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HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. 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. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
Administering
Topics in the Administering category highlight tasks that are typically performed by the Site Administrator, to support daily operations of the HCL Commerce site.
Extracting and loading data
HCL Commerce provides utilities for preparing and loading data into a HCL Commerce database. The loading utilities are flexible and you can continue to use these utilities when you customize the HCL 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 HCL 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.
Configuring and running the Data Load utility
To configure and run the Data Load utility, create a file to load, define the data reader, load order, and environment configuration files. Then, enter the data load shell script command with modifying parameters from a command-line interface.
Configuring the data load order
The data load order configuration file controls the load order of the Data Load utility. The data load file has a pointer to the environment settings file, business object configuration file, and input file. You can also define the mode that the Data Load utility uses to load data.
Initial load
After an HCL Commerce instance is created and configured, you can load the initial catalog, price, and inventory data into the HCL Commerce database.

Documentation
HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. 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. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
- Getting started
  HCL Commerce has different advantages for business users, administrators and developers. HCL Commerce targets each of these roles with a tailored set of offerings so that each of your users can get maximum benefit.
- Installing and deploying
  Learn how to install and deploy HCL Commerce development environments and HCL Commerce production environments.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to HCL Commerce Version 9.1, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Operating
  Topics in the Operating category highlight tasks that are typically performed by business users, customer support representatives, to complete their day-to-day tasks in the operation of the HCL Commerce site.
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using HCL Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
  Topics in the Administering category highlight tasks that are typically performed by the Site Administrator, to support daily operations of the HCL Commerce site.
  - The HCL Commerce application
    Every time you deploy the HCL Commerce application, you are deploying a set of Docker containers that communicate with each other to run your HCL Commerce site. Each HCL Commerce application deployment can contain one or more stores.
  - Overview of administering an HCL Commerce site
    In HCL Commerce the person who performs administrative tasks is called a Site Administrator. The Site Administrator installs, configures, and maintains HCL 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.
  - Staging environment
    an HCL Commerce staging environment is a runtime environment where business and technical users can update and manage store data and preview changes. The changes can then be propagated to the production environment.
  - Workspaces
    You can enable and manage workspace assets and determine policies such as locking rules and commit and publishing options.
  - HCL Commerce database
    As a site administrator, maintain the HCL Commerce database and ensure that any HCL 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 and loading data
    HCL Commerce provides utilities for preparing and loading data into a HCL Commerce database. The loading utilities are flexible and you can continue to use these utilities when you customize the HCL 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 HCL 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 Load utility architectural overview
        In order to work with the Data Load utility, you must first have an understanding of how it works.
      - Running the Data Load utility in the HCL Commerce development environment
        Run the Data Load utility inside the HCL Commerce development environment when testing customizations or when debugging issues with the utility. This configuration is less time-consuming than first deploying to a production environment, and then running the utility for testing purposes.
      - Data Load input file format
        To run the Data Load utility, an input file is required. The input file must be a CSV or XML file. Your input file must follow a particular format for the Data Load to be able to load your file.
      - Business object mediators
        The data load business object mediator converts the business objects into physical objects. Two types of mediators that are provided with the Data Load utility are the component-based mediator and the table-based mediator. Several component-based mediators are available for catalog, inventory, and price components.
      - Data Load utility table-based mediator and builder
        Use the table object builder and table object mediator to load data directly into a table with the Data Load utility when a component-based business object mediator does not exist. You can use the TableObjectMediator and TableObjectBuilder to load your custom data directly into your target database tables. This mediator and builder can ensure that the data is loaded into the correct table and columns. You do not have to create a custom business object mediator and builder or extend an existing mediator or builder.
      - Data Load file difference preprocessing
        You can run a file difference preprocess for routine data loads to improve the Data Load utility performance for loading these files. Running a file difference can reduce the loading time that is required to load your routine updates to your HCL Commerce database, reduce server usage time, and improve server performance.
      - Data Load parallelization
        The data load utility is improved in HCL Commerce Version 9.1 to allow for parallelization. Parallelization allows for certain data load jobs to complete much faster, by increasing the number of threads that are used to load data into the database.
      - Data Load utility best practices
        When you use the Data Load utility, there are some general configuration recommendations to ensure that you take advantage of the full capability of data load. If you are loading catalog, price, member, or inventory-related data with the Data Load utility, review the component-related best practices.
      - Configuring and running the Data Load utility
        To configure and run the Data Load utility, create a file to load, define the data reader, load order, and environment configuration files. Then, enter the data load shell script command with modifying parameters from a command-line interface.
        Choosing how to run the Data Load utility
        The Data Load utility can be run in three different ways according to your needs. It can be run in the development environment, from the Utility server Docker container, or as a scheduled job.
        Configuring Data Load to run a file difference
        If you routinely load the same generated Data Load input file from an external system or source, you can choose to run a file difference preprocess as part of the Data Load process to ensure that you are loading only new changes when you load your newest input file.
        Configuring the CSV data reader
        Configure the comma-separated values (CSV) data reader in the business object configuration file to modify the way data is read from CSV source files. You might want to change the default settings of the CSV data reader to better work with the format of your existing source data.
        Configuring the XML data reader
        Configure the extensible markup language (XML) data reader in the business object configuration file to modify the way that data is read from XML formatted source files. You might want to change the default settings of the XML data reader to better work with the format of your data.
        Configuring the data load environment settings
        Configure the environment variables that are used by the Data Load utility in an XML file called wc-dataload-env.xml.
        Configuring the business object configuration file
        The business object configuration file defines how to load the data into the database. In this file, you specify the implementation classes for your Data Reader, Business Object Builder, and Business Object Mediator components. You also specify the attributes and properties for these components.
        Configuring the data load order
        The data load order configuration file controls the load order of the Data Load utility. The data load file has a pointer to the environment settings file, business object configuration file, and input file. You can also define the mode that the Data Load utility uses to load data.
        Initial load
