Oracle iStore

Oracle iStore allows businesses from all industries to establish business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce (e-commerce). Oracle iStore provides merchants with an easy-to-use interface for setting up Internet-based sites that capture and process customer orders. In addition, integration with other Oracle applications provides a broad range of e-commerce capabilities.

• iStore Administrator :  Required for Setup content, section, site, templates etc                                                    Create Unlimited Number of Sites
  Setup Pricelists, Shipping Methods etc.
  Build Product Catalog using Oracle Inventory
  Change site look and Feel by selecting different Section Templates and Product Display Templates
  View and Configure Workflow notifications
  View Business and Operational Reports
• iStore Concurrent Program Administrator : Required for Execute concurrent programs for data refresh                       Online shopping and orders processed into Oracle Order Management
  Saves and Share Carts, Quotes etc
  Track Orders
  Cancel Orders
  Submit Return Orders
  Store and access user addresses and credit card data
• IBE_CUSTOMER : Required for Placing Orders using iStore website
• CRM HTML Administrator (with all available ROLES): Required for Setting business users and associate them to appropriate receivables account, Create Roles
• Application Developer: Required for Setting message codes and message text
• Application Developer Common Modules (AK_DEVELOPER): Setup regions, region items/attributes used for Post Sales (Order Tracking)

Implementation Process

In an istore implementation project first we need to install the mandatory dependencies to Oracle iStore, once complete we can begin setting up sites.
The steps required are:
1. Set up the Site Administration UI.
2. Create a basic site.
3. Set up the Customer UI.
4. Test the site.
In addition to the required setup steps, we can customize and add functionality as  desired by performing advanced setup tasks and by implementing other Oracle Applications modules that are optional integrations for Oracle iStore.

Site Management

A cornerstone of online business today is the ability to reach a global customer base. Without this capability, web stores are restricted to selling to a limited audience, thus severely reducing the market for their products. Oracle iStore addresses this
fundamental requirement by providing the ability to create multiple sites which support online business in almost any country, currency, or language.

Site Concepts
In the context of Oracle iStore, a site is any site that the administrator creates using the Site Administration UI. After you map a site to a customer responsibility and save it, you have created a specialty site. Multiple specialty sites can exist within one site, as each site-responsibility combination is considered a specialty site. All specialty sites within a site utilize the same site parameters. In the Customer UI, specialty sites are listed in the Site Selection Page -- which specialty sites display to users is based on setup parameters, customer responsibility, and any permission checking or access restrictions set up for the sites.

Additional Points

• You can create as many sites and specialty sites as you wish, all within a single instance.
• You can implement sites which support multiple languages and currencies.
• Each site can have multiple payment types and shipping methods enabled.
• Each site supports any number of responsibilities. However, you can not use the same responsibility more than once per site.
• Each specialty site (site-responsibility combination) supports only one customer responsibility
• The responsibility which is associated with a specialty site determines the operating unit against which any orders are placed (this association is made through the MO: Operating Unit profile option, set at responsibility level).
• The default Customer UI landing page is called the Site Selection Page. It displays all specialty sites that are accessible to the responsibilities of the users viewing the page, plus all sites that are public and not restricted by responsibility. If the customer can only access one specialty site, Oracle iStore automatically forwards the user to the Site Home Page of that specialty site, and the user does not see the list of specialty sites.

Create a Site

1. Begin the site creation process by entering basic information for a site, such as name, description, and default parameters.
Note: To remove a site from operation, you must end-date it.

Price lists must be set up in the pricing application before they can be selected in the Site Administration UI. Since the iStore Administration Application is not operating unit (OU) aware, the list of available price lists displays all existing price lists. If a price list is set up as OU-specific, then be sure to associate this price list only to sites whose associated customer responsibilities are linked to the OU where the price list is enabled.

