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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. 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.
Operating
IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce
The IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce, or Management Center, is a suite of tools to support store management, merchandising, and marketing tasks for business users (Sellers, Marketing Managers, Product Managers, Catalog Managers, and others).
Catalog Filter and Pricing tool
Use the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool in Management Center to create and manage catalog filters, price lists, and price rules. Sellers, Sales Managers, and Account Representatives can use the tool's flexible features to implement catalog filtering and pricing strategies that meet the site's business needs over time.
Managing price rules
A pricing manager creates and manages the price rules that are used for storefront pricing.
Creating and assigning price rules
By creating price rules and assigning them to contracts, you can manage the prices customers are entitled to.
Creating components to use in price rules
After planning your price rule, you should have a list of the components you need to build your price rule. For example, you might need to create a new price list and then create a price equation to adjust prices in the price list. Make sure you have the components ready before you begin building your price rule.

User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. 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.
- Planning
  Creating a custom implementation of a WebSphere Commerce store requires a significant amount of planning. From gathering client needs, to deploying the live solution, much work is needed to successfully deploy a custom client store. Use the resources in here to help you plan every phase of store creation.
- Installing
  Review the following sections for information about installing the WebSphere Commerce product, associated maintenance, and WebSphere Commerce enhancements.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Deploying
  The topics in this section describe how to publish stores to either a test or production environment, and how to deploy customized code.
- Operating
  - IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce
    The IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce, or Management Center, is a suite of tools to support store management, merchandising, and marketing tasks for business users (Sellers, Marketing Managers, Product Managers, Catalog Managers, and others).
    - Planning to use Management Center
      If you are using WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, consider using Management Center to manage your store.
    - management-center/refs/rtfgetstart.htm
    - Management Center keyboard shortcuts
      Use the Management Center keyboard shortcuts to access user interface functions or complete tasks, using a single key or combination of keys.
    - Working in extended site stores in Management Center
      If your company operates an extended site, you can perform certain tasks directly from your extended site store within Management Center.
    - Manage content externally for use in Management Center
      If content management capabilities other than the functionality that is provided by default with WebSphere Commerce is required, WebSphere Commerce can be integrated with IBM Web Content Manager. If WebSphere Commerce is integrated with IBM Web Content Manager, you can use content from IBM Web Content Manager content libraries with Management Center objects.
    - Manage marketing externally with IBM Marketing Center
      If your site is integrated with IBM Marketing Center, Management Center users can open IBM Marketing Center from Management Center to upload promotion codes and to create and manage marketing campaigns.
    - Management Center user interface
      The Management Center user interface provides a usable, intuitive, and efficient way to complete your business tasks.
    - Using the Management Center
      The starting point for all Management Center tasks is to open the tooling. Afterward, you can use several methods to complete a task: by selecting menu options, by clicking toolbar buttons, by right-clicking and selecting menus, or by keyboard shortcuts.
    - Catalogs tool
      Use the Catalogs tool in Management Center to manage catalogs, categories, catalog entries, merchandising associations, product attributes, and attachments in your store. The Catalogs tool lets business users create, and manage online catalogs. Catalogs provide a way of organizing the products that you want to sell. You define catalog data in groups of categories and products. Catalog data contains descriptions and pricing information for products and services.
    - Marketing tool
      Use the Marketing tool in Management Center to create and manage marketing campaigns and other store content, excluding catalog content. You can use the extensive precision marketing features in the tool to deliver targeted marketing messages to customers.
    - Promotions tool
      Use the Promotions tool in Management Center to create and manage promotions that support the marketing campaigns for your site.
    - Assets tool
      As a Product Manager, Marketing Manager, or Category Manager, you can use the Assets tool to upload and manage your store assets. The term assets refers to web content that you use on your storefront and in marketing campaigns, such as marketing image files, catalog image files, PDF documents, and multimedia files.
    - Catalog Filter and Pricing tool
      Use the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool in Management Center to create and manage catalog filters, price lists, and price rules. Sellers, Sales Managers, and Account Representatives can use the tool's flexible features to implement catalog filtering and pricing strategies that meet the site's business needs over time.
      - Catalog filtering
        Set up catalog filters to entitle your customers to a subset of your catalog. Catalog filters can also be used as one of the price rule conditions when you are determining prices for the set of catalog entries your customers are entitled to.
      - Catalog filter assignment and contracts
        To entitle different customers to a subset of your catalog on the storefront, you assign a catalog filter to a contract using WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. This requirement applies to all business models (B2B direct, B2C, and extended sites). As a result, customers shopping under the contract are entitled to see and purchase only the set of catalog entries defined in the catalog filter.
      - Attribute dictionary attribute and property conditions in catalog filters
        (Product Manager) Before you create an attribute-based catalog filter, review catalog filtering for attribute dictionary attributes and property conditions in catalog filters.
      - Scenarios for creating catalog filters
        The following scenarios show you how to create catalog filters by specifying categories, catalog entries, catalog entry properties, and attribute dictionary attributes.
      - Scenarios for using catalog filters
        By reviewing different business scenarios for using catalog filters, you can learn more about catalog filter assignment strategies.
      - Managing catalog filters
        Catalog filters can be managed by Sales Managers, Account Representatives, and Seller Administrators.
      - Managing price lists
        A pricing manager creates and manages the price lists that are used for storefront pricing.
      - Managing price rules
        A pricing manager creates and manages the price rules that are used for storefront pricing.
        Price rules: An overview
        A price rule is a set of instructions you create to generate prices on your storefront. Each time a customer views a store page that displays prices, WebSphere Commerce follows the instructions in the price rule to set a price for each catalog entry. The price rule is also used during checkout so that the customer is charged the correct price, before taxes, discounts and shipping charges. Using price rules for your store is optional; however, price rules provide a flexible, feature-rich alternative to using static price lists.
