What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 6.0 to the latest WebSphere Commerce Version 7 feature pack.
This section describes the new features and functionality available with WebSphere Commerce Version 7.
Learn about the new features and functionality WebSphere Commerce Version 7 offers business users.
The IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce, or Management Center, is the next generation business user tool for managing business tasks for online businesses. Using the Management Center, business users can perform tasks to create, update, and maintain merchandising and marketing assets in stores that use the Deprecated featureconsumer direct, B2B direct, Deprecated featuredemand chain, Deprecated featuresupply chain, and extended sites business models. Each business function can be managed using tools within the Management Center.
Use the Page Layout tool to manage layouts for your store pages.
WebSphere Application Server announced the end of service for WebSphere Application Server V7 and IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 6. To reduce the risk of security exposures and to ensure that you can continue to apply future WebSphere Application Server and Java-related fixes, install Version 8.5.5. Version 8.5.5 includes IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 8.
Aurora starter store enhancements for both B2B direct and consumer direct business models, business user enhancements, Data Load utility enhancements, and more.
IBM Commerce Composer for WebSphere Commerce, responsive web design for the Aurora starter store, and the availability of integration with IBM Marketing Center.
Dynamic merchandising, business user tools improvements, store preview, Data Load utility enhancements, and WebSphere Commerce search enhancements.
Aurora starter store, Aurora starter store companion assets, integrated search, Page Layout tool, Sterling Order Management integration, search engine optimization (SEO), Bazaarvoice integration, support for complex configurations; staging environment enhancements; and IBM i support.
Starter stores that are optimized for mobile devices, Facebook integration, programming model enhancements, and total cost of implementation (TCOI) enhancements.
Integration with IBM Sterling Configurator; integration with IBM Sterling Distributed Order Management; and enhanced integration with IBM Digital Analytics, formerly known as Coremetrics Analytics. Additionally; Feature Pack 3 provides enhancements to WebSphere Commerce search; Search engine optimization; Management Center workspace administration; marketing activities, data load, attribute dictionary, site security; total cost of implementation; and programming model enhancements.
WebSphere Commerce search, Social bridging, Coshopping, Subscriptions and recurring orders, Catalog Filter and Pricing tool, web feed utility; and support for IBM Product Recommendations, formerly known as Coremetrics Intelligent Offer.
Enhancements to reduce the total cost of implementation. Other new features include: remote widgets; globalized starter stores; digital wallets; promotion codes; the ability to automatically generate SKUs; and the ability to update product data from CSV files.
The latest advances in Web 2.0, mobile commerce, cross-channel precision marketing, and social commerce to deliver new levels of innovation and create a smarter shopping experience for your customers.
IBM periodically releases cumulative interim fix packages to simplify WebSphere Commerce maintenance procedures, fix functional or security issues, and standardize the code level of an environment.
WebSphere Commerce Version 7 fix packs contain important changes that might affect how you use your product. The following topics help you understand the technical changes included in fix packs. Fix packs are cumulative, which means that they contain all of the changes that were shipped in previous fix packs.
As an administrator you install, configure, and maintain WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. Learn about the new features and functionality offered by WebSphere Commerce Version 7 that will help you be successful in performing your administrative tasks.
Learn about the new features and functionality WebSphere Commerce Version 7 offers developers.
Learn about new functionality for a WebSphere Commerce business user, which were previously completed by administrators or developers.
The Catalogs tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 includes enhancements to the creation and management of sales catalogs and supports additional search criteria in both the simple and advanced search.
The Marketing tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 includes enhancements to features such as the Activity Builder, custom activity templates, dialog activities, and e-Marketing Spots.
The Promotions tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 includes new promotion types and enhancements to help you manage your promotions.
The Commerce Composer tool provides business users with the ability to create pages and layouts directly in Management Center, without the need for IT resources.
The Assets tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 is a tool to work with attachments, managed files, and managed directories.
Use the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool in the Management Center to create and manage catalog filters, price lists and price rules. Sellers, Sales Managers, and Account Representatives can use the tool's flexible features to implement pricing strategies that meet the site's business needs over time and to filter your catalog for product and price entitlement.
The Installments tool is a Management Center feature you can use to create and manage installment rules that support the payment methods for your site.
By using the Page Layout tool, you can schedule different layouts to certain store pages, giving you greater control over your store design.
The Store Management tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 is a Management Center tool you can use to manage your stores.
Use the Workspace Management tool in WebSphere Commerce Version 7 to manage and edit workspaces, its tasks groups and tasks. The Workspace Management tool replaces all of the workspace management features in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.
Store preview enhancements include new functions that provide business users with easier and quicker ways to preview a page and edit business objects.
A starter store is a fully functional sample online store, provided in store archive format. Starter stores are samples designed to be used as a base from which a customized online store can be created.
The Management Center provides several new features, functions, and enhancements in Version 7.0. These features allows you to navigate through Management Center more easily and efficiently.
IBM WebSphere Commerce Validated Technology Partners bring together innovative and relevant e-commerce services and solutions to help serve the global community of IBM WebSphere Commerce customers across a wide range of industries. By leveraging prebuilt integrations, WebSphere Commerce customers can deliver additional value faster with complimentary capabilities that differentiate the customer experience.
Changed functionality typically involves changes in default values or an outcome different from what occurred in previous releases. For example, a default parameter might use one value in WebSphere Commerce Version 6 and a different value in WebSphere Commerce Version 7.
If you are migrating from an earlier version of WebSphere Commerce, be aware of the various features that are deprecated or removed from this and earlier releases.
If you are migrating from an earlier version of WebSphere Commerce, you should be aware of the various features that are deprecated or removed from this and earlier releases.
The WebSphere Commerce documentation has made a number of key improvements to enhance the user experience.
