Brightpearl is an online ERP system that retailers can use to manage their orders, inventory, real-time accounting, reporting and customer data. nShift has made it very easy for Brightpearl users to integrate to nShift's Shipment Server API and take advantage of our extensive carrier library. Follow this guide to set up an integration from Brightpearl to Shipment Server and start printing shipping labels in no time.
Your Brightpearl account must be linked to a Shipment Server account. Please contact our Customer Service to get a Shipment Server account if you don't have one already.
This article will explain:
- Installation and configuration
- Configuration of shipping methods
- Manage product settings
- Printing a label from Brightpearl
- Transmitting data to carriers
Installation and configuration
- To install the plugin, go to the App Store and locate the Consignor app. You can access the App Store from the top menu in your Brightpearl system.
- Locate the Consignor App and click the Manage my apps button.
- When the App is installed, you must configure it. Click the Configure button and choose Setup in the drop-down menu.
- You will now be redirected to the Brightpearl install page which is hosted on the Consignor server – http://integration.consignor.com. The request is secured and verified with Brightpearl and is only accessible when clicking the link from the App Store.
- Enter Username, Actor ID, and Key in the installation form. These are required to connect to the Shipment Server API. If you don't have this information, contact nShift's Customer service who will be able to help you.
- Click Save to finish linking your Brightpearl account to the Shipment Server account. You should see a confirmation message on the top of the next page shown.
Configuration of shipping methods
- After successful linking of the accounts, you will automatically be sent to the Configure account page. Here you can see your shipping methods from Brightpearl.
- Match the shipping methods to a Consignor product by choosing from the drop-down menus. For every Brightpearl shipping method you enable, you must select both a Consignor product and a printer. Printers are automatically selected from your print list if you are signed into Drop Zone with the same username as you have used for the integration.
- Set the Goods-out-note trigger. This decides when to trigger and print labels from nShift. It can be set to Print, Pick or Pack or be disabled by selecting None. The triggers represent the state of the order. If you print the label as a part of Pack, the tracking number will be generated after the order is final. Both Print and Pick implies that the tracking number is generated before the order is finalized, so the tracking number can be copied to the order and printed later. The default and recommended trigger is Pick.
Manage product settings
- Click Settings on each product to specify goods type, carrier account number and services. You only need to fill in the carrier account number if you need to override your default customer account number. (Note that the options vary from product to product).
- Click Details on the products where these are relevant. Details are usually needed when shipping outside of the EU and the information needed can vary from carrier to carrier. In the example screen below, you can see all the fields for carrier DHL Express. You can enable or disable fields as needed and add default values.
Printing a label from Brightpearl
Please note that Brightpearl does not display any labels. This section only describes how to generate a label in Brightpearl. Depending on your setup, the label can be sent to a file or a printer. If you want to use a thermal printer, this is possible with Cloud Print and Drop Zone. Please see our article Using Cloud Print for Shipment Server.
- Select Sales > New Order.
- Specify the receiver by searching for an existing customer or add a new customer.
- Select a customer on the list and Brightpearl will create a draft order.
- Fill in the information about the item by typing free text or search for an item and select a Shipping method.
- Click Save changes to save your order.
- Create the goods-out note by clicking Fulfil order at the top and selecting Fulfil and ship later.
- You will now see a Goods-out note number (GN) on the items list. Click the link to proceed.
- A Goods-out note will be shown in a separate tab or page. Select Pick to generate a label (if you chose Pick as the trigger when you configured the shipping methods). It is optional whether you want to print out the Goods-out note or just cancel the print and go straight to Pick.
- Mark the goods-out note as printed.
- Now click the Pick button. It will then change to Unpick and a date and a green tick will be added. Shipment Server has now created a shipment and printed the label. Depending on your setup, the label might have been directed to a printer or a file.
- The Tracking ref. created can be used for tracking in Portal. You can always get an overview of the actions that have taken place on an order, by clicking the Notes and payment history tab from the order entry page. This history will include a direct link from the order to the tracking page in Portal.
Transmitting data to carriers
You must log into Ticket to transmit EDI to your carriers. Use your Portal login (contact nShift Customer Service, if you do not have a portal user) and follow the instructions in this article: Setting up auto transmit of EDI files in Ticket. If you set up auto transmit, you only need to do the configuration once and nShift will take care of the transmit.
It is also possible to transmit EDI-files manually. This could be relevant in some cases if you want to transmit a shipment separately or outside the normal time schedule. Read more in this article:
Transmitting EDI files to carriers in Ticket