Overview
Modern Retail’s Integrator for Counterpoint’s point of sale (POS) system connects Counterpoint to 3rd party services like BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, etc. What’s actually happnening under the hood is that our Integrator connects Counterpoint to Modern Retail’s “Integration Middleware”. It’s this Middleware that connects to everything else. This widens your possibilities with a cloud-based approach, making integrations easier. Additionally, our Integrator is self-updating, so you never need to worry about it after set-up.
Main Menu
The main menu of the Counterpoint Integratormay feel familiar, as it's similar to other programs. This menu has the following sub-menus: File, Setup, Registration, Functions, B2B Functions, Service, Log and About. Each of these menu options is explained below.
File
The File menu option has one option, Exit, which closes the program.
Setup
During the onboarding process, Modern Retail will help you set up and configure the Counterpoint Integrator. Generally, you do not need to modify these settings after the Integrator has been installed. Just in case, below is an explanation of each of the setup screens and how they are used.
CP Database Source
The CP Database Source is the location of the credentials for your Counterpoint server. These credentials are often known by your Counterpoint reseller or internal information systems professional. Modern Retail will ask you for this information when we install and setup your Counterpoint Integrator.
CP Store
A Counterpoint store is typically an organization or division, and is a way of organizing your Counterpoint data. Most Counterpoint customers have just one MAIN organization with multiple inventory locations. Modern Retail can support multiple stores with an additional Integrator and license.
CP Price
Most retailers have two prices shown on their website, a "Web Price" and a "Web Sale Price". The CP Price setup screen allows you to define which price in Counterpoint should be assigned to the website retail and sale price. Additionally, Price Rules are supported by simply checking the box.
Note, all 7 price fields from Counterpoint can be sent to Integration Middleware and your website. If you need MSRP or some other price sent to your website, please talk to your project manager.
CP Barcode
The Barcode in Counterpoint is almost always set to UPC. Sending UPCs to your website can be important, especially if you've connected your website to marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc.
CP Inventory Location
Modern Retail's Standard B2C integration with Counterpoint sends one inventory value from Counterpoint to your website. However, you can aggregate the inventory for an unlimited number of locations within Counterpoint. For example, you could combine and send inventory from stores 1-5, or select a set of specific stores, like 1, 2, and 5. The Counterpoint Integrator will then combine the inventory for the items before sending it to your website. It should be noted the first location in the list is your primary location, and you must have an inventory record in this primary location.
Modern Retail can also send inventory from multiple locations to your website. This feature is available with our "Pro" offerings and support features such as In-Store Pickup, Local Delivery and Ship From Store.
CP Product Description
Most retailers want the Long Description field in Counterpoint to be the Product Description in the website. While this is the default setting, the Integrator can send the HTML description field from Counterpoint instead.
Additionally, Counterpoint has a "Short description" and 3 "additional description" fields, which can also be sent or mapped to fields on your website. Please speak with your project manager if you'd like any of these additional fields sent to your website.
CP Misc Charge
In Counterpoint shipping charges are put into a special type of bucket called miscellaneous charge 1-5. Most customers use Misc Charge 1 for shipping charges and fees. In some states, shipping fees are taxable, which can be handled by simply checking the Taxable checkbox.
Service Timers
The Service Timer Minutes is typically set to 5 minutes. This time-frame sets the frequency of sending products from Counterpoint to your website and pulling orders into Counterpoint from your website. In cases where a job takes longer than the specified minutes to complete, it does not spawn a new job and instead lets the other job finish.
Modern Retail Authentication
During the setup of your integration, the credentials to communicate with Modern Retail's Integration Middleware will be configured. Do not edit these settings, as it will likely cause your integration to stop working.
API Order Import
During the onboarding process to configure your Integrator, Modern Retail will work with you to set the various attributes to import your orders into Counterpoint. For seasoned Counterpoint users, most of the options below make sense. Nearly every client will elect to automatically import orders or tickets into Counterpoint, though this feature can be disabled. When importing these orders or tickets into Counterpoint you have the option of using the Order Number from your website, which can be enabled by checking Use E-Commerce Shipping Number. Modern Retail will work with you and your Counterpoint reseller to configure these values when setting up your integration.
Ship Code Setup
The Integrator also has the ability to map the shipping methods from your website to the shipping codes in Counterpoint. To use this feature you must first Enable Ship Code Mapping, and then configure your various shipping methods and codes.
Paycode Setup
Similar to the Ship Codes, you can also map your Pay Codes. This allows you to map payment types such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal from your website to the corresponding pay codes in Counterpoint.
SMTP Setup
The Counterpoint Integrator also has the option to send you an email on order success and failures. Your internal information technology resource should be able to enter this information if you'd like to receive these emails. Similar information is available in Modern Retail's Admin Panel.
