WDCi Blogs

A given standard Netsuite user login is limited to two sessions at the same time, one through the front-end (UI) and one through the web services.

For example, if someone attempts to log in from two different browsers at a time by using the same login user, the login from the second browser will terminate the first login.

The same behaviour will happen same as above for the web services client when two  or more web services clients attempt to establish concurrent sessions, the latest log in will eventually cause termination to other accesses.

However, the front-end (UI) session and web services session do not cause termintation of each other.

There is one alternative which allow concurrent web services session. This is can be done by having the Web Services Concurrent License (Web Services Plus) which allows for one designated user to create up to five concurrent Web services sessions. Further details about this feature can be found here, Web Services Plus.

We’ve recently built out an end-end process integrating Salesforce, Netsuite and OpenAir.

The end-end process goes like this:

• Successful Opportunities in Salesforce generate Sales Orders in Netsuite.  Opportunities of a specific type also generate Netsuite Projects and OpenAir projects.
• Payment updates are synchronised across from Netsuite to Salesforce, providing visibility to the sales team.
• Project updates are synchronised from OpenAir to Netsuite and Salesforce, providing visibility to finance as well as sales teams.
• Netsuite is the Item master and Item details are synchronised to Salesforce Products.
• When a Customer create is required in Netsuite (in order to generate a Sales Order) or OpenAir (for Project creation), the integration processes handles this as well.

End result:

• No re-keying of data for invoicing purposes
• The Services Team has instant visibility into new projects just sold by Sales
• Sales has visibility into payment status for their clients
• Sales has visibility into project delivery status for their clients
• Finance has visibility into project delivery status for invoicing and revenue recognition purposes

Complexity:

• There were some complexities with the customer’s Item/Product data
• Salesforce was enhanced with custom objects to store the invoicing and project data and link that to the original opportunity
• The main challenge was bring the parties together and defining the business process flow

Want to know more, just contact us for the details.

We recently had the opportunity to work with Mindjet and deliver their Netsuite-Salesforce integration using the Boomi Atomsphere platform.

It was a grueling task with a large data migration effort as well as several bidirectional integration processes due in a very short time frame (5 weeks).  Since completing the project we’ve gone on to implement a robust support and monitoring system to enable us and Mindjet to easily monitor and manage their integrations anytime, anywhere.

There’s some more detail in the Boomi blog, it was a big team effort with a dedicated customer that knew their business processes well and a platform that’s perfect for SaaS integration - thanks everyone, it’s time for pina coladas all round.

When building or developing an integration to Netsuite, you may need to unset a field.

For system fields and custom fields, the approach is different.

For system fields, you can send an empty phone tag to Netsuite. For example:

For custom fields, you need to use the add the custom field ID into nullFieldList. For example (custentity4):

if your application is not listed in Magento connect or you need to build a custom integration process, here are some options that you may find helpful:

Magento API

You can access the majority of the modules using the Magento Core API. It supports both SOAP and XML RPC protocols.  In addtion you can also create your own API.

Magento Database (Mysql)

If you are connecting to Magento via the database, it’s important to study the relational diagram in advance and understand the dependencies. This approach will be vulnerable if the database schema changes during future upgrades, requiring you to update your integration as well.

Integration Platform

In addition to the approaches described above, you can also integrate to Magento using an integration platform such as Boomi Atomsphere. Boomi uses an XML format to interchange data between applications. This approach results in a robust and easily maintained integration.

Any form of use-case with Magento can be integrated. Here are some use-case scenarios that we have implemented to date:

• Integrate Mangento with GreatPlains (CRM/ERP)
• Integrate Mangento with SmartTurn (Inventory Management Software)
• Integrate Magento with Netsuite (CRM/ERP)
• Integrate Magento with Salesforce (CRM)

If you need any more details on how to integrate with Magento feel free to contact us.

Well, it depends…

Ok, I realise that isn’t helpful, so here’s an example.

First some assumptions/caveats on Salesforce and Netsuite integration:

1. Your implementations of Salesforce and Netsuite are in reasonable order, customization is ok, we’re just assuming that you haven’t used duplicate field names in Netsuite and if so, that you understand your data and can identify these.
2. We also assume that you will play a large part in the identifying the fields to be mapped in each system.
3. Systems will be locked down during development.
4. Data migration is not part of the exercise.
5. We’re using an integration tool that has connectors/adapters for each system.

So, assuming the above, here’s an idea of how long we would take to integrate 3 common objects between Netsuite & Salesforce, ie Account-Customer, Contact-Contact and Opportunity-Opportunity or Opportunity-Invoice.  Our approach is rapid not reckless:

Can we do it quicker?

• It depends on the assumptions above and how quickly you can work with us to complete the job.

What typically impacts the time-line?

• Field mapping detail and complexity
• A clearly defined and well understood business process
• System availability, People availability (sign-off, testing)
• Data cleanliness (see this blog on the impact of data quality)

Want to know more, just ping us and we can quickly give you a scope of how long it would take.  You can also check out our We Did section on our website for some examples of recent integrations we have built.