Introduction
Welcome to PunchOut Rocket!
This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough for setting up and configuring your account to enable seamless PunchOut integration between your e-commerce store and your clients’ e-procurement systems.
What is PunchOut Rocket?
PunchOut Rocket is a middleware SaaS solution that connects your e-commerce platform (WooCommerce, Magento, NopCommerce, or a custom solution) with any e-procurement system using cXML or OCI protocols (like SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer). It allows your business customers to “punch out” from their procurement system, shop on your live e-commerce site with their contract pricing, and transfer their shopping cart back into their system to create a purchase requisition—all in one fluid process.
This guide will cover:
1. Account Management: Registration and managing your profile.
2. E-commerce Site Configuration: Connecting your store and activating a subscription.
3. End Customer Configuration: Setting up the specific PunchOut connection for each of your clients.
4. E-commerce Platform Plugin Setup: Finalizing the connection on your store.
5. Monitoring: Viewing communication logs.
Account Management
1.1. Registration and First Login
Your first step is to create an account on the PunchOut Rocket platform.
1. Navigate to https://platform.punchoutrocket.com.
2. Click the “Register” link.
3. Fill in the registration form with your name, company details, email, and a secure password.
4. Click “Create Account”.
5. Once registered, log in with your credentials. You will be directed to the main Dashboard.
1.2. The Dashboard
The Dashboard is your central hub. When you first log in, you will see:
Key Metrics: At the top, you’ll see counters for your configured “E-commerce Sites” and “End Customers.”
System Overview: A welcome panel that guides you through the initial setup steps.
System Info: A panel on the right summarizing the supported environments, protocols, and platforms.
1.3. Managing Your Profile
You can update your personal and company information at any time.
- Click on “My Account” in the left-hand sidebar.
- Here you can modify:
User Information: Name, Surname, and Password. Note that your email address (username) cannot be changed.
Company Information: Company Name and VAT Number. - Click “Save” to apply your changes.
E-commerce Site Configuration
This section covers linking your e-commerce store to PunchOut Rocket.
2.1. Add Your E-commerce Site
From the main dashboard’s “Get Started” panel:
- Click the “+ Add Your First E-commerce Site” button.
- On the configuration page, fill in the following details:
Site Name: A descriptive name for your store (e.g., “My Company B2B Store”). This is for your internal reference.
Site URL: The full, correct URL of your e-commerce store (e.g., “https://www.examplestore.com”).
Platform: Select your store’s platform from the dropdown menu (e.g., WooCommerce). - Click “Save“.
2.2. Activate Your Subscription
After saving, your site is created but the service is not yet active. You must activate a subscription to unlock the PunchOut functionality.
- You will be redirected to the “Edit E-commerce Site” page. The Status will show as Inactive.
- A message will indicate that you need to “Subscribe to unlock advanced configuration options.” Click the green “+ Subscribe” button.
- You will be securely redirected to our payment processor (Stripe). Enter your billing information to start your subscription.
- After a successful payment, you will see a “Payment Confirmed!” message. Click the “Back to Site Settings” button to return to the PunchOut Rocket platform.
2.3. Finalize Site Configuration
Now that your subscription is active, you can complete the site setup. On the “Edit E-commerce Site” page, you will see the Status is now Active, and the advanced configuration fields are available.
- API Key: This is a secret key that authenticates the connection between your e-commerce site and PunchOut Rocket.
– Click the “Generate” button to create a strong, unique key.
– You will need to copy this key and paste it into the PunchOut Rocket plugin settings on your e-commerce platform. - DUNS Number & ANID (Ariba Network ID):These are identifiers used in the cXML protocol, often required by procurement systems like SAP Ariba.
- DUNS Number: Your company’s Data Universal Numbering System number.
- ANID: Your Ariba Network ID.
Enter these values if your end customer requires them. They will be sent back to the customer’s procurement system with the cart data.
End Customer Configuration
An “End Customer” represents one of your client companies connecting via PunchOut. Each End Customer has its own unique settings.
4.1. Create a New End Customer
- On your site’s edit page, scroll down to “Associated End Customers”.
- Click the “+ Add End Customer” button.
4.2. End Customer General Settings
- Name: A descriptive name for your client company (e.g., “Global Corp Inc.”).
- E-commerce User to Clone: This is a critical setting.
How it Works: Create a dedicated user account in your e-commerce store (e.g., a specific user role in WooCommerce). This user must have the correct permissions to see the product catalog and pricing that this specific End Customer should have access to. Enter the email address or username of that user here. During a PunchOut session for this End Customer, PunchOut Rocket will clone this user’s session, ensuring they shop with the correct entitlements. - Protocol: Choose the protocol their system uses: cXML or OCI.
- Default UNSPSC: The UN Standard Products and Services Code. This code will be used for any product that does not have a specific category mapped below.
- Default Lead Time: The estimated number of days to ship products, sent for all items in the cart.
EA Override & BX Override: Some systems require specific Units of Measure (UOM). “EA” (Each) and “BX” (Box) are common. If your client’s system requires different codes (e.g., “PCE” for “Piece”), enter the override values here.
4.3. Protocol Configuration (cXML & OCI)
Enter the credentials provided by your client’s procurement team. These must exactly match the configuration in their system.
For cXML: “FormIdentity”, “SenderIdentity”, “SharedSecret”, and the return “cXML Url”.
For OCI: The required OCI key-value parameters, including `Username` and `Password` and optional fields to be returned with the cart to your client’s procurement system.
4.4. Category Mapping
Link your store’s categories to standard UNSPSC codes.
- Click “Update from e-commerce” to fetch your category tree.
- For each category, enter when possible the corresponding UNSPSC code. This provides richer data to your client’s procurement system.
E-commerce Platform Plugin Setup
The final step is to install and configure the PunchOut Rocket plugin on your store.
- Download and install the PunchOut Rocket plugin for your platform (WooCommerce, NopCommerce, Magento or Custom is case of custom integrations).
- Navigate to the plugin’s settings page in your e-commerce admin panel.
- Copy the API Key you generated in PunchOut Rocket (Section 3.3) and paste it into the corresponding field in the plugin settings.
- Save the settings. Your store is now ready to receive PunchOut requests.
Monitoring: Communication Logs
PunchOut Rocket logs all transactions for easy troubleshooting.
- From the End Customer’s configuration page, click the “Check Logs” button.
- The log viewer shows all PunchOut requests, cart transmissions, and any errors. You can inspect the full XML/data for each transaction, making it simple to debug connection issues.
