Affiliated Distributors data feed connectors

Affiliated Distributors (AD) provides an easy and cost-effective way to support distributors with product data via a data feed. If you subscribe to the AD Data Feed, you must enable the connector in the Admin Console. Enabling the setting creates the default job for the AD Data Feed to work with Optimizely Configured Commerce.

The AD Data Feed Refresh job processes the .xlsx files received from AD as a part of their data feed. The ADDataFeed processor converts the files into data mapped to Configured Commerce fields. The job completes the following steps:

1. Refresh Variant Types
2. Refresh Variant Traits
3. Refresh Variant Trait Values
4. Refresh Products
5. Refresh Product Variant Trait Values
6. Refresh Attribute Types
7. Refresh Attribute Values
8. Refresh Product Attribute Values
9. Refresh Product Specifications
10. Refresh Product Images
11. Refresh Documents
12. Refresh Categories
13. Refresh Category Product Mapping
14. Refresh Product 360 Degree Image
15. Refresh Category Attributes
16. Refresh Category Images
17. Refresh Brands

Configure the AD data feed

Enable the AD feed connector

1. Go to Administration > System > Settings in the Admin Console.
2. Search for Enable AD Feed Integration.
3. Set the Enable AD Feed Integration toggle to YES. This enables the AD Feed integration connector and creates the job definition. Default value: No. This is a global setting.
4. Click Save.
5. Click YES and Save when the message appears to install the Integration Job Definition for the Affiliated Distributors connector.

Create the connection

1. Go to Administration > Jobs > Connections.
2. Click Add Integration Connection.
3. Enter a name for your connection (Flat File or AD Feed) in the Name field.
4. Select the connection type from the Type Name dropdown (SFTP or FlatFile).
5. Fill in the information for the type of connection you selected. See Create an Integration Connection for more details.
6. Click Save.

Set the connection on the AD data feed refresh job

1. Go to Administration > Jobs > Job Definitions.
2. Click the Edit icon next to the AD Data Feed Refresh job.
3. Select your connection from the Connection dropdown.
4. Click Save. See Creating and Editing Integration Jobs for more options on scheduling and configuring your job.

Required and optional files

You must include certain files from the AD PIM in a separate storage location for the AD Data Feed connector to work.

The following table outlines the required and optional files for the connector and how the connector consumes/configures the files.

You need additional file considerations for multi-language support. See the Multi-Language Product Data section for more information.

Import category images

Category images are mapped from the AD Taxonomy file CategoryImageName field into Configured Commerce's Category.LargeImagePath and Category.SmallImagePath using the NumericCode to find the correct category.

Work with your implementation partner to begin importing category images as follows:

• Ensure the required AD taxonomy file is included in the same location as the AD product data file.
• Verify that the Configured Commerce import process knows the correct naming convention for the taxonomy file:
  1. Access the AD Product Import job in the Admin Console by going to Administration Job Definitions.
  2. Click Edit for AD Data Feed Refresh (ensure that you have already refreshed this job definition after upgrade).
  3. Click the Steps tab, then click Edit for Refresh Category Images (step 16).
  4. Scroll down to the Flat File Options section and update the file mask to fit your naming convention for the taxonomy file.
  5. Click Save.
• Verify that the source folder is correct. This should be the name of the media folder that images are placed in during the S3 upload process (AD Media Upload to S3 job destination directory parameter).
  1. Click Edit for AD Data Feed Refresh (ensure that you have already refreshed this job definition after upgrade).
  2. Click the Steps tab, then click Edit for Refresh Category Images (step 16).
  3. Click the Parameters tab and change the Value column for SourceFolder.
• Verify that the desired image location folders for the large and small versions of category images are properly mapped from the media library (images already stored after running the AD Media Upload to S3 job). Configured Commerce supports both a large and small image size for categories.
  1. Click Edit for AD Data Feed Refresh (ensure that you have already refreshed this job definition after upgrade).
  2. Click the Steps tab, then click Edit for Refresh Category Images (step 16).