        After an HCL Commerce instance is created and configured, you can load the initial catalog, price, and inventory data into the HCL Commerce database.
        Delta load
        When your Transaction server is running, you can load minor changes in data into your database. The delta load process checks whether data exists in your database, and then either adds, replaces, or removes the data where necessary.
        Catalog entry update load
        You can configure the Data Load utility to run in an update mode to update catalog entry information. The update mode compares the catalog entry data in the input file with the corresponding data for the catalog entries in the database. The update mode then replaces or adds data for only the columns that are specified in the input file. All other columns remain unchanged.
        Configuring a column exclusion list
        When you are preparing to load data with the Data Load utility, you can specify a list of table columns to exclude from the loading process. A column exclusion list provides you the ability to exclude columns from being overwritten if the columns are known to already be populated with data.
        dataload
        This utility loads data from a source file into a target database. Loading the file populates and updates the HCL Commerce database. You can also use the Data Load utility to delete data from a database.
        Verifying the results of the data load
        Verify that the Data Load utility ran successfully by checking the exit value in the summary report or in the wc-dataload.log file. If errors occur, analyze the data in the error reports as a first step in finding the root cause.
        Data Load utility configuration properties
        You can configure the load properties to change the behavior of the Data Load utility when you are loading data into HCL Commerce. You can edit the data load configuration files to add, update, or remove configuration property settings.
      - Scenarios: Data Load utility
        By reviewing different scenarios for using the Data Load utility, you can learn more about how you can use the utility.
      - Samples: Data Load utility
        The samples that are provided with the Data Load utility demonstrate best-practice methods for loading data using common loading scenarios. Use the samples as a template for loading your own data to your store.
      - Initializing the attribute dictionary
        If your store does not have an attribute dictionary, set the initAttributeDictionary property to initialize the attribute dictionary and then use the data load utility to create the attribute dictionary in Management Center.
      - Substituting data load attribute values with variables
        You can substitute the values of most attributes in the wc-dataload.xml data load order configuration file and wc-dataload-env.xml data load environment configuration files. By using variable substitutions, you can change the value of attributes without editing the configuration file. For example, you can substitute the value of the user ID attribute for a variable.
      - Loading data into workspaces using the Data Load utility
        The Data Load utility supports loading data into a workspace. By loading data into a workspace you can make and preview changes to managed assets, without affecting what is running on your site.
      - Loading values for single and multiple value attributes
        You can configure the loading process for Catalog Upload and the Data Load utility to load data separately for both single and multiple value descriptive attributes. By separating these load processes, you can ensure that the values for your single value and multiple value attributes are updated accurately.
      - Reuse attribute assigned values with the Data Load utility
        You can use the Data Load utility to reuse assigned values for attributes when the same value is needed for multiple catalog entries. By reusing attribute assigned values across catalog entries, you can reduce the number of duplicate values that are created in the database.
      - Loading customer segment members by email address
        You can create a customer segment that business users can manage in the Marketing tool by loading a list of email addresses.
      - Loading member group members by email address
        You can load members into member groups by resolving the unique ID for a member with only the member email address. By resolving the unique ID with the email address, you do not need to include the member logon ID or distinguished name in your input file.
      - Loading promotions with the Data Load utility
        You can configure the Data Load utility to load promotion data in an XML input file to create or change promotions in a store. By using the Data Load utility to load promotions, you can quickly create or change multiple promotions in a single operation.
      - Loading marketing objects with the Data Load utility
        You can configure the Data Load utility to load marketing data to create customer segments, e-Marketing Spots, activities, marketing content, and any associated assets. By using the Data Load utility to load this data, you can quickly create multiple marketing objects and types of objects in a single operation.
      - Configuring a Data Load utility scheduler job
        You can use the HCL Commerce Administration Console to schedule a Data Load utility job for your site. By using a scheduler job, you can configure the Data Load utility to routinely load an input file, such as for loading frequently updated data.
    - Data Extract utility
      The Data Extract utility is a command-line utility that you can use to extract data from the HCL 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.
  - 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.
  - Search
    In keeping with HCL's commitment to current and open standards, HCL Commerce Search uses Apache Lucene as the basis of its Search framework. Lucene powers the Apache Solr search engine and the Elasticsearch search engine. The indexing pipeline is a more open, flexible and scalable and is tightly integrated with the data service. Using the underlying dataflow technology and architecture, you can easily customize the pipelines. This open-standards approach considerably eases the process of integrating Search with existing and third-party applications.
  - HCL Customer Service for HCL Commerce
    HCL Customer Service for HCL 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 HCL Customer Service for HCL 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.
  - HCL Commerce configuration file (wc-server.xml)
    Many aspects of the HCL Commerce runtime application are configured in an XML file. This XML file is located inside the HCL Commerce Java Platform, Enterprise Edition EAR.
  - Enabling the SSL Accelerator option
    An SSL Accelerator (or SSL Terminator) strips off HTTPS encryption at or before the Web server tier in a multitier setup. When you use an SSL Accelerator with HCL Commerce, you can use the SSL Accelerator option to configure HCL Commerce to correctly receive requests that require redirects.
  - 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
    HCL 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 HCL 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.
  - Business Object thresholds
    Applying limits on business operations reduces the risk of system attacks where unbound conditions might result in system failures.
  - Stores in HCL Commerce
    HCL Commerce supports several different types of entities that are defined as stores. The assets of these store entities may be edited using the HCL Commerce Accelerator.
  - Enabling registered users to access all stores in the Extended Sites business model
    HCL Commerce users can access storefronts by virtue of having the role of Registered Customer in the organization that owns the store, or in any organization above it. The roles a user has access to during registration are defined within the MemberRegistrationAttributes.xml file.
  - Hystrix on the Store server
    The Hystrix framework is used as a proxy for back-end resources such as the Transaction server and Search server by default. This can be disabled, but does have performance implications that must be considered.
- Customizing
  The topics in the Customizing section describe tasks performed by an application developer to customize HCL Commerce.
- Tutorials
  HCL Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your HCL Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
  Topics in the Samples category highlight the various samples that are provided with HCL Commerce.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage HCL Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of HCL Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
  Topics in the Performance section describe the means by which to plan, implement, test, and re-visit the optimization of HCL Commerce site performance.
- Troubleshooting
  Topics in the Troubleshooting section highlight common issues that are encountered with HCL Commerce, and how they can be addressed or mitigated.
- Reference
  Topics in the Reference section contain all of the HCL Commerce reference documentation.

