Inform ERP integrates with Essendant ECBD, enabling you to download and import information from the Essendant product database to update existing products and add new products to your Inform ERP database. For each import, you can choose which categories and subcategories of Essendant products to import. All products in selected categories will be imported. For new products, Essendant is set as the primary vendor, and the items are added to the selected Product Line, Buy Line, and Price Group.
If you are maintaining Cost by Warehouse, a warehouse must be selected to determine where the list price will be saved.
Setup Essendant integration
Before you can import the Essendant catalog of product information, you must do the following:
- Obtain a username and password from Essendant to access the data. When you speak with your Essendant representative, ask specifically for log in information to access the Essendant ECDB 2.0 content.
- Write down your Essendant vendor number. You will need to enter this vendor number when you run the import.
- Assign Essendant as the primary vendor to any all products that you want to be updated with Essendant content.
- For each product in the catalog, the import attempts to match existing products based on the
- Essendant Part Number (Vendor Part Number field on the Product Master>Vendors page),
- Manufacturer’s Number, or
- UPC Number
If it cannot match any of this data, it will create a new product in Inform.
Product data imported from Essendant
The following product data is imported from Essendant.
- Image file: There is an option to download images when selecting to use a new database. Files are downloaded to image folder set up in Company Master.
- SDS file: There is an option to download files when selecting to use a new database. Files are downloaded to the SDS folder set up in Company Master.
- Web Description
- Product Volume
- Product Weight
- Suggested Selling Price, which maps to a selected price or cost field in the Product Master.
Fields overwritten in an update
- Images
- Volume
Fields loaded if they are currently blank:
- Web description
- Weight
- MSDS
Import the Essendant catalog
- Navigate to File > Product > Essendant Import.
- In the Essendant Import window, type the Username and Password you received from your Essendant representative.
- In the bottom right corner of the window, choose to download a new database or use the current database. The date and time that the current database was downloaded will display in the bottom left corner of the window.
New database
If you want to download a new database, first decide if you want to download the image and MSDS files to go with the products by selecting or clearing the Import MSDS and Import Images check boxes in the bottom right corner of the window. To download the latest database information from Essendant, click Download New.
The database typically takes about 5 minutes to download, but may take longer depending on your internet connection. If you choose to download MSDS and images, it may take up to 40 minutes to complete the download.
Existing database
If you have already downloaded the latest information, click the Use Current button to use the current database.
The database can be imported multiple times. For example, if you download the database and import, then decide a month later that you want to carry a new product line, you can choose to use the current database and run the import again selecting the new category. Essendant releases updated databases every couple of months, so a recent download may still be valid.
- Type your Essendant vendor in the Essendant Vendor box at the top of the window, and then press the Tab key. This vendor should be assigned as the primary vendor for your Essendant products.
- Select the Product Master cost or price column into which the Essendant Suggested Selling Price should be imported.
If you do not plan to use this price for your customer pricing, choose a field that is not used in your pricing structure.
- Essendant products are organized into categories. Each group has sub categories and each sub category may have an additional sub category level. To expand the category tree, click the plus sign to the left of the Essendant Category. If you cannot see the full category description, hover your mouse over the category.
The Prod Cnt column indicates how many products are in each category and sub category.
To import a category or sub category into Inform, type the corresponding Inform Product Line. You can also specify the Price Group and Buy Line assignments.
Note: Any Essendant Category not assigned to an Inform Product Line will not be imported.
- Once you have mapped all products that you want to import to corresponding product lines, you can validate your data. Click Analyze .
A Match Exceptions Report lists the products that do not currently match a product in your Inform database.
- Products on this exception report will be created as new, non-stock products in Inform. After import, you can change these products through Product Master or Product Mass Change. To export The Match Exceptions Report, click Export. When you have finished, click Exit.
- To include images and documents, select the Import SDS and/or the Import Images check boxes. On the confirmation message, click Yes.
Essendant displays image and SDS import progress.
- After reviewing the report and making any necessary changes, click the Import button.
- When the import completes, a message displays how many products were processed, with details on the number added, updated, and skipped. Click OK.