Documents explained
Lesson 10 of 15 7 min read
Documents are the business records that travel through Supply Lens. Learn how source data becomes a Document and then target data, and which document types exist.
Integrations and Mappings are set up once and then mostly left alone. Documents are what you will look at every day. Every order, shipment, stock update and invoice that passes through Supply Lens becomes a Document you can open, read and, when needed, fix.
In this lesson you will see how a Document is made, why Supply Lens keeps three versions of every transaction, and which document types you are likely to meet.
Three versions of every transaction
Supply Lens receives source data from one application, normalises it into a Document (and adjusts it if required), then sends target data to another application.
"Normalise" means putting the data into one standard shape. Shopify, WooCommerce and an EDI retailer all describe an order differently. As Documents, they all look the same: references, parties (customer, ship-to, supplier), lines, quantities, prices and totals.
All three versions are kept and viewable:
| Version | What it is | Why you would look at it |
|---|---|---|
| Source data | Exactly what the sending system sent. | To prove what arrived, or spot a problem that started upstream. |
| Document | Supply Lens's standard version. | To read the transaction in a consistent, friendly layout. |
| Target data | Exactly what Supply Lens sent on. | To prove what was delivered to the receiving system. |
You can move between them from the links menu in the top-right of each screen: from a Document to its source data and to the target data created from it, and back again.
Why this matters to you
Because every step is kept, most questions can be answered without anyone guessing:
- "The order looks wrong in Unleashed." Compare the target data with the Document. Did Supply Lens send what it received?
- "Shopify says the customer ordered six bags, we have four." Check the source data. What did Shopify actually send?
- "Did we send it at all?" Look for target data for that Integration.
Document types
The most common document types are grouped in the menu by area:
| Sales | Warehouse | Purchases |
|---|---|---|
| Orders | Warehouse Orders | Purchase Orders |
| Shipments | Warehouse Shipments | |
| Invoices | Picks | |
| Credits | Goods Inbound | |
| Goods Inbound Receipts |
There are more, including Inventory, Product Update, Customer Update, Order Change, Order Acknowledgement, Quote, Stock Adjustment, Work Order and Bank Transaction. You choose from the same list of document types when you add Configurations to an Integration and when you create Mappings. If you need one that is not supported, tell the Support Team.
Statuses at a glance
Every Document has a status that tells you how far it has got. You will study statuses properly in the Working with Documents day to day course; for now, the three you will see most are:
- CompleteProcessed successfully to at least one Mapping.
- ReadyProcessed, but waiting for someone to send it, because its Mapping is not automatic.
- FailedSomething went wrong during processing. The logs explain why.
Order #1042 at Hilltop
A customer orders two bags of Ridge Espresso on Hilltop's Shopify store.
- Shopify notifies Supply Lens and the order arrives as source data: Shopify's own format, with Shopify's field names.
- Supply Lens builds an Order Document: order reference
#1042, the customer, the delivery address, one line for 2 ×RIDGE-ESP-1KG. - The Mapping (Orders, Shopify to Unleashed) runs, and Supply Lens creates target data: a sales order in the format Unleashed expects, which it sends to Unleashed.
The Document shows Complete. If the customer later queries their order, Priya can open
the Document and follow its links to see both what Shopify sent and what Unleashed received.
Recap
- A Document is Supply Lens's standard version of a business record, built from source data.
- Source data, the Document and target data are all kept, and you can move between them from the links menu.
- Document types are grouped by area in the menu (Sales, Warehouse, Purchases) and also used in Configurations and Mappings.
Complete,ReadyandFailedare the statuses you will see most often.
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