Peoplevox Integration

Table of contents

Overview

  • Peoplevox is a cloud-based warehouse management system that helps eCommerce businesses manage their warehouse operations efficiently and provides tools for inventory management. 
  • This article outlines how to integrate Peoplevox to Starshipit.

Peoplevox_Integration.png

  • A. When you allocate stock in Peoplevox, orders will be pushed across to the New section in Starshipit.
  • B. Once orders arrive in New, you will have the chance to correct any address issues in Starshipit. (only if need be)
  • C. When a despatch is done in Peoplevox this will pass across item details, allowing Starshipit to generate labels and tracking numbers and return them to Peoplevox.

 Note

Peoplevox may charge an extra subscription fee for enabling their carrier integration module (which they require for us to integrate with them - see point 3 below). You can contact their support team here.

1. Set up Peoplevox

There are some overall required settings for using Starshipit with Peoplevox.

  1. In Starshipit, navigate to Settings > Integrations.
  2. Click Add a new integration, and select Peoplevox from the list.
  3. Enter a display name for your integration (e.g. Peoplevox).
  4. Select the region where your Peoplevox instance is sited from the options presented (this will reflect in the URL used to access your Peoplevox instance, e.g. https://ap.peoplevox.net/abc1234/):
    • Americas (US)
    • Asia Pacific (AP)
    • Europe (WMS)

You can also choose from where Starshipit picks up the following fields when importing from Peoplevox (in most cases you set these to one of the attributes 1-5 on the sales order in Peoplevox, depending upon your particular Peoplevox setup). This applies for orders imported at both allocate stock and despatch time.

  1. Company name
  2. Building
  3. Phone number
  4. Currency code
  5. Delivery instructions

In addition, attributes 1-15 can be setup for HS Code and Country of Manufacture.

2. Set up an optional subscription to receive orders at stock allocation time

Receive orders at the time of inventory allocation in Peoplevox (this is optional, but means you have an earlier chance to correct invalid addresses).

  1. In Starshipit, enter the Client Id, Username and Password that you use to log in to Peoplevox.
  2. Enter Requested Delivery Date, after which orders will import from Peoplevox (based on the stock allocation time event there)
    • This prevents historical orders from being imported, so simply set to a recent date
  3. Click Save.
  4. Click Test to ensure it works. You'll see Successful at the page bottom, if the connection works.
  5. To enable orders to be sent over from Peoplevox when you allocate stock to them, click Subscribe.

3. Set up 'carrier integration' access in Peoplevox

Receive order detail at the time of despatch in Peoplevox, so you can print labels and return them and their tracking numbers to Peoplevox.

  1. Log into your Peoplevox account.
  2. In the top-right of the screen, change the view to Integration.
  3. In the header, select Carrier Integration.
  4. Click Add New (or if you already have a previous Starshipit integration, you can just change the Api key ONLY in this set of steps, as one integration is sufficient).
  5. Set Name as 'Starshipit'.
  6. Set Date time format as dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.
  7. Set Timeout (ms) as 30000.
  8. Copy and paste the Api key from your Starshipit account's Settings > Integrations > Peoplevox page.
    1. If you haven't needed anything to do with Api keys in Starshipit before, then you may not have the full Api key here yet (it may just be something like 123456;), whereas you actually need the full Api key (something like 123456;99999a999999999a9a9a999aaa99a9a9).
    2. In this case, first go to Settings > API and click the Generate button.
    3. When you return to the Peoplevox settings page, you'll see the full Api key populated.
  9. Copy and paste the Endpoint.
  10. Set Tracking number format as {returns}/{outbound}.
  11. Click Save.

4. Set up DespatchPackage or Returns print templates in Peoplevox

  1. Log in to your Peoplevox account.
  2. Change the view to Setup (via dropdown at top-right of page).
  3. Select Print Templates.
  4. Select Label type as DespatchPackage (for outgoing labels and outgoing commercial invoices) or Returns (for returns labels and returns commercial invoices)
  5. Click Search.
  6. Click on your chosen template.
  7. Set Registered template name as Outgoing label, Commercial invoice, Returns label or Returns commercial invoice (leave Carrier connection).
  8. Click Save.

5. Select the print templates in the carrier connection in Peoplevox

  1. Go back to the previously set up carrier integration via 3.2 and 3.3, above.
  2. Click on it and then Edit
  3. In the Document Types section at the bottom of the pop-up, set a Name and Reference and select one of the Print Templates created under section 4, above.
    • The Name can be set to whatever you like, but you could just use the same text as the Reference (below).
    • You must set the Reference as one of the following, depending upon the Document Type to be retrieved from Starshipit:
      • Outbound label
      • Commercial invoice
      • Returns label
      • Returns commercial invoice
    • Initially, just set up the Outbound label Document Type, and test that it works, before proceeding with any further one.
  4. Click Save.

