Solstiq provides real-time supply chain integration between distributors and manufacturers. When you upload product data and price sheets, solstiq puts the data into online databases that automate pricing and e-commerce data streaming for yoru customers, making it easier or them to buy from you and sell to their customers.
You maintain multiplier tables for each of your customers online. You can meet with them via video conferencing and tweak them while you meet. The multipliers and your LIST/IMAP prices are used to calculate your customer's nets on the fly. Nets are automatically used on incoming orders.
Submission Standards
To maintain an "indestructible" sync environment, all data submissions should adhere to these formats:
Supported Formats: Excel (.xlsx, .xls), CSV, or Tab-Delimited text.
Frequency: Real-time or daily updates are recommended. Our system utilizes Three-Way Timestamp Validation to ensure only the most current data is active.
Option 1: Automated Email Ingestion
Our Email Listener service allows you to update your catalog by simply emailing an attachment.
Target Address:sync@solstiq.com
Requirements:
Whitelisting: Provide your sending email address or domain (e.g., @manufacturer.com) to your account manager.
Deep Inspection: Our system performs a deep identifier search of headers and body text to route data to the correct vendor directory.
Attachments: Ensure files are attached directly. Compressed files (.zip) are accepted but should be unencrypted.
Pro-Tip: Using a consistent filename (e.g., Master_Price_Sheet.xlsx) is preferred, as our system handles versioning via MD5 checksums.
Option 2: Hosted Data Links
Manufacturers who prefer to host their own files can provide a static fetch URL.
Direct Links: The URL must lead directly to the file download (no landing pages or "Click to Download" buttons).
Supported Protocols: HTTPS, SFTP, and AWS S3.
Case Sensitivity: Like our API, file paths and vendor identifiers are handled as case-insensitive.
Data Column Requirements
For accurate integration with ERP systems, your sheets should include the following columns:
Column Name
Requirement
Description
sku
Required
The unique product identifier (placed in the first column).
LIST
Required
The published LIST or IMAP price of the product.
Invoice description
Required
Description used on orders, invoices etc.
Price Line/Class/Category
Required
Works with multiplier tables to determine net price for this product for a given customer.
UPC
Optional
Industry standard identifier.
EAN
Optional
Industry standard identifier.
Full description
Optional
A full description as it should appear on websites and other marketing media.
Image
Optional
A link (e.g. HTTPS://) to an image of the product (png, jpg, ...).
Thumbnail
Optional
A link (e.g. HTTPS://) to a small image of the product (png, jpg, ...).
Specifications
Optional
A link to a PDF spec sheet for the product.
Installation Instructions
Optional
A link to a PDF spec sheet of the installation instructions for the product.
Additional links and other columns may be included onb the sheet. All of them will be provided to users of the data
EDI Integration (SFTP)
For manufacturers requiring enterprise-grade automation, Solstiq supports direct EDI integration via Secure FTP (SFTP).
How to Request a Mailbox:
Request Process: Contact support@solstiq.io to request a dedicated EDI mailbox.
Credentials: Our team will provide a unique SFTP Login, Password, and Remote Path specific to your vendor ID.
Protocol: All connections must be made over SSH File Transfer Protocol (Port 22) to ensure data encryption in transit.
Integration Workflow:
Upload:You will have separate inboxes and outboxes for each of your partners. 850s will be dropped into your inboxes. You should drop 855s, 856s and 810s into your outboxes. 180s (return authorization requests) may also appear in your inboxes; please respond to these if possible.
Processing: Our engine polls these mailboxes every 5 minutes, matching acknowledgements, ship notices and invoices to orders and passsing them on to your partners.
Verification: Once processed, files are moved to an /archive on your gateway.
Security Note: We recommend IP whitelisting for SFTP access. Please provide your outbound server's static IP address during the setup process.
Distributor Onboarding
Solstiq integrates supply chain partners in real time, with automatic price updates, product information streaming, EDI, SKU matching, automatic pricing, automated payables and more.
Solstiq currently supports Epicor Eclipse seamless integration. The following documentation applies to this environment.
The Solstiq Gateway Server
The Solstiq gateway server is your connection to new technology. It runs in parallel with your ERP system, keeping in sync with it continuously, automating workflows that your ERP system can't because it wasn't designed for that. Automatic price updates, content streaming, e-commerce and everything else new run on this server, protecting your ERP investment from disruption. Your ERP system is updated in real time, making it the system of record you depend on while the gateway connects it to outside world.
To have a gateway installed and working alongside your ERP, contact our sales and support department. Installation and set up usually takes a few days.
Eclipse Integration
Solstiq sits between your Eclipse ERP system and the world outside the silo. No Eclipse APIs, SQL or ODBC are used.