• The price lists selected in the Pricing page are used to fetch prices only when the pricing is site-based (i.e., IBE: Use Price list Associated with Specialty Site is Yes).
• For each supported currency, choose the price lists for Walk-in Customers (guest users), Individual Customers (B2C users), Business Customers (B2B users), and Partners (Oracle Partner Management end users).
• If multi-currency price lists are enabled, you can choose the same price list for a different currency.
• You cannot remove the default currency.

2.2  Assigning Payment Types
Payment types must first be set up in Oracle Applications before they can be selected in the Site Administration UI. Only the payment types supported by a site will display in the Customer UI.
 

 

 

 

3.2 Organization Access

Access restrictions allow you to control a B2B user’s access to the Customer UI based on his organization. When you use access restrictions, you do one of the following:

• Restrict access to a site based on users’ organization(s) affiliation.
• Allow only users from a certain organization(s) to access a site.

• No restriction: Select this radio button to have no organization-related access restrictions on the site.
• Exclude the following organizations: Select this radio button to restrict access to the site by users associated with the organization(s) you specify.
• Include the following organizations: Select this radio button to allow access to the site only by users associated with the organization(s) you specify.

Implementing Catalog

The catalog you build using Oracle iStore’s sections and products allows you organize your sites into hierarchal sections with products, and to re-use the sections, their products, and any associated content, in one or multiple sites. You also can
choose to exclude specific sections, subsections, or products from sites. In combination with the Display Templates, your site sections --- connected in a parent-child fashion --- help determine the browsing path for the customer in your Customer UI specialty sites. All driven from the main Root section, together the sections, subsections, and products in your sites form a tree-like structure with which you organize and present your product catalog.

The majority of section-product creation and maintenance tasks are performed using the Sections and Products pages accessible within the Catalog tab in the Site Administration UI.

In a typical implementation, Oracle Inventory is the repository of all products sold through the Oracle iStore Customer UI. Products are limited to a single organization and a single default Inventory category set defined in two profile options.

In the Site Administration UI, site administrators can view products, perform limited maintenance on products, assign products to site sections, and assign content to products. In the Customer UI, specialty site customers can view the product data and any related media, as well as search for products within the default category set and product organization.

• View item details, such as name, number, and description
• Change item description information
• Set the Web Status Inventory flag, which is identical functionally to the Published/Unpublished iStore flag
• Assign price lists that contain the products to sites in the Sites > Pricing menu
• Search for products

Product(ITEM) Properties

1. Products Retrieved From a Single Inventory Organization
Oracle iStore requires one Inventory Organization to be identified, against which the product database is retrieved. This identification is made through the use of the profile option, IBE: Item Validation Organization.

Set the IBE: Item Validation Organization profile option to the Inventory Organization from which you wish to retrieve products. In a single-organization implementation, this will be the Master Inventory Organization. If you are implementing a multiple-organization (multi-org) environment, you should set up your Inventory structure and products in the Master Inventory Organization, but create sub-organizations of the master organization. These sub-organizations then can access all of the Master Inventory Organization data, but remain separate entities linked to an Operating Unit through the MO: Operating Unit profile option.
The MO: Operating Unit profile option can be set at application, responsibility, or user level. The product search in Oracle iStore’s Site Administration UI will retrieve products based on the setting of this profile option at the lowest level to which it is set, with user level being the lowest.

2. Inventory Categories and the iStore Product Catalog
In Oracle Inventory, category sets are used to group products that are alike. Each category set can contain multiple categories. Each category set is assigned to a flexfield structure, and the flexfield structure defines segments for the category set. Potentially, categories can have a many-to-many relationship with category sets. When you define a product in  Inventory, you define key flexfields that are combinations of the segments defined by the category set flexfield structure.

In Oracle Inventory, category sets are used to group products that are alike. Each category set can contain multiple categories. Each category set is assigned to a flexfield structure, and the flexfield structure defines segments for the category set. Potentially, categories can have a many-to-many relationship with category sets. When you define a product in Inventory, you define key flexfields that are combinations of the segments defined by the category set flexfield structure.
Set the IBE: Category Set profile option to the Oracle Inventory category set you wish to use as the default category set for your site products. Set this at the iStore application level.

