Meet EPICOR P21

Epicor Prophet 21 is a unique, cloud-based business management system. This leading ERP solution is a robust combination of expert distribution systems and a fully web-enabled infrastructure which includes HTML5, Angular JS, .NET, and SQL Server.

These key features make the Epicor P21 system a popular choice amongst wholesale distribution software:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): the Epicor CRM solutions allow you to share data to create unified customer touch points. The available tools help you manage sales orders, leads, contacts, and marketing campaigns in a streamlined system.
• Integrated Service and Maintenance: your “one stop shop” for everything from technician schedules to warranties and service contracts.
• Business Intelligence: Epicor Data Analytics provides built-in reports, analytics tools, and “as of” reporting through responsive dashboards.
• Order and Inventory Management: regardless of how orders are placed (mobile, desktop, etc.) , customer information is directly added to P21. You can also minimize obsolete inventory and lower carrying costs by utilizing several dynamic inventory replenishment options.
• Financial Management: P21 comes with a general ledger that updates in real time, as well as account billing information, customer specific pricing and discounts, tax calculations, invoicing and the ability to automate logistics and shipping.
• API: the P21 API provides a complete .NET stack. This includes support for SOAP and REST to enable Internet connectivity.
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To take full advantage of the capabilities of Epicor P21, an integration with the powerful Magento platform comes into play.
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Meet Magento 2 B2B

Magento 2 offers all the components needed to convert established customer relationships into unified and efficacious buying experiences. These features include:

• Corporate Account Support
• Streamlined Ordering and Quote Management
• Enriched Content and Personalized Catalogs, Price Lists and Promotions
• Multi-Channel Selling
• Optimized Inventory and Order Management
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Not on Magento? For those wholesale distributors already running the P21 ERP and looking to elevate their B2B game, Magento is 2 a great solution to embellish the already able-bodied structure of the ERP with the bells and whistles of a modern eCommerce platform. Interested in migrating to Magento 2? Click here.
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The Powerhouse: Magento 2 x P21

Epicor Prophet 21 is functional. Magento is the adaptable and scalable eCommerce solution that you need. All that’s left is to connect them.

Because every business will utilize the Prophet 21 ERP differently,  there is no standardized out-of-the-box solution (a connector) that can integrate Epicor P21 with Magento.

Don’t worry. We can help with that.

“Just because Prophet 21 is a legacy system doesn’t mean it can’t remain the foundation of your business. But the integration with Magento is complex, so you’ll need a qualified development partner to make them work for you.” – Mayank Agrawal, Chief Technical Officer, DotcomWeavers.
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How Can DotcomWeavers Help?

The DotcomWeavers expert designers and developers are ready to take on your ERP integration needs. Here are 7 questions we ask every business before they commit to the integration.

1. Does your ERP have an API or data exchange interface available to connect with the eCommerce Storefront?
2. What kind of data exchange do you need from your ERP? (Products Master Data, Inventory & Pricing, Customers, Orders, Shipping and Tracking?)
3. Does your business have customer-specific pricing?
4. If you answered ‘yes’ to question 3, the follow-up question is: do you need pricing specific to individual customers or to certain customer groups?
5. Do you want bi-directional sync of order data (i.e. have orders placed outside the online storefront also be imported to the storefront)?
6. What kind of payment processing workflow does your business have?
7. Do customers pay online before their orders are sent to the ERP or are their cards authorized and then charged on the ERP?
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The Magento P21 Integration Process

Though each integration approach will customized based on different requirements, most integrations follow the same process:

Prepare your systems:

1. Install the API module for P21 on the internal network
2. Expose APIs to the outside world via the Firewall access
3. Establish relevant credentials and API keys so that only authenticated users can access the API.
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Technical Note: The default P21 APIs sometimes lack required functionalities. Your Solution? Custom APIs that Magento or a similar framework can use to connect with Epicor P21.
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The Result

This integration eliminates the time consuming and exhaustive task of changing your ERP system. Instead, you’ll get streamlined data flow AND a revived eCommerce site that gives your customers the ease of use, the unique content, and the individualized attention they expect.

Epicor P21 provides an API add-on. Once enabled, it opens the P21 system to talk to any external system via SOAP-based Web Services. Magento allows consuming APIs using SOAP-based services to establish a connection between the systems.
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Customer Data Management & Acquisition

• Customers records are verified from P21 and created on Magento
• Information from new customers who sign up on the site is sent to P21, which creates new customer accounts
• Magento’s B2B module and Prophet 21 both allow the company and contact management
• Existing customers on P21 can create and link their account online through express registration. This validates their accounts and registers them on the Magento system.
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Product Master Data

• The integration syncs key information about products (SKU, Title, Description, Specifications, custom File IDs, etc.) on Magento and Prophet 21.
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Product Pricing & Availability

• The Magento – P21 integration allows live Product Pricing.
• Magento pulls customer-specific pricing from P21 and displays it for users logged in on the site.
• When customers view product listings on the site, the P21 checks product stock, and availability and then displays the inventory status on the website.
• Product inventory changes happen in real time. If an item is sold on P21, it should no longer be available on Magento.
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Order Information & Fulfillment

• Information from orders placed via Magento syncs automatically with the relevant customer account on P21.
• When P21 processes orders, invoicing, shipping and tracking information updates on the Magento customer account.
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Elements Payment Integration

• Epicor’s Elements Payment Solution processes and stores credit card information via the Elements Gateway in a PCI-compliant mechanism.
• The elements gateway only accepts orders with verified funds on credit cards. This reduces instances of bad or failed credit cards.