Implementation stage: Loading data

To set up a WebSphere Commerce website, every site needs to load the data into the WebSphere Commerce database.

The following tabs contain modifiable documentation templates and reference applications that you can use to quickly implement your WebSphere Commerce project.

6 column table that links to the design phases: Concept, Design, Implement, Test, Launch, and Maintain

Concept stage Design stage Implementation stage Testing stage Launch stage Maintenance stage

Introduction

To set up a WebSphere Commerce website, every customer needs to load the data into the commerce database. For example, you need to load the catalog data before shoppers can shop at your online store. You also need to load the price or inventory information for the products you sell. If you are migrating from other system to WebSphere Commerce, you might need to export all your existing shoppers to the commerce database.

There are two types of data load:
  • Initial data load – Loaded before you launch your commerce site. The initial load is usually to a load large data set and is loaded one time
  • Delta data load – Updated daily, weekly, or monthly to add new products, edit the product prices, add new promotions, and more.

The Data Load utility is a command-line utility. You can also load the catalog data load with the Management Center.

Customers have different requirements and their own custom tables, or their input data is formatted in a way that WebSphere Commerce does not support by default. Because of these differences, you might need to customize the data load. There are samples that you can follow to help you load data; you can customize them to meet your requirements.

See the Data Load reference section to help you manage initial load and delta data loads.

Data Load utility references