CSM - Initial Setup

After installing CSM, you will need to ensure three basic setup steps are completed before you begin creating Sales Channels.

1. Enabling and Receiving Notifications

CSM uses Business Central’s notifications functionality to keep users informed of critical changes that are made to new versions of the application. Enabling this feature is not required, but it is recommended.

• From the Magnifying Glass button at top-right or in the CSM Role Center, find the extension called CSM Setup
• On the main CSM Setup card, enable Edit Mode using the Pencil icon at the top of the card and under the Notifications FastTab, toggle on Enable CSM Notifications
  • 
• From the Magnifying Glass button  at top-right, type in User Setup and select the related link
  • On the User Setup page, select the User ID that you would like to receive CSM Notifications, then click the Checkbox in the Receive CSM Notifications field.
    • 
  • Repeat this step if additional users will receive CSM notifications
• Click here for more information on CSM Notifications

2. Configuring Data Deletion

API messages, their related data buffers, and other CSM records are created every time an API call is made from Business Central to an external Marketplace/eCommerce platform (or as we call them, Sales Channels). Left unchecked, the tables that house these records will grow in size, eventually requiring the purchase of additional storage space from Microsoft. 

CSM leverages the standard retention policy functionality found in Business Central for the deletion of outdated data.  To set up and schedule retention policies for these tables, please consult the standard Business Central documentation.

It is possible to define retention policies for the following custom Suite Engine tables:

3. CSM Order Archiving

It is possible to archive completed and cancelled orders from your Sales Channels. When a channel order is archived, it is moved from the list of active orders to a separate list of archived orders. 

• From the Magnifying Glass button  or in the CSM Role Center, select CSM Setup
• On the main CSM Setup card, enable Edit Mode using the Pencil icon  at the top of the card and under the Archiving FastTab, you will see two fields: Archive After Days and Auto Channel Order Archive
  • Archive After Days: enter the number of days a CSM channel order should remain active prior to archiving. The value in this field is applied to a channel order’s last source update value in relation to Business Central’s work date to determine whether that order should be archived. By default, this value is set to 30 days, but you can enter a greater value if you want to archive your orders on a less frequent basis. It is not possible to define an archive period of less than 30 days.
  • Auto Channel Order Archive: enable this option to instruct Business Central to automatically archive CSM channel orders that meet the appropriate criteria.
  • 

More archiving options will be available for definition when creating sales channels

➡️Next Step: Subscriptions