Data model comparison, data type imported, feature coverage and connector main behaviors

Summary

The Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce serves as a bridge between Akeneo PIM and Adobe Commerce (or Magento Open Source), enabling the seamless exchange of product information between these two distinct systems.

Data model comparison table

Connecting two different systems requires making decisions on how data should be mapped. This high-level data model compares the Akeneo data model with Adobe Commerce, clarifying the integration choices.

For a more detailed understanding of configuring the mapping and filtering of data using the Adobe Connector in Akeneo, please refer to the section on how to set up and use the Connector. This section will provide you with comprehensive insights, guidelines, and step-by-step instructions on how to fine-tune the mapping and filtering processes, ensuring that your data synchronization is aligned with your specific requirements and business needs.

Legend

  • Left, Black, strong: Adobe Commerce entities  
  • Right, Light and purple: Akeneo entities
 

Adobe Commerce

Akeneo

Websites

Websites are mapped to channel

This mapping is used to retrieve scopable attribute values. Products must pertain to the channel category tree for the value to be retrieved.
 

Website mapping and website attribute mapping have different roles

Refer to the dedicated article on the matter: Website mapping.

 

 

Stores and storeviews 

 Locales and Currency.

Storeviews are localized data in Akeneo PIM.

Root Category Main Category tree
Sub-Category

Sub-categories

  • You can use the connector configuration to work on the visibility of categories (enable, included in menu, anchor, activate new categories from PIM at each import)
  • You can use the enriched categories of the PIM to match your category attributes template.
Attribute set Family 
  Attribute groups

Attribute sets can have multiple attribute groups. The notion is different from the PIM one so there is not mapping.

Attribute types
  Text field Text field
Text area Text area
Text editor  
Date Date
Date and time  
Yes/No Yes/No
Dropdown Single select, attribute options
Multiple select Multi-select, attribute options
Price Price
Media image in media gallery  Media/Asset collection 
Fixed Product tax Text field
Visual swatch Can be mapped with reference Entity
Text swatch Can be mapped with reference Entity, Single select
Page Builder  
Attribute options Select attribute options
Product Product types
    Simple products Products and product variants
Configurable products Product Models
Grouped product mapped with Family with quantified association 
Virtual product Product identified with technical single-select attributes. Code “virtual” or simple"
Downloadable product N/A customize 
Gift card N/A customize
Bundle N/A customize
Associations
  Related Products Substitution
Up-sell products Upsell
Cross-sell products Cross-sell

Data type imported

Attribute types

Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce imports all these PIM attribute types:

PIM attribute type Adobe Commerce attribute type
Text Text field
Text area Text area
Date Date (1)
Number Text field
Simple select Drop down (2)
Multiple select Multiple select (2)
Yes/No Drop down (3)
Measurement (aka. metric) Text field or Drop down (4)
Image Media image
File Text field (5)
Asset collection Media image (6)
Identifier Text field
Table attribute Text area (7)
Reference entity select or multi-select Drop down or Multiple select and Text area (8)

1) note: the default time will be set at 12AM.

(2) The connector imports all attribute options with their translations. Please note that options without a label in the language of the Adobe Commerce admin store won't be imported.

(3) As boolean attributes do not exist in Adobe Commerce, the connector converts those as simple select Yes/No attributes. If the value is null in the PIM, it will be set to “No” in Adobe Commerce.

(4) Since the 100.3.0 version of Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, metric attributes can be imported as text attributes or select attributes if they are used as a variant, with or without the metric unit concatenated (see how to configure attributes)

(5) Since the 100.4.2 version of Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, file attributes can be retreived from Akeneo PIM inside the Adobe Commerce media directory. Their path will be inserted in the corresponding text attribute (see how to enable file attribute import)

(6) Only available for Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce Enterprise Edition. As Adobe Commerce does not support the import of binary files other than images, the connector only import image asset binaries and image asset links (see how to configure images).

(7) Since Akeneo October 2021 Serenity updates, the Table attribute type has been added in the PIM.

Therefore, since the 102.1.4 version of Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, you can now import table attribute data in Adobe Commerce.

As Adobe Commerce does not have a table attribute type, Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce can import table data into a Adobe Commerce text area attribute as a JSON structure.

