Client Background

Client: Piccolo Foods (Contact: Ben Hayes)
Industry Type: Food & Beverage / FMCG
Products & Services: Baby food products, organic food distribution, wholesale operations
Organization Size: 100+

The Problem

Piccolo Foods relied on Boughey (3PL) and NetEDI/NetIX for order creation and dispatch updates.
However, inventory and order information was not automatically syncing into Cin7 Core, causing:

  • Delays in order visibility
  • Manual data entry for non-NetEDI orders
  • Frequent SKU/quantity mismatches
  • No real-time stock accuracy across locations
  • Warehouse batch numbers not reflected in Cin7
  • Inconsistent PONumber formats causing update failures
  • Operational inefficiencies and reconciliation overhead

The client needed one unified, automated pipeline that keeps Cin7 fully synchronized with Boughey’s events in real time.

Our Solution

We built a fully automated ETL pipeline using Make.com, which listens to Boughey webhook events and transforms them into Cin7-compatible API calls.

Key capabilities delivered:

  • Real-time order lifecycle automation:
    OrderConfirmed → OrderShorted → OrderPicked → OrderDelivered → Invoice Creation
  • Automatic stock adjustments across warehouses/locations
  • Dynamic price fetching from Cin7 at run-time
  • Automatic tax rule assignment for every order line
  • Data sanitization + normalization to avoid mismatches
  • Batch, expiry, and SKU-level accuracy

The integration eliminated nearly all manual updates and ensured a consistent, real-time view of all Boughey operations inside Cin7.

Solution Architecture

Deliverables

  • Fully functional Make.com ETL integration
  • Boughey → Cin7 automated workflows
  • Real-time inventory sync system
  • Automated order lifecycle handling
  • Price/tax resolution logic
  • Normalized PONumber matching system
  • Fully documented workflow (v1.5)
  • Post-handover fixes and optimization

Tech Stack

Tools Used

  • Make.com (workflow automation)
  • Cin7 Core API
  • Boughey Webhooks / NetEDI events
  • JSON/XML processing tools

Language / Techniques Used

  • REST API design
  • Data transformation + schema mapping
  • Payload normalization
  • Error-handling logic
  • Dynamic routing logic

Models Used

(Not applicable for this project — no AI models used)

Skills Used

  • API integration
  • Workflow automation
  • ETL design
  • Data validation
  • Inventory systems understanding
  • Debugging and runtime error handling

Databases Used

  • Make.com Data Store (temporary mapping store)

Web / Cloud Servers Used

  • Make.com cloud execution environment
  • Cin7 cloud API
  • Boughey webhook endpoints

What Were the Technical Challenges Faced During Project Execution

  • Boughey sent mixed XML/JSON payloads with inconsistent structures
  • Location names were case-sensitive, causing frequent stock mismatches
  • PONumber inconsistencies (suffixes like /25, -S) broke Cin7 lookups
  • Need to handle batch numbers and expiry dates reliably
  • Pricing rules in Cin7 varied per customer
  • Non-NetEDI orders lacked full details and couldn’t auto-create in Cin7
  • Cin7’s API had strict formatting and tagging requirements
  • AutoPickPackShip workflow had a batch assignment bug in Cin7
  • High operational volume required minimizing API calls and Make.com operations usage

How the Technical Challenges Were Solved

  • Built a schema-flexible parser to handle inconsistent payloads
  • Added location sanitization rules (case + whitespace normalization)
  • Implemented PONumber normalization to strip suffixes before lookup
  • Created robust mapping for SKU ↔ Material + Batch/Expiry handling
  • Added real-time price fetching from Cin7 API to avoid stale price mapping
  • Introduced dynamic tax rule assignment (“Zero Rated Income”)
  • Implemented a workaround for the Cin7 batch bug using AutoPickPackShip mode
  • Used Make.com Data Store to maintain reliable Sale ID mappings
  • Optimized workflow structure to minimize API calls and scenario operations

Business Impact

  • 90% reduction in manual entries for order and inventory updates
  • Real-time visibility of warehouse operations inside Cin7
  • Faster dispatch-to-invoice workflow, reducing turnaround times
  • Eliminated SKU, quantity, and batch mismatches
  • Improved accuracy in invoices, stock levels, and fulfillment reports
  • Reduced operational overhead for Piccolo’s supply chain and finance teams
  • Improved reliability and transparency for Piccolo’s retailer partners

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