If you use the eCommerce module in Service Suite, and frequently update prices, discounts or make other changes to your products, you can benefit from automating the process of importing and distributing your eCommerce catalog.

Service Suite can be configured in such a way, that when you have exported your products from your ERP system, Service Suite can automatically import those products and distribute your eCommerce catalog to those of your customers to which you have issued a license.

Even though this might seem complicated, it is in fact very easy to accomplish with Service Suite.

 Configuring the automatic import.

Before the automatic import can be activated, there are a few settings that we must check up on.

This can be done by selecting the menu: "Settings" from the "Main menu", followed by the menu: "e-Commerce". The screen could look like this:

The file, which will activate the automatic import, must be located in the selected import folder, and have the filename specified in the default selected format for importing the eCommerce catalog. The format of the file must match the default selected format as well.

In this case Service Suite will look for the file: "e-items.txt" in the selected folder, and whenever this file is present it will automatically be imported in accordance with the selected format.

 Activating the automatic import.

When we are certain that these settings are correct, we can activate the automatic import. This can be done by selecting the menu: "Automation", which will show following screen:

If we take a closer look at the list of automated import possibilities in Service Suite, it looks like this:

In this you select the line: "eCommerce catalog from ERP system", and when this has been selected you click the button: "Activate", which will activate the automatic import.

 Activating the automatic distribution.

The list named: "Automatic distribution of data from Service Suite", is used in case you wish your eCommerce catalog to automatically be sent to your customers, when your eCommerce catalog has been automatically imported. If we examine this list, it looks like this:

Here we select the line: "Automatic distribution of eCommerce catalogs to all customers which has a license", and when this line has been selected we click the button: "Activate", which will activate this feature.

When the automated distribution is enabled, your eCommerce catalog will be sent to all those customers to whom you have issued a license, as soon as your eCommerce catalog has been imported.

 When is my eCommerce catalog imported?

Your eCommerce catalog will now be automatically imported whenever the file: "e-items.txt" is present in your import folder.

When Service Suite detects this file for the first time, it will record the time and date of the last change written to this file. Then Service Suite waits for 10 seconds, and examines those values again. When the time and size of the file has been the same for 10 seconds the import will commence. This is done in order to avoid that Service Suite begins importing a file that has not been completely exported from your ERP system.

There are numerous ways in which to exploit the automatic import and distribution functions contained in Service Suite. If you are using these capabilities in ways that are not described on these pages we would very much like to know about it.

If you have any questions about the automatic import of the eCommerce catalog in Service Suite, you are always welcome to contact us at: servicesuite@mamut.com