Technical trade and service/Delivered and in service
A self-updating product search on the website
The authoritative list lived in an internal system while the website showed outdated pages. We connected the two, so 4,800 products are searchable and always current without anybody lifting a finger.
- products always current
- 4,800products always current
- of manual upkeep per month
- 0 hoursof manual upkeep per month
- automatic sync from the source
- Dailyautomatic sync from the source
Where the time went
The client handles a large range of technical components, and which ones they can actually supply is the exact question people come to the website to answer. The authoritative list sat in an internal system, while the website had it spread across many manually maintained subpages.
Every time the list changed, somebody had to remember to update the website. That happened rarely enough that the pages were always slightly behind. A visitor could be told no for a product the company could have supplied, or yes for one it no longer carried.
What we built
We built a custom WordPress plugin that takes the data straight from the source. Every day it signs in to the client's Microsoft 365 with secure OAuth2, fetches the latest export from SharePoint, cleans the contents and loads it into a search that sits directly on the website.
For whoever edits the website, the whole integration is one shortcode in Elementor. For the visitor, it is a search box that answers immediately.
How it works
Handles how people actually type
Part numbers get written with spaces, hyphens or dots interchangeably. The search normalises all of it and finds the match regardless.
Answers the real question
The result says plainly whether the product is covered, rather than showing raw data the visitor has to interpret.
Turns a miss into an enquiry
If the number is not there, the visitor is offered the chance to register it and be contacted. A search with no result becomes a possible customer instead of a dead end.
Runs entirely on its own
A daily sync with nobody pressing anything. The internal system stays authoritative and the website follows it automatically.
What they were left with
Around 4,800 part numbers are now always current, with nobody spending a minute on upkeep. The company's customers get the right answer straight away, and anyone searching a number that is not covered lands in a contact flow instead of leaving the site.
Information flows automatically from the internal system all the way out to the customer.
Technology in this project
- WordPress plugin development
- PHP
- Microsoft Graph API
- OAuth2
- SharePoint / Microsoft 365
- Elementor
- Automated data sync
The same recipe, other sectors
The principle holds whatever the list contains. If you have an overview that is authoritative internally but out of date publicly, this is the same setup.
- A price list or stock level that should show live on the website.
- A searchable overview of services, coverage areas or compatibility.
- A staff or department list kept current from the HR system.
- A product catalogue that lives in an ERP or an internal spreadsheet.