1

Tips on implementing an eCommerce B2B SiteNCOAUG - Feb 2013

Ravi Sagaram, PMP

Motorola Solutions

2

Agenda

Tips on Strategy Functional Setups

iStore Inventory

Tips on Technical Extensions User Hook Query Features – AK Regions Workflow --Order Confirmation Notification

Question and Answers

3

Tips on Strategy

Look and feel of the site High level Functionality Out of box features in istore Nice to have features in iStore Single URL/Multiple URLs Setting up of the minisite automatically Multiple languages Multiple Currencies Batch Processing of orders vs real time processing of orders Order confirmation notifications Security Analytics on the traffic of the site Multiple Browers Extension of the application to mobile devices and tablets Maintenance of the site Single Sign on

4

Tips on StrategyLook and feel of the site

Decide on the look and feel of the site in the very early stage of the project. The look and feel may be consistent with the corporate web site/portal. The site design may bring the corporate identityDecide on the graphics, fonts, and other features. It is better to get the design done by a professional web design team and reviewed by key team members like members from business, sales and marketing etc.The design may incorporate easy of use, easy navigation, less key strokes to place an order, dash boards to see key information etc. Consider the following features

AJAX processingCollapse and expand capabilities of sectionsTabs for viewing different informationOptions to display or hide fieldsOptions to select parametersNavigation to go to the next and previous pagesConsistency in positioning of buttons and other objects through out the site

5

Tips on Strategy High level Functionality

Decide the high level functionality of the site at the early stage of the project. This will help in the design of the look and feel of the site. Once high level flow is decided, other details can be incorporated into it

Do a gap analysis. Identify the gaps and disposition them either as changes to the business process or RICEW objects

6

Tips on Strategy Out of Box Features in istore Product Search and validation Direct item entry with file upload features Shopping cart Share cart, duplicate cart Shopping Lists and convert them into shopping carts Pricing, Pricing Agreements, and Tax Configurator Ship-to, bill-to, end customer, order review sections during check out Selection of customers, customer sites, contacts etc. in the ship-to, bill-to and

end customer pages. Header and line level ship-to address, contacts, shipping and packing

instructions etc. Multiple Currencies, Languages Credit card processing DFFs, Attachments Query feature to query orders placed, shipments, invoices etc. Integration to iSupport

7

Tips on Strategy Nice to have features in istore Ship sets Pricing Agreements Integration to iReceivables Internal User functionality Limitations to Pricing Contracts (Default billing terms are mandatory) Interface with only one order type for a minisite Address Search is at party level and not at the account level Customer part can be selected from istore. However, customer part is not

interfaced to Order management. Instead internal part is interfaced.

8

Tips on Strategy URL Single URL vs Multiple URLs.

Decide on a separate URL for each region vs using a single URL globally. It is convenient for the customers to use the same URL globally irrespective of the region and language they belong to. The downside of this approach is that the maintenance of the site becomes a challenge as it would affect the site globally.

9

Tips on Strategy Minisites Selection With istore, a minisite is setup for each sales org. Suppose there are 15 sales

orgs (OUs) for NALA, EMEA and APAC together, then we may need to setup 15 minisites. When the user logs into istore, consider the following options to select a minisite manually or automatically

1) When the user logs in the first time, provide an option to select the minisite from the avaialble minisites. This may be confusing to the user. However, once selected, the selection can be saved in a cookie

.

US minsite

UK minsite

Canada minsite

AUS minsite

Mexicominsite

Chinaminsite

India minsite

FRminisite

Italianminisite

10

Tips on Strategy Minisites Selection

2) Give some options to the user to select the minisite, like showing a world map, with selection for each country. This way, when the user clicks on the country, the corresponding minisite is selected

.

3)Explore to select the minisite automatically when the user logs in based on some unique parameters

11

Tips on Strategy Multiple Languages

If you are implementing the site globally, then decide on the languages that have to be supported by the site. With istore, the required languages have to be enabled first in the database. Then, the labels in different languages may be maintained centrally using FND_MESSAGES and AK_REGION. More details on the AK_Region are provided in a separate section

Consolidate all the labels/messages for the site and decide with business on the language, grammar and translation of the labels/messages. This is one area in which several changes can be expected from end users based on the region, language and individual preferences

12

Tips on Strategy Multiple Currencies

Decide on the currencies to be supported by the site. The currency for the site may be defaulted based on parameters like price list, minisite default currency etc. or it may be left to the user to select a value from a list of options

Pricing in istore works based on Oracle pricing engine which supports multiple currencies. So, currency is not a limitation for the pricing in istore.

Also consider currency formats for these currencies. iStore, by default, supports multiple currency formats. The currency format in istore is decided by the language used for the site. Say, if the language is French, then automatically the French currency format is used by the site. Consider extending the same currency format to any user facing reports, or email notifications etc.

