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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.
Developing
The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
Customizing WebSphere Commerce
You can extend the WebSphere Commerce product to fit your business needs. This topic describes the prerequisite skills and required knowledge that you need to customize business logic. After you have the required knowledge, use WebSphere Commerce Developer to take tutorials that guide you step-by-step through various customization scenarios.
Order Management subsystem
The Order Management subsystem is a component of the WebSphere Commerce Server that provides shopping carts, order capture, order fulfillment, inventory, and payment function support.
Fulfillment centers and shipping arrangements
A fulfillment center represents a place from which products are shipped to customers. Inventory counts are maintained separately for each fulfillment center. The OrderItemAdd and OrderItemUpdate commands assign a fulfillment center to each item in an order by calling the task command DoInventoryActionCmd for both ATP and non-ATP stores. By default, the ResolveFulfillmentCenterCmd task command for non-ATP stores, and the AllocateInventoryCmd task command for ATP stores, assign fulfillment centers based on inventory availability, shipping address, and the precedence attributes of the applicable shipping arrangements.

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
- 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.
  - Functional architecture
    Functional architecture provides both the set of patterns used to implement the business functionality and the frameworks in which these business functions execute.
  - Persistent object model
    WebSphere Commerce deals with a large amount of persistent data. There are numerous tables defined in the current database schema. Even with this extensive schema, however, you might need to extend or customize the database schema for your particular business needs.
  - Presentation layer
    WebSphere Commerce uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to implement the view layer of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. The view layer is in charge of retrieving data from the database through the use of data beans and formatting it to meet the display requirements. The view layers determines whether the request is sent to a browser or streamed out as XML. JSP files present a clean separation between data content and presentation.
  - Controller layer
    The Controller layer is the conductor of operations for a request. It controls the transaction scope and manages the session related information for the request. The controller first dispatches to a command and then calls the appropriate view processing logic to render the response.
  - Business logic layer
    The business logic layer is the business components that provide OAGIS services to return data or start business processes. The presentation layer uses these OAGIS services to display data, or to invoke a business process. The business logic provides data required by the presentation layer. The business logic layer exists because more than just fetching and updating data is required by an application; there is also additional business logic independent of the presentation layer.
  - Persistence layer
    The interaction between the business objects and persistence layer is isolated in an object called the Business Object Mediator. Business object document (BOD) commands interact with the Business Object Mediator to handle the interaction with the logical objects and how they are persisted.
  - Business model information model
    A business model, a representation of the business processes used throughout the site, provides a sample commerce solution which includes an organization structure, default user roles and access control policies, one or more starter stores, administration tools, and business processes that demonstrate best practices. A business model can be customized to support business requirements and scenarios. WebSphere Commerce provides sample business models that show some common commerce solutions. These business models are created by setting up an organization hierarchy structure, access control policies, stores, and contracts that help satisfy the necessary business requirements.
  - Business models
    Before starting to develop your site with WebSphere Commerce, you need to determine the business model supported by WebSphere Commerce that best represents the purpose of your site. Usually sites created with WebSphere Commerce will be implemented based on of one of these business models.
  - Store data information model
    Store data is the information that is loaded into the WebSphere Commerce Server database, which allows your store to function. The URL Registry Entries and View Registry Entries packages are included in the diagram, but they are not database assets. These entries are presentation configuration (that is, struts actions and forwards) that must be deployed. URL registry entries are shown in the diagram to illustrate the entire store data information model. To operate properly, a store must have the data in place to support all customer activities. For example, in order for a customer to make a purchase, your store must contain a catalog of goods for sale (catalog data), the data associated with processing orders (tax and shipping data), and the inventory to fulfill the request (inventory and fulfillment data).
  - Customizing WebSphere Commerce
    You can extend the WebSphere Commerce product to fit your business needs. This topic describes the prerequisite skills and required knowledge that you need to customize business logic. After you have the required knowledge, use WebSphere Commerce Developer to take tutorials that guide you step-by-step through various customization scenarios.
    - Understanding access control
