Oracle E-Business Suite and ShipBob integration

What moves between them

Orders and inventory flow from Oracle E-Business Suite to ShipBob on a scheduled cadence: purchase orders and line items are read from Oracle E-Business Suite, matched to ShipBob products and variants, and inventory levels are synced to ShipBob so warehouses know planned stock. ShipBob communicates back asynchronously through webhooks: when a warehouse receiving order is completed and boxes are stowed, ml-connector receives the event, extracts the received quantities and serial numbers, and posts a material receipt into Oracle E-Business Suite receiving interface table, where a concurrent program imports it into the base inventory and accounts payable modules. Shipments from ShipBob trigger fulfillment billing and inventory reduction in Oracle E-Business Suite, and shipment tracking events update Oracle E-Business Suite with carrier and tracking details.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector runs two parallel processes. The push side listens on a HTTPS webhook endpoint registered with ShipBob, verifies signatures with the HMAC-SHA256 key, and routes events (warehouse receiving, shipments, returns) to import handlers that format data for Oracle E-Business Suite interface tables and concurrent programs. The pull side polls Oracle E-Business Suite on a schedule, authenticates with Basic Auth or a session token, includes the required application context headers, filters by last update time, and fetches purchase orders and inventory. ml-connector caches ShipBob OAuth2 access token (1-hour lifetime) and refreshes it before expiry, and it handles Oracle E-Business Suite 30-60 minute session timeout by re-authenticating on any 401 response. Because Oracle E-Business Suite interface table writes are asynchronous, ml-connector tracks the import job ID and polls the concurrent request log to confirm completion before marking the record processed. Inventory units are converted between Oracle E-Business Suite primary units and ShipBob ounces and inches, and purchase order lines are matched to ShipBob variants via SKU or external reference. Rate limiting from ShipBob returns HTTP 429, and ml-connector backs off and retries with exponential jitter.

A real-world example

A mid-market electronics distributor runs Oracle E-Business Suite for purchase orders, accounts payable, and inventory management across three warehouses and a distribution center. Instead of hosting their own warehouses, they partnered with ShipBob for fulfillment and cross-dock operations. Before the integration, the purchasing team entered purchase orders in Oracle E-Business Suite, emailed the POs to ShipBob in PDF, then received receiving documents back by email, and manually entered each receipt into Oracle E-Business Suite material transactions. Month-end inventory counts showed gaps between what ShipBob reported and what Oracle E-Business Suite recorded. With Oracle E-Business Suite and ShipBob connected, purchase orders flow automatically into ShipBob receiving workflow, and when ShipBob scans boxes into their system, the receipt posts back to Oracle E-Business Suite in real time. Inventory balances stay in sync without manual re-entry, and the company can query both systems and find the same stock levels.

What you can do

• •Send purchase orders and inventory forecasts from Oracle E-Business Suite to ShipBob to align warehouse stock levels and receiving schedules.
• •Receive warehouse receiving events from ShipBob and post material receipts into Oracle E-Business Suite purchasing interface, where concurrent programs import them to inventory and accounts payable.
• •Sync Oracle E-Business Suite purchase order lines to ShipBob variants and products, using SKU or external reference to match items across the two systems.
• •Handle OAuth2 token refresh for ShipBob and session token re-authentication for Oracle E-Business Suite, with webhook signature verification and polling retries.
• •Track ShipBob asynchronous warehouse receiving events (box scans, stows, WRO completion) and confirm that Oracle E-Business Suite concurrent import jobs have finished before marking records complete.

Questions

How does ml-connector handle the difference between Oracle E-Business Suite polling-only model and ShipBob webhook model?

ml-connector runs both directions: it polls Oracle E-Business Suite on a schedule to fetch purchase orders and inventory changes, and it listens on a webhook endpoint for ShipBob events. When ShipBob sends a warehouse receiving or shipment event, ml-connector immediately formats it for Oracle E-Business Suite interface tables. When you add inventory to Oracle E-Business Suite, the next poll cycle sends it to ShipBob.

What happens when Oracle E-Business Suite material receipts take a long time to import?

Oracle E-Business Suite interface table writes are asynchronous: ml-connector inserts a row and a concurrent program processes it in the background, which can take minutes or hours. ml-connector tracks the concurrent request ID and polls the request log to confirm completion before marking the receiving as processed in its audit trail. If a program fails, ml-connector alerts you and can replay the receipt.

Does ml-connector handle unit conversions between Oracle E-Business Suite and ShipBob?

Yes. ShipBob inventory system uses ounces for weight and inches for dimensions, while Oracle E-Business Suite purchases use your primary unit (cases, each, pallets, etc.). ml-connector converts on both directions based on a mapping table in your flow configuration, so a purchase of 100 cases syncs to ShipBob with the equivalent weight in ounces and dimensions in inches.