Everything from a blank instance to a live connection, in the order you should do it. Install the app, choose your privacy settings and assign roles first (see the previous articles).

Step 4 - Create the instance

Go to 3PL Connector > Configuration > Instances > New.

1. Name - how this connection appears everywhere in the app. Use something a warehouse operator recognises, e.g. "the 3PL UK - Live".
2. Provider - pick the 3PL. The Provider Capabilities panel fills in immediately, showing exactly what this provider can and cannot do. For a swagger-defined provider, pick its name in this list (custom providers appear under their own names once created).
3. Environment - Sandbox / Staging or Production. This drives the default API base URL and is displayed as a coloured badge everywhere (blue Sandbox / green Live) so nobody ever mistakes a test instance for the real one.
4. Connection tab - enter credentials. The help box at the top of the tab is provider-specific and tells you exactly what goes where:
5. your 3PL provider: your API key is the Basic-auth username, the key password goes in Password. Staging and live use different hosts and different keys; the base URL defaults correctly from the Environment field.
6. your 3PL: create a Third-Party Developer user and enter its email and password - the connector obtains and renews bearer tokens automatically. Alternatively paste a refresh token.
7. Click Test Connection. On success the instance moves to Connected and the screen refreshes; the result (including the full request/response) is in the Sync Log. On failure the error is shown and logged - nothing is hidden.

Every action on an instance - every test, every setting change, every manual run - is recorded in the instance's chatter, so you always have a who-did-what history.

Step 5 - Map warehouses and carriers

Mappings translate between Odoo's records and the 3PL's identifiers. See Mappings for full detail; the minimum to go live:

• Warehouse mapping (required). At least one line linking an Odoo warehouse to the 3PL's warehouse identifier. Orders are only eligible for an instance when their Odoo warehouse is mapped on it, and the connector will refuse to activate an instance with no warehouse mapping.
• Carrier mappings (strongly recommended). Link Odoo delivery methods to the 3PL's carrier/service codes. Outbound, this tells the 3PL which service to ship with; inbound, it lets the connector set the right delivery method on despatch confirmations. Where the provider supports it, Fetch Carriers pre-fills the list from the 3PL's own service catalogue.

Step 6 - Choose what to sync

On the Sync Settings tab, tick the flows you want and set how often they run. Only capabilities the provider supports are shown. Details of every switch are in the Settings reference; the two you should decide consciously before activating:

• Send Orders Automatically - when on, every eligible confirmed order is pushed on schedule with no human involvement. When off, orders wait for someone to press Send to 3PL.
• Stock Master - who is right about stock: the 3PL (Odoo is adjusted to match) or Odoo (differences are only reported).

Step 7 - Activate

Press Activate. The instance moves to Active and the scheduler starts running the enabled flows at their configured intervals. You can Pause at any time - scheduled syncs stop, manual operations remain available, and nothing is lost: the next run picks up where things stood.

A worked first day

A typical the 3PL go-live, in order: create the instance against Sandbox > Test Connection > map the Odoo warehouse to the the 3PL warehouse GUID > Fetch Carriers and link the Royal Mail services you use > add your products (Products > Add in Bulk) and push them > run Match Products to link anything already in the 3PL's catalogue > confirm a test order, press Send to 3PL, watch it appear in the 3PL's portal > let the 3PL despatch it and watch the tracking and batches flow back > flip the instance (or a second instance) to Production with the live key and repeat the mappings there.