Create a connection in your PIM dedicated to Shared Catalogs

Create a connection in the PIM

To use Shared Catalogs, you need to create a connection in your PIM instance dedicated to Shared Catalogs. Shared Catalogs will use the credentials associated with the connection to connect to the PIM and synchronize your latest product information.

To help you generate this connection, you need to follow these steps:

1. First, connect to your PIM instance.
2. Click on Connect.
3. Then click on Connection settings.
4. Click on Create.
5. In the Label field, enter the name of your connector: Shared Catalogs.
6. Choose the flow type: Data Destination

Note: the code of the connection is automatically generated based on the label. You can keep it as is or change it, it's up to you!

You're done! 🎉

Once you have created your connection, you can assign a visual to it to be able to quickly see which connection it refers to.

Grab your credentials

Whenever you create a connection, the PIM automatically generates a set of credentials for you. These credentials are necessary for making API calls to the PIM. Don't hesitate to learn more about the authentication over the API on our dedicated API website.

These credentials consist of 4 different strings:

• the client id,
• the secret,
• the connection username,
• the connection password.

To access the client ID, the secret, and the username, go to Connect / Connection settings, and click on the connection for which you want to see the credentials. They are displayed on the right side of the screen in the Credentials column.

You can easily copy/paste the credentials by clicking on the copy icon next to them.

The password is only displayed to you once, just after the connection is created. So, make sure you save it somewhere secure. When the password is visible, a copy icon is next to it for an easy copy-paste. 😉

Have you forgotten your password? Don't worry, you can regenerate a new one. Take a look at the “Revoke/regenerate your connection secret section”.

Set the permissions

This is a critical step to ensure the Shared Catalogs are accessible to all your designated recipients. To set up the permissions, please follow these steps.

To improve the performance of shared catalog updates, we recommend enabling events for your connection. 
Check the box in the Permission section to activate this feature.

Set up your Shared Catalogs instance

The Akeneo Shared Catalogs instance creation is managed from the project console of the Akeneo Portal.

Following the purchase of a Shared Catalogs instance, an email is sent to the Shared Catalogs administrator inviting them to fill out the setup form to create the instance.

You can either set up the instance from the link in the email or by accessing the instance configuration page on the project console.

1. First, go to Project console / Projects from the menu and select your project.
2. Go to the Shared Catalogs instance tab, and open the instance with the status Waiting for setup by clicking on the instance line.
3. Then, fill out the form with the missing prerequisites to create the Shared Catalogs instance.

Link your Shared Catalogs instance to an existing PIM Cloud instance

Now that the credentials have been created, you can proceed with the configuration of the Shared Catalogs instance in Akeneo Portal.

1. Select a Linked PIM instance in the list.
2. Choose an Instance name. Note that this will not be a domain name.
3. The Installation continent is pre-filled with your linked PIM instance location.
4. Input your PIM API connection credentials, and test the connection to validate.
5. Once the form is filled in and the connection successfully tested, click on Request an instance.
6. On the confirmation modal, click Confirm the request

If the linked PIM is a Flexibility instance, the Shared catalogs are compatible only with PIM version 5.0 and above.

Once the request is submitted, it takes some time to process. During this time, your instance status will be Activation pending.

Once the instance is created, the Shared Catalogs administrator will be notified by email, and the instance status will change to Activated.

You are now fully equipped to create, edit, and update your new Shared Catalogs!

Update your PIM API connection credentials

This step is not part of the original installation but can happen if you need to update your credentials, for example, for security reasons.

First, to update your connection credentials in the PIM, take a look at the “Revoke/regenerate your connection secret section”.

Then, to update your PIM API connection in your Shared Catalogs instance, the Shared Catalogs need to be activated.

From the Shared Catalogs instance Properties sub-tab

1. Click the Update API connection button.
2. Input your PIM API connection credentials, and test the connection to validate.
3. You can change the Shared Catalogs administrator if needed.
4. Once the form is filled in, click on Update.

You can update API connection as long as the status turned to starting_update. You will then be notified when the change is effective.