Order Import and Export: Concept

Out of the box, Intershop Commerce Management can:

  • Export orders to XML files, which then can be processed by other systems,

  • Import order status information from XML files generated by other systems.

For the order export and the order status import to work, corresponding services must be properly set up by your organization. The configuration parameters for the services include the local file directory, which specifies the location of the exported files or, correspondingly, the location of the files to be imported, as well as logging and monitoring options. For details about enabling and configuring services, see Services Management.

Note: This documentation covers the generic order service export and order status import shipped with Intershop Commerce Management. If your system uses other service implementations, some details may vary, but the general approach will be similar.

Both order export and order status import are based on individual configurations or "scenarios". A configuration stores all properties that the export or import processes need to have to successfully complete the corresponding task. Multiple configurations can be created, stored and executed, as required by the systems that consume the (export) data later on, or, accordingly, as defined by the systems that produced the (import) data. Properties stored by configurations include:

Table 1. Order export configuration
Configuration Data Description
General Includes name, description and configuration type (service-specific).
Actions Specifies possible changes to be made to the order statuses and line item statuses upon export.
Scheduling Specifies whether the export process based on the current configuration is executed manually or via an automated job at regular intervals.
Conditions Specifies which orders are included in the export based on the current configuration. Mandatory criteria include order status, fulfillment status, payment status and customer type; optional criteria include order number, customer ID, creation date, order amount, product IDs and supplier.
Table 2. Order status import configuration
Configuration Data Description
General Includes name, description and configuration type (service-specific).
Scheduling Specifies whether the export process based on the current configuration is executed manually or via an automated job at regular intervals.

For details about managing order exports and order status imports, see Order Import and Export.