IFS Cloud and WooCommerce integration

What moves between them

Sales orders and customer records move from WooCommerce into IFS Cloud. When a customer is created or updated in WooCommerce, ml-connector creates or updates the matching customer record in IFS Cloud, mapping WooCommerce customer ID to an IFS customer entity. When an order is placed or updated in WooCommerce, ml-connector creates a sales order in IFS Cloud, mapping order line items to IFS sales order lines with the customer reference already established. Customer updates flow in one direction only (WooCommerce to IFS), as IFS Cloud is the system of record for customer master data. The sync runs on a configurable schedule, polling WooCommerce for new and modified orders and customers at intervals tied to your store traffic.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores WooCommerce API credentials and IFS OAuth2 secrets encrypted, and refreshes the IFS bearer token before expiry. On the WooCommerce side, it uses Basic Auth with the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret on each call. Because WooCommerce webhooks require per-store manual registration and IFS Cloud offers no webhook subscription API, ml-connector polls WooCommerce at a configurable interval, filters for modified orders and customers using the 'modified_after' parameter, and polls IFS separately to enrich each customer record with the corresponding IFS customer ID. When updating an existing IFS customer or sales order, ml-connector first reads the record to capture the OData ETag, then includes that ETag in the PATCH request to satisfy optimistic concurrency control. WooCommerce's API Key credentials are tied to the WordPress user; ml-connector audits which user created the key and alerts if that user is deleted. IFS Cloud enforces a company code on almost all financial entities, so ml-connector accepts a configurable company code per customer and applies it to all sales orders and customer records. Rate limiting is handled with exponential backoff plus jitter: WooCommerce returns HTTP 429 per endpoint, and IFS returns 429 at approximately 1000 requests per minute; ml-connector tracks both and pauses before retrying. OData page sizes are kept below 5000 elements to avoid partial-result errors on expanded collections. Every record carries a full audit trail with timestamps, user, and direction.

A real-world example

A mid-sized fashion retailer operates an IFS Cloud instance for supply chain, inventory, and general ledger, and runs WooCommerce on their own WordPress server for multiple store domains. Before the integration, new customer orders from the website were manually entered into IFS by the sales team each morning, creating duplicate work and error-prone data entry. With WooCommerce and IFS Cloud connected, customers can place orders on the store, and those orders appear in IFS Cloud within minutes, ready for the warehouse team to fulfill. New customer accounts created during signup on WooCommerce are also automatically added to IFS as customer records, so the sales team can immediately pull orders by customer name in IFS without waiting for manual setup.

What you can do

• •Sync new and updated WooCommerce customers into IFS Cloud, mapping WooCommerce customer ID to IFS customer entities.
• •Create IFS Cloud sales orders from WooCommerce orders, with line items and customer references, ready for fulfillment.
• •Handle IFS Cloud OData ETag concurrency control on customer and order updates.
• •Authenticate WooCommerce with API Key credentials and IFS Cloud with OAuth2, refreshing tokens before expiry.
• •Poll WooCommerce and IFS on a schedule with retries, exponential backoff, and a full audit trail on every record.

Questions

Can orders flow from IFS Cloud back to WooCommerce?

No. This integration is unidirectional: orders and customers flow from WooCommerce into IFS Cloud. WooCommerce is the order source and IFS is the system of record for financial and operational data. If you need to sync cancellations or refunds back to the store, that requires a separate reverse flow configured per your business process.

How does ml-connector handle the WooCommerce API Key and the IFS OAuth2 token?

ml-connector stores both credential sets encrypted. For WooCommerce, it uses HTTP Basic Auth with the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret on every request. For IFS Cloud, it requests a bearer token at the IFS OAuth2 endpoint using Client Credentials, caches the token, and refreshes it automatically before the 60-minute expiry. The IFS API Key is tied to the WordPress user who created it; if that user is deleted, the key stops working.

What happens if a WooCommerce webhook is disabled or the IFS rate limit is hit?

WooCommerce webhooks are optional for this integration because ml-connector polls the API directly. If a webhook is disabled, polling continues and no orders are missed. IFS Cloud enforces approximately 1000 requests per minute per tenant and returns HTTP 429 on excess; ml-connector detects 429, backs off with exponential jitter, and retries. WooCommerce also returns 429; ml-connector applies the same backoff strategy on both systems.