3. Using Product Autoplacement
Oracle iStore’s product autoplacement feature allows products within Oracle Inventory categories to be automatically added and replaced within leaf sections, according to parameters that you set. The autoplacement is achieved through category-section mappings and the use of the concurrent program, iStore Product Autoplacement Concurrent Program.

The autoplacement feature is available only for leaf sections. A leaf section is the last section(s) in a site section hierarchy node. A leaf section may be a Featured or a Navigational section --- what characterizes it as a leaf section is its location in the hierarchy and the fact that it cannot have subsections. Typically, a leaf section will contain only products.
Note: If you attempt to use autoplacement with sections that are not leaf sections, the autoplacement will not be effective.

4. Support for Service Items
Oracle iStore supports selling serviceable items and their related services in the Customer UI. In the Site Administration UI, merchants can set up serviceable items and related services (for example, extended warranties) and offer them for sale in the sites. Oracle iStore also supports adding services to configured items and adding multiple services to a single serviceable item.

Service items and serviceable items must be defined in Oracle Inventory before the merchant can include them in site sections using the Site Administration UI. After they have been set up, the products display to web customers in the Customer UI.

5. Required Inventory Flags for Oracle iStore Products
Several Oracle Inventory flags must be set for products that will be sold through the sites. Set these in the Oracle Inventory Master Item form for each product -- including each component in a configured item -- that you plan to sell in a site:

 

Creating products

Products can either be created in inventory or from the istore admin UI but its always advisible to create new items from inventory as the istore admin UI has not access to all the item properties.

Create the item in istore

Content Overview

Oracle iStore features reusable content tools which allow you to present content in the Customer UI. These content tools let you map content source files which appear in the Customer UI, allowing you to provide more than just the section or product
description information. The content you present in the Customer UI can be images, HTML files, or text messages.

The content tools also allow you to set default content based on Oracle Inventory categories.

The following content functionality is available in Oracle iStore:

• Content Components --- These are logical placeholders in the Display Templates for content associated to media objects.
• Media Objects --- Media objects are logical bridges that connect content component placeholders with source files to present images or HTML content in the Customer UI. Some media objects do not need to be linked to content components in order to be useful.
• Content Repository --- The Content Repository allows you to view and upload the actual files that provide the content for your specialty site pages.

Sections

Section Types: Featured, Navigational, and Leaf
Site sections are of two basic types: Featured and Navigational. A third category, Leaf, can be of either main type, depending upon its placement in the hierarchy.

Featured section:

• Appears on the home page of its parent section
• Contains products only i.e  cannot have subsections
•  

• Appears as a hyperlink in the browsing map of its parent section -- users must select the section hyperlink to view the section
• Can contain products or subsections, but not both.

• The leaf section is always the ending section or sections on a hierarchy branch, and thus never has subsections.
• The leaf section can be a Featured or a Navigational type of section.
• The leaf section’s main purpose is for usage with Oracle iStore’s Product Autoplacement feature.

Templates

Layout Templates:

Sections site

In your initial implementation, the section hierarchy will consist of a single parent node, called Root. To this single node, you can add as many subsections as you wish, as long as you follow certain rules for section type (see the "Section Types" section). Your products "hang" upon the sections and subsections of the hierarchal tree.

Each site points to a single node of the section hierarchy. This node is known as the site's root section -- the site root section can be either the main (initial) Root node or one of the other main or subsections that you create. In the specialty sites that include the section, the sites' navigation is driven from the first top-level section in the hierarchy.

Assigning Groups to a site

Site Privacy Policy

Implementers can institute a privacy preference policy in the Customer Application.

The policy consists of a hyperlink displayed in the Customer Application pages which then leads users to a page displaying a standard privacy statement. If set up as part of Oracle Web Analytics integration and Web tracking is enabled, users also can view and update their privacy preferences.

