SPS Commerce onboarding covers connecting your account, mapping order data, and testing order flow before you go live with a trading partner. ShipHero, SPS Commerce, and your team each have specific responsibilities during this process.
Include edi@shiphero.com on all onboarding correspondence so the ShipHero integration team stays looped in.
Table of Contents
- SPS Commerce Account Connection and Permissions
- SPS Commerce Onboarding Roles and Responsibilities
- Phase 1: SPS Commerce Order Creation and Data Mapping
- Phase 2: SPS Commerce Fulfillment Testing
- SPS Commerce Onboarding Checklist
SPS Commerce Account Connection and Permissions
Before onboarding starts, ShipHero verifies that the SPS Commerce user account used for the connection has the permissions it needs. This is the foundation of the integration.
- File download: access to pull incoming purchase order documents from SPS Commerce.
- File upload: the ability to push outgoing documents back to SPS Commerce.
- Label access: permission to retrieve and generate retailer-specific shipping labels, if the integration requires them.
SPS Commerce Onboarding Roles and Responsibilities
Three parties share responsibility for a successful SPS Commerce onboarding:
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| You (the customer) | Keep SKUs and UPCs in sync with your retailer's catalog and give final approval on GS1 labels. |
| SPS Commerce | Translate data from the retailer, validate the Advance Ship Notice (ASN) structure, and deliver files between systems. |
| ShipHero | Configure the integration, map incoming order data, and generate shipping outputs such as ASNs, GS1 labels, and inventory updates. |
Phase 1: SPS Commerce Order Creation and Data Mapping
The first onboarding milestone confirms that orders a retailer sends through SPS Commerce appear correctly in ShipHero. ShipHero receives an EDI 850 or 940 purchase order from SPS Commerce for each order. See Overview: SPS Commerce Integration with ShipHero for the full list of supported EDI documents.
If you have not already provided your GS1 company prefix (the unique number that identifies your business on shipping labels and barcodes), provide it during this phase.
ShipHero captures the following data from each incoming order:
| Data Point | What ShipHero Does With It |
|---|---|
| Trading Partner ID (TPID) | Maps to the "Store" field in ShipHero so the order is attributed to the correct retailer. |
| Carrier routing | Extracts the carrier and service level the retailer requires. |
| Ship dates | Pulls the earliest ship date and required ship date to help you prioritize fulfillment. |
| Line items and product mapping | Matches the retailer's product identifiers to your existing products in ShipHero. |
SKU and UPC Match Required
Your SKUs and UPCs must match exactly on both the retailer's side and in ShipHero. If they do not align, the order fails to import.
Phase 2: SPS Commerce Fulfillment Testing
After orders are flowing into ShipHero correctly, onboarding moves to outbound testing. This confirms you can ship according to each retailer's compliance rules.
SPS Commerce Advance Ship Notice (ASN) Testing
When an order ships in ShipHero, ShipHero generates an ASN and sends it to SPS Commerce for review. SPS Commerce verifies that the file structure meets the retailer's EDI requirements.
SPS Commerce GS1-128 Label Testing
At the same time, ShipHero requests GS1-128 labels from SPS Commerce and prints them on physical packages. Review these labels yourself: confirm the layout, barcodes, and human-readable information match your retailer's label manual.
SPS Commerce Onboarding Checklist
| Step | What to Verify |
|---|---|
| Connection | The SPS Commerce account is connected to ShipHero with full read, write, and label permissions. |
| Data audit | All UPCs in ShipHero match the retailer's catalog. |
| Order flow | A test EDI 850/940 results in a visible order in ShipHero with the correct store (TPID). |
| ASN approval | SPS Commerce has approved the ASN file. |
| Label approval | You have signed off on the GS1-128 label formatting. |