- Setting the invoice format
The format of invoices is defined in an optional business policy called InvoiceFormat, enforced by the Invoice task command. To set the format for generated invoices, you must import the account XML from a file, using the AccountImport command.
- Creating business policy XML files
While WebSphere Commerce provides a number of business policies that the terms and conditions in your store's default contract can reference, some business policies must still be defined by you. You must define any return charge, return approval, and pricing business policies that the store default contract terms reference. Commands for these business policies are provided and can be used without modification.
- Default contract
A default contract defines the default customer entitlement for a store or a group of stores. The default contract applies to all customers shopping at a store who do not have any other contract with the store, for example, guest customers. Also, the default contract will apply to customers buying products not covered by other contracts they have with the store if the customer is permitted to purchase products that are not covered by a contract.
- Changing the default contract
To modify the default contract without using the user interface, you need to export the default contract and make changes to the contract XML file and then import the modified contract.
- Creating a default contract file
In order to create a default contract, you must define the contract, the contract owner, the contract description, the contract participants, and the terms and conditions of the contracts. Contract information is stored in four tables: CONTRACT, PARTICIPNT, TRADING, and TERMCOND.
- Creating a default contract asset
The default contract defines the default behavior of a store. As with all contracts, you can set the available products, prices, payment methods, shipping methods, and other store behavior.
- Enabling the AND operation for multiple contracts
You can enable the AND operation for multiple contracts so that shoppers must be entitled to products under all contracts before they can purchase them. The default value is OR, where shoppers can purchase products if they are entitled to them under only one contract.
- Invoice XML data
Invoice XML data is generated for each order release when a pick batch for the release is generated and the account referenced by the contract for the order items includes the invoice term. This data is stored in the
INVOICE database table.
- XML, DTD, and XSD files for business and partner relationship management
The following table outlines the XML, DTD, and XSD files that are important for contracts in a B2B direct or B2B indirect store. All files are found in the following directories:
- DTD-based and XSD-based contracts
WebSphere Commerce supports contracts based on two models: DTD-based contracts and XSD-based contracts. You can use the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to manage both DTD-based contracts and XSD-based contracts. Imported contracts can be either DTD or XSD based, but contracts will be exported in the XSD format.
- Developing business policies
In WebSphere Commerce, business policies are enforced with a combination of one or more business policy commands that implement the rules of the business policy. Each business policy command is a Java class. A business policy command can be shared by multiple business policies. The behavior of the business policy command is determined by the parameters passed to the command.
- Purchase order number validation
Purchase order numbers are validated during the order processing.
- Product sets in contracts
In WebSphere Commerce there are two different types of product sets: Product set business policies and Customized product sets.
- Defined referral interface business policies
WebSphere Commerce does not define referral interface business policies. For examples on how to create a referral interface business policy, refer to the TemplateReferralContract.xml file, which is located in the WC_eardir /xml/trading/xml directory.
- Account terms and conditions
Terms and conditions define how a contract is implemented for a customer organization. When the same terms and conditions are being applied to each contract in an account, it makes more sense to define the terms and conditions at the account level, so they can be inherited by all of the contracts under the account.
- Contract terms and conditions
Terms and conditions define how a contract is implemented for a customer organization. They define what is being sold under the contract; the price of the items being sold; how the items are shipped; how orders are paid for; how item returns are handled; how orders are approved; and where orders are shipped from.
- ContractExport utility XML file encoding
XML files generated by the ContractExport utility can be encoded in several ways.
- Contract information according to business models
When creating contracts for WebSphere Commerce, it is important to understand the business model in which you store is based, as well as the participants, usages, and XML elements for each business model, as outlined in the following table: