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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
Administering
Extracting, transforming, and loading data
WebSphere Commerce provides multiple utilities for preparing and loading data into a WebSphere Commerce database. The loading utilities are flexible and you can continue to use these utilities when you customize the WebSphere Commerce schema.
Mass load utilities
The mass load utilities provide an efficient way to load large amount of data. The Data Load utility, which is an enhanced business object based loading utility, is the recommended loading utility.
Deprecated feature: Loading data with the massload utility
To use the massload utilities to load data, the data must be in XML format with an associated DTD.
Loading existing user data
This topic describes how to load existing customer information and user data into the WebSphere Commerce database.

User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
- Planning
  Creating a custom implementation of a WebSphere Commerce store requires a significant amount of planning. From gathering client needs, to deploying the live solution, much work is needed to successfully deploy a custom client store. Use the resources in here to help you plan every phase of store creation.
- Installing
  Review the following sections for information about installing the WebSphere Commerce product, associated maintenance, and WebSphere Commerce enhancements.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Deploying
  The topics in this section describe how to publish stores to either a test or production environment, and how to deploy customized code.
- Operating
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using WebSphere Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
  - Overview of administering a WebSphere Commerce site
    In WebSphere Commerce the person who performs administrative tasks is called a Site Administrator. The Site Administrator installs, configures, and maintains WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. The administrator responds to system warnings, alerts, and errors, and diagnoses and resolves system problems. Typically, this person controls access and authorization (creating and assigning members to the appropriate role), manages the Web site, monitors performance, and manages load balancing tasks. The Site Administrator might be responsible for establishing and maintaining several server configurations for different stages of development such as testing, staging, and production. The Site Administrator also handles critical system backups and resolves performance problems.
  - WebSphere Commerce instance
    Every WebSphere Commerce installation requires at least one instance to function, and each WebSphere Commerce instance can contain one or more stores.
  - Managing features
    You can administer the features for your store and site, such as attribute, catalog, promotion, marketing, order management features, and more. The administration tasks that you can complete differ depending on the type of feature and the tool that you use to administer your store and site.
  - Logging services
    WebSphere Commerce provides facilities for logging. For existing customers, ECTrace and ECMessage are still supported. For new implementations, use the WebSphere Application Server recommendation for logging and tracing.
  - Business auditing
    Business auditing is the capturing of the business logic and objects during a WebSphere Commerce operation. You may want to audit your business for various reasons: generic, such as to review various tasks performed weekly; or specific, such as to track the steps involved in a particular Customer Service Representative's order. A report on business auditing is available in the Administration Console.
  - Business events
    Each time that a command triggers a business event, a record is added to the BUSEVENT database table to persist data from the event. Event listeners and external systems (such as the Marketing component, a back end order management system, or an external analytics system) can use this data to perform further processing.
  - Staging server
    The WebSphere Commerce staging server is a part of the production environment where business and technical users can update and manage store data and preview changes. The changes can then be propagated to the production server.
  - WebSphere Commerce database
    As a site administrator, maintain the WebSphere Commerce database and ensure that any WebSphere Commerce utilities and processes that load and retrieve data from the database is configured to connect to the database properly.
  - Dynamic caching
    In general, caching improves response time and reduces system load. Caching techniques are used to improve the performance of World Wide Web Internet applications. Most techniques cache static content (content that rarely changes) such as graphic and text files. However, many websites serve dynamic content, containing personalized information or data that changes more frequently. Caching dynamic content requires more sophisticated caching techniques, such as those provided by the WebSphere Application Server dynamic cache, a built-in service for caching and serving dynamic content.
  - Extracting, transforming, and loading data
    WebSphere Commerce provides multiple utilities for preparing and loading data into a WebSphere Commerce database. The loading utilities are flexible and you can continue to use these utilities when you customize the WebSphere Commerce schema.
    - Data Load utility
      The Data Load utility is an enhanced business object based loading utility. This utility provides an efficient solution for loading information into your WebSphere Commerce database. You can also customize the Data Load utility to load other types of data. The Data Load utility is the recommended loading utility.
    - Data Extract utility
      The Data Extract utility is a command-line utility that you can use to extract data from the WebSphere Commerce database into an output file.
    - Catalog Upload feature
      You can configure the Catalog Upload feature in Management Center to change the behavior for how the Catalog Upload feature loads data. You can configure properties for the utility to change validation behavior, invalidate the cache, load SEO information, and more.
    - Mass load utilities
      The mass load utilities provide an efficient way to load large amount of data. The Data Load utility, which is an enhanced business object based loading utility, is the recommended loading utility.
      - Deprecated feature: Migrating from the massload utility to the Data Load utility
        The massload utility is deprecated. Use the Data Load utility to load data into the WebSphere Commerce database. To migrate to the Data Load utility, you must create the data load configuration and input files to use to load your WebSphere Commerce data.
