Channels

Where things are sold: the web shop, a marketplace, a distributor. A channel does two things.

It raises demand. When the shop takes an order, its adapter calls Foudra's API with demand received: the channel, the shop's own order reference, the part (by our number or the channel's own), quantity and date. That becomes a demand order with the channel and reference on it. When the shop ships, it calls demand shipped, and Foudra issues the stock from the biggest pile and closes the demand. The same reference twice is one demand, so a message delivered twice does no harm. Foudra never learns the shop's vocabulary; the adapter speaks Foudra's, which is what keeps the MRP agnostic.

It carries listings. Each part can be listed on a channel as the channel's own number — the shop's SKU, the eBay item id. A listing with no number yet is one still to be pushed to the channel; a channel product with no listing is a part still to be created here. Both are what a sync utility looks for. Listings are edited from the part page.

Available is on hand less what open demand has already promised. It is the figure a channel should sell against, and the one the parts API reports.

Admins create and edit channels. See The API for the calls an adapter makes.