Illustrative previewAn AL extension that connects your print-on-demand production partners to Dynamics 365 Business Central,
pushing orders with the correct artwork and variant, tracking production status, importing shipments and tracking numbers, and reconciling partner costs against purchase invoices. Built to order by
ECOSIRE for your Business Central version, partners and item structure.
What is Print-on-Demand Connector?
An AL extension that connects your print-on-demand production partners to Dynamics 365 Business Central, pushing orders with the correct artwork and variant, tracking production status, importing shipments and tracking numbers, and reconciling partner costs against purchase invoices. Built to order by ECOSIRE for your Business Central version, partners and item structure. Built to order by ECOSIRE for Dynamics 365 BC (build-to-order) — indicative price from $999.00 USD; request a quote for a scoped proposal.
Key Features
Built to order, done for you
No DIY setup — a working app, built, installed and supported by ECOSIRE.
- 1
You order
Start with a one-time build price. We scope it with you at kickoff.
- 2
We build & install
ECOSIRE builds, configures and installs it on your Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- 3
Go live + support
You go live in about one working week, with two weeks of go-live support. Defects in the code we deliver are fixed free of charge.
About this Product
Merch and apparel brands that produce through print-on-demand partners usually end up running the business twice. Sales orders live in Dynamics 365 Business Central, but the artwork, the print placement, the garment colour and the partner's own SKU live in a spreadsheet, a Google Drive folder or the partner's dashboard. Someone re-keys each order into the partner portal, watches a separate screen for production status, copies tracking numbers back into Business Central so the sales order can be shipped, and at month end tries to reconcile a partner invoice line-by-line against orders that were never posted as purchases. Business Central out of the box has no concept of an external production partner that is neither a manufacturing work centre nor a straightforward drop-ship vendor: item variants carry no artwork reference, there is no place to store a partner's product and variant identifiers, and there is no outbound job that speaks a POD partner's REST API.
We build a Print-on-Demand Connector as an AL extension for your tenant — a per-tenant extension for a single company, or an AppSource-format app when you run multiple environments. The artwork and mapping layer is a new setup table plus table extensions on Item, Item Variant and Sales Line, so each variant carries its partner product ID, partner variant ID, print placement, artwork file reference and mock-up URL. Artwork itself is stored where you already keep it: a media field in Business Central, a SharePoint or Azure Blob URL, or the partner's own asset ID once uploaded. A validation codeunit refuses to release an order line whose variant has no complete mapping, so bad orders fail in Business Central rather than at the partner.
Order push runs through a job queue entry that picks up released sales orders (or specific document types and locations you nominate), builds the partner's JSON payload from the mapping, and calls the partner API with HttpClient over an OAuth 2.0 or API-key connection you configure per partner. Every call is logged to a request/response table with correlation IDs, retry count and last error, so a failed push is visible and re-runnable instead of silently lost. Event subscribers on Codeunit 80 Sales-Post and the release/reopen events keep Business Central and the partner in step when an order is changed or cancelled. Inbound, a second job queue entry polls partner webhooks or status endpoints and writes production status onto the order line — accepted, in production, quality hold, fulfilled — with a status history so support can answer "where is it" without leaving the role centre. When the partner ships, we import the carrier, tracking number and shipped quantities, and post the posted sales shipment (optionally per package) with the tracking number on the shipment header.
Cost reconciliation is the part most brands ask for last and value most. Each fulfilled partner order writes back its charged base cost, print cost and shipping, which we hold against the source sales line and expose as a reconciliation page that matches a partner's settlement or invoice file to Business Central documents. Depending on your accounting model we either post the partner charge as a purchase invoice against the POD vendor, or as an item charge onto the shipment so margin per order stays honest. Everything is exposed through custom API pages (REST API v2.0 / OData v4) so Power BI, Power Automate or a Dataverse-connected app can read mappings, status and cost variance without a separate export.
Delivery is build-to-order. After a scoping call we confirm your Business Central version and deployment (SaaS online or on-premises), which POD partners you use, how your items and variants are structured, and how you want partner cost posted. You get a written scope and fixed quotation before we start. Typical delivery is one working week from confirmed scope: we develop against your sandbox, install and configure it there, run UAT with your team on real orders, then deploy to production with a rollback plan. There is no instant download — this is an extension we write, test and support for your environment.
What you get
- Installable AL extension source and compiled .app package built for your Business Central version (SaaS online or on-premises)
- Installation and configuration on your sandbox and production environments, including partner connections, job queue entries and permission set assignment
- Technical documentation: object ID ranges, table/page extension map, event subscribers, API page endpoints and the partner integration contract
- End-user guide plus a live training session for the operations team covering mapping, order push, status monitoring and reconciliation
- UAT on your sandbox with real order scenarios, sign-off checklist, and a documented rollback plan before production deployment
- Post-go-live support window for defect fixes and configuration adjustments on the delivered scope
- Handover of the private Git repository with full commit history, branch and build pipeline, so the code is yours
- Partner onboarding runbook for adding a further POD partner using the same connection framework
Who this is for
Operations manager at a merch or apparel brand
Owns daily fulfilment across one or more POD partners. Needs order push to happen without re-keying, production status visible inside Business Central, and shipment tracking on the sales order so customer service can answer questions without opening a partner portal.
Finance controller or management accountant
Needs partner cost recognised against the right sales document so gross margin per order and per design is real, and needs a defensible way to reconcile a monthly POD settlement file to posted purchase invoices or item charges rather than accepting it on trust.
Business Central partner or internal IT lead
Responsible for the tenant, extension governance and upgrade path. Wants a properly structured AL extension with its own object range, permission sets, telemetry and API pages — not customisations in the base app — and wants the source in a repository they control.