      - Deprecated feature: Overview of loading store data
        After you create your store data, you can choose to package it as a store archive and publish it using Publish wizard or the PublishStore utility. If you do not package the store as a SAR file, you can load data assets directly into the WebSphere Commerce Server database by using the WebSphere Commerce mass load utilities. The mass load utilities provide six command-line utilities that you can use to prepare data for loading as well as to load data into your store. These utilities use Extensible Markup Language (XML) data files to manage the information.
      - Configuring the mass loading utilities
        Before you use any of the mass loading utilities, confirm the settings and configuration of the various scripts and utilities that are part of the loading utilities.
      - Deprecated feature: Generating a DTD
        The dtdgen utility creates a document type definition (DTD) file to use with the loading utilities. The dtdgen utility uses an input text file containing a list of database table names and generates a DTD file describing the database, depending on how you invoke the dtdgen utility. The dtdgen utility can create a DTD file based on the WebSphere Commerce database schema. If you use the DTD files provided with the starter store archives and you do not modify the database schema, you do not need to generate a DTD file using the dtdgen utility.
      - Deprecated feature: Transforming character-delimited text to XML
        You can transform data within your input file from a character-delimited format, such as comma-separated value (CSV), to an XML data format that the mass loading utilities expect.
      - Deprecated feature: Transforming XML data
        To transform an XML file into an alternative XML format, you must specify the rules for the transformation by using a transform XSL rule file.
      - Deprecated feature: Resolving identifiers
        XML data to be loaded into a target database must contain identifiers for XML elements that require them. To generate or locate identifiers for catalog entities in the XML document, use the idresgen utility.
      - Deprecated feature: Loading data with the massload utility
        To use the massload utilities to load data, the data must be in XML format with an associated DTD.
        Deprecated feature: Loading database asset groups
        You can load XML data for a single database asset group into the WebSphere Commerce database.
        Deprecated feature: Loading a store
        You can load XML data for an entire store into the WebSphere Commerce database.
        Loading the attribute dictionary
        To use any attribute dictionary data you create, you must first load the data into WebSphere Commerce. This topic uses the mass load utility to load data into your database.
        ... using the mass load utility
        You can load data and files from an external source into your workspaces with the mass load utilities.
        Deprecated feature: Example: Mapping mass load utilities data to a database schema
        The mass load utilities document type definition (DTD) maps directly to the WebSphere Commerce database schema. Each table is an element, and each column is an attribute.
        Deprecated feature: Example: Loading current timestamps
        The massload utility is given the following information to update the offer with an OFFER_ID of 10123. The start date has a value of CURRENT TIMESTAMP, and the end date has a value of CURRENT TIMESTAMP + 14 DAYS.
        Loading existing user data
        This topic describes how to load existing customer information and user data into the WebSphere Commerce database.
        Deprecated feature: Loading existing customer information
        This topic describes how to load existing customer information from a comma-separated value (CSV) file to the WebSphere Commerce database by using the loading utilities. A CSV file contains table data as a series of ASCII text lines. The lines are organized by column. Each column value is separated by a comma from the next column's value, and each row starts a new line. Many spreadsheet programs can export data as CSV files.
        Deprecated feature: Loading user data
        You can load user data to WebSphere Commerce database tables by using loading utilities, SQL, or access beans.
        Deprecated feature: Example: Loading data into the MEMBER table (idresgen utility)
        The idresgen utility handles resolution for tables that have identifiers generated for them by the system. This includes any table and column registered in the KEYS or SUBKEYS table.
      - Deprecated feature: Loading managed files
        To load managed files into the WebSphere Commerce database:
      - Deprecated feature: Extracting data
        To extract data from a database using the massextract utility, you must specify the data that you want to extract from the database using an extraction-filter file. The extraction filter that you use depends on the type of data that you want to extract.
  - Payment plug-ins
    To configure a payment plug-in define payment and refund methods; payment and refund rules; and the payment protocols that you intend to use.
  - WebSphere Commerce Search
    For a fully functioning WebSphere Commerce Search implementation, you must understand and complete the search administration tasks, which include search index management and ongoing maintenance.
  - Deploying a WebSphere Commerce dual cell environment
    Consider deploying a dual cell environment to achieve continuous availability and ensure that shoppers are minimally affected by planned or unplanned outages.
  - IBM Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce
    IBM Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce is a separately purchased product that provides a light-weight customer service solution that is embedded in the Aurora B2C and Aurora B2B storefronts. Even though this solution is a separately purchased product, it is not a separate application. Stores that are enabled with IBM Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce allow a customer service representative (CSR) to act on behalf of guest customers and registered customers. A CSR can manage customer accounts, cancel and reorder orders, and shop as customer. A CSR can also act on behalf of Buyer Administrators to help complete Aurora B2B tasks from the storefront, without having to access the Organization Administration Console.
- Tutorials
  WebSphere Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your WebSphere Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
- Developing
  The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage WebSphere Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of WebSphere Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
- Troubleshooting

Loading existing user data

This topic describes how to load existing customer information and user data into the WebSphere Commerce database.