Xada Essential Guidelines & Principles

The following guidelines outline important principles to follow when working with Xada. Adhering to these will help ensure a stable integration, consistent data, and a smooth synchronisation with your storefront.

Manage Data from Xada (Not Your CMS)

Xada is the source of truth for your product data. Changes should always be made within Xada, not directly in your CMS.

Do not:

  • Change or reorder categories in your CMS backend
  • Create, rename, or delete brands in your CMS backend

Making changes outside of Xada can lead to:

  • Data conflicts
  • Overwritten changes during sync
  • Broken category or brand structures

Work Supplier by Supplier

When getting started, it is recommended to:

  • Focus on one supplier at a time
  • Fully configure their categories, products, options, and pricing
  • Then move on to the next supplier

This approach helps reduce complexity and ensures a more controlled setup.

Use Rules for Automation

Rules are a core part of Xada and should be used wherever possible.

Use rules to:

  • Assign categories
  • Activate or deactivate products
  • Apply pricing markups
  • Manage options and additions
  • Assign custom fields

Avoid relying on manual updates or CSV files for ongoing management. Rules provide scalability and consistency.

Understand the Data Flow

Xada operates on an automated pipeline:

  1. Imports (supplier feeds or CSV)
  2. Rules (apply logic and transformations)
  3. Exports (sync to your storefront)

All changes should align with this flow.

Product Export Requirements

For a product to successfully sync to your website, it must meet all of the following conditions:

  • Product is active
  • Supplier is active
  • Product has at least one active price

For supplier-fed products:

  • Pricing must include a markup

This ensures that:

  • No products are published with supplier cost pricing
  • Only valid, sellable products appear on your storefront

Note:

Products created manually within Xada are not subject to the markup requirement.

Maintain Clean and Consistent Data

Consistency is critical for both customer experience and long-term maintenance.

  • Standardise option and addition naming
  • Avoid duplicate or inconsistent labels
  • Keep category structures logical and easy to navigate

Be Careful with Large Changes

Xada includes safeguards for major updates (e.g. large deletions).

  • Always review exports in Validating status
  • Confirm changes before proceeding
  • Avoid making bulk changes without understanding the impact

Summary

Following these guidelines will help you:

  • Maintain a stable and predictable sync with your storefront
  • Avoid data conflicts and unintended changes
  • Scale your catalogue efficiently using rules
  • Ensure products are always ready for export

Xada is designed to automate catalogue management at scale - these guidelines ensure you get the most out of that automation safely and effectively.

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