Privacy Policy Process Flow Following is the process flow for the privacy policy in the Customer Application:
1. A user selects the Privacy Statement link present on all Customer Application pages.
2. The user views the contents of the privacy statement.
3. If Oracle Web Analytics integration is complete, users also can view and update their privacy preferences.
4. When done viewing the privacy statement, the user selects a global icon to navigate to other areas of the Customer Application.

Implementing Privacy Policy
Use the steps in this section to set up the Privacy Policy feature.

Step 1 - Set Profile Option
Set the profile option, IBE: Display Privacy Statement, to Yes at site level, to enable the Privacy Statement link.

Step 2 - Map Policy Statement to Media Object

Oracle iStore provides a JSP that includes a media object and the update preferences link. The media object is called: Store Privacy Statement. The programmatic access name is STORE_PRIVACY_STATEMENT.

The media object has the following default content: You need to customize this page to display your privacy statement. To provide a unique privacy statement, create an HTML file and map it to the media object.

iStore Products

Oracle Inventory is the repository of all products sold through the Oracle iStore Customer Application. In the Site Administration Application, site administrators can view products, perform limited maintenance on products, assign products to site sections, and assign content to products.

In the  Customer Application, users can view the product data and any related media, as well as search for products within the default category set and product organization.

Products are limited to a single organization and a single default Inventory category set defined in two profile options

• IBE: Category Set
• IBE: Item Validation Organization
•  

• View item details, such as name, number, and description
• Change item description information
• Set the Web Status Inventory flag, which is identical functionally to the Published/Unpublished iStore flag
• Assign price lists that contain the products to sites in the Sites, Pricing menu
• Search for products

Featured sections

To make a section as Featured sections enable the featured check box while defining the section.

To present Featured sections on the Site Home Page, make them subsections of the first Navigational subsection.

Section and Product Display Profile Options

Several profile options control how sections and products appear in the specialty site sections. These are discussed in this section.

Setting the Number of Home Page Tabs and Subtabs
Top-level sections of a site's root node become tabs across the top of the Site Home Page. The second-level sections become the subtabs across the top of the Site Home Page.
The number of tabs and subtabs is controlled by these profile options:

• IBE: Number of Menu Tabs: Specifies the number of menu tabs across the top of the Site Home Page. See the appendix, Profile Options, page A-1, for more
information.
Warning: Do not set this profile option to zero (0). Setting it to zero will cause an application error in the Customer Application.

• IBE: Number of Menu Subtabs: Specifies the number of menu subtabs below the menu tabs on the Site Home Page.

Setting the Number of Child Sections Per Page
The profile option, IBE: Sections Per Page for Display, allows you to set the maximum number of subsections to display on a page before the subsections fall to a new page.

Displaying the Section Path
The profile option, IBE: Use Section Path, determines whether the section path displays in those catalog templates which can display a section path.

Displaying Bins with Seeded Content
Three bins with seeded JSP content are controlled by profile options when using Fixed Layout for sections. These bins are:
• Browse Bin
• Global Bin
• Welcome Bin

Displaying a Set Number of Items in Leaf Sections
The profile option, IBE: Items Per Page for Display, specifies number of items to display in Leaf sections of the hierarchy (the ending sections of a node).

Displaying a Set Number of Items in Sections
The profile option, IBE: Items Per Section for Display, specifies the number of items to display in sections of the hierarchy that contain products.

Displaying a Set Number of Items in Multiple-Section Template
The profile option, IBE: Lines Per Section for Multiple Section Display, specifies the number of items to display per section in Display Templates that show multiple sections.