Ecommerce or product manager launching new designs
Adds new designs, garment colours and sizes continually. Needs artwork and variant mapping to be a routine data step on the item variant, with validation that catches an unmapped variant before an order reaches a customer.
How Print-on-Demand Connector Compares
| Criterion | ECOSIRE | Custom Build | Competitor | Dynamics 365 Business Central Native |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fit to your POD partners and item structure | Built to your confirmed scope — your partners, your variant model, your cost-posting rule | Fully bespoke if your in-house AL developer knows both Business Central and the partner APIs | Fits the partners the vendor already integrated; anything else is a roadmap request | No concept of an external print-on-demand production partner |
| Artwork and variant mapping | Table extensions on Item and Item Variant with artwork reference, print placement and partner IDs, validated on release | Whatever the internal team designs and finds time to document | Usually a fixed mapping schema you must bend your item structure to fit | Item variants carry no artwork or partner identifiers |
| Order push and error visibility | Job queue push with a request/response log, correlation IDs, retry count and re-run action | Depends entirely on how much logging the developer builds in | Push generally reliable; failure diagnostics often limited to a generic error field | Manual re-keying into the partner portal |
| Shipment and tracking back into Business Central | Carrier, tracking number and quantities imported, sales shipment posted with tracking on the header | Achievable but frequently descoped when the project runs long | Common feature; per-package handling varies by product | Tracking numbers typed in by hand, if at all |
| Cost reconciliation and margin | Cost write-back plus settlement matching, posting as purchase invoice or item charge as you choose | Usually the last phase built and the first cut | Often out of scope — status and shipment only | Partner invoices reconciled in a spreadsheet at month end |
| Upgrade and release-wave safety | Own object range, table/page extensions and event subscribers; maintenance agreement covers recompile and regression per wave | Safe if disciplined; base-app hacks under deadline pressure are the common failure | Vendor maintains compatibility, on their schedule not yours | Nothing to upgrade — and nothing to use |
| Source code ownership | Full Git repository handed over with commit history and build pipeline | Yours by definition, along with all the maintenance | Closed source; you licence it and depend on the vendor | Not applicable |
| Cost shape | One-off build to a fixed quotation, optional ongoing maintenance agreement | Open-ended developer time plus permanent internal maintenance | Recurring per-user or per-tenant subscription for as long as you use it | No licence cost, paid instead in manual hours and reconciliation errors |
Frequently Asked Questions about Print-on-Demand Connector
Is this an app I can download from Microsoft AppSource today?
No. This is a build-to-order extension. ECOSIRE develops it as an AL extension for your Business Central version, your POD partners and your item structure, then installs, tests and supports it. Nothing is instantly downloadable — the process starts with a scoping call and a fixed written quotation.
How long does delivery take?
Typical delivery is one working week from confirmed scope. The clock starts once the scope document and quotation are signed and we have sandbox access plus partner API credentials. A single partner with clean item variants sits at the shorter end; multiple partners, unusual variant structures or bespoke cost-posting rules sit at the longer end. We confirm the date in the scope document rather than estimating on the storefront.
Which print-on-demand partners can you connect?
Any partner that exposes a documented REST API or webhook for order submission, status and shipment. The connection framework is partner-agnostic — authentication, base URL and payload mapping are configuration — so a second or third partner is an incremental addition rather than a rebuild. If a partner offers only CSV or SFTP exchange we can implement that lane instead; we confirm feasibility during scoping after reviewing their documentation.
Will it work on Business Central online and on-premises?
Yes. We build against current Business Central release waves and target your specific version. For Business Central online we deliver a per-tenant extension (or an AppSource-format app where you run multiple environments), using isolated storage for secrets and job queue entries for scheduling. For on-premises we deliver the same extension packaged for your build, with any environment-specific differences noted in the technical documentation.
How is support handled, and what happens at the next Business Central update?
Every engagement includes a post-go-live support window for defect fixes and configuration changes on the delivered scope. Because the extension uses table/page extensions, event subscribers and its own object range rather than base-app modification, Microsoft's twice-yearly release waves are normally a recompile-and-validate exercise. We offer an ongoing maintenance agreement covering recompilation and regression testing against each new release wave, and partner API changes; that is quoted separately from the build.
Does this replace our POD partner's dashboard?
It removes the need to use it for day-to-day fulfilment. Order submission, status, shipment and cost all surface in Business Central. The partner dashboard remains the place for artwork proofing, disputes and anything the partner does not expose via API. We are explicit in the scope document about which of your current partner-portal steps the connector actually replaces.
How does partner cost get into the accounts?
Two supported models, chosen during scoping. Either the fulfilled partner charge posts as a purchase invoice to the POD vendor, giving you a normal AP lifecycle; or it posts as an item charge onto the sales shipment, which keeps cost of goods on the originating document and gives cleaner per-order margin. The reconciliation page matches the partner's settlement or invoice file to Business Central documents either way and flags variances before anything is posted.
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Print-on-Demand Connector
An AL extension that connects your print-on-demand production partners to Dynamics 365 Business Central, pushing orders with the correct artwork and variant, tracking production status, importing shipments and tracking numbers, and reconciling partner costs against purchase invoices. Built to order by ECOSIRE for your Business Central version, partners and item structure.
- Table extensions on Item, Item Variant and Sales Line holding partner product ID, partner variant ID, print placement and artwork reference, so mapping lives on the record rather than a spreadsheet
- Artwork registry supporting Business Central media fields, SharePoint/Azure Blob URLs or partner-hosted asset IDs, with mock-up preview on the item variant card
- Per-partner connection setup with OAuth 2.0 client credentials or API key, base URL, sandbox/production toggle and isolated storage for secrets
- Outbound order push codeunit that builds the partner payload from released sales orders and calls the partner REST API via HttpClient, filtered by document type, location or item category