Overview
MyWorks Sync is fully compatible with WooCommerce variations, which are product options built from attributes that allow you to create “child” products that represent different SKU types of a single product, like multiple sizes or colors. You are most likely already familiar with the concept of WooCommerce variable products if you’re already reading this article, but if not, we encourage you to check out the documentation on WooCommerce.com.
In order to support syncing with WooCommerce variations, we must first clarify/explore the extent of which QuickBooks Online supports variations. As you will notice if you try to add a new product in QuickBooks Online, you’ll be able to choose from inventory, non-inventory, service and bundle types. As such, QuickBooks Online does not currently support variations, in the true sense of the concept, where it allows child products in QuickBooks Online. However, with MyWorks Sync, this isn’t an issue in QuickBooks Online.
With MyWorks Sync, we support the mapping of a WooCommerce variation to a QuickBooks Online single product (inventory, non-inventory or service type). By supporting the mapping, or linking, of a WooCommerce variation to a QuickBooks Online product, you can effectively accomplish full product/inventory control as long as all of your WooCommerce variations are represented in QuickBooks Online by a product. For example, this means that if you have a “T-Shirt” product in WooCommerce, with three variations (Small, Medium, Large), you would then need to have 4 (or three) products in QuickBooks Online: (T-shirt - Small, T-shirt - Medium, T-shirt - Large). The parent product (T-Shirt) does not necessarily have to be present in QuickBooks Online - as it would never actually be ordered…only its variations would be. As such, it’s not vital to have it present in QuickBooks Online or be mapped in MyWorks Sync > Map > Products.
Mapping
As discussed above, the only requirement in MyWorks Sync regarding variations is to map them correctly in MyWorks Sync > Map > Variations. This can easily be done in several ways:
Auto-Map by SKU (recommended): As long as the WooCommerce variations and QuickBooks Online products that represent these variations have matching SKUS, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button to AutoMap by SKU. This will scan both WooCommerce Variations and QuickBooks Online products and automatically match the ones with matching SKUs to save you time manually matching them.
Auto-Map by name: As long as the WooCommerce variations and QuickBooks Online products that represent these variations have matching names, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button to AutoMap by Name. This will scan both WooCommerce Variations and QuickBooks Online products and automatically match the ones with names that match exactly to save you time manually matching them.
Manually: Simply choose the matching product in QuickBooks Online that corresponds to the appropriate WooCommerce variation in the dropdown on this page.
Once your variations are mapped, there’s no further action needed. When a variation is ordered in WooCommerce, the correct QuickBooks Online product will show in the invoice/sales receipt in QuickBooks Online when the order syncs over. When the inventory level of a variation is changed in WooCommerce or QuickBooks Online - it will correctly sync over to the other platform.
Best Practices
Although the end goal is matching products/variations in WooCommerce and QuickBooks Online - sometimes getting there can be a bit tricky. We recommend using our Push pages to facilitate this, and we have a few best practices to help ensure this process is painless.
- Check your WooCommerce product/variation setup first. Ensure all products and variations have a unique SKU. Using the example above, the T-shirt could have a SKU of “SHIRT1”. Then its variations would have SKUS of “SHIRT1-SM, SHIRT1-MD, SHIRT1-LG”, for example. The only requirement here is that they are unique - the order/structure doesn’t matter.
- Next, verify your QuickBooks Online setup. Get rid of unneeded products, and ensure your QuickBooks Online product list is set to receive your updated WooCommerce products/variations.
- If you’re importing products into WooCommerce, we recommend AllImport. We also recommend that you TURN OFF real-time sync in MyWorks Sync > Settings > RealTime Sync when importing products in WooCommerce, so as not to trigger a bulk sync to QuickBooks Online until you’re ready.
- Ensure that your manage stock options for both products and variations are correctly set BEFORE pushing them to QuickBooks Online.
Pushing
Once your WooCommerce structure is acceptable/complete, use our push pages to push products and/or variations over to QuickBooks Online. Visit MyWorks Sync > Push > Products or MyWorks Sync > Push > Variations to push these over, respectively. When a variation is pushed to QuickBooks Online, it’s created in QuickBooks Online as either an inventory product, or a non-inventory product - depending on if the Manage Stock option is turned on for it.
When a variation or product is pushed to QuickBooks Online through MyWorks Sync (either manually or in real time), it is also automatically mapped in MyWorks Sync. As such, the only ongoing action on a users part should be correctly creating the variation/SKU in WooCommerce, and MyWorks Sync takes care of the rest.
If the variation or product already exists in QuickBooks Online, it will be updated if it is mapped in MyWorks Sync. If it is not mapped, the push will result in an error as it can’t re-create it in QuickBooks Online. Read more on our Push pages here.