Creating Connections

You can use a portal to create jobs in an online print shop and assign them to a printer through a TotalFlow Production Manager connection.
For TotalFlow Production Manager to receive jobs from an online portal, you must establish a connection between TotalFlow Production Manager and the print shop portal first.

Also, you must have a user account to access the portal and a number of tokens that you receive from the printing services provider.

Important: TotalFlow Production Manager uses the system proxy settings to connect to MarcomCentral. Make sure that the proxy settings are correct.

To set the proxy settings, open the Properties for Server dialog. On the Advanced page, edit the HTTP proxy and Port fields.

To create a connection:

  1. Log in to TotalFlow Production Manager as an administrator.
  2. In the menu bar, click Configuration.
  3. In the Connections pod, click New.

    You see the Create Connection dialog:

    Create Connection Dialog

  4. Enter or select values for the required and optional properties that must be adjusted to match your environment.
    1. Edit the Name field.
    2. Select the region of the server you are using from the Region list, according to your hosting environment.
    3. Enter the token strings that you received from the printing services provider for each of the services available with the connection. Tokens are unique 32 character long codes that identify your print store system. Contact your print store service representative to receive your tokens. Make sure that the tokens are for the region that you selected.
      Order
      This token allows TotalFlow Production Manager to receive jobs from the print store.
      Job Ticket
      This token allows you to obtain details about jobs within orders from the store.
      Product
      Use this token to download all the available product IDs from the store that you connect. The product IDs identify each unique item that you can order on the store. The production templates associated with the IDs provide the necessary processing instructions for TotalFlow Production Manager.
      Packing Slip
      Use this token to create and update packing slips.
      Invoice
      Use this token to create invoices for orders.
      Settlement
      Use this token to create order settlements.
      Note: You must always provide Order, Product and Job Ticket tokens. The other tokens are optional. If you do not provide a valid token, the service associated to that token is not available for the activities in TotalFlow Production Manager workflows.
  5. Click Test connection and import.
    If the connection is configured correctly you see a confirmation message.
  6. Click OK
  7. To ensure communication between TotalFlow Production Manager and the portal, make sure that the connection is enabled. To enable a connection, select it in the Connections tab, then click Enable.
    Once you created a connection, you can view it or edit its properties in the Connections tab on the Operations page.
Parent topic: Configuration