      Access control in a WebSphere Commerce application is composed of the following elements: users, actions, resources, and relationships.
    - Supporting globalization
      The WebSphere Commerce architecture is designed to support globalization. Globalization is the proper design and execution of systems, software, services, and procedures so that one instance of software, running on a single server or end-user machine, can process multilingual data and present culturally correct data in a multicultural environment such as the Internet.
    - Adding and modifying price lists and price policies
      You can add additional price lists, if you require multiple price lists to support cost and list prices.
    - Business relationship assets
    - Catalog subsystem
      The catalog subsystem is a component of the WebSphere Commerce Server that provides online catalog navigation, partitioning, categorization, and associations. In addition, the catalog subsystem includes support for personalized interest lists and custom catalog display pages. The catalog subsystem contains all logic and data relevant to an online catalog, including catalog groups (or categories), catalog entries, and any associations or relationships among them.
    - Member subsystem
      The Member subsystem is a component of the WebSphere Commerce Server that includes data for participants of the WebSphere Commerce system. A member can be a user, a group of users (also known as a member group), or an organizational entity (which can be an organization, such as "IBM" or an organizational unit within an organization, such as "Electronic Commerce Division"). Business logic in the Member subsystem provides member registration and profile management services. Other services which are closely related to the Member subsystem include access control, authentication, and session management.
    - Currency
      You can display prices in your site in one currency, or you can use multiple currencies by following the instructions for the euro. For a site with multiple stores, you can use different currencies for the stores, or you can assign currencies to the store group. Depending on the type of site that you are creating, you can specify what currencies you want to use and how they are displayed. You can also allow customers to select a shopping currency.
    - Returns
    - Tax codes
      A tax calculation code indicates the tax calculation for order items. A store typically collects two type of taxes: sales or use tax, and shipping tax. The tax codes are unique within each tax type for a store. Only one tax calculation code of each tax type is applied to a particular order item.
    - Calculation framework
      Commerce systems need to calculate monetary amounts and apply them to business objects. Business rules and legal requirements specify how and when these monetary amounts should be calculated. When these rules and requirements change, a good commerce system can adapt to the changes with little or no programming changes.
    - Order Management subsystem
      The Order Management subsystem is a component of the WebSphere Commerce Server that provides shopping carts, order capture, order fulfillment, inventory, and payment function support.
      - Orders
        A typical order includes one or more products, billing and shipping addresses, payment details, and the total cost including shipping charges and taxes. Comments and price adjustments can also be included in an order.
      - Performance improvements for large shopping cart
        The following shopping cart commands have been optimized for performance: OrderItemAdd, OrderItemUpdate, OrderItemDisplay. These changes optimize the commands so that performance gains can be achieved, especially in cases where shopping carts typically contain hundreds of order items.
      - Inventory allocation
        WebSphere Commerce supports five inventory systems: Available to promise (ATP), non-ATP, no inventory, external inventory, and DOM inventory. The interface to inventory is encapsulated by a single inventory task command, which in turn invokes the appropriate task commands.
      - Calculation codes for orders
        Calculation codes represent ways of determining monetary amounts associated with OrderItems. The CalculationCode object and its associated CalculationMethod objects define how to calculate amounts such as price adjustments (coupons and discounts), shipping charges, and taxes.
      - Discount codes
        A discount is a price incentive offered to customers to promote a purchase. A discount code is a calculation code whose calculation usage is "discount." It is used to calculate order item adjustments. Each row in the CALCODE table represents a CalculationCode. CalculationCodes represent ways of determining monetary amounts associated with OrderItems. They are used to calculate discounts, shipping charges, sales tax, and shipping tax. A CalculationCode attachment can be limited to specific TradingAgreements.
      - Fulfillment centers
        Stores use fulfillment centers as both inventory warehouses and shipping and receiving centers. One store can have one or many fulfillment centers.
      - Fulfillment centers and shipping arrangements
        A fulfillment center represents a place from which products are shipped to customers. Inventory counts are maintained separately for each fulfillment center. The OrderItemAdd and OrderItemUpdate commands assign a fulfillment center to each item in an order by calling the task command DoInventoryActionCmd for both ATP and non-ATP stores. By default, the ResolveFulfillmentCenterCmd task command for non-ATP stores, and the AllocateInventoryCmd task command for ATP stores, assign fulfillment centers based on inventory availability, shipping address, and the precedence attributes of the applicable shipping arrangements.
      - Pricing and offers