JSON example:

[
             {
             "number": {
             "Per 100g": "10"
             },
             "text": {
             "Text Attribute": "Test text 1"
             },
             "yes_no": {
             "Yes No attribute": true
             },
             "average_nutritional_values": {
             "Average nutritional values": "Saturated fat"
             },
             "percentage_reference_intake": {
             "% of reference intake (per 100g or serving)": "10"
             }
             },
             {
             "number": {
             "Per 100g": "4"
             },
             "text": {
             "Text Attribute": "Test text 2"
             },
             "yes_no": {
             "Yes No attribute": false
             },
             "average_nutritional_values": {
             "Average nutritional values": "Sugars"
             },
             "percentage_reference_intake": {
             "% of reference intake (per 100g or serving)": "4"
             }
             }
             ]
             

The order of the column values is not managed by the Akeneo API yet, therefore the column order might not be reflected in the JSON structure.

In case of a table sub-attribute label update or a table sub-attribute option label update, every product previously imported with the old label value has to be re-imported in order to apply the changes.

If you still use an add-on that has been developed by Flagbit or Webkul company in order to manage "table" attribute type in your PIM, the connector is still compatible with these two extensions. To do so, please refer to our connector configuration documentation to know how to manage the "table" attribute type for these extensions.

(8) Reference entity select / multi-select attributes are created as select or multi-select in Adobe Commerce, and an additionnal "Text area" attribute can be created if enabled in the reference entity configuration

Since the 102.6.0 version of Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, you can import reference entity record labels and measurement attribute from table attributes in the JSON

 

Some "hot" product data such as updated prices or stock information should not be managed by your PIM but directly by your ERP. A direct connection between your ERP and Adobe Commerce should therefore be in place.

Please note that, since the 100.3.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, the connector will not import any attribute named pricespecial_price or cost by default. However you can force it to do it, by mapping your price attribute in your Attribute Mapping configuration. Example: price -> price.

 

When mapping price attributes, make sure to only use global or scopable price attributes, as Adobe Commerce cannot define prices per Store View (only Global or Per Website). Also, as locales are mapped with Store view, it shouldn’t be localizable.

You can define price attributes scope in Adobe Commerce under: Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Price > Catalog Price Scope

 

 

 
 

Attributes

Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce imports all your PIM products attributes.

If you have some localizable attributes (attributes that can have different values per locale): the connector imports the content of these attributes in the different languages of Adobe Commerce product.

If you have some scopable attributes (attributes that can have different values per channel): depending on your channel configuration, the connector imports the channel content of these attributes for your Adobe Commerce Website.

As Adobe Commerce cannot handle attribute codes starting with a number, the connector will reject these attributes during import with a warning message.

In order to be able to synchronize your attributes correctly, please make sure that your attribute codes in Akeneo doesn't start with a number.

 

Please note that attributes without a label in the language of the Adobe Commerce admin store won't be imported.

 
 
 

Categories

Depending on your category configuration, the connector imports all PIM category trees.

Mapping between your PIM and Adobe Commerce: 
Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce maps PIM categories with Adobe Commerce categories. 

Since the 103.5.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, you can map your enriched categories attributes (apart from image attributes) to Adobe Commerce categories. This feature is only available in Enterprise Edition.

Since the 104.0.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, it is also possible to import category image attributes. This feature is only available in Enterprise Edition. Learn more about it in this article : How to configure my categories?

Can Akeneo Connector update existing categories in Adobe Commerce? Please check the existing procedure to manage an existing Adobe Commerce system

 
 
 

Products, Product models

Depending on your product filter configuration, the connector imports "products" and "product models" of your PIM catalog. The product and product model will be linked either to simple product or configurable products.

For a product to be imported, it must be linked to a category on the channel.

 

For more information about product model mapping, refer to this article
For more information about product, refer to this article

 

 
 

Product associations

The connector maps PIM product associations with Adobe Commerce Related, Up-Sells, and Cross-Sells products.

Since the 101.2.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, you can configure the code of the associations to map with Related, Upsell and Cross-sell products here.

