Mission: The Shuttle program for Retail Orbit integrates multiple POS systems with Retail Orbit so that data can be collected without having to several reports from the POS and manually upload the information. Each POS system is different, however, and that means that shuttle has to adjust (as best it can) to be able to obtain the data successfully from the POS. The purpose of this document is to outline some common questions that come up during the integration process so that you can better understand how it works, what to expect, and what practices you need to put in place in order for Shuttle to receive the best data possible.
Which version of Shuttle should be installed for this POS?
Shopify v2022-10 or later and Stocky or Faves are required
Does this POS use a relational database? How does this affect Shuttle?
Yes, the database is relational, however, any changes to product types now do not affect the history pulls.
How does the department mapping work for this POS?
Support will pull all products from Shopify to create a department mapping document for the Retail Expert. This department mapping will use the Product Type from Shopify to match with a Management One class.
Please Note: Retail Orbit requires a One-To-One or Many-To-One relationship between Shopify Product Types and Retail Orbit Classes. Support currently does NOT have the ability to break out a single Product Type into 2 or more Retail Orbit classes. Our recommendation is that your Product Types match the Class Structure you require for planning.
Are there any character limitations that we need to be concerned with for Shuttle to work?
We highly recommend that Class Codes should be limited to Letters and Numbers with a length not exceeding 10 characters. Shuttle currently has the following limitations:
-Maximum Number of Characters: 20 (Please note that reporting can be thrown off if the combination of class code, class name, location name and category are too long).
-Characters Accepted: A-Z, 0-9, &, /, $, +, -, #, <, >,?
-Characters NOT Accepted: |, %, ‘, `, ,(comma)
Is Shuttle able to collect 24months of historical data, and if so, how is the historical inventory populated?
Yes, history can be obtained for 24months, however, Inventory and On Order values are not available during this process. To get the historic inventory values, we will need to run shuttle for the current month, and then calculate the historic inventory based on the transactions obtained during the history pull.
IMPORTANT: Historical sales, markdowns and receiving can only be pulled if the items/products in Shopify are listed within Shopify. (Product Status can be Active, Draft, or Archived). If the items are deleted, we will not be able to pull its history, even though Shopify Reports can.
Why does my Shopify Sales By Product Type report show differently than Retail Orbit's?
One thing to be aware of is how Shopify and we differ when comparing Sales. Shopify reports the sales by Product Type at the time of the sale. And Retail Orbit shows sales using the current Product Type (through mapping). So if any Product Type changes occur, our reports can not match as expected.
An Example. If you had an product with a Product Type of 'Tops'. And sold $500 of this item in the first half of a month. And then changed the Product Type to be 'Graphic Tees' mid month. And then sold another $500 in the rest of the month. The Shopify report 'Retail Sales By Product Type' will show Tops = $500, and Graphic Tees =$500. But in Retail Orbit, you have 'Tops' mapped to 100 - Woman's Tops, and 'Graphic Tee's' mapped to 110 - Unisex Graphic Tees. Our reports would show only $1000 in class 110. This is because the last upload grouped the sales at the item level and then used the most current Product Type to map those sales.
What options are available for collection of Markdown data?
POS markdowns are available through this shuttle.
What dates are used when determining where to collect the Purchase Order data?
By default, it is the Expected Date that is used to group the Purchase Orders by month, however, Ship Date can also be used upon request.
How far back do we collect data on Open Purchase Orders?
The Shopify Shuttle looks at all Open Purchase orders within the previous 2 months, as wells as any future Orders for the next 12 Months (of course). Anything without an expected date, or 2 months prior to the current month will fall under the current Month's On Order. If you would like us to use Ship Date, we need to be informed during integration setup, but the same rules would apply.
What stops shuttle from working properly with this POS?
This shuttle runs automatically every night.
Some uncommon reasons for shuttle to fail would include:
1. The Shopify Endpoint closes communication (timeout)
2. The user that created the API Keys is removed, the App is revoked, or permissions have been removed for that user account.
Are there any other nuances with Shuttle that I need to be aware of for this POS?
- If the client has an e-commerce location, please discuss with a support technician how that e-commerce site is being tracked (separate location in Shopify vs separate location in Retail Orbit vs Combining e-commerce data).
- If you are looking to update data manually, you will need to involve Management One support to upload a file as files used to upload data into Retail Orbit prior to shuttle being activated will no long work.
- Product Type changes should be communicated with the support team in order to ensure there is no interruption in the nightly shuttle service. We recommend periodic mapping reviews (once per month) to make sure all departments are mapped correctly.
- There is a scenario that clients should be aware of where we may be missing sales values. If a sale occurs, and then a refund and exchange occurs for that sale in a different calendar month. Currently our shuttle will record the refund (negative sales$) but not the exchange portion (positive sales $). This is because Shopify simply adds the new/exchanged item on the order (with a created date of the previous month) without distinguishing it as an exchange. Whereas the refund is actually recorded separately with a refunded date, and we will see that refund without issue.
- Items must NOT be ever deleted. It is our recommendation that all items that are no longer being carried be archived instead of deleted. If items are deleted, we will not be able to pull historical values.
If you require assistance, a support agent would be more than happy to help, and a Shuttle Support appointment can be booked at retailorbit.setmore.com for a day/time that is convenient for you to allow our support team to remote access the computer.
If there is an issue, where do I get support?
The best place to start with support regarding the collection of data is to contact Retail Orbit support by email at support@retailorbit.com, by phone at 520-612-2001 or by appointment at retailorbit.setmore.com
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