Scenario: Initial load

After an HCL Commerce instance is created and configured, you can load the initial catalog, price, and inventory data into the HCL Commerce database.

Configuration Recommendations

During your initial data loads, you can typically load a large amount of data if you have a large catalog. At this stage, the commerce server is not running and the data load can use all resources available to load data into the database. Therefore, it is important to configure the Data Load utility to make the initial load efficient. The following configuration considerations are recommended to help improve the initial load performance:

Specify the data load mode as Insert in the wc-dataload.xml data load order configuration file. In this mode, the insert SQL statements are generated without checking whether any data exists in your database. Therefore, the performance is better than the Replace mode because less checking is done on the database and less memory is used for the ID resolver cache.
Specify a large commit count and batch size.
Specify a large ID resolver cache size and large JVM heap size. If you specify a large ID resolver cache, the Data Load utility does not need to resolve the ID from the database directly. But the ID resolver cache might use a significant amount of JVM heap memory. For 1 GB JVM heap size, set the ID resolver cache size to be less than 2 million to prevent a Java out of memory error.

Sample

The following code snippet is part of the sample wc-dataload.xml data load order configuration file. This snippet specifies the Insert data load mode, a large commit count, and batch size:

<_config:LoadOrder commitCount="1000" batchSize="1000" dataLoadMode="Insert" >
<_config:LoadItem name="CatalogEntry" businessObjectConfigFile="wc-loader-catalog-entry.xml"
<_config:DataSourceLocation location="CatalogEntry.csv" />
</_config:LoadItem>
</_config:LoadOrder>

The following code snippet is part of a sample wc-dataload-env.xml data load environment configuration file that specifies the ID resolver cache size:

<_config:IDResolver className="com.ibm.commerce.foundation.dataload.idresolve.IDResolverImpl" cacheSize="2000000" />