Registration
Like most software, the Counterpoint Integrator will not run unless it is properly registered. Modern Retail will complete this registration for you when setting up your integration, and it's unlikely it will ever need to be changed again. Do not change this registration information, as it will cause your Integrator to stop working.
Functions
There are numerous B2C Functions in the Counterpoint Integrator. For many users and implementations, these functions never need to be used. However, for the sake of being complete, they are explained below.
New Products
Sending new products from Counterpoint to your website happens automatically. However, it's possible to force an update by clicking Start on the New POS Products window.
New Gridded Products
Gridded Products from Counterpoint are also set to your website automatically based on the frequency set up during the installation of your Integrator. However, you can manually force an update by clicking Start on the New POS Products Grid Items window.
New Gift Certificates
Again, there's no need to do this manually as gift cards will be automatically updated between Counterpoint and your website. However, you can force an update by hitting Start on the New Gift Cards window.
Import Orders
Orders and Tickets are imported into Counterpoint automatically, unless you have elected to disable this feature (see Setup described above). In those cases, you can import your Orders and Tickets manually by clicking on Start on the Import Orders window.
Re-send All Products
Again, in most cases, this is nothing you need to do manually. However, if you or your Counterpoint reseller has edited your inventory data directly in the Counterpoint database, then this Re-send All Products feature is necessary, as the Integrator will not see changes that are done directly in the database. Just like all products, they will only be sent to your website when the following two conditions are met:
- the 'Ecommerce Item' checkbox is checked for the item in Counterpoint and
- the item must have an inventory record that matches the primary inventory location.
Re-send Gift Cards
This feature sends all gift cards from Counterpoint to your website. Again, this happens automatically and there's rarely a need to do this manually.
Export Gridded Items to CSV
This is a useful function for those customers who are migrating their catalog. Basically, it creates a CSV file of every Gridded Item in your catalog, allowing you to know what IDs need to be populated in the SKU field on the eCommerce platform. Modern Retail Support can also initiate the request to create and send this file to you, so please ask your project manager or submit a support request in the Admin Panel if you need assistance.
Log Ecommerce Items Total
Log how many normal items, gridded items and the number of gridded item variations. This feature logs how many products and product variants have been marked as an Ecommerce Item in Counterpoint. This information goes to the log and can be helpful when troubleshooting your integration if necessary.
Loyalty Functions
Configure your loyalty program. You can set how many points a purchase earns per $ spent, the maximum number of points earnable in one order, the redemption method, how much money a given point is worth, and control other factors. If you're using Modern Retail's loyalty integration, this information will determine how the loyalty points your customer earns are used & valued.
B2B Functions
There are a number of B2B Functions available to maintain your business to business integration. Like our other features, these rarely need to be manually invoked and instead run unattended in the background. However, below is a list and description of all the B2B functions.
Customers
Customer Update sends all Customers in Counterpoint who are marked as eCommerce to the Integration Middleware. Again, sending customers from Counterpoint to Modern Retail is done automatically whenever the eCommerce flag is checked on a Customer in Counterpoint. This feature is most likely used in combination with Modern Retail's Account Management feature, which connects website logins (email addresses) to Customers in Counterpoint. There's far more functionality, including the ability to assign sales representatives to accounts, available in the Admin Panel.
AR Open Orders/Invoices
This feature manually sends Counterpoint Account Receivable (AR) Open Orders to the Integration Middleware to be displayed on your website. These are unpaid AR transactions in Counterpoint which are typically shown to B2B customers in their website portal. Again, these Open Orders are automatically sent and rarely, if ever, need to be handled manually.
Order History
Order History Update sends the complete order history for customers to Modern Retail's Integration Middleware and hence, your website. Typically, this is used by your business customers to see their last two or three years of orders from your website. This function works in the background and rarely needs to be manually initiated.
POS Open Orders
Similar to the above functions, POS Open Orders sends orders that have not been shipped or completed to the Integration Middleware.
Payment History
Payment History sends a Customer's Payment History from Counterpoint to Modern Retail's Integration Middleware and hence, your website. Again, everything runs unattended, so there's rarely a need to perform this function manually.
Re-send AR Open Orders/Invoices
This function sends all Counterpoint AR Open Orders to the Integration Middleware.
Re-send Customers
This function sends all Customers marked as Ecommerce to the Integration Middleware.
Re-send Payment History
This function sends the complete Payment History for a customer to the Integration Middleware.
Service
The functions under Service are pretty self-explanatory: Restart, Stop and Start.
Log
The Counterpoint Integrator Log displays the last 10,000 records written to the log. This is helpful when debugging problems with your Counterpoint Integrator.
About
The About page tells you which version of the Counterpoint Integrator you are running. No other action is required or available.
