What a Mapping does
Lesson 15 of 21 7 min read
A Mapping tells Supply Lens where to send a Document once it has arrived. Learn each Mapping field, the two behaviour switches, and when to produce Target Data or a Document.
Without a Mapping, data arrives in Supply Lens and has nowhere to go. With the right Mappings, your systems stay in sync automatically. This lesson explains exactly what a Mapping is made of, so that when you create one in the next lesson every field makes sense.
The core fields
Every Mapping answers four questions:
| Map | Which document type to route, for example Order, Inventory or Shipment. |
|---|---|
| From | The source Integration. Supply Lens listens for Documents of this type arriving on it. |
| As | Whether to send the data straight to another Integration (Target Data) or produce an intermediate Supply Lens Document (Document). |
| To | The destination Integration. |
Read a Mapping as a sentence: "Map Orders from Shopify as Target Data to Unleashed."
Two behaviour switches
| Switch | On | Off |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | The Mapping runs | The Mapping doesn't run at all. Use this to pause a flow without deleting it. |
| Automatic | The Mapping runs whenever a matching Document is created | Matching Documents wait with a Ready status until processed manually |
Target Data or Document?
Most Mappings use Target Data: Supply Lens takes the incoming Document, produces the output format the target Integration expects, and sends it. One step, one hop.
Document produces a new intermediate Supply Lens Document instead. Use it when:
- there's no direct translation from the incoming document type to what the target expects, so a second Mapping is needed to finish the route; or
- you want to create a Supply Lens Document, such as an Invoice, from an incoming event, such as a Shipment, before routing it on.
A two-hop flow
Imagine Hilltop wanted every despatch from Brookside to produce an invoice for its wholesale customer. The first Mapping would take the Shipment from Brookside as Document, producing an Invoice in Supply Lens. A second Mapping would take that Invoice as Target Data to the system that sends invoices. Two Mappings, one business process. (Hilltop doesn't need this yet, but it shows why the As field exists.)
Narrowing a Mapping
By default, a Mapping applies to every Document of its type from its source. You can narrow it with filters such as Customer, Supplier, Ship to, Ship to location, Ship from, Ship from location, Tags and Status update types. Leave them blank to apply to everything. The next lesson covers each one.
Recap
- A Mapping routes one document type (Map) from one Integration (From) to another (To).
- As chooses between sending Target Data directly or producing an intermediate Document.
- Enabled turns the Mapping on or off; Automatic decides whether it runs without anyone stepping in.
- Use Document for two-hop flows; most Mappings use Target Data.
- Filters narrow a Mapping to particular customers, Locations, tags or status updates; blank means everything.
Quick guides for this topic
Your progress is saved in this browser. Create a free account to keep it everywhere, take quizzes and earn certificates.