How Integrations fit together
Lesson 1 of 21 6 min read
A quick refresher on Integrations, Configurations, Mappings and Documents, and how they combine into a working data flow, before you start building.
You met Integrations, Mappings and Documents in Foundations. This course goes further: you will build and run the connections for a real business. Before that, it's worth being precise about how the pieces fit, because almost every connection problem comes down to one of them being missing.
Five pieces of a working flow
| Piece | What it is | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Integration | A connection between Supply Lens and one other application: a shop, an ERP or accounting system, a 3PL, or an EDI or PEPPOL relationship | Which system? |
| Configuration | A setting on an Integration that switches on one document type, in one or both directions | Which kinds of data, which way? |
| Schedule or trigger | What makes the Integration send and receive: a schedule, a webhook from the other system, or a manual run | When? |
| Mapping | A rule that routes one document type from one Integration to another | Where does it go next? |
| Master data | Products, Units of Measure, Parties and Locations that let Supply Lens recognise what's on a Document | What is it? |
The journey of one order
Remove any one piece and the order stops:
- no Configuration to receive orders on Shopify, and the order never comes in;
- no master data match, and the Document fails;
- no Mapping, and the Document arrives with nowhere to go;
- no Configuration to send orders on Unleashed, or the Unleashed Integration disabled, and nothing is sent.
Send and receive are from Supply Lens's point of view
This trips everyone up once. Receive means data coming into Supply Lens from that system. Send means data going out of Supply Lens to that system. Orders are typically received from Shopify and sent into Unleashed.
Supply Lens is the hub
You can have many Integrations active at once. Each one handles one system, and Mappings join them. Adding a new system means adding one Integration and the Mappings for it, not rewiring everything.
Hilltop's starting point
In Foundations, Hilltop connected Shopify and Unleashed with two Mappings. In the Master data course, Priya set up Products, units, Parties and Locations for two changes: stock moving to Brookside Fulfilment, a 3PL that runs the Mintsoft warehouse system, and a new wholesale customer, Greenleaf Wholesale. In this course she connects Brookside and gets the whole setup ready to go live.
Recap
- A working flow needs an Integration, a Configuration, a schedule or trigger, a Mapping and matching master data.
- Configurations switch on a document type in one or both directions on one Integration.
- Mappings route a document type from one Integration to another.
- Send and receive are always from Supply Lens's point of view.
- If any piece is missing, the data stops at that point.
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