        Price rule assignment and contracts
        For a price rule to display offer prices on store pages, you must assign the price rule to a contract. This requirement applies to all business models (B2B direct, B2C, and extended sites).
        Price equations and constants in price rules
        A price equation is a mathematical statement used in a price rule to calculate and output a price. For example, you can create a price equation that adds margins or distribution costs to prices in a price list. You can use the same price equation in more than one price rule so that the set of price rules is easier to maintain.
        Independent and dependent price rules
        A price rule can be either independent or dependent. An independent price rule contains a price list. A dependent price rule does not contain a price list. Dependent price rules cannot output prices, so you cannot use them as contract-level price rules.
        Options for managing pricing
        The Catalog Filter and Pricing tool in Management Center gives you a flexible, alternative way of managing pricing for your store. Before you begin using this tool, you should be aware of the price management options available to you.
        Price rule building blocks: actions, conditions, and branches
        When you build a price rule using the Price Rule Builder, your building blocks are actions, conditions, and branches. These building blocks are represented as icons, or elements, in the palette. You select elements from the palette and place them in a precise order along a flow that represents the price rule.
        Scenarios for using price rules
        By reviewing different business scenarios for using price rules, you can learn more about price rule assignment strategies and how price rules are inherited.
        Best practices for price rules
        Review these best practices for creating price rules so you can learn ways to simplify price rule maintenance and reduce performance impacts.
        Creating and assigning price rules
        By creating price rules and assigning them to contracts, you can manage the prices customers are entitled to.
        Planning a price rule
        With careful planning, you can build flexible and effective price rules to manage the prices customers see on your storefront. A price rule can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. To determine your needs, learn about price rule capabilities and review scenarios for using price rules for different business models.
        Creating components to use in price rules
        After planning your price rule, you should have a list of the components you need to build your price rule. For example, you might need to create a new price list and then create a price equation to adjust prices in the price list. Make sure you have the components ready before you begin building your price rule.
        Creating a price list
        You can create a price list to provide pricing data to a price rule. The price rule can use the price list as is, or adjust the prices. You can also use a price list in a price equation.
        Creating a price equation
        You can create price equations to perform mathematical calculations that adjust prices. After you create the price equation, you can use it in one or more price rules by specifying the price equation in a Calculate Price action. You can also use a price equation in a Comparison Condition.
        Creating a price constant
        You can create price constants to use in price equations and in the Comparison Condition in a price rule. A price constant is a number, a percentage, or a price in a specific currency that you intend to use over and over in price rule components. If you change the value of the constant, your changes automatically apply wherever you have used the constant, saving you time.
        Creating a catalog filter
        You can assign a catalog filter to a contract to define the product set customers are entitled to purchase from. You can also use a catalog filter in a price rule Catalog Condition to set pricing for a specific part of the catalog.
        Creating a price rule
        Create price rules by choosing the set of instructions you want to use to set pricing for your store. You create price rules using the Price Rule Builder in the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool.
        Assigning a price rule to a contract
        For a price rule to display offer prices on the storefront, you must assign the price rule to a contract. This requirement applies to all business models (B2B direct, extended sites, and B2C); however the procedure to follow is different depending on the type of contract and type of store.
        Viewing where price lists, rules, equations, and constants are used
        You might need to check where a pricing object is used before changing it or deleting it. For example, before changing a price equation, you might want to see a list of price rules that use the price equation. If so, you can open the pricing object and click a tab labeled References. For price rules, this tab also shows a list of contracts to which the price rule is assigned. The References tab is available for these pricing objects: price lists, price rules, price equations, and price constants.
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    - Installments tool
      Use the Installments tool in Management Center to create and manage installment rules that support the payment methods for your site.
    - Commerce Composer tool
      Create pages and build layouts for your store directly in Management Center without involving IT by using the Commerce Composer tool. Take advantage of the tool's page design and management functions to improve your productivity and give you more control over the customer experience.
    - Store Management tool
      As a Seller, Site Administrator, or Channel Manager, you can use the Store Management tool in Management Center to manage your stores. The Store Management tool in Management Center replaces all of the store management features in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, except store creation and the ability to suspend and resume stores. Continue to use the Store Creation wizard in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to create new stores; continue to use WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to suspend and resume stores.
    - Workspace Management tool
      You can use the Workspace Management tool in Management Center to manage and edit workspaces and its tasks and task groups that you are authorized to work with.
    - Previewing a store
      Preview your store to ensure that changes made in Management Center show up in your store as expected. You can use store preview in production, authoring, and staging environments.
    - Management Center frequently asked questions (FAQ)
      Find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Management Center.
    - Management Center Troubleshooting
      If you encounter issues with the Management Center that are not related to any specific tool, review this troubleshooting topic to solve common problems.
  - WebSphere Commerce Accelerator
    Use the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to maintain online stores.
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using WebSphere Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
- Tutorials
  WebSphere Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your WebSphere Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
- Developing
  The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage WebSphere Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of WebSphere Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
- Troubleshooting

Creating components to use in price rules

After planning your price rule, you should have a list of the components you need to build your price rule. For example, you might need to create a new price list and then create a price equation to adjust prices in the price list. Make sure you have the components ready before you begin building your price rule.