Create an Integration
Lesson 4 of 21 6 min read
Connect a system to Supply Lens, gather the credentials it needs beforehand, and know what to expect from the connection form.
A typical Integration setup has five stages: create the Integration, choose its settings, add Configurations for the document types it handles, reference it in Mappings, and run it. This lesson covers the first stage: making the connection.
Before you start: gather credentials
Every system proves to Supply Lens that you are allowed to connect, usually with an API key, a token, or a sign-in. Find out what yours needs and get it ready before you open the form. Some examples from the setup guides and release notes:
| System | What you need |
|---|---|
| Unleashed | Your account's API ID and API Key, available to Account Owners on the Unleashed API Access page. A sandbox has its own pair. |
| Shopify | Admin access to the store. You can link with a code from the Supply Lens app in your Shopify admin, or connect with your store domain. |
| BigCommerce | The credentials file BigCommerce gives you when you create an API account. Upload or paste it and the form fills in. |
| Faire | An access token. The Integration is named after your Faire brand automatically. |
If you don't have admin rights in the other system, ask whoever does to generate the credentials for you, or to sit with you while you connect.
Create the Integration
- Open Settings → Integration setup → Integrations.
- Click + ADD INTEGRATION in the top-right to show the list of available Integrations.
- Search for your system and click ADD on it.
- Complete the form. It varies from Integration to Integration.
- Click CONNECT.
Your new Integration appears in the list of Integrations.
About the connection form
- Secrets are hidden as you type. API keys, tokens and passwords are masked, and your browser won't offer to save them. Use the show button beside the field to check what you've typed or pasted before you connect.
- Some forms ask a follow-up question. For example, if your login can reach more than one account, you may be asked which one to use.
- Credentials can be fixed later. If you get a password wrong, you can correct it from the Integration's Credentials card without removing and reconnecting it.
Connecting the Unleashed sandbox
Before connecting Brookside, Priya wants a safe place to test. Hilltop's Unleashed Account Owner
retrieves the sandbox's API ID and Key from the Unleashed API Access page. Priya clicks + ADD
INTEGRATION, searches "Unleashed", clicks ADD, pastes the two values, uses the show button to
check them, and clicks CONNECT. The new Integration appears as Sandbox Hilltop Coffee, the word
Sandbox added automatically.
New Integrations do nothing until you configure them
Creating an Integration only makes the connection. It won't send or receive anything useful until it has Configurations, is enabled, and has Mappings that use it. That's the rest of this module.
Recap
- Setup has five stages: create, settings, Configurations, Mappings, run.
- Gather credentials first; each system has its own, and sandboxes have separate ones.
- Create Integrations from Settings → Integration setup → Integrations → + ADD INTEGRATION.
- Secrets are masked; use the show button to check them before you click CONNECT.
- Wrong credentials can be corrected later on the Credentials card.
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