You can use replication to easily duplicate the products and suppliers in the database of your master store. This simplifies creating these products in your other locations and replicating any modifications made to products in the master store to the target stores, ensuring that data is kept consistent. Replication reproduces the products and suppliers from the master store to the target stores, not the other way around. Lightspeed OnSite uses a pull method for replication, where each store pulls product information from the master store.
To use replication, you indicate which of your stores is the master store. This is the database the target stores receive their product replications from. We recommend that you ensure your product codes are unique before replicating your database.
The initial replication can take some time to complete depending on the number of Products in the Master Store. We recommended that you perform the first replication outside of store hours.
Before you replicate ensure these fields are identical in your master and target stores:
- Families
- Classes
- Terms
- Currencies
- Custom fields
- Colors
- Sizes
- Web categories
- Web keywords
If you replicate a product where a field doesn't match with the target database, an error message is displayed.
To replicate your multi-stores
- Run a manual backup by going to Tools > Utilities > Backup Database.
- At each target store, go to Tools > Multi-Store and click Start. This replicates the products and suppliers from the master store to the target store.
Your target store now has in its database all of the products in the master store, as well as any suppliers from in the master store that did not yet exist in the target.
Most of the modifications made to products in the master store are updated to the replicated products in the target stores, including cost or price changes, if you run the replication process again.
To exempt products from replication
There can be settings you do not want replicated or updated, such as a product that is set to sell on Web Store connected to non-master store, but isn't set to sell on Web Store in the master store database.
Go to Tools > Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store Replication Options and set exemptions for the product database of the target stores, either from the initial creation or subsequent updates.
- Create and Update enabled: new settings in the master store will be created in the child store. Modified settings in the master store will be updated in the child store.
- Create enabled and Update not enabled: new settings in the master store will be created in the child store. Modified settings in the master store will not be updated in the child store.
- Create not enabled and Update enabled: only existing, modified settings will be updated from the master store to the child store.
- Create and Update not enabled: setting will remain untouched by replication.
Product fields that are replicated to a child store
| Product | Product Code, Description, Label |
| Related | Related, Auto-Add, Build, Break Apart |
| Photo | Photos |
| Info | Family, UPC, Class, Tax Status, Size, Color, Supplier, Supplier Code, Raw Cost, Currency, Cost, Sell Price, Margin, Minimum Margin, Inventoried, Serial Numbers, Current, Editable Description, Editable Selling Price, Gift Card, Cost Always Equals Sell, Size/Color Matrix |
| Options | POS Categories, Pricing Levels, Actions (Do Not Apply Rules, Do Not Replicate) |
| Web | Sell on Lightspeed Web Store, Web Categories, Keywords, Web Short Description, Web Long Description, Web Price, Weight, Length, Width, Height |
| Inventory | Reorder Point, Reorder Amount |
| Notes | Notes |
| GL | Gl account mappings |
Note: Custom Fields and Quantity Discounts do not replicate.
About multi-store replications for OnSite 2.1.x and earlier
In addition to the Do Not Replicate checkbox that hides a product from being replicated, you can set these exemptions for the entire product database of target stores:
- Replicate versus update – exempting replication prevents populating products created through replication from having, for example, the sell on Web Store attribute set. Exempting the update of replicated products prevents any modification to existing products and their settings if the setting has been changed in the Master Store.
- Sell on Lightspeed Web Store - exempts replication from either replicating or updating the Sell on Web Store checkbox on the Web tab of the product card.
- Reorder Points and Amounts - exempts replicating or updating the Reorder Points/Amounts in the Inventory tab of the product card.
- GL Account Mappings - exempts either replicating or updating the GL Accounts in the GL tab of the product card.
To export or import replication settings
Because replication relies on identical settings for fields such as families and mlasses between the Master and target stores, you can export these settings and more from the Master Store, and import them into the target store prior to replication.
- In the Master store in OnSite Store Master, on the Tools menu click Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store, and click the Import/Export tab.
- Click the Export button and select the elements you want to export, dragging them from the left column to the right column, and clicking Export.
OnSite saves a text file to your hard drive, which you can be opened in the target store and import from Tools > Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store > Import/Export > Import.