Introduction to Microsoft Commerce Server 2002 Mark D

Introduction to Microsoft Commerce Server 2002 Mark D. Robinson Technical Lead Commerce Server Support Microsoft Corporation

Session Overview u u u Commerce Server 2002 overview Key features of Commerce Server 2002 architecture Product system catalog structure and schema Types of catalogs in Commerce Server 2002 Virtual catalogs 2

Commerce Server 2002 Overview u Commerce Server 2002 is composed of five major systems: l l l Business Analytics System Profiling System Product Catalog System Targeting System Business Processing Pipelines System 3

Anatomy of Commerce Server Product Catalog System Targeting System Profiling System Business Processing Pipelines System SQL Server Other Apps SQL Server Commerce Server Catalogs Data Warehouse Campaigns Orders Commerce Server Manager Business Desk Business Analytics System LDAP SQL ODBC Server Profiles Solution Sites 4

Key Features u u The ability to scale up to support the largest Internet commerce sites Improved out-of-the-box operations and manageability Feature and performance improvements Support for multilingual and multicurrency implementations 5

Catalog System Design Goals u Need to be able to: l l l Define rich catalog content for any type of products Define customer/market specific catalogs Describe products in multiple languages Control who can change what Allow buyers to easily find relevant products Exchange catalogs with trading partners 6

Catalog Architecture Commerce Server ASP. NET Site Schema Design Catalog Exchange Biz. Talk® Server Catalog Editor Business Desk Catalog modules Business Desk Framework Commerce Server ASP Site Caches SQL Server™ Catalog Collection Catalog. NET FW Classes Catalog COM API Layer Catalog DTS Export/ Import Commerce Server Catalog XML, CSV Business DW 7

Catalog System Features u Business Desk administration interface l l l u u u Sample catalogs – Adventure Works Multiple search mechanisms Import/Export/Merge of catalogs through XML l l u u Simple catalog design UI User-definable product types Security XML-data schema for catalogs Catalog exchange through Biz. Talk Server Export to business data warehouse for reporting COM and. NET APIs 8

Catalog Structure Catalog Collection Catalog A Category 1 a Catalog B Catalog C Category 2 Category 1 b Accessory Product Y Product X Variant 1 Variant 2 Variant 3 9

Product Definition u u Template for a product describes a type of product For example, l Guitar has: l l l l l Brand name Model number Image Description Type Number of strings Body type Weight List price And so on 10

Products Can Have Variants u For example, Movie has: l l l u Title ID Description Director Stars Synopsis Instance of “Movie” “Movie Title” MV 131 … Director Name Actor, Actress … And variant properties that change for different “versions” of the product: Variants of MV 131 l l l SKU Format Price 131001 DVD 24. 50 131002 VHS 16. 50 131003 LD 35. 00 11

Property Definitions u Can be one of the following types: Text/Multilingual Text Filename Number Decimal Currency Date/time Multiple choice/Multilingual Multiple Choice u And can have the following attributes: l l l Display on site, display name Free-text searchable Export to Business Data Warehouse Minimum, maximum length/value Specification searchable Additional properties can be defined through API 12

Catalog Schema Properties Category Definitions Catalog Schema Catalog Data Product Definitions Property ‘name’ Property ‘size’ Category Type ‘DEPT’ Product Type ‘PANTS’ Property ‘color’ DEPT ‘Jeans’ Retro Closet PANTS ’Designer’ Size: 36; Color: Green Size: 34; Color: Black Size: 34; Color: Green Size: 32; Color: Blue Size: 32; Color: Green 13

Virtual Catalogs u u u Powerful way to define customer or region specific pricing and/or product selection Subset or aggregate content from “base” catalogs Can be used to apply a currency exchange rate 14

Catalog Type Comparison u Commerce Server 2000 l l l u Base catalogs Custom catalogs Catalog sets Commerce Server 2002 l l Base catalogs Virtual catalogs Catalog sets Multilingual catalogs 15

Creating a Virtual Catalog u When you create a virtual catalog you specify: l l u The name of the catalog. The currency that will be used to price products (for example, USD). You can create up to 10, 000 virtual catalogs. 16