13

Tips on Strategy Order Processing(Batch/Real time)

Orders placed from the site may be processed in real time or as a batch process. When orders are processed in real time, customers may have to wait on the order confirmation page while the order is interfaced to ERP. This could be annoying to the users if the processing time is large; but the advantage is that customer will know the actual order number on real time

In a batch process, a web confirmation number is provided as soon as the order is submitted from istore. There will not be any delay in this, as the interface of the order to ERP is deferred to a batch process. A batch program can be scheduled to run once every 15 minutes or at a certain predetermined frequency and convert the web confirmation to a sales order in ERP. The disadvantage with this process is the delay in receiving the order confirmation to the user

14

Tips on Strategy Order Confirmation Email

Consider sending an order confirmation email to the customer after the order is placed. The email may have all the selections that the user made while placing the order. The format of the email may comply with some standards like corporate email standards

Consider multiple languages for the emails

Consider multiple currency formats for the emails

Consider notifying internal admins with emails on the customer orders or on issues with the customer orders

Details on setting up the workflow for sending emails is given in a separare section

15

Tips on Strategy Security

Security is an important feature to be taken care of from the beginning of the design and the development of the site. Consider the following for security

Filter all special characters like <> etc. from the user inputs. Block the user from entry of such characters or filter them automatically before they are processed. Don’t log Userids and PWs to any log files Take additional care to block Cross scripting (using HTML encoding) Block SQL injection

Use tools like codefend to scan the source code for any violations and fix themUse OWASP for security testing. Go to www.owasp.com for more information

16

Tips on Strategy Analytics

Decide on the analytics to collect the stats on the traffic to the site. Site visits, products searched, carts created, orders placed, carts not converted into orders etc. can provide useful leads to business

Some of the tools available for analytics are Google Analytics, Web Trends, Yahoo Web Analytics etc.

17

Tips on Strategy Multiple Browsers

Decide on the browsers and their version to support the site. You may align with your corporate policy on browsers and their versions. This may be useful for the development and user testing.

18

Tips on Strategy Extension to mobile devices

Consider extending your site to mobile devices like iPad, iPhone, mobile phones and tablets using Android O/S etc.

Consider an app for the site on these mobile devices

Consider extending the site on mobile devices on the native browsers

19

Tips on Strategy Maintenance of the site

Look for ways to notify the users about the scheduled downtime of the site in advance

Also look for notifying the users when the site is down due to any unscheduled down time

Look for a maintenance page using an alternative apache server and redirect the traffic to the maintenance server when the site is down

Maintenance of the site becomes a challenge when the site needs to be up 24x7

20

Functional Setups Overview

iStore Setups

Inventory Setups

CRM Setups

21

Functional Setups iStore Setup Profile Options

JTF Profiles (like default application, currency, responsibility etc.) IBE Profiles (Like use direct item entry, shopping lists, express checkout etc.) ASO Profiles (like defaulting ship from org, default order state)

Setup Quoting parameters for each OU. You will specify the order type that will be used to interface the order from istore for a specific OU

Setup Mini Sites You will specify the site name, default language, default currency, default walk in price

list, payment type, shipping method, default responsibility etc. for each site. Assign other languages and currencies to the minisite. Setup all the minisites, one for each OU

Create Hierarchy for the merchant UI.The hierarchy determines the organization of the speciality store, their sections and products in the UI. The overall hierarchy contains products from inventory grouped into sections

Setup DFFs Setup template mappings Setup encryption key for the browser cookie and expiration days

22

Functional SetupsInventory Setup web status to ‘published’, Orderable on the web to Yes’ and Back

Orderable to ‘Yes’ under the web options tab for items in the inventory. Also the item must be customer order enabled under the Order Management tab

The item shall be associated with the ISTORE category set(or a category set earmarked for istore)

Run the concurrent Program ‘iStore Product Autoplacement’. This program interfaces the items from inventory to iStore catalogs

Run the program iStore Section Search Refresh. This program will let the users search for the published items in istore

23

Functional SetupsCRM Setups CRM Setups

1. Setup Custom Permissions

2. Setup custom roles and assign the permissions for each role

3. Assign the roles to the users. The access priveleges to the site can be controlled by the role and its associated permissions granted to a user

4. Control the functionality in the pages based on the roles

User Access

1. User who needs access to a minisite shall be assigned the responsibility associated with the minisite

2. User shall be assigned roles. The permissions underneath the roles permit the user to do certain functionalities in the sites

User

Roles Permissions

Responsibility

Minisite

24

ExtensionsMain areas for extensions Look and Feel and Functionality User Hooks AK Regions for Query features Workflow for notifications Reports

25

ExtensionsLook and Feel and Functionality

iStore provides several templates which can be customized to change the look and feel. Separate JSP pages are provided for look and feel and back end processing