Price List

iStore and Pricing Integration TSG [ID 182351.1]
      Modified 11-MAR-2010     Type TROUBLESHOOTING     Status PUBLISHED      
"Checked for relevance on 13-AUG-2009"

Troubleshooting Guide
Pricing Issues

   1. Cart: "IPL: Price List Not Found or List Price is Null" error when add item to cart.
   2. Cart: The price is zero (0) after adding item to cart
   3. Cart: APP-236113: IPL: Item [...] and uom EA not on pricelist [...] error trying to add a model item to the cart.
   4. Discount: Attempting to apply an Ask For promotion with automatic line. System displays message ' Invalid promotion code '
   5. Modifier: Unable to create a 'Promotion' Modifier
   6. Modifier: Ask For promotions work properly in OM and Quoting but not in iStore
   7. Pricelist: Pricelist id is null at quote header level
   8. Storefront: Price not showing up for items in iStore
   9. StoreFront: In iStore Catalog, your price and List Price is same
      Expected Discounts not applied in iStore catalog
  10. Storefront: No prices show in catalog after changing UOM on pricelist

   1. Cart: "IPL:Price List Not Found or List Price is Null" error when add item to cart.
      Cause:     This could be a setup problem
      Resolution:     Check the following:

      a) IBE: Use Price list associated with Specialty Store to 'No' for iStore application if the price list for the user should be determined by the
      Pricing engine. Default behavior is assumed to be 'Yes' and the price list at the specialty store is used for registered/business users.

      b) ASO: OM Defaulting to 'Yes' at the desired level. (This profile is available at Site/Application/Responsibility/User level)

      c) In forms:
      choose responsibility Oracle Pricing Manager.
      Setup -> Event Phases
      Query for all event phases. Set Search Flag = 'Yes'
      for pricing event 'LINE' in all phases.

      d) Make sure that defaulting row is setup correctly in Order Management
      *For example, to set for 'order_type':
      In forms,
      1) choose responsibility Order Management Super User.
      2) Go to Setup -> Rules -> Defaulting
      3) Search for:
      Application: Oracle Order Management
      Entity: Order Header
      4) Select from Attributes section the item 'Order Type'. click of 'Defaulting Rules'
      5) Add an entry in the 'Default Sourcing Rules' w/ the following information:
      Sequence: 1
      Source Type: Constant Value
      Order Type: Standard

      [top]

   2. Cart: The price is zero (0) after adding item to cart
      Cause:     This is a setup issue.
      Resolution:     Set 'IBE: Pricing Event for Shopping Cart' = 'Enter Order Line'

      [top]

   3. Cart: APP-236113: IPL: Item [...] and uom EA not on pricelist [...] error trying to add a model to the cart.
      Cause:     Setup issue
      Resolution:     1. All the components of the model are not on a price list
      OR
      2. All the components are on a price list but it is not the same as the model price list and the profile IBE:Use Price list associated with Specialty Store is set to "Yes".
      Please revisit the pricelist setup.

      [top]

   4. Discount: Attempting to apply an Ask For promotion with automatic line. System displays message Invalid promotion code
      Cause:     Incomplete setup
      Resolution:     1. Make sure the promotion is setup as automatic at the header level.
       :     2. Currency Code is mandatory for the Ask for promotions setup for iStore. So ensure the promotion code has the currency code populated. This currency should be same as the currency setup for the Minisite.

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   5. Modifier: Unable to create a 'Promotion' Modifier
      Problem:     As Oracle Pricing Manager Responsibility, when trying to create a modifier of 'Promotion' Type, it is not available in the LOV.
      Cause:     The select for the LOV returns certain values depending on if Advanced Pricing (QP) is installed Shared or Full.
      In this case, QP is not installed Fully.
      Resolution:     Need to install QP Fully by using adlicmgr utility.

      [top]

   6. Modifier: Ask For promotions work properly in OM and Quoting but not in iStore
      Problem:     The promotion is attached to the order but does not apply the discount.
      Cause:     The promotion has an end date specified. iStore doesn't apply the promotion even if the end date is greater than the sysdate.
      Resolution:     Apply IBE.O RUP 1 3597271

      [top]

   7. Pricelist: Pricelist id is null at header level
      Problem:     The price list id in order header gets null value for the orders from iStore.
      The price list in order lines is correct, and the price list in the lines are correct too.
      You are just concerned that the value is null
      Resolution:     Having the price list id null at the Header level when using the pricing engine will not cause any problems. If you had the profile IBE: USE PRICELIST ASSOCIATED W/MINISITE option set to yes, the price list at the Header level would populate because there would only be one price list id used. However because you are using the pricing engine, there is a possibility that 2 items on a quote could come from different price lists. Meaning there could be more than one price list id, which is impossible to display at Header level.

