API account setup in Xentral
1. In Xentral navigate to: “Administration” > "System" > "API account".
2. Within the API Account, click on "New".
3. Configure the API integration settings.
-
- Enable options "Active" and "UTF8 Clean".
- Create "Designation" and "Password".
- Enable "All Permissions".
- Forward the following details to Hive:
- Username (mentioned above).
- Password (mentioned above).
- Xentral Instance URL (can be found in the browser, e.g.
randomtext123.xentral.biz).
Warehouse set up in Xentral for inventory sync
- In Xentral navigate to: "Fulfillment" → "Warehouse Management".
- Click on "New" to add a new warehouse dedicated for items fulfilled by Hive.
3. Navigate to the newly created warehouse: "Storage Locations" → "Create new storage location".
4. After the new storage location creation, send the Designation (e.g HIVE001) to Hive.
Project and storage structure
During your Xentral integration in Hive, you will need to provide details on how Projects are utilized within your Xentral instance. Hive filters Xentral Projects based on their function in Xentral, whether they are used to sync Orders or Products, or both.
e.g. Project ID: 1 will contain SKU I would like Hive to fulfill; Project ID: 2 will receive orders Hive should fulfill, etc.
You can opt to have a simple setup where there is no need to filter for projects (e.g. a single Xentral Project for both orders and products), or a more advanced set-up with multiple brands and order sources.
During setup, please share a basic schema on how your Xentral instance will be structured.
To find the numeric "Project ID" (not the text identifier), see:
Product Setup
The following product information attributes need to be filled out in Xentral and will be synced to Hive:
"Product" → "Details"
- Product name (Item)
- SKU code (Item no.)
- Barcode
- HS code (Customs tariff number)
- Country of Origin
- Product Images*
- Production Cost
*In order for product images to be sent to hive, the image file needs to be set to "Shopbild".
Highlighted in green, the SKU details that Hive can synchronize from Xentral.
Inventory Sync
In the "Item Options" section, check the box called "Stock item", if you want inventory information to be synced from Hive.
Cost of items
For the production cost to be exposed in the Xentral API, and be synced by Hive, the information needs to be added in the section "Calculate and adopt the new calculated purchase price”, as shown below.
Fulfillment flow
Orders
Orders are imported from the order source into Xentral. For orders to be processed they need to be marked as completed and a Delivery note (Lieferschein) has to be generated.
Since Xentral doesn't give us timestamps, Hive won't fulfill orders according to the FIFO principle (First In, First Out) every hour, but every day.
Modifying and cancelling orders
Orders are imported to Hive in bulk every hour, and we sync order updates from the last 24 hours. We also sync order cancellations for the last 30 days.
Manual order synchronization
You can manually resync an order in the Hive App. To hard-sync orders through the Hive App, go on “Orders”, click on an order and then on “Resync Order”. This allows you to sync order changes quicker than the normal sync interval (60 minutes) would allow by default.
Tracking
Tracking information is sent back to Xentral via API right after the order is processed and shipped by Hive. If multiple shipments are assigned to the order, multiple tracking numbers are passed on to the Xentral order.
Order Type
We can separate B2B and B2C orders based on Projects in Xentral. We can set up a configuration on our side to ensure that all orders from each project are processed as B2B orders. Since each project will be integrated separately with Hive, this setup will streamline the handling of orders by treating them as distinct B2B transactions, providing clearer separation between order types.