Stone Edge Integration With Volusion API

Stone Edge Technologies Inc. is a provider of e-commerce information management software that allows merchants to manage multiple streams of data in conjunction with various e-solutions and service providers.

Stone Edge allows users to do many things from managing orders, shipping, even processing electronic payments. Volusion provides integration with Stone Edge to offer more ways for Volusion users to manage their Volusion stores.

Volusion provides integration with Stone Edge's Order Manager and Order Manager Enterprise software (version 5.007 or greater). This integration is provided through Volusion's API with export settings created specifically for use with Stone Edge. Note that this integration is only provided for Volusion Gold plan users and above.

Getting Started

The following document will discuss first what is supported with Volusion's API in regards to its uses with Stone Edge Order Manager. Steps to gain access to the Stone Edge integration from within Volusion will be explained as well as how to implement this integration within Stone Edge Order Manager (SEOM).

Part I: What is Managed with Stone Edge?

Volusion's API provides three main exports for use in conjunction with SEOM: Orders, Customers and Products. These exports are provided as either downloadable files or through URLs provided by Volusion. Please see the Stone Edge Integration Export Table for a full list and explanation of the values provided in the three different SEOM exports through this special API integration.

Part II:  Generating Exports for Stone Edge

The process for generating the initial export for Stone Edge integration through the Volusion API is identical for all three export types. An export can be generated by doing the following:

1. Click on the Inventory > Import / Export link.  
2. Click on the Volusion API button on that page.  
3. If it is not yet enabled, click on the green Enable button for StoneEdge in the Order Management section. 
4. Click on the green Run button next to the appropriate Stone Edge export.  
5. On the following page, click the Run button to generate the initial Stone Edge export. 
6. You will then have access to a text field tha containing a URL. This is the URL required by Stone Edge to integrate with the Volusion store.
7. Simply copy this URL and paste it into the appropriate field within Stone Edge to link the Volusion store with SEOM. 

Regenerating Exports

As with many of the Volusion API exports, once the export is generated, it cannot be re-generated for any of the elements within each respective database unless the export is reset.

1. To do this, there is a dropdown menu listing each generated export - each of which has a time-stamp based on the moment it was generated. 
2. Once an export has been selected, users can use the IDs dropdown to choose one or all of the IDs contained within the selected export. 
3. Once a user has selected their specific settings, clicking on Reset Export will reset the selected export. 
4. Customers will only need to rest the Stone Edge exports, for example if they are testing their Volusion store's functionality with Stone Edge and have not yet "gone live" with the Stone Edge integration. Generally, the Stone Edge export will only needed to be created only once.

Part III: How to Use the Export in Stone Edge

Connecting a Volusion store's API exports to the SEOM is relatively simple. Users will of course need the URL for the export file but will also require some basic authentication information to enable SEOM to securely connect to and utilize the export from Volusion. This can be obtained from the URL Volusion generates.

The following is an example of a URL Volusion generates for SEOM:

Stone Edge requires the following information to be entered within the SEOM to integrate with Volusion:

The following is an alternate method for obtaining the necessary authentication information required by Stone Edge from Volusion:

1. Log into the Volusion Admin Page using a valid administrator account.
2. Click on the Inventory > Import / Export and click the Volusion API link on the following page.
3. On the Volusion main API page, click the Help (With This Page) link located in the top right of the page in Volusion 2011 or on the bottom of the page in V5. 
4. Scroll to the bottom of the Instant Help dialog and click on the +expand link near the bottom of the dialog box.  Once you expand the information, click on the Volusion API Integration Help link at the bottom of the text.
5. A page of information about  API integration is now displayed. Here you can obtain the authentication required by Stone Edge.
6. Make sure the  Export radio button is selected, then select Stone Edge from the drop-down menu. This will display some basic information regarding the SEOM integration. 
7. Choose the appropriate email address for the administrator account that will be used to connect SEOM with Volusion from the drop down.
8. Click the header marked, URL with Query String and General Information for Importing and Exporting. This will display both the user name/URL and the encrypted password string users will need in order to allow SEOM to log into and gain access to Volusion's API. Copy this data into the appropriate fields in the Stone Edge Order Manager. 

Once this procedure is complete, the Stone Edge Order Manager will now have access to information through any of the three exports Volusion provides through the API. SEOM can now import this information as needed. Unless extensive changes are made to Volusion's Orders, Products or Customers table, this procedure is performed as a one-time setup for Volusion and SEOM users.

Part IV: Notes on Using Stone Edge Integration

There are some issues that Volusion users need to be aware of when using SEOM with Volusion.

Products with Options

If you use Order Management in Stone Edge, and want to understand how it converts Volusion SKUs for products ordered with options (not child products) into unique Stone Edge SKUs, you should see Options, Attributes and Sub SKUs in the Stone Edge knowledge base.

Payment Processing

Processing of electronic payments for orders placed in Volusion can be performed within Stone Edge. There are some limitations to this:

• Volusion only supports capture of authorized payments with the SEOM integration. Other actions such as crediting or voiding transactions are not supported between Volusion and Stone Edge.
• Note that as Stone Edge integration is based on an export-only basis, using SEOM to collect authorized payments will not update order information within the Volusion store. Merchants need to be aware of this if they intend to use SEOM to process payments from Volusion.
• Electronic payment processing between Volusion and Stone Edge will only work provided the merchant gateway being used is supported by both Volusion and Stone Edge. Please refer to Stone Edge and Volusion online documentation for a list of supported gateways.

Furthermore, please note that for order processing purposes, the Volusion API integration with SEOM will export data for any order within the Volusion store's Orders table provided the Order Status value for the order is not set to New, Canceled or Payment Declined.

Please also note that, as with all Volusion API exports, the system will only export up to 100 records at a time. Generating exports for more than 100 records will require the export to be generated multiple times.

Summary

Stone Edge is a powerful tool merchants can use to manage the tremendous amount of data that can be collected and stored within the Volusion database. It can assist with order processing, customer, order or product management and even some credit payment functions. There are some limitations to what Volusion can do with Stone Edge however the process for integrating Volusion with the SEOM is quick and simple.