Inventory locations and Commerce+ Transaction Server fulfillment centers

Commerce+ Transaction Server includes a standalone inventory system. If you have a mix of stores using this system and the Inventory, ensure that your stores are also mapped to a fulfillment center in the Transaction server.

You can run a Commerce+ Transaction Server system, including inventory management, without using the Inventory. You can also mix both approaches. Ensure that you follow the steps appropriate to your scenario when you create new stores.

Inventory configuration scenarios

You can use the Commerce+ Transaction Server subsystem in several different ways:
Inventory only
When you use only the Inventory to manage inventory, it manages all inventory information, such as reserved quantities, amounts on backorder, and amounts that are allocated to a backorder.
To create a store in the Inventory, follow the steps in Configuring a store for the Inventory.
For more information on how the Inventory manages locations, see Inventory locations.
Combination of fulfillment center and Inventory
In the Inventory, an inventory location designates the source that supplies inventory to your stores. Inventory location is a more general concept than fulfillment center. To ensure that the Inventory and Transaction server are synchronized, map inventory locations to the corresponding fulfillment centers. This is done by adding the inventory location specifications to the FFMCENTER database table.
After integrating the store with your inventory system, perform the steps given in Map Physical stores to an inventory location
Legacy Commerce+ Transaction Server inventory model managed by the Transaction server
The base Commerce+ Transaction Server system can manage inventory within theTransaction server, a capability that has been retained for backwards compatibility. In this legacy system, each store has inventory, which is associated with a particular fulfillment center. Inventory includes everything that can be physically accounted for in a fulfillment center. Inventory is associated with one store and one fulfillment center. Information about the inventory that a store owns at the fulfillment center is also recorded.
Fulfillment centers are defined in the FFMCENTER database table and managed by the Transaction server. Each store can be associated with multiple fulfillment centers, and a fulfillment center can have several stores that are associated with it.
To configure fulfillment centers without using Inventory, or to add previously created fulfillment centers to new stores after you start using Inventory, see Configure inventory locations for stores.