        Offers present different prices for the same product or SKU to different customers. In WebSphere Commerce, an offer is also known as a trading position. An offer represents the price of a catalog entry and criteria that the customer must satisfy in order to pay that price.
      - Orders and order items
        From a customer perspective, an order is a list of selected products. For example, an order might contain two books and a CD. Each product on that list is an order item. From a store perspective, an order is a list of order items. It is part of the store's data.
      - Order capture mechanisms
        WebSphere Commerce supports several mechanisms for submitting orders. A customer or Customer Service Representative can submit an order using any of the following methods:
      - Order method URLs
        WebSphere Commerce supports several methods of order submission.
      - Quantity units
        Products can be sold, and inventory tracked, in a variety of quantity units, such as kilograms, inches, liters, and so on. Of these units, products can be ordered in minimum quantities, and by multiples of specific quantities.
      - Shipping codes
        Shipping information can be defined at the store level. Attributes such as shipping mode, shipping code and ship jurisdiction can be defined at the store relationship level also. In most cases, products are shipped from a fulfillment center, a separate agency that is responsible for warehousing the store's goods.
      - Filtering shipping modes
        Sometimes a shipping mode might not be applicable to all products. If you choose not to associate a shipping mode with a product, then no shipping charge is applied to that product. You can filter applicable shipping modes by customizing according to the following instructions.
      - Customizing shipping charges
        In some cases you may need to customize your shipping calculation. For example, if an item and its parent product are under different categories and each category has a different shipping calculation code attached, then both shipping calculation codes will be picked up by the runtime, and the final result will be cumulative. To avoid this, you can customize the code, by overriding CalculationCodeCombineCmdImpl.getIndirectlyAttachedCodes().
      - Store groups
        The store group is used by all stores to share assets without having to create an asset store to hold them. For example, all TaxCategories, SupportedLanguages, SupportedCurrencies, CalculationCodes, and ShippingJurisdictions that are defined in the store group are automatically available for use by all stores.
      - Tax codes
        A tax calculation code indicates the tax calculation for order items. A store typically collects two type of taxes: sales or use tax, and shipping tax. The tax codes are unique within each tax type for a store. Only one tax calculation code of each tax type is applied to a particular order item.
    - Stored procedure error codes
      The following table describes the error codes that are returned by specific WebSphere Commerce stored procedures. You should receive these error messages only when a problem with the data requires further investigation by a technical person. If you receive one of these errors (other than error code 0) and you cannot determine the cause of the error, contact IBM WebSphere Commerce support for assistance.
    - Trading subsystem
  - WebSphere Commerce development environment
    WebSphere Commerce Developer is the development toolkit for customizing a WebSphere Commerce application.
  - Web services and WebSphere Commerce
    A web service is an interface that describes a collection of operations that are accessible through the network by using standardized XML messaging.
  - WebSphere Commerce Search
    WebSphere Commerce comes with a powerful and fully integrated search function. The search functions in WebSphere Commerce provide an enriched customer experience, with features such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction. Since it is built on open standards, WebSphere Commerce Search is highly flexible and extensible. Starter stores can use the search engine's most sophisticated features without requiring extra customization. A key feature of Search is that sales personnel can create and manage search term associations, and search-based merchandising rules, from within the Management Center and Store view.
- 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

Fulfillment centers and shipping arrangements

A fulfillment center represents a place from which products are shipped to customers. Inventory counts are maintained separately for each fulfillment center. The OrderItemAdd and OrderItemUpdate commands assign a fulfillment center to each item in an order by calling the task command DoInventoryActionCmd for both ATP and non-ATP stores. By default, the ResolveFulfillmentCenterCmd task command for non-ATP stores, and the AllocateInventoryCmd task command for ATP stores, assign fulfillment centers based on inventory availability, shipping address, and the precedence attributes of the applicable shipping arrangements.

A shipping arrangement enables a store to use a fulfillment center. A fulfillment center is assigned to an order item only if an enabling shipping arrangement exists (in the SHPARRANGE table) between the store and the fulfillment center. A shipping arrangement can be limited to a particular validity period, a particular shipping mode, and particular shipping jurisdictions.

Shipping charges and taxes for an order item can be calculated differently depending on the assigned fulfillment center. (See the SHPJCRULE and TAXJCRULE tables for details.) During ProcessBackorder, ProcessFutureOrder and ReleaseToFulfillment, the fulfillment center might change for some order items. In such instances, the ReprepareOrderCmd is invoked to recalculate the shipping charges, shipping adjustments, sales tax, and shipping tax.