LEDGER logging: Two lines of code added to Eclipse log LEDGER file updates. The gateway server updoads and decodes these automatically.
ATO updates: The Eclipse ATO system, which was designed for efficient third party integrations, is used for updating Eclipse with e-commerce orders, EDI documents, purchase order updates etc. This technology is simple and stable and has been used by large Eclipse users for decades.
Pro-Tip: Our implementation partners are experts at managing ATO integrations.
Automatic Price Updates
Solstiq's manufacturer databases are updated automatically from vendor sources, and multiplier tables are maintained online in a shared environment, allowing net prices to be calculated on the fly. APIs feed these prices to distributors automatically.
Product content is processed by an AI language model so SKUS can be matched automatically across multipler vendor lines
Nets for all products are available, not just the ones the distributor stocks.
With flow-through content streaming, all products - including nonstocks - can be priced on the fly and presented to e-commerce customers without manual intervention.
Two-way Purchase Integration, EDI and SKU matching
Purchase orders are composed with two-way connectivity between buyer and seller. The first of its kind, this integration matches SKUs between the parties and inserts accurate prices automatically. Custom quotes and project pricing are also supported. This level of automation allows orders to flow directly to the vendor's warehouse without delay, cutting lead times, improving customer service and lowering inventory requirements.
Solstiq automatically generates EDI X12 purchase orders, requests for quotation, return authorization requests and payment remittances and delivers them directly to vendor inboxes. No third party EDI providers are required. Acknowledgments, advance ship notices, invoices, quotes and return authorizations are ingested, matched and delivered automatically.
Purchase orders are net priced as they pass through the gateways, guaranteeing ccurate pricing on all purchase orders and invoices and automating accounts payable.
Inventory cost issues are eliminated, as ship notices update receiving costs before goods are received. Receiving applications can be pre-populated with ship notice data.
Cross-divisional SKU Matching and Distributor to Distributor (D2D) Fulfillment.
Distribution companies with multiple profit centers with different SKUs can match these products across centers using transitive SKU matching. This process uses the matches between each center and vendors to cross match SKUs between centers.
SKUs can also be matched between distributors, and distributors can be both buyers and sellers on the network, allowing smaller companies, branches, showrooms and others to procure from other distributors and fulfillment centers with SKUs matched, automatic pricing and logistics automation via third parties like ShipStation.
Advanced Inventory Optimization
Optimizing inventory isn't about trend analysis and exponential smoothing. It's about:
Minimizing remnant stocks and maximizing service levels by dynamically varying safety stocks based on probablistic measures of variance.
Reducing lead times by generating optimized orders with SKUs and prices matched in real time and sending them to vendors electronically so they can be picked and shipped immediately.
Automating side-by-side vendor to vendor comparisons so generic items can always be purchased from the lowest cost vendor.
Proactively texting and emailing concerned parties when ship notices indicate delays or substitutions.
Speeding warehouse receiving by pre-populating electronic receiving manifests.
Facilitating cross docking, third party fulfillment and order tracking with advanced WMS.
Inventory can also be optimized by integrating with third parties, including other disributors, so products that aren't worth stocking can be sold profitably.
Advanced Delivery Management
With a legacy ERP system, delivery routing and electronic manifests are hard to integrate. With parallel gateway technology these tasks can be offloaded to a platform built for that purpose, with applications tested in the field for more than a decade. Features include:
Delivery route optimization, with drag and drop priority rerouting, ETA calculation and precise mapping.
Tablet manifests with GPS tracking, signature capture, photo capture and real time updating.
Advanced WMS
With legacy systems you're often stuck with a WMS designed by someone who never stepped foot in a warehouse. With HTML-based code and real time integration, you can optimize warehouse managementy chores to minimize labor instead of maximizing conformance.
With direct HTML/HTTPs integration there's no waiting for downloads or uploads or delayed information. Picking and receiving queues are refreshed in real time.
HTML code is updated instantly, allowing changes to go into effect and be tested immediately, not days later.
With headsets and off the shelf software, hands-free voice activated picking can double picking speed.
With image display and image recognition, items can be found and confirmed more accurately.
Automatic cross docking saves steps and gets the goods to customers faster.
Advanced Ship Notice integration and dock receiving speed operations and get goods where they need to be faster.
Unlimited Third Party Integrations
Instead of strugging with dozens of bespoke integrations from dozens of third party vendors, one platform interfaces with all APIs. The gateway supports API clients and servers natively.
Phocas
HTML code is updated instantly, allowing changes to go into effect and be tested immediately, not days later.
With headsets and off the shelf software, hands-free voice activated picking can double picking speed.
With image display and image recognition, items can be found and confirmed more accurately.
Automatic cross docking saves steps and gets the goods to customers faster.
Advanced Ship Notice integration and dock receiving speed operations and get goods where they need to be faster.
