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Archive for August, 2009

Using ShipWorks with Magento (USPS, UPS, Fedex Shipping integration)

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

In this post we will be exploring the integration of Interapptive’s ShipWorks with Magento.

ShipWorks is a Windows-only desktop application that integrates a number of different shopping carts with the most common shipping services. It uses the Microsoft SQL server as it’s data storage engine, allowing it be installed on multiple computers on the same network.

ShipWorks currently has support for the following shipping methods:

UPS (direct integration)
UPS Worldship
DHL (direct integration)
Fedex
USPS (Label printing, w/out postage)
USPS (via Stamps.com desktop application – domestic shipping only)
USPS (via Endicia desktop application)

Benefits of using ShipWorks

Fast shipping fulfillment
Less error-prone than copy-and-pasting
Integration with multiple different shipping methods
Low cost (max. of $49.95/mo – see pricing)

Disadvantages

Windows-only (this is a common trend with shipping management software)
Desktop-based (as opposed to web-based)

Typical Magento/ShipWorks Order Fulfillment Workflow

Here are the steps a typical order fulfillment process will look like, once the Magento/ShipWorks integration is completed:

Download new orders from Magento by going to “Order > Download Orders” in Magento. This will download all orders since the last order download.
Select all orders that aren’t marked as “Closed” or “Complete”. You can create filters in ShipWorks that will only show orders that match certain parameters. If you offer multiple shipping providers (eg, UPS & Fedex), you’ll want to select and process orders from each shipping provider separately.
Click the button on the toolbar for the shipping provider associated with the selected orders.
You’ll then customize the shipping options (delivery confirmation, insurance, etc…) for the orders. You can do this individually or as a group.
1. Note: I did notice that when you open the shipping label dialog, ShipWorks doesn’t properly associate shipping services imported from Magento to their respective service type in. For example, when you select three orders, one with “USPS Priority” and the others with “USPS First-Class” mail, the “USPS Priority” option is selected for all orders. Here is a screenshot demonstrating this.
Once you’re done customizing the shipping options, you’ll print the shipping labels.
Once an order is shipped, it will be marked as “Complete” in Magento. A Shipment will also be created that will be associated with the associated Order and Invoice. If a tracking number was provided from the associated shipping service, it will be added to the Shipment. This will allow a customer to login to the “My Account” section of the Magento store and see that their order has been shipped.
ShipWorks has the ability to send shipping confirmation emails directly to the customer. This may work fine for many merchants, but there will be those that want Magento to send the shipment confirmation email. Based on my perusal of shipworks.php file, it doesn’t look like a shipment notification email is sent from Magento when a shipment is created. If a merchant wants to have all emails sent from Magento, it would require a small change to be made to the shipworks.php file.

Alternative Solutions for Integrating Magento with UPS, USPS, or Fedex

There are alternatives to using ShipWorks. Here are a few alternatives. If you know of any integration methods that aren’t listed here, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

Installation – Magento Script

In order to install the Magento script for ShipWorks, all you have to do is copy the provided shipworks.php file into your Magento installation directory.

Installation – ShipWorks

Here are screenshots of the ShipWorks installation process:

Initial Setup Screen

Installation Location

Database Location Selection

If you choose the “Connect to and existing ShipWorks” database, you’ll see the following:

SQL Server Selection

If you choose the “Create a new ShipWorks database” option, you’ll see this:

: You can either install the packaged version of Microsoft SQL Version, or you can use an existing installation

ShipWorks connects to the Interapptive servers to download the latest version

: You’ll create an SQL account on your newly installed server

After installing MSDE (SQL Server Desktop Engine) and restarting your computer, you'll create a database

Setup ShipWorks user account

Software Licensing Screen

Magento Store Setup Wizard

Shipment Settings

ShipWorks will use these settings to send emails to customers (if you configure it to send email notifications)

ShipWorks Screenshots

Here are some screenshots of ShipWorks in action. More screenshots/screencasts can be found on the Interapptive site.

Once you connect ShipWorks to Magento, you can "Orders > Download Orders" to download all orders from Magento

Orders View - You can view all orders that have been imported from Magento (customer data is blurred).

Customer View - See all customers that are associated with the imported orders. ShipWorks groups all orders for a specific customer together, allowing you to see an entire order history for a customer.

Here is an example of 7 orders being prepared to print labels using Endicia's Dazzle application

Posted in Management | 14 Comments »

Magento’s “Global Record Search” Explained

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Magento has a little-publicized feature called the “Global Record Search”, located at the top right of every admin page. It allows you to quickly search for Products, Customers, and Orders in the system. If you need to quickly find one of these types of records, using the Global Record Search is much quicker than going to the Product, Customer, or Order listing pages. Here are the attributes you can use to search:

Product Name
Customer First Name
Customer Last Name
Customer Company
Customer Postal Code
Customer Phone Number
Orders by Billing or Shipping address (using the same information as Customer fields listed above)
Order Number (Increment ID) – must be exact number, no partial matches

Example Global Record Search Query

Unfortunately, you’re not able to search by Product ID or Customer ID. This functionality would be simple for a Magento developer to add. It would require overriding one of the following classes: Mage_Adminhtml_Model_Search_Catalog or Mage_Adminhtml_Model_Search_Customer.

Hope that helps in the management of your Magento store!

Posted in Management | No Comments »

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