Dynamics GP eCommerce Integration Programming Notes

If you work in an IT department and is now facing web project eCommerce application integration with Corporate ERP, we would like to offer several options to consider with their advantages and disadvantages. This small article is based on Great Plains eCommerce integration technology, but we are trying to discuss these options universal, as in almost real time with respect to real time or batch mode eCommerce integration, so it may be useful for applications other corporate ERP small, such as SAP Business One. eCommerce reflects business processes, then you should not expect custom programming to be something unusual:

1. Product against Solution. If you can find the extension of existing eCommerce application for accounting and logistics - this is great news. Generally - this means you must redistribute work eCommerce web application based on this new product. This approach can not look to encourage you, as you can be original developer of eCommerce applications, or simply want to preserve your investment business history. The solution is generic term, ie programming tools, connectors or distribution of programming codes tested. Solutions allows you to keep an existing eCommerce and integrated with Dynamics GP ERP in stages. Both products and solutions may be open to software bugs. Product might be more beta tests compared to the solution, but you must ask for references from your Dynamics GP ISV partner prospecting eCommerce

2. eCommerce specific integration. Ideally you want to see your source eCommerce sales invoices into your accounting systems the same minute, if the technology permits. However, the same technology could be the place where you would like to stop and reconsider. Here we are reviewing in real time, almost in real time and batch mode integration. In the frames of Microsoft Dynamics GP technology - real-time eCommerce Integration requires eConnect stored procedures or SQL programming. Near real time (every five, ten, twenty minutes) could be achieved through the integration Integration Manager line. And in turn, how to integrate batch may be called at the request Great Plains user - typically Integration Manager

3. eConnect eCommerce programming. This tool allows you to achieve real-time integration. eConnect is a fairly easy tool for Microsoft Visual Studio C # or VB.NET programmers. If you are part of the GP eCommerce development team in your organization, you may want to invest your time in eConnect training. The ground floor of the technology stack eConnect is the set of encrypted SQL Server stored procedures, which will also cover most of the masters Great Plains records, configuration and operations work with the methods of ECONNECT. In the case of B1 and SAP has SDK that is similar in its ability to eConnect

4. Integration Manager. Here are the batch mode, or nearly real-time integration. If you are OK to export your e-commerce transactions to coma or tab delimited text file and then import them into Great Plains via Integration Manager - this method is very reliable (the business logic validation of Dynamics GP ERP), however, is not compatible in real time. You can try to plan the integration to run every twenty minutes, by implementing the Windows macro programs or third-party macros. For SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench, you should review as analog-to Integration Manager

5. Master and Slave application. You should decide which application is master (where most of your cards or master records are created: inventory items, prices). Dynamics GP and SB1 are more suitable to be masters, as the entire back office business logic is already there, against custom eCommerce applications, where you have to program all the cards from scratch. If Corporate ERP is chosen to be the master - Articles, pricing and promotion campaigns are driven to eCommerce from there. Usually you make one exception to this rule - they are created in eCommerce and pushed the old ERP system