01 - System Overview & Ecosystem Map

System Overview & Ecosystem Map

The EDGE Store plugin acts as the central hub for a sophisticated e-commerce ecosystem, connecting your WooCommerce store with several key third-party services to automate product management, order fulfilment, and accounting.

Ecosystem Diagram

This diagram illustrates the flow of data and the interactions between the different components of the system.

graph TD
    subgraph "WordPress / WooCommerce"
        A[Website Frontend]
        B[WooCommerce]
        C[EDGE Store Plugin]
        D[Gravity Forms]
        E[Weight-Based Shipping Plugin]
    end

    subgraph "External Services"
        F[Zoho CRM]
        G[ColourTech]
        H[Xero]
    end

    %% Data Flows
    F -- "Product & Pricelist Sync" --> C
    C -- "Creates/Updates Products" --> B
    C -- "Sets Prices & Visibility" --> B
    D -- "User Registration & Role Assignment" --> C
    A -- "User Interacts" --> B
    B -- "Calculates Shipping via Rate Table" --> E
    B -- "Places Order" --> C

    subgraph "Order Fulfillment Flow"
        C -- "1. New Order" --> G
        C -- "2. Create Invoice" --> H
        C -- "3. Create Bill for Print Costs" --> H
    end

    G -- "Shipping & Tracking Info" --> C

Core Components & Their Roles

1. Zoho CRM (The Source of Truth)

• Role: Master data management for products and customers.
• Key Functions:
  • All products are created and managed in Zoho.
  • A structured SKU system is used to define product attributes (e.g., print vs. digital, coursebook, textbook).
  • Pricelists are managed in Zoho, which correspond to different B2B customer roles in WordPress.
• Flow: The EDGE Store plugin regularly syncs product data from Zoho to WooCommerce.

2. WooCommerce (The Storefront)

• Role: The e-commerce engine.
• Key Functions:
  • Displays products to users based on their role (which is determined by their Zoho pricelist).
  • Handles the cart and checkout process.
  • Calculates shipping costs using a pre-configured rate table.

3. ColourTech (The Printer & Shipper)

• Role: Print-on-demand and fulfillment partner.
• Key Functions:
  • Receives new orders for physical products from the EDGE Store plugin.
  • Prints, packs, and ships the orders.
  • Provides shipping and tracking information back to the store.
• Note: Shipping rates are not calculated via a live API call. Instead, ColourTech provides a rate card, which is then configured in the Weight-Based Shipping Plugin.

4. Xero (The Accounting Platform)

• Role: Handles all financial accounting.
• Key Functions:
  • When an order is placed, a customer invoice is automatically created in Xero.
  • If the order contains a print product, a bill is automatically created in Xero, payable to ColourTech, to account for the printing cost.
  • Customer data is synced from WordPress to Xero.

5. Gravity Forms (User Registration)

• Role: Manages the new user registration process.
• Key Functions:
  • Provides the frontend form for user registration.
  • Allows users to select their institution/role, which is then used to assign them the correct B2B user role in WordPress.

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Next: 02 - Sync Services Deep Dive