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Case study · eCommerce

Orders, stock and payouts that reconcile themselves

Growing online brands outgrow copying Shopify orders into their accounts. This is how we connected Shopify and Business Central so orders, stock levels, refunds and payment payouts flow both ways and finance can close the month without a spreadsheet.

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Project overview

Shopify connected to Business Central both ways.

Industry
eCommerce
Client
Confidential
Solution
ERP–storefront integration
Platforms
Shopify + Business Central
Timeline
8–12 weeks
Team
3 people
Sync
Near real time
Payments
Shopify Payments, PayPal
Deployment
Business Central online

Expected business outcomes

What the client set out to achieve

The benefits are mostly hours saved and fewer mistakes. These are the targets the project was planned against.

  • 90–100% Orders posted without typing

    Every Shopify order becomes a Business Central sales order with the right customer, tax and shipping.

    Exceptions are held for review rather than posted

  • 1–2 days To reconcile payouts

    Shopify and PayPal payouts matched to orders, fees and refunds automatically.

    Month-end effort after the first cycle

  • Minutes Stock sync delay

    Available stock from Business Central pushed to Shopify, so the site stops selling what isn't there.

    Depends on sync frequency chosen

Business challenges

How it worked before

It starts with a few orders typed by hand and ends with a person doing nothing else.

Orders

Someone exports Shopify orders daily and keys them into the accounting package.

Stock

Stock is adjusted in Shopify by hand after deliveries, so it drifts.

Refunds

Refunds are processed in Shopify and forgotten in the accounts.

Payouts

Payouts arrive as one lump sum that finance has to break down into orders and fees.

Growth

Every new sales channel or warehouse makes the manual work bigger.

Proposed solution

What the integration covers

Business Central's Shopify connector where it fits, and small extensions where the brand's process differs.

  • Order import

    Orders created as sales orders with customer, tax, discounts and shipping lines.

  • Stock sync

    Available stock per location pushed to Shopify on a schedule the client chose.

  • Product sync

    Items, variants and prices maintained in Business Central and published to Shopify.

  • Refunds and returns

    Refunds create credit memos; returned stock comes back in only when checked.

  • Payout reconciliation

    Payouts split into orders, fees and refunds and matched on the bank statement.

  • Exception queue

    Anything unusual waits in a queue with the reason, instead of failing silently.

Project requirements

What the client asked us for

The ask was 'stop the copying'. The harder part is the edge cases: partial refunds, split shipments, discount codes and gift cards. We design for those first.

We decide early which system owns what. Usually Business Central owns products, prices and stock, and Shopify owns the storefront and the customer's checkout.

What the project had to deliver

  • 01No retyped orders
  • 02Stock the site can trust
  • 03Refunds that reach the accounts
  • 04Payouts that reconcile themselves

Key challenges & considerations

What made it harder, and what we did

  1. Gift cards and store credit

    What we did

    Gift cards and store credit were mapped to liability accounts, so issuing and redeeming them posted correctly.

  2. Bundles sold as one product but stocked as parts

    What we did

    Bundles were exploded into their component items on the sales order, so stock moved for the parts actually picked.

  3. Several warehouses or a 3PL

    What we did

    Each Shopify location was mapped to a Business Central location, including the third-party warehouse.

  4. Historic orders that never reached the accounts

    What we did

    Historic orders were loaded only as far back as finance needed, as summarised opening entries.

What we watched for

  • Decide which system owns each piece of data
  • Test refunds and bundles before ordinary orders
  • Never let integration errors fail silently
  • Load historic orders only if finance needs them

Development process

Edge cases first, then scale

We test with the awkward orders before the ordinary ones.

  1. Stage 1

    Data ownership

    Agree which system owns products, prices, stock and customers.

  2. Stage 2

    Connector setup

    Shopify connector configured in a sandbox with a copy of the store.

  3. Stage 3

    Edge cases

    Refunds, bundles, gift cards and split shipments built and tested with real examples.

  4. Stage 4

    Parallel running

    Two weeks of orders posted both ways and compared before switching off manual entry.

  5. Stage 5

    Handover

    Exception queue training for the operations team and a month-end walkthrough for finance.

Technology stack

Standard connectors, extended with care

Microsoft's Shopify connector for Business Central, extended only where a brand's process needs it.

ERP

  • Business Central
  • Shopify connector
  • AL extensions

Commerce

  • Shopify / Shopify Plus
  • Shopify Payments
  • PayPal

Integration

  • Business Central APIs
  • Webhooks
  • Job queues

Reporting

  • Channel margin
  • Power BI

Quality assurance & deployment

Proved on the client's own data before go-live

An ERP is trusted when the numbers agree. Configuration and extensions were tested in a sandbox on the client's own data, and finance signed off the figures before cut-over.

  • Sandbox testing of every process on the client's own data
  • User acceptance testing with key users, by scenario
  • Migration rehearsals, reconciled to the old system
  • Automated tests for extensions, run before each release
  • Permission sets checked role by role

Deployment

  • 01Parallel runningTwo weeks of orders posted both ways and compared before switching off manual entry.
  • 02HandoverException queue training for the operations team and a month-end walkthrough for finance.
  • 03Cut-over planA rehearsed cut-over with a checklist, opening balances signed off by finance, and a rollback point.
  • 04Hypercare and warrantyConsultants on hand through the first month-end, and six months of free bug fixing.

Final deliverables

A shop that runs itself on the back end

Orders, stock, refunds and payouts move between Shopify and Business Central without anyone typing them, and the few exceptions are visible in one queue.

Finance closes the month from Business Central with payouts already matched, and adding a new channel or warehouse no longer means hiring someone to key orders.

  • Orders in Business Central within minutes
  • Stock levels the storefront can trust
  • Refunds and payouts reconciled
  • An exception queue instead of silent failures
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Handed over to the client

  • 01Configured Business CentralProduction and sandbox environments
  • 02ExtensionsSource code and documentation
  • 03Migrated dataReconciled and signed off
  • 04Key-user trainingWith process guides
  • 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery

Success metrics

How success is measured

MeasureOutcomeHow it is measured
Orders posted without typing 90–100% Exceptions are held for review rather than posted
To reconcile payouts 1–2 days Month-end effort after the first cycle
Stock sync delay Minutes Depends on sync frequency chosen

Verified reviews

What clients say about our Dynamics work

Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.

5.0 27 verified reviews
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