6. Add a default courier and/or rules in Starshipit

Starshipit auto-generates labels for orders when they are despatched in Peoplevox. The correct courier and product code needs to be assigned to Peoplevox orders by default or using Starshipit's rules. To set this up:

  1. In your Starshipit account, go to Settings, then select Couriers.
  2. Add a default International courier and a Domestic courier, then click Save.
  3. Open your default couriers and set a default product code for each.
  4. (Optional) You can set up additional couriers in Settings > Rules and assign a courier and product code based on different criteria.

7. Configure your package creation settings in Starshipit

Starshipit supports two settings for configuring how to create packages at despatch time:

  • Create package using item weights from Peoplevox order
  • Create packages using package details from Peoplevox orders

These can be configured in your Starshipit account settings under Settings > Integrations > Peoplevox as tickbox options.

Create package using item weights from Peoplevox order

This option will use the weight of your items to create a single shipment in Starshipit. The weights are pulled from the DespatchItems element submitted by Peoplevox to Starshipit.

Create packages using package details from Peoplevox orders

Each package added to a Peoplevox order will be created as a seperate order/shipment (with the same name / order number) in Starshipit upon despatch. Each order's tracking number will flow back into Peoplevox against the sales order.

Both weight and dimensions of each package will be used by Starshipit to create each order.

  • If your Peoplevox orders contain multiple packages, you can consolidate them into a single shipment. To enable:  Go to Settings > Integrations > Peoplevox and select Consolidate multi-packages into one shipment.

8. Label generation failures

On despatch of an order in Peoplevox, if the order still has an invalid address (and hasn't yet been corrected in Starshipit), the labels and tracking numbers will not be generated in Starshipit.

Peoplevox will then output a failover label which will let you know which order has failed label generation.

In this case, correct the address in Starshipit and reprint in Peoplevox, by finding the despatch, clicking Print and clicking the Print button next to the package.

Troubleshooting

Most issues will be due to address errors or other errors from couriers directly. When an order fails to print, a failover label will be printed by Peoplevox.

For these cases the customer will need to correct the address in Starshipit and reprint in Peoplevox, by finding the despatch, clicking Print and clicking the Print button next to the package.

For all other issues the Event Logs in Peoplevox is a good place to check for any errors. The Event Log will also include API requests made to Starshipit by Peoplevox, and API responses from Starshipit.

To access the Event Log:

  1. Login to Peoplevox
  2. In the top-right of the screen, change the view to Integrationmceclip1.png
  3. Select the Event Logs tab on the top-left of the screen.mceclip2.png
  4. All event logs will be shown. See the example below.

mceclip4.png

 Note

In the Event Log a common message which displays "Carrier Integration could not matched printRequest: - 1", this message is quite common and can usually be ignored.
In the event that you need to re-import orders from Peoplevox to Starshipit, as Playvox sends orders directly into Starshipit, if you have removed/deleted orders, you will need to resend these from the Peoplevox side.

FAQ

Can I get the service that the order was printed within Starshipit to writeback to Peoplevox?

Yes. Starshipit allows sending the service type back to PeopleVox when printing an order. This feature updates the carrier in PeopleVox based on outbound references set up for each service.

How It Works:

  1. Set up Services in PeopleVox: Ensure each Starshipit service is configured in PeopleVox with the corresponding outbound reference.
  2. Outbound Reference Format: The outbound reference format is <carrierID>_<service code>. You can use the tool in Starshipit > Settings > Integrations > PeopleVox > Tools to determine the correct reference.
  3. Enabling the Feature: Enable the 'Write back service type to PeopleVox' setting in Starshipit > Settings > Integrations > PeopleVox > scroll to the bottom.

Example:

If a rule in Starshipit changes the shipping method from Hermes to Royal Mail TPNN, "39_TPNN" will be sent as the service type on print. PeopleVox will then update the carrier based on this outbound reference.

Note: If PeopleVox doesn’t find a matching reference, it will mark the carrier as "unknown."

Can I use the Product Catalogue with PeopleVox?

Yes, the settings you enable for the Product Catalogue will apply to your PeopleVox orders when you dispatch the label

How does the Consolidate multi-package feature work? 

With this setting, instead of immediately providing the label to Peoplevox upon receiving a dispatch request, Starshipit will keep updating the unshipped order with new packages. This will continue until the totalPickedItems match the totalDespatchedItems. Once they match, the label(s) will be generated and sent to Peoplevox.

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