Database

Display JSP Page

ATP Display

ibeCOtdAtp.jsp

Processing Jsp Page

ATP Processing

ibeCOtpAtp.jsp

Here is an example with two JSP pages for ATP Processing

ATP results display -- ibeCOtdAtp.jsp

ATP Processing -- ibeCOtpAtp.jsp

The customized pages can be registered

26

ExtensionsUser Hooks

User Hooks provide lots of flexibility for defaulting data in the site. They can also be used to populate data as pre and post order interface to ERP

Some of the istore related hooks are CREATE_QUOTE SUBMIT_QUOTE

Events are PRE and POST on these hooks

Sample code for enabling hooks UPDATE apps.jtf_user_hooks SET execute_flag = 'Y' WHERE pkg_name = 'ASO_QUOTE_PUB' AND api_name = 'SUBMIT_QUOTE' AND user_hook_type = 'C' AND nvl(execute_flag,'N') = 'N‘;

27

Extensions contd… Create Quote hook CREATE_QUOTE hook

Use CREATE_QUOTE hook for updating lot of information in the shopping cart and checkout screens

Create_quote_POST (

P_Validation_Level IN NUMBER,

P_Control_Rec IN ASO_QUOTE_PUB.Control_Rec_Type,

P_Qte_Header_Rec IN ASO_QUOTE_PUB.Qte_Header_Rec_Type,

P_hd_Price_Attributes_Tbl IN ASO_QUOTE_PUB.Price_Attributes_Tbl_Type,

Get the quote_header_id from the p_qte_header_rec and use it to identify and update the record in the table ASO_QUOTE_HEADERS_ALL or ASO_SHIPMENTS with the required values

You may update the seeded fields like sales_channel_code, or DFF attributes with ship method, freight terms, sales channel etc.

28

Extensions contd… Submit Quote Pre hook SUBMIT_QUOTE_PRE HOOK

The Pre hook ASO_QUOTE_CUHK.SUBMIT_QUOTE_PRE is called when the quote created from istore is interfaced to OM as a sales order

Use the hook to populate values in OM by populating the data in the tables ASO_QUOTE_HEADERS_ALL, ASO_QUOTE_LINES_ALL. Use the field P_Qte_Header_Id to identify and update the record

P_control_rec can be used to control whether to create the order in entered status or booked status

29

Extensions contd… Submit Quote Post hook SUBMIT_QUOTE_POST HOOK

The Post hook ASO_QUOTE_CUHK.SUBMIT_QUOTE_POST is called after the quote created from istore is interfaced to OM as a sales order

Use the hook to update the sales order created in OM from istore. Identify the order created using P_Qte_Header_Id and then update the OM data using the API oe_order_pub. Process_header or oe_order_pub.Process_line. This can be used to create attachments or update data in OM

30

Extensions Query features using AK RegionsQuery Features

1. Order Search including shipment details and RMAs

2. Invoice Search

31

Extensions Query features using AK RegionsQuery Features

1. iStore uses AK Regions for query features.

2. Some of the seeded AK regions are orders, shipments, invoices etc.

3. Labels in the forms that work with AK regions are setup in AK region setups instead of in FND_messages

4. AK Regions can be extended with additional fields.

5. Here are some steps to extend AK regions1. Get the current AK region definition by extracting the JLT file

2. Create a custom database view by extending the current AK region view with additional attributes (columns)

3. Extend the the extracted JLT file with additional fields and upload it

4. Define the AK Attributes with the extended attributes using AK Deveoper

5. Assign the created AK attributes to AK Object using AK Developer

6. Assign the AK attributes to AK region using AK Developer

7. Labels in the AK region have a provsion to maintain translations in other languages.

32

Extensions WF – Order Confirmation EmailiStore Workflow

Open the istore IBEALERT workflow using a workflow builder

Copy the message ‘Order Confirmation – Normal – Default’ to a new message ‘XX-Order Confirmation – Normal – Custom’

Create custom attributes like XX-Subject, XX-Message-Body, XX-Message_footer etc. under the workflow item

Use these attributes under the message ‘XX-Order Confirmation-Normal- Custom’

Construct the email subject, body etc. using PL/SQL using HTML tags and populate the above custom attributes

iStore Workflow definition

Istore Alerts Workflow

XX-Message-Body

XX-Subject

XX-Message-Footer

Messages

XX-Order Confirmation – Normal – Custom

XX-Message-Body

This message is associated with

the istore notification

template using istore

administrator

33

Extensions WF – Order Confirmation EmailAssociate the WF in istore Go to istore administrator Advanced Notifications Select the notification event ‘Order Confirmation Normal’ and go to the details of

the notification Select the custom message created in the Workflow ‘XX-Order Confirmation –

Normal – Custom’ and associate with the notification. This way the custom message is called from istore notifications

34

Questions and Answers

35

Thanks to the following for their help in preparing this presentationKaky Vinod

Banumoorthy Selva

M Vishnusimman

36

Contact Info

Ravi Sagaramsagaram@hotmail.com

ravi.sagaram@motorolasolutions.com