      Having this value set to null will not cause any problems.

      [top]

   8. Storefront: Price not showing up for items in iStore
      Cause:     Setups not done correctly
      Resolution:     First do the following basic check:
      - Is price set up properly in Price Engine?
      - Can you see price for those items in Order Manager?
      - Does the Specialty Store have correct Price Lists for walkin, registered, and B2B users?
      - Does the Price List have item prices for the correct UOMs?

      Also check the values set for the following pricing related profiles:

          a. 'IBE: Pricing Event -- Before Shopping Cart': The pricing event to use when pricing items in the catalog

          b. The pricing request type, 'IBE: Use Price List associated with Specialty Store' affects the Price List that is passed to the pricing engine for registered users and B2B users. If the profile is set to ‘Yes’, a minisite level Price List will be used for pricing. If the profile is set to ‘No’, a null Price List along with the party id and account id will be passed to the pricing engine, thus the pricing engine will search for a Price List for which the user qualifies.

          c. If profile 'IBE: Use Price List associated with Specialty Store' is 'No', check the following setup:

              1) Set 'ASO: OM Defaulting' to 'Yes' at the desired level. (This profile is available at
              Site/Application/Responsibility/User level)
              2) In forms: Can this be structured better? Identical introduction to item d.
              . Choose responsibility Oracle Pricing Manager.
              . Go to Setup -> Event Phases
              . Query for all event phases. Set Search Flag = 'Yes' for the pricing event LINE' in all phases.
              A quick query to identify the User Search Flag for all event phases.

              select decode(b.profile_option_name, 'IBE_PRECART_PRICING_EVENT','Catalog', 'IBE_INCART_PRICING_EVENT', 'Shopping Cart') "For Object", a.profile_option_value "Event Is", d.phase_sequence "Search Flag = NO At sequence" from fnd_profile_option_values a, fnd_profile_options b, qp_event_phases c, qp_pricing_phases d where b.profile_option_id = a.profile_option_id and b.profile_option_name in ('IBE_PRECART_PRICING_EVENT','IBE_INCART_PRICING_EVENT') and a.profile_option_value = c.pricing_event_code and c.pricing_phase_id = d.pricing_phase_id and nvl(c.user_search_flag,'N') = 'N';

              This will retrun the pahses with user search flag is N. Please set it to YES in the pricing UI.


          d.Duplicate Price List.

          In iStore pl/sql debug logs, if you see duplicate price lists error then please check the following:

              1) Choose the responsibility, Oracle Pricing Manager
              2) Go to Price Lists -> Price List Setup
              3) Search for the desired Price List. Make sure the Precedence at the Product level is set correctly so that the pricing engine will be able to resolve to a single Price List. For example, there are only two Price Lists defined, Price List A and Price List B, and all users qualify for both Price Lists. If Price List A contains Product X with a precedence of 220, and Price List B
              contains Product X with precedence 220, the pricing engine will return an error because it does not know which Price List to use. If the precedence of Price List A - Product X is 100 and the precedence of Price List B - Product X is 220, the pricing engine will use the price in Price List A. See the Pricing Engine User Guide for additional details on pricing setup.


          e. Incorrect UOM

              1) If Item's Primary UOM is Ea in Inventory Setup, then iStore would request a pricing call with UOM Ea. Suppose the expected pricelist contain a record for the item but in UOM Box, then no price will be returned.
              You can see the message STATUS_TEXT :=Item and uom CJ not on pricelist in the iStore pl/sql debug log.

              In this case, please ensure there is a Valid UOM conversion between box and Ea is setup in the inventory.
              Or Set the Primary Flag to YEs in pricelist setup for the item.


      f. Make sure that defaulting row is setup correctly in Order Management For example, to set for 'order_type' in forms:

          1) choose responsibility Order Management Super User.
          2) Go to Setup -> Rules -> Defaulting
          3) Search for:
          Application: Oracle Order Management
          Entity: Order Header
          4) Select from Attributes section the item 'Order Type'. Click on 'Defaulting Rules'
          5) Add an entry in the 'Default Sourcing Rules' with the following information:
          . Sequence: 1
          . Source Type: Constant Value
          . Order Type: Standard


      If the pricing engine has a problem returning a price, iStore will not show any price.
      You can check the iStore log file for further investigation. (The log file location is specified in the Jserv property file, jserv.properties, as wrapper.bin.parameters=-Dservice.Logging.common.filename=)

      Search in the iStore log file for 'getListAndBestPrice'. Confirm the values being passed to the pricing engine (Price List id, currency code, Inventory item ids, uom codes, price request type, and pricing event). Party id and account id will only be passed for user specific pricing. Check the values being returned by the pricing engine (status code and status text).

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   9. In iStore Catalog, Your Price and List Price is same
      Expected Discounts not applied in iStore catalog
      Problem:     Discounts are not showing in iStore catalog pages (the "your price" is same as the "list price")
      Cause:     Setup Issue
      Resolution:     For this feature to work, full pricing engine calls have to be made. This requires:
      1. Profile "IBE: Use Price List Asociated with Minisite" set to "No", and Profile, IBE: Use Customer Account Price List also set to NO.
      2. Verify the points discussed in above question# 8. at all Event Phases.
      3. Ensure profile 'IBE: Pricing Event Before Shopping Cart' = 'Enter Order Line' at all Event Phases.
      4. Check the qualifiers associated to the Pricelist or the excpected. The qualifiers should be supported by catalog level.
      Please refer iStore Implementation guide - Chapter 10 -Implement Pricing. 10.1.3 Qualifiers - Table 10-1 Supported qualifiers by iStore.
      For the qualifier attribute, if catalog flag is Yes, then it will be supported in iStore catalog.


      NOTE:
      This is applicable for discounts not being applied in shopping Cart also. the basic step is to verify whether the qualifiers associated with the Modifier
      (discount/ Freight charge etc) is supported by iStore Shopping cart header or line level.
      Sometimes, modifier will be applied only when the cart is checked out. i.e Cart should undergo checkout
      and in the Order Review page, discount is seen.
      In this case, each of the qualifier attribute needs to be verified.
      If it is associated to Ship To/ Bill to attributes (e.g shipping method, ship to customer, payment details etc),
      then the modifier will be applied only when the cart is checkout through shipping and billing pages.

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  10. Storefront: No prices show in catalog after changing UOM on pricelist.
      Problem:     Changed from EA to pc.
      Primary UOM in Inventory is EA.
      Debug log shows "Status Code=INVALID_UOM"
      Cause:     Mismatch between the UOM on the item definition and the UOM on the pricelist.
      Resolution:     The Unit Of Measure for the Item (as defined in Inventory) must be the same as defined in the Price List.

      In the Catalog page -
      If the Profile option "IBE: Retrieve All Units of Measure for an Item" is set to Yes,
      all of the uom's and their corresponding prices defined on an item will be shown in a drop down.
      When the user chooses a non-primary UOM and adds the item to the cart from the catalog
      the UOM code, item and quantity are available to check against the pricelist and the item can be added to the cart.

      In the Direct Item Entry page -
      The page does not provide a way to choose the UOM code.
      Items to be added to the cart from the "Direct Item Entry" page need to have prices defined for their Primary UOM on the price list.

      To view the Unit Of Measure of the item from the Inventory Responsibility:
      Navigate to Items >Master Items
      Query Item and in the first tab, Main, there is the UOM for the item.

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Show Related Information Related
Products

    * Oracle E-Business Suite > Sales & Marketing > Sales > Oracle iStore


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Using Product Autoplacement

Oracle iStore's Product Autoplacement feature allows products within Oracle Inventory categories to be automatically added and replaced within Leaf sections, according to parameters that you set. The autoplacement is achieved through category-section mappings and the use of the concurrent program, iStore Product Autoplacement Concurrent Program.


