, and vice versa.
  
• Support for leading digital platforms: Pre-built integrations between SAP Business One and leading eCommerce platforms, including Shopify.
  
• Point and click JSON building and formatting: This user-friendly method makes the creation and modification of data syncs more accessible and error free.
  
• Data processing via SQL, File I/O, Encryption, OAuth authentication.
  
• Easy workflow organization and reusability: Assemble data processing steps in the familiar flowchart metaphor. Easily copy, organize, and repurpose workflows. Export and import workflows between Bizweaver installations.
  
• Verify and Deploy: Multi-speed test execution with breakpoints and detailed tracing reduces time and effort from concept to deployment.

Even better, when you work with Third Wave, you gain a consultant for life—a dedicated representative who can backstop your Bizweaver implementation and give you guidance anytime you need. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team below