 
 

Reference entities [EE] [3.x]

As Adobe Commerce does not have an equivalent concept to PIM Reference entity, Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce imports Reference entity records at the product level.

Be sure to understand the mapping done by the Connector in Adobe Commerce products and its associated configuration capability.

Available since the 103.5.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce.

Reference entities can be mapped to product swatches types.

 
 

Assets [EE] [4.x]

In the 100.5.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, ONLY images are managed in the asset manager system for the PIM 4.0.

Since the 100.6.0 version of the Akeneo Connector for Adobe Commerce, you can also import videos and files from the asset manager system for the PIM 4.0.

In addition, note that if you are using binaries (images directly uploaded into the PIM) the time transfer can be pretty long due to the download process.

 
 

 

Feature coverage

You can also find the feature coverage on Akeneo app store.

Adobe Commerce Feature coverage

This section provides an overview of the principal features of Adobe Commerce mentioned above and important information about imposed modelization and chosen behavior. 

Feature Supported by the integration
Configurable products

Yes

Simple Products

Yes
Check the Product type mapping section in this article to configure your simple products.

Bundle

Yes
Product mapping

Downloadable product

No
Refer to customize section

Gift card

No
Refer to customize section

Adobe Grouped products

Yes

Adibe Grouped product consists of simple standalone products that are presented as a group. Check the "Grouped product" section in this article for mapping configuration.

Virtual Products

Yes
Check the Product type mapping section in this article to configure your simple products.

Customizable options on Adobe Commerce

No

The connector can not add customizable options

Pre-existing custom product types management

Yes
Your Adobe Commerce Custom product types will be kept. Akeneo will not override existing products.

URL_key when product name changes and redirection

Yes

Mapping needs to be done

Product status

Yes
imposed modelization

Product visibility

Yes
imposed modelization

Mandatory custom attribute for a category

Important behavior

  • Akeneo Connector imports all PIM categories
  • The Adobe Commerce mandatory attribute will be empty (because PIM categories have no custom attributes).
  • If you edit an Adobe Commerce category, you will have to fill all mandatory attributes.
  • Akeneo PIM handles enriched categories

PIM Feature coverage

This section provides an overview of the Akeneo PIM features supported by the Akeneo connector for Adobe Commerce. Note that the connector is customizable and can be changed to fit your needs.

Feature Supported by the integration
Categories and enriched categories

Yes
Single or multiple category tree, enriched categories 

Family and family variants

Yes

Simple products

Yes

Product models 

Yes

Product variants on all levels (1 and 2)

Yes

Product statuses

Yes
Enable/Disabled, Visible or not

Attribute type as variation axes

Yes

Simple select, Reference Entity single link, Measurement, Yes-No, Multiple attributes used as variation axis

Product association

Yes

1-way or 2-way association (like upsell,cross-sell for instance), Association with quantities

Association level

Yes

Association at product and product model levels

Attributes value deletion Yes
Asset  Yes
Images, videos, files
Asset structure: attribute type

Media file OR media link, prefix and suffix as media link property, text

Asset structure: attribute properties

Localizable attribute (value per locale), scopable attribute (value per channel)

Images Yes
Videos Yes
PDF Yes
Reference Entities Yes
Reference Entities structure: attribute type

Image, text, number, single option, multiple options

Reference Entities structure: attribute properties

Localizable and scopable attributes (value per locale and channel)

Reference Entities level

Reference entities at product level and product model level

 

Adobe Commerce connector capabilities and behavior

Important behavior about product deletion and empty values should be taken into consideration when integrating the connector. 

Filtering

Yes
Out-of-the-box filtering and advanced settings

 

Mapping

Yes

Out-of-the-box filtering and advanced settings for default and custom entities 

Transformation

No

Product deletion 

 

No

eCommerce stays master on deletion

Refer to the synchronization article

Empty values

Yes

Refer to the synchronization article

Pre-existing e-commerce catalog handle

Yes

Handles products, attributes, and attributes options with the same code 

Refer to the installation article on pre-existing eCommerce

Full synchronization Yes
Delta or differential synchronization

Yes

Manual synchronization Yes
Scheduled synchronization Yes
Synchronization logs Yes
Monitoring 

Yes

Within the connector or notification by mail