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Data Exchange Overview

You can set up a data exchange in Monsoon Marketplace to pass inventory and order information between Monsoon Marketplace and an external source such as a point of sale (POS) system, a company website, or a custom marketplace. Typically, this is done by using an adapter or helper script.

File and folder types

After you set up a data exchange, Monsoon Marketplace automatically exports and imports inventory and order files. (For instructions, see To add a data exchange.)

Inventory export file

Data exchange folder name: InventoryExport
When you first set up a data exchange, Monsoon Marketplace automatically generates an export of all of your active inventory. The exported data is placed in the exchange's inventory export folder to be picked up by your external source. This initial export synchronizes inventory between systems.
After the initial export of all active inventory, only those inventory items that have changed since the last export are included in the export files. For example, changing the quantity of an item triggers the creation of an inventory export file. This file contains the quantity update only.
You can map columns in an export file to columns in an external source using a custom inventory export template. For instructions, see To add an inventory export template.

Inventory import file

Data exchange folder name: InventoryImport
Monsoon Marketplace automatically picks up and processes inventory files placed in a data exchange's inventory import folder.
You can use an inventory import file to add or modify SKUs, depending on which import operator you use for each line item in the file. You can also use an inventory import file to decrease (rather than overwrite) an existing SKU's quantity. (For more information about import operators, see Import Operators.)
Columns in an import file need to match the column headers in Monsoon Marketplace or map to them using a custom inventory import template. For instructions, see To add an inventory import template.

Order export file

Data exchange folder name: OrdersExport
Depending on how you set up your data exchange, you can export all orders from all enabled markets (including your data exchange) or export changes to only those orders originally imported through the data exchange.
You can map columns in an export file to columns in an external source using a custom order export template. For instructions, see To add an order export template.

Order import file

Data exchange folder name: OrdersImport
Monsoon Marketplace automatically picks up and processes order files placed in a data exchange's order import folder.
The data in an order import file creates new orders or modifies existing orders.
At the time a new order imports, Monsoon Marketplace assigns it a unique identifier: the MonsoonOrderID. When you import to modify an existing order, you should include the MonsoonOrderID column. If your adapter cannot retrieve MonsoonOrderID data, your import file should include both the MarketOrderID and MarketName columns. Monsoon Marketplace can use these two columns in combination to map changes to the correct order.
Columns in an import file need to match Monsoon Marketplace column headers or be mapped to them using a custom order import template. For instructions, see To add an order import template.

Note: Each data exchange file type is set up with its own directory: inventory import, inventory export, order import, and order export. Monsoon Marketplace does not support enabling or disabling one or more of the subdirectories.

Creating export and import templates

A custom export or import template defines which data columns pass between Monsoon Marketplace and an external source. Instead of potentially exporting 250 or more unique inventory columns by default, you can create an export template that includes only those columns that you want to pass between Monsoon Marketplace and your external source.

Before you set up a data exchange, you should create a custom template for each file type. For instructions, see the following:

File format and naming

Monsoon Marketplace supports import and export of text files (files with an extension of .txt) only. By default, Monsoon Marketplace exports tab-delimited text files. When you create custom import and export templates, we recommend that you also use a tab delimiter.

Data exchange export files names always begin with the export type followed by the date time values for year (YYYY), month (MM), day (DD), hour (HH), minute (MM), second (SS), and fraction of a second (FFF). For example, if you make changes to inventory item details on January 30th, 2014, at 20.05 seconds after 11:08 a.m. Monsoon Marketplace would automatically generate an export file with the name Inventory20140130-110820-050.txt. If you had made changes to your orders instead, the file name would be Orders20140130-110820-050.txt.
Although there are no import file name requirements, a good practice is to use a file naming convention that includes date-time values for year (YYYY), month (MM), day (DD), hour (HH), minute (MM). In this case, the file name format would be YYYYMMDD-HHMM.txt.
When you import to add or modify inventory or orders, your file should include required columns along with only those columns that are unique to the inventory item or order.

Column definitions

Each column that you import requires a specific data type—some columns require text or numbers while others cannot exceed a certain character length. An import will fail if columns in the file contain the wrong kind of data.

For more information about import column data types, see:

Adapters

An adapter translates data between Monsoon Marketplace data exchange folders and an external source.

The Monsoon Marketplace Support team can help you determine whether you need custom development work to create an adapter for your external source. If would like help assessing your needs, please submit a ticket to Monsoon Support Center