Practise in a sandbox

A sandbox is a practice company with fictitious data, next to your real companies. Try lot rules, approvals, reports, automations and integrations there first: nothing in it is real, and production companies never see it. When it works, you copy the setup to your production company.

Create a sandbox

Owners and administrators of the organization create sandboxes.

1. Open the company picker, the organization and company name at the left of the header, and select New sandbox. On the organization's overview, choose Sandboxes and select New sandbox.
2. Enter the Sandbox name and its URL identifier.
3. Choose the Country. The sandbox follows the formats, documents and rules a production company of that country would follow.
4. Select Create sandbox. Its setup opens, like a production company's.

If the organization already has every sandbox its plan allows, the page says so; delete one you no longer use, or ask A-REX for more.

Start with a demo story

Instead of setting the sandbox up by hand, you can start from a realistic story.

1. In the sandbox's setup, under the steps, select Explore with demo data.
2. Choose a scenario, for example Coffee exporter, Brazil.
3. Select Load and open. A-REX fills the sandbox and opens it.

A scenario that cannot be used says why, for example when it needs a company in another country. You can finish the setup later from the setup list on Home. The same stories are under Sandbox in the settings. See Sandbox tools.

How you know you are in a sandbox

• A banner at the top of every page says Sandbox — practice data.
• Every page carries a Sandbox tag, and the browser tab starts with [Sandbox].
• The company picker lists sandboxes under Sandboxes, apart from Production.

What works differently

• Lots are recorded on a test ledger, never on the ledger of a production company.
• E-mails go to the sandbox's members only, with "[Sandbox]" in the subject.
• Reports carry the watermark "SANDBOX — practice data, not evidence" on every page.
• Partners are not invited from a sandbox: its parties are fictitious.
• API keys of a sandbox work only there, never with a production company.

Follow the practice checklist

Home shows a Practice checklist instead of the setup list: register a practice lot, record a delivery or a processing step, attach a certificate, approve or reject a request, generate a report, create a sandbox API key, send events to your system, send a record from your ERP or a file, and run an automation. Each step ticks itself when the sandbox holds the record that completes it.

Start again

Open Sandbox in the settings and select Reset sandbox. Every business record is removed; the name, members, settings, API keys, endpoints and automations stay, paused where needed. You confirm with your second factor and by typing the sandbox's address name.

Copy what works to production

1. In the sandbox, open Setup copy and select Download setup file.
2. Switch to your production company with the company picker and open Setup copy there.
3. Under Import a setup file, drop the file and confirm with your second factor.
4. Check the preview: what becomes a draft and what is skipped, and why. Select Import as drafts.
5. Under Proposed settings, Accept or Decline each setting.

Records, people and keys never leave the sandbox. See Setup copy.