  3. Click the Parameters tab and change the Value column for SmallImageFolder and LargeImageFolder. Acceptable values: large (Original size in AD content), medium (Detail size in AD content), and small (Thumbnail size in AD content)

     By default, the connector maps to the following: Large Image Path - Medium images folder (Detail size in AD content) and Small Image Path - Small images folder (Thumbnail size in AD content)

Only category images sourced directly from the “AD Media Upload to S3” job are currently supported via this process; referencing other image data in the Taxonomy file results in an incorrect mapping of the image path.

To add category-specific imaging that is not directly from the AD Media Upload to S3 job, you may upload the desired images directly into the Commerce media library using the following process:

1. Access the Media Manager in the Admin Console by going to Library Media.
2. Follow the instructions to upload a file in Use the Spire Media Library.
3. Associate the uploaded file with the desired category. Go to the desired category via the Catalog section of the Admin Console.
4. Click Edit on the desired category, and go to the Content tab.
5. Click Browse on the Small and/or Large Image Path fields.
6. Select the recently uploaded file and click Choose.
7. Save the category.

Product variants

Use this feature to import the category attributes data from EnterWorks and create variant types and products in Configured Commerce.

Along with the existing AD feed product data file, you must include the AD Category Attributes feed file. This file defines which attributes signify a product variant with the IsDifferentiator field, as well as the trait data.

The Category Attribute Metadata export is a separate export that you must configure and run. You can reach out to AD’s Account Management team or email eContentSupport@adhq.com for assistance.

Multi-language product data

Use this feature to import certain product data fields from EnterWorks via separate files in multiple languages into the Configured Commerce translation fields. This feature uses the AD Data Feed Translations Refresh job, which you must run after the initial data feed refresh.

Along with the existing AD feed product data file, include the same file in the desired language. It must be a language supported by Configured Commerce translations. Insert this file into the file drop and use a name that separates it from the initial data file. See below for masking info.

The translation refresh job must contain both a reference to the original product data file and the file mask for the translated data file. Enter the appropriate file mask for both files under Translations Refresh Job > Refresh Products > Flat File Options > File Masks. Use the following format:

• {Secondary language file mask},{Base language file mask}

The secondary language file is the file that provides the translated data, such as French product data. The base language file is the regular product data refresh job file, such as English product data.

All product data in the secondary language file is considered the actual translation and is mapped for the language code specified in Job Parameters.

Attribute types and attribute values in the base language file must match those already set in Configured Commerce for the product to be translated. If an attribute type/value translation is different, it is recorded as a warning, and the job processes the last received value as the translation. For example, if the attribute type Color: Red comes first as Ruge then as Rouge, the translation is Rouge.

As part of the job configuration, you must set the job parameter BaseLanguageFileName to the regular product data refresh file name.

To set the language of the import, provide the LanguageCode job parameter when running the job to define which language to associate the data.

The language code is empty so that you must select the correct language code when running the job. If you are running the job in an automated fashion, then change the default value of the job parameter.

The AD Data Feed Translations Refresh Job currently supports the following Configured Commerce product fields for translation:

• Meta Keywords (from AD Keywords field)
• Product Number (from AD MY_PART_NUMBER field)
• Product Description (from AD SKU_Long_Description_1 field)
• Meta Description (from AD SKU_Short_Description field)
• Product Title (from AD SKU_Short_Description field)
• Product Specifications (from AD Features fields)
• Attribute Values
• Attribute Types
• Meta Description (from AD SKU_Long_Description_1 field)
• Product Content (from AD Marketing_Description field)
• “Standards” Product Specification (from AD Standards_Approvals field)
• “Application” Product Specification (from AD Application field)
• “Includes” Product Specification (from AD Includes field)
• “Warranty” Product Specification (from AD Warranty field)

Configured Commerce does not support translation of column names from the AD product data file. For example, Manufacturer Name shows as such in Configured Commerce (as an attribute type). Column names should always be the same values, even on a non-base language version of the file, because the connector relies on these remaining unchanged.

Supported columns and mappings

Due to technical limitations, you cannot delete product specification additions once added to Configured Commerce via the import process from the AD PIM. The data updates if changed, but Configured Commerce retains the previously populated data when deleted from the PIM.