Vin Reco Integration

A standard approach

In this document, we will discuss about the standard approach for Vin Reco Integration.

Prerequisites

  • Credentials

  • Point of Contact for quick communications for any queries or log in support with the credentials

  • Information of Business Models

  • Information of Fulfillment Modes

  • Information of any Third Party Integrations (In case we need to exchange the data)

  • Information of Availability for the Type of Integrations with the Third Party (for data exchange i.e. FTP/APIs)

  • Information of the requirement for any customizations apart from the vanilla product

  • Information of the requirement of formats/fields/data points/formulas for the customizations

  • Where unavailability of the data points, need agreement for manual uploads done by clients

  • Require the Agreements and sample data files (In special cases where the integration bases on it and we are not getting directly through the respective sources)

  • Require the session with client to know current processes (In special cases where the solution to be build basis on it)


Pre-Integration Analysis

  • Marketplace Business Models

  • Fulfillment Modes

  • Marketplace Panel Analysis

  • Available Report Types

  • Availability of Data and Duration of Each Report Type

  • Type Report Headers and Understanding

  • Understanding of Each Data Points and Statuses

  • Analysis on Common Keys Used for Correlations of Different Reports

  • Marketplace Fees

  • Marketplace Policies

  • Orders Analysis

  • Returns Analysis

  • Catalogue Analysis

  • Payment Analysis

  • Replacements

  • Refunds Analysis

  • Reimbursements Analysis

  • Agreements Review (For Custom Integrations)

  • Data Analysis for Prepare the Manual Upload Formats (If Applicable)

  • Analysis on Sample Data Files Shared by the Clients (For Custom Integrations)

  • Analysis on Sessions Done to Understand the Current Processes of Clients (For Custom Integrations)

  • Analysis to Build a Solution for the Client (For Custom Integrations)

  • Manual Report Preparation to Check the Feasibility for the Further Implementation (New Marketplaces)

  • Manual Report’s Validations/Testing with the Respective Portals (Internal - New Marketplace)

  • Manual Report’s Validation/Testing with the Client (External - New Marketplace)

  • Review and Analysis of the Change/New Request Received Post the Prerequisites


Implementation Guide


Particulars

Data Points Need to Check

Marketplace Modes

Is there any identification in orders?

if yes, what is the key in what report

single login for all the modes or there are different panels for fulfillment and standard modes.

Seller Type

Is there any tape that the marketplace defines for the seller account? eg. in lazada we are having lazmall and non-lazmall sellers. if there are, how to identify the seller type. also the conversion from one seller type to another is possible or not?

Data Pulling

Orders

what are the files that we will have to pull

What is the max duration for which the marketplace gives orders for all the types of reports?

are we getting orders of all the modes in the same file or we will need to pull separate file for each mode

If we are pulling separate files, then what type of orders will we get from what file?

In the case of fulfillment orders are we getting warehouse information at order level?

In case a marketplace has the ability for multi geo fulfillment, are we getting the currency information at order level?

we will have gather the statuses for pre shipment and post shipping mark

MANDATORY KEYS for Orders

what is the formula for selling price for each file and mode

rulebox price formula for each file and mode

the marketplace gives the unit price or subtotal price.

Replacement

Replacement orders identification and logic?

Returns

what are the files that we will have to pull for each mode

What is the max duration for which the marketplace gives orders for all the types of reports?

type of returns (Customer Returns / Courier Returns)

returns delivered date

returns condition key

what the returns that we will have to consider as completed and we should mark in our system.

Payment

where do we get the settlement file

What is the max duration for which the marketplace gives orders for all the types of reports?

we will have to request the file or we will have to download the auto generated file?

settled payment and unsettled payment

payment mapping - orders charges

payment mapping - returns charges

what the formula for paid amount

refund identification

refund quantity

in case there are different files for return, forward, return charges, forward charges we will have to map in a single collection.

other payment identification and formula (Non Order Trxn)

Reimbursement

Are we getting a separate file for reimbursement or we have to fetch the details from the payment file only?

reimbursement identification

reimbursement date

LBHW

Are we getting a separate file for lbhw?

if there is no file, where do we find the lbhw detail on screen?

what is the unit for LBH and W

Charges

What is the key parameter for commission? eg. category, channel code.

Are we getting commission history?

Promotion

Is there any dependency of promotion on payment or record or price?

Where do we pull the data from?

Are we getting the history of the promo charges?

Marketplace fee

list of the marketplace fees.(All header of the charges)

We will need marketplace fees for each mode.

calculation for each marketplace fee.

What are the order parameters that we will have to consider while calculating the marketplace fees.

Are we having detail for each parameter that we consider while marketplace fees calculation?

Consider weight, volumetric weight formula?

What are the units that have been considered in the marketplace fees calculation? eg. if weight is there, then it is in pounds or kg or grams?

the fee applicable per qty or per package?

Is there any flat commission and marketplace model fee structure involved in single mode? eg. snapdeal gm/cm.

