The integration process refers to the process of building an integration between your POS API and the Deliverect API.
This article recaps the steps required to complete and launch a live partnership for the benefit of your customers and ours! It will focus on the beta phase and getting GA.
GA stands for General Available. Integrations are GA when the beta phase is successfully completed and now available to all customers. The Deliverect sales team is allowed to sell the integration to all interested customers.
Process
The integration process involves five key steps.
Step 1. NDA and API contracts: Sign contracts to start developing
Step 2. Building: Developers work to build the API integration
Step 3. Certification call: Tests are run
Step 4. Beta-customer phase: Soft (limited) launch of the integration
Step 5. General Available: The integration is live and available to all customers
This article assumes that steps 1 - 3 are complete.
Beta Phase
Entering the beta phase, means you are a certified partner. The beta phase refers to a closed trial of a new integration with a limited number of customers. During this period, we introduce the integration to a limited number of external customers to explore customer impressions and insights.
Where do we get beta customers? Usually, the partner provides us with beta customers, since they know who would be the best fit. But we also watch out for potential beta customers from the Deliverect side, too. When an integration is in the beta phase, our sales team is informed. If they encounter customers that are currently using our partner's services, we can assess the potential for that customer to be a beta tester.
Ideally, the beta customers will meet the following criteria:
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High order volume to help us get through the beta phase quickly
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Responsive and tech-savvy
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Patient and willing to troubleshoot and give us feedback
- Have the POS system already set up and is used to working with it
Customers are set up by an Implementation Specialist at Deliverect who will be your go-to person during the beta phase. They will work with the customer through the whole process to ensure that the setup is correct and that everything is working correctly during each step.
It usually takes two to six weeks to get a beta customer set up on an integration.
To start the beta phase, we will need:
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At least five customers enrolled in the beta phase (maximum of seven)
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Confirmation of required webhook URLs with the Deliverect API team
Your partner manager at Deliverect will guide you through the referral process for beta customers. Please note that once the maximum number of beta customers is reached, we will need to wait until the beta phase ends to be able to setup further customers.
Keys to success
There are some things that you can do to help make the most out of the beta phase. Here are a few tips to keep the flow moving and to help go from beta to General Available in a snap.
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Open Communication: It is very important to maintain open communication between our teams throughout the beta phase. When issues come up we want to be able to provide quick and efficient solutions to keep the integration moving forward. Please make sure that we have the correct contact info for your team, and we will provide the same.
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Sharing is caring: To provide our mutual customers with the best possible experience, please feel free to share relevant setup documents, videos, and screenshots of their front and back office.
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Feature-focused: It is important to listen to customers’ feedback during the beta phase. Customers might express interest in integration features that are not mandatory but are very important to them. Our mutual goal is to make customers’ lives easier so it would be great if you could consider implementing these enhancements. Our API team will guide you through the implementation of any new features.
It is important to manage customers’ expectations from the beginning and make them aware that this is a beta integration so the setup will take longer and we will need their feedback throughout the whole process. We do our best to make the beta setup a smooth experience for the customers, but we cannot guarantee that they to go live on a specific date that they might have in mind.
Partner accounts
As our partner, you will have access to see your customers' accounts in Deliverect after your certification call and throughout the beta phase. We call these Partner Accounts.
What does this mean for you as a Deliverect Partner?
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All customers using your integration will be linked to your Partner Account when they are set up in Deliverect and you will be able to manage operations inside of these accounts such as menu build and menu push.
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You can navigate to the Accounts tab and view your customers' information.
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This will also allow you to see the Analytics (reporting insights) for linked Accounts.
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Inside your Partner Account, you can review the Leads and their status - both inbound and outbound.
Before you move on, it would be great if we exchanged contacts to ensure that this process goes as smoothly as possible. If you haven't already done so, please reach out and let us know who we should reach out to for new activations and for API/integration support.
Beta setup
Beta setup refers to the process of setting up beta (test) customers. The following steps are followed:
- Integration activation
- Product sync
- Setup and menu build
- Test orders
- Troubleshooting
- Channel activation and menu push
- Confirmation of live channels and monitoring
1. Integration activation
- When a new beta customer signs, we send you a request to activate the integration at your end. Once this is done, we can register the POS in Deliverect. We add the beta customer’s account to your Deliverect’s partner account so that you can access it.
- We share the following information from our end:
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Account ID
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Location ID (unique for each location)
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2. Product Sync
The first product sync is to be completed by your team.
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Product syncs bring the products from the POS to Deliverect and allow us to start building the menu.
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Requests for a product sync should be actioned within 3 days of the request. Please inform us if you cannot complete this step on time.
It is important that the structure of the products (meal deals/bundles/modifier groups/modifiers) in the POS matches the items’ structure that customers see on their delivery platforms. It might be necessary to alter the products in the POS before we start building a central menu in Deliverect.
3. Setup and menu build
To be completed by Deliverect and the customer.
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Setup calls are where we (Deliverect) review the platform with the customer and go over all the features available. This is where we teach them how to build the menu (using the products from the product sync). OB is done by the Implementation team.
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Setup calls are scheduled for an hour at a time of the customers choosing.
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Building the menu can take anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week, depending on how complex the menu is, and how much time the customer has to work on it. Deliverect is self-serve so it is the responsibility of the customer to build the menu.
4. Test orders
To be completed by Deliverect and requires the customer’s feedback.
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Test orders are required to ensure that the integration is set up correctly. This is where we work with the customer to verify that they are receiving new orders from Deliverect correctly and that receipts are printing with the correct information. Customers should know how to accept and finalize the orders in their POS system. It is also important that correct status updates are sent back from the POS to Deliverect. During the test order call we test if the following is showing correctly in the POS and on the receipts (depending on the features supported):
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Order type and payment type
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Order (and product) notes
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Discounts/Tips/Delivery Fee/Service charge/Bag fee
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Paid/Unpaid orders
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ASAP and scheduled orders
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Customer information - customer name, phone number and delivery address
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Phone access code (shared by some delivery channels)
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Taxes (if applicable in your region)
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5. Troubleshooting
It is normal to encounter issues when placing test orders during the beta phase. We need the customer’s cooperation and feedback to be able to make necessary adjustments on the POS or Deliverect’s side. Once adjustments are made, we will place new test orders to ensure that all changes have been applied.
Please note that we might need more testing sessions to ensure that every issue is tackled.
6. Channel activation and menu push
Only when the customer is 100% happy with the test orders and their menu in Deliverect is finished can we start activating delivery channels.
The Implementation Specialist will initiate the channel activation or explain to the customer how to do self-activation if their channel supports it. Once the channel integration is activated, customers can push their menu(s) to the channel(s).
You can check out our for more information about a specific delivery channel.
7. Confirmation of live channels and monitoring
After the channel activation, we will monitor orders for the first two weeks and listen carefully to customers’ feedback. Only when there are no failures and the customer confirms that everything is working well, will we be able to mark the account ‘out of beta’.
General Available
Once the beta trial has reached its successful conclusion, the integration is made available to all customers.
This means that:
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There are a minimum of five customers live on the integration with >100 orders and a success rate of >99%
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There are no more technical issues
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Documentation is up to date and reviewed
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The setup process is as easy and straightforward as possible and well documented
Once GA, the Deliverect sales team can sell to all customers without limitation.
Note: If you have any customers you would like to refer to Deliverect, please complete the Referral Form sent to you by your Partner Manager. This will ensure the customer is sent to the correct pipeline and contacted by Deliverect to start using the software.
Next steps
Once the integration is fully functional, if you would like to implement any new features, please reach out to our API team at integrations-support@deliverect.com and consult with them.