The five steps to get started
Lesson 4 of 15 5 min read
The route from a brand new account to your first data flowing, and where each step is covered in this course.
Getting started with Supply Lens follows the same five steps for everyone, whether you sell through one web shop or trade with a dozen retailers. This lesson gives you the route map, so the rest of the course has a clear shape, and tells you what to gather before you begin.
Before you begin
Have these ready before you create your first Integration:
- Admin access to the app you want to connect, such as your Shopify store or your Unleashed account.
- API credentials or permission to authorise the connection, where the app needs them. An API credential is a key or password that lets one system talk to another on your behalf.
- A clear idea of what you want to sync: products, orders, inventory, shipments, invoices and so on, and which direction each should flow.
Write it down first
A simple table of "what moves, from where, to where" saves a lot of back and forth. For example: Orders: Shopify to Unleashed. Stock levels: Unleashed to Shopify. Each line of that table will become one Mapping.
The five steps
- Create your Supply Lens account. Register with an email address and password, or with a single sign-on (SSO) provider. Covered in Create your account.
- Create your Organisation. Your Organisation is your home in Supply Lens, where you configure systems and browse your data. You choose a plan as part of creating it. Covered in Set up your Organisation.
- Create an Integration to link your first app. In Settings → Integration setup → Integrations, add the app you want to connect and follow the on-screen steps to authorise it. Covered in Connect and configure.
- Add settings for your document types. On the Integration, add a Configuration for each document type it should work with, and say whether Supply Lens sends it, receives it or both. Also covered in Connect and configure.
- Receive and browse your data. Run the Integration on a schedule or by hand, then open the matching screen in the menu. If you configured Orders, for example, go to Sales → Orders. Covered in Run, test and check.
The step that is easy to forget
To move data between two systems you also need a Mapping, the routing rule that says where each Document goes. The help centre lists it under "next steps", but in practice you will set one up as soon as you have two Integrations. It has its own lesson: Route it with a Mapping.
Where to get help
If you have questions at any point, the Supply Lens Support Team is at support@supplylens.co.uk. When you write in about a specific Integration or Document, include its ID. You will learn where to find those IDs in Module 3.
Hilltop Coffee's plan
Before starting, Priya writes Hilltop's plan on a sticky note:
- Account for Priya, then the Hilltop Coffee Organisation.
- Integrations: Shopify (orders in, stock out) and Unleashed (orders out, stock in).
- Mappings: Orders, Shopify to Unleashed. Inventory, Unleashed to Shopify.
- Test with one order before switching on schedules.
That note is effectively the whole of Module 4.
Recap
- Before you start, gather admin access, any API credentials and a list of what should flow where.
- The five steps are: account, Organisation, Integration, Configurations, then receive and browse.
- Add a Mapping as soon as you have two Integrations, or data will arrive but go nowhere.
- Support is at support@supplylens.co.uk; include the relevant Integration or Document ID.
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