The marketplace fees varis from seller to seller or is there a standard that the marketplace follows?

fee waiver?

discounting/promotion on the marketplace fees.

Tax calculation

Tax master for the country?

Marketplace Policies

Return policies

Missing inventory condition?

return window in days?

claim window in days?

What is the date we have to consider?

damaged inventory condition?

claim window in days?

What is the date we have to consider?

Replacement case

claim window in days?

What is the date we have to consider?

Lost and Liquidated Cases

claim window in days?

What is the date we have to consider?

Login

Marketplaces may or may not have APIs to pull data that we require. Amazon is the only marketplace having APIs for all the data points and rest of all the marketplaces don’t give APIs. We start integrating the marketplace based on the availability.


  • API Credentials : Implement Authentication.

  • Marketplace Panel Scraping : with username and password we code to generate valid cookies.

Data Pulling

Once we have authentication in place, we start to code pulling reports from Marketplaces. After the preintegration analysis phase we generate a detailed Implementation guide containing information about the data points and reports. 


The following are the categories of the data that we pull from Marketplaces. 


  • B2B Purchase Orders

  • B2B GRN

  • B2B Invoices

  • B2B Payments

  • Orders

  • Returns

  • Payments

  • Debit Notes And Credit Notes

  • Catalog

  • Replacements

  • Reimbursements

  • LBHW

  • Rate Card

  • Charges


There are certain data points like LBHW, Charges and Rate Cards for which Marketplaces don’t generate any reports and we have to scrape data from webpage or marketplace’s services and generate JSON.

Configs


Marketplaces are having various type of validation for different reports eg. The max duration for some reports would be 2 months, 4 months etc, for some reports the marketplace might give data for the last 2 years and some only 2 months. 


We create enum types for all the types data we pull from the marketplace and configuration properties against the enum types.


  • Operation File Config

  • Operation File Mapping

  • Channel Master

  • Channel Connectors

  • Channel Operations

Funnel Temp Mappings


We have a common module we call it as Funnel to take care of all the uploads [supports xlsx, csv, json types] and validations.


We have separate collections to save the staging data for all the enum types at marketplace level. 


In this mapping, we define the collection names, mandatory fields, type conversion, trim characters etc. funnel uses this mapping to read the file and push in temp collection. 


  • Orders File to Temp

  • Returns File to Temp

  • Payments File to Temp

  • Catalog File to Temp

  • Replacement File to Temp

  • Reimbursements File to Temp


Funnel Mapping


Once we are done with the staging mapping, we have production collections to save similar kinds of data. Eg. B2C Orders we get from all the marketplaces and at the end the data gets transferred in the “orders” collection. The production collection query mapping is done in this phase.


  • Orders Temp to final collection

  • Returns Temp to final collection

  • Payments Temp to final collection

  • Catalog Temp to final collection

  • Replacement Temp to final collection

  • Reimbursements Temp to final collection



Payment Mapping


We have a standard collection of payment data points that is being used in reconciliation. In this module we do mapping from Marketplace Fields to the data points for forward, return and other payments.     


  • Channel Orders Charges with VinReco Charges Heads

  • Channel Returns Charges with VinReco Returns Charges Heads

Post Funnel


Now, the marketplace may not provide all the required information in a single file and sometimes we have to do some short of calculation and update required files from other sources. In this module, we take care of such operations.


  • Update Required Fields in Temp/Final Orders

  • Update Required Fields in Temp/Final Returns

  • Update Payment using Mapping


Rulebox


This module is responsible for Marketplace fees calculation in the VinReco system at Order and Return level. We configure the different heads and properties under which the marketplace charges to sellers and rules for the calculation. 


  • Charges Heads

  • Rules

  • Rulebox Integration

  • Recalculate

Data Processing


Now, once we have all the required reports and data points in the system, we trigger a program to start with processing and updating required data points in production collection which is required for reconciliation. Following is the list of the data points that we update in production collections to generate reco.


  • Orders Charges Update from Payment

  • Refunds

  • Returns Charges Update

  • Paid Update

  • Reimbursements

  • Rulebox Calculation for Return & Orders

  • Returns

Reconciliation

Mostly all the reconciliation scenarios fall in two categories; Marketplace Fees and Inventory Scenarios. Different marketplaces will have different policies for making payment and raising disputes; however, logically would be the same for eg. Missing inventory scenario logic would be the same across all the marketplaces and the only difference would be in Ageing and sometimes the reference data for ageing. we have configuration to generate such scenarios.


In some cases, the leakage scenario would be different from all the scenarios and we do code that in a way can be configured for other marketplaces if required.


  • Reco Flag Updates

  • Reco Scenario Integration

  • Reco Diff Scenario Integration

  • Reco Automation

Testing

In this phase of integration, we complete reco generation testing and work on making the integration mature.


  • Login

  • Data Pulling

  • Configs

  • Funnel Temp Mappings

  • Funnel Mapping

  • Payment Mapping

  • Post Funnel

  • Rulebox

  • Data Processing

  • Reconciliation

  • Beta Testing with 10 POC(big) or 50 POC(small)