Defining Virtual Catalogs u u Virtual catalogs are defined by a set of rules. Those rules are: l l l Inclusion rules. Exclusion rules. Price rules. 17

Managing Virtual Catalogs u u u You can easily manage virtual catalogs in the Business Desk. You can configure security in the Business Desk. System administrators can use the Product Catalog System APIs to manage virtual catalogs. 18

Performance u u Virtual catalogs are by default implemented as SQL Server views. Run-time performance of virtual catalogs is less than base catalogs. To improve run-time performance of virtual catalogs, you can materialize them. Materialize your virtual catalogs by using the Materialize. VC. vbs script provided with the product. 19

Virtual Catalog – Example 1 u “Wingtip Toys” enters contract with “Tailspin Toys” to offer them motorcycle wheels at 20 percent off regular price. Base catalog Wingtip Virtual catalog Tailspin Motorcycle wheels Truck wheels % -20 Product P 1 $150. 00 Product P 2 $125. 00 Product P 3 $145. 00 Product P 1 $150. 00 $120. 00 Product P 2 $125. 00 $100. 00 Product P 3 $145. 00 20

Virtual Catalog – Example 2 Multicurrency scenario u u “Fabrikam, Inc. ” wants to offer its products priced in Canadian dollars to Canadian shoppers. Create Clothes-CAN, Include Clothes, div prices by 0. 556. Base catalog Clothes Virtual catalog Clothes-CAN Shoes Product P 1 $50. 00 Shoes Dresses Product P 2 $125. 00 Product P 3 $145. 00 Product P 1 $50. 00 $89. 93 Dresses Product P 2 $125. 00 $224. 82 Product P 3 $145. 00 $260. 79 21

Virtual Catalog – Example 3 u u “Fabrikam, Inc. ” doesn’t sell certain products to France – needs to exclude those products. Create ‘Clothes-FRN’ catalog, exclude category XYZ. Base catalog Clothes Virtual catalog Clothes-FRN Shoes XYZ Product P 1 $50. 00 Product P 2 $125. 00 Shoes Product P 3 $145. 00 Product P 1 $50. 00 Product P 2 $125. 00 22

Virtual Catalog – Example 4 Aggregation scenario u u “Southridge Video” sells technical books from a number of publishers. Create VC Southridge, Include Publisher 1 catalog, Publisher 2 catalog. Base catalog Publisher 1 Books Virtual catalog Southridge Base catalog Publisher 2 Books Visual C#™. NET Product P 1 $89. 93 Visual Basic®. NET Product P 2 $24. 82 Product P 3 $60. 79 23

Catalog Security Support u u u Commerce Server 2002 introduces the ability to secure certain catalog items within the Business Desk. Leverages Business Desk security framework. Supports control over which Business Desk users can edit: l l l Each catalog. Categories within a catalog. Particular properties. 24

Catalog XML Format u u Published on http: //www. biztalk. org Provides a mechanism for getting data into and out of our catalog database Represents both catalog schema and data Suitable for mapping using Biz. Talk Server mapping tool 25

Catalog XML File Validation u u u Commerce Server 2002 provides the ability to validate catalog XML files. Helps to identify bad catalog XML files and common mistakes in creating them. New API: l l u Validate. XML Returns a recordset of (up to 100) errors, or a success code. Also exposed within the Business Desk: l l Validate only check box on XML import dialog. Displays errors within the Business Desk UI. 26

Scale Points u u u Up to 5 million products per catalog database Up to 10, 000 product catalogs (total base + virtual) Up to 10, 000 virtual catalogs Up to 10, 000 rules/virtual catalog Up to 1, 000 properties per catalog 27

Virtual Catalog Summary u Virtual l l l catalogs Implemented as SQL Server views Can be subset of a base catalog Can be created from multiple catalogs Can be associated with specific languages Can be associated with a specific currency Support for up to 10, 000 virtual catalogs 28

Resources u http: //microsoft. com/commerceserver/ l l u http: //msdn. microsoft. com/commerceserver/ l l u High availability planning Developer information http: //www. microsoft. com/technet/comm/ l l l u Case studies White papers Product documentation Technical deployment guides Newsgroup pointers Product Ideas? l e-mail cswish@microsoft. com 29

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