The ShipStation and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central templates consist of a collection of pre-configured maps. The integration includes the following processes:
- Customers Created in ShipStation are Created in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Customers Updated in ShipStation are Updated in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Items Created in ShipStation are Created in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Items Updated in ShipStation are Updated in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- All Locations in Dynamics 365 Business Central to ShipStation Ship From Locations
- All Customers in Dynamics 365 Business Central to file (for ShipStation file import)
- All Products in Dynamics 365 Business Central to file (for ShipStation file import)
- Orders Created in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Create Orders in ShipStation
Any of the mappings can be changed or configured once the integrations are imported into SmartConnect. Additional fields can be included, or new maps can be added to fit specific needs.
There are additional endpoints configured with the ShipStation API that can be used in new mappings or integration design. The endpoints defined in the REST connection are listed here:
- GET Carriers
- GET Customers
- GET Fulfillments
- GET Order
- GET Orders
- GET Products
- GET Recent Created Customers
- GET Recent Updated Customers
- GET Recent Created Products
- GET Recent Updated Products
- GET Shipments
- GET Stores
- GET Warehouses (Ship From Location)
- POST Order
- POST Warehouse (Ship From Location)
Full ShipStation API reference is found here: https://www.shipstation.com/docs/api
The prerequisites to using these templates are as follows:
- Have a valid ShipStation and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central instance
- SmartConnect 21.1.0.447 or higher installed and registered
- Your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central environment is already configured in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central OData Connection within SmartConnect
- There are a handful of web services that need to be published within Business Central with specific names for the templates to import correctly.
Step 1: Configure the ShipStation REST Definition
Inside SmartConnect, the first step is to import the REST definition and add the Authorization parameter value.
To import the REST definition:
- Click the “Maintenance” tab in SmartConnect.
- Click the “Import” button in the Generic REST Connection section.
- Load the “ShipStation.xml” file
To Setup the initial ShipStation Connection:
- In SmartConnect, navigate to the “Connections” tab.
- Click the “Create” button.
- Select the ShipStation connection type from the list
- Switch to the “Authentication” tab to show the Basic Authentication setup.
- ShipStation requires that the username is entered as an API Key and the password is an API Secret. Both of those values are found within the Account – API Settings section in ShipStation.
- Provide a name for the Connection and save the setup.
Step 2: Import and Configure the ShipStation – MS Dynamics 365 BC
- Click on the “Integrations” tab within SmartConnect.
- Click the “Import” button.
- Select the integrations that should be imported. Multiple .zip files can be selected by holding the shift key while choosing the import files.
- Click Next until the Setup Integrations window is visible. Each integration will have a red icon to the left indicating it has not been configured for import yet.
- Double-click an integration to open the import setup window.
- Click the empty box under the “New Value” column for the data source. Select the ShipStation connection that was configured earlier.
- Click the first empty box under the “New Value” column for the destination instance. Select the Business Central connection that is configured in SmartConnect already as a
prerequisite. - If the services in Dynamics 365 BC were published with the exact names listed in this document, then the service “New Value” field will populate automatically.
- Save the setup window. The line for that integration should no longer have a red icon to the left of it. If it does, hover over the icon to see the exception message that is preventing the integration from importing.
- Repeat the process for the remaining integrations.
- Click Next until the import process is complete. The Import Results window will show which integrations successfully imported
There are nine maps that are included in the template. This section will explain what each integration
- SHIPSTATION_BC_ORDERS_TO_ORDERS
- Creates orders in ShipStation based on existing orders in Dynamics 365 BC. Do not run this integration until after the data source is filtered down to just the orders that are wanted to be sent to ShipStation.
- SHIPSTATION_ALL_CUSTOMERS_TO_BC
- Sends all current customers in ShipStation to BC. Run once as a bulk import if BC needs the existing customers synced from ShipStation.
- SHIPSTATION_ALL_PRODUCTS_TO_BC
o Sends all current products in ShipStation to BC. Run once as a bulk import if BC needs the existing products synced from ShipStation. - SHIPSTATION_BC_CUSTOMERS_TO_FILE
- Sends all current BC customers to a file for import through the ShipStation upload process. The ShipStation API does not currently allow for customers to be sent directly to their API.
- SHIPSTATION_BC_PRODUCTS_TO_FILE
- Sends all current BC products to a file for import through the ShipStation upload process. The ShipStation API does not currently allow for products to be sent directly to their API.
- SHIPSTATION_BC_LOCATIONS_TO_SHIPFROM_LOCATIONS
- Sends all current BC locations to ShipStation to be created as Ship From Locations. The API endpoint is labeled “warehouses” but the records generated are Ship From Locations.
- SHIPSTATION_NEW_PRODUCTS_TO_BC
- Recently created products will be sent to BC. This integration should be scheduled to run on a recurring basis.
- SHIPSTATION_UPDATED_PRODUCTS_TO_BC
- Recently updated products will be sent to BC. This integration should be scheduled to run on a recurring basis.
- SHIPSTATION_UPDATEDNEW_CUSTOMERS_TO_BC
- Recently created and updated customers will be sent to BC. This integration should be scheduled to run on a recurring basis
These integrations are provided as a basis on which to build out a full ShipStation integration with Dynamics 365 Business Central. There are additional fields that can be mapped inside of the existing integrations, and other API endpoints that can be used to create new integrations.
Examples of configurations you can make to existing maps or create:
- The integration creating orders in ShipStation could trigger from new invoices instead of orders or could be adjusted to pick up both document types.
- The integration creating orders in ShipStation could be modified to trigger from a change-based data source, allowing for just new/updated orders to send to ShipStation. This requires the SmartConnect change tracking extension if using BC online, or a SQL change data source if using BC on-premises.
- An integration to sync “Ship From Locations” (Warehouses) to BC – rather than just BC to ShipStation.
- An integration to look at the Shipments and/or Fulfillments endpoint in ShipStation. This endpoint returns the shipment status and tracking numbers which could be integrated into BC or elsewhere.