Available for Leaf Sections Only
The autoplacement feature is available only for leaf sections. A leaf section is the last section(s) in a site section hierarchy node. A leaf section may be a Featured or a Navigational section --- what characterizes it as a leaf section is its location in the hierarchy and the fact that it cannot have subsections. Typically, a leaf section will contain only products.
Note: If you attempt to use autoplacement with sections that are not leaf sections, the autoplacement will not be effective.
The following diagram illustrates the leaf section concept.



Categories Map to Leaf Sections
The autoplacement process matches Oracle iStore leaf sections to Oracle Inventory categories within the default category set specified in the profile option, IBE: Category Set. You must map the leaf sections to categories, as described below.

Note that category assignment is not mandatory. You can always manually select products for any section. When you run the concurrent program, you insert parameters that tell the program which sections and products are candidates for the autoplacement program. The category-section associations that you define determine which categories'
products get populated into (or removed from) the sections.

Categories and sections have a many-to-many relationship -- e.g., you can assign a single category to any number of sections; likewise, a single section can have any number of assigned categories. A warning message will display if you attempt to assign a non-leaf section to a category.

To map leaf sections to categories, log in to the Site Administration UI and select Catalog > Sections > (select section) > Update > Categories hyperlink > Assign Categories.

Running Product Autoplacement Concurrent Program
After you have created the desired mappings between your leaf sections and Oracle Inventory categories, you must run the iStore Product Autoplacement Concurrent Program to populate the sections with products. You also can instruct the concurrent program to run in Replace mode, and it will update existing products as well as remove products which no longer match the category-section mappings.

Product Search for the Customer Application

Oracle iStore's Product Search functionality allows customers to search the Customer Application product inventory. The product search is restricted to the site that the customer is logged in to. Product Search is implemented using:

• Oracle Inventory tables
• The interMedia text search utility of the Oracle8i database
• The concurrent program, iStore Search Insert

• Oracle Inventory: You must ensure that Oracle Inventory is installed and configured properly before setting up the Customer Application product search. Refer to Oracle Inventory implementation documentation for details on how to set up Oracle Inventory for product searching.
• Oracle interMedia Text: You must ensure that Oracle interMedia Text is installed and configured properly before setting up the Customer Application product search. Refer to the Oracle interMedia Text documentation for details on how to set up and configure interMedia Text.
• Oracle Database: The product search requires version 8.1.7 of the Oracle database with the Oracle interMedia Text option installed. You can enable either category-level or section-level searches from the Customer Application Site Home Page Quick Search utility.

Implementing Pricing

Oracle iStore displays prices for site products in both the catalog pages and the shopping cart. All item prices are retrieved from price lists; thus, every Inventory item for sale in your sites must appear on at least one price list. By setting 'IBE: Use Price list Associated with Specialty Site' profile option, you can specify whether the Pricing Engine retrieves site-specific price lists or retrieves the best price from any available price list.

• If the profile option is set to Yes, Oracle iStore retrieves prices from the site-based price lists specified in the Site Administration Application Pricing page for four main user types: B2C, B2B, Guest, and Partners. This is also called site-based pricing. In this case, Site ID is passed to the Pricing Engine.

• If the profile option is set to No, Oracle iStore passes a null price list, with Party ID,
Account ID, and Site ID to the pricing engine. In this case, the pricing engine searches through all eligible price lists to determine the "best price" for which the user qualifies.

Oracle iStore caches prices in the catalog for site-based price lists and guest users. In the
shopping cart, which retrieves prices through Oracle Order Capture, prices are not cached.

Regardless of the value set for IBE: Use Price List Associated with Specialty Site, for walk-in users, the default price list is always determined by the price list set in the Site Administration UI. In addition, guest users always see the cached prices.

For more details on basic and advanced pricing, check below pages
http://www.oracleug.com/user-guide/order-management/basic-pricing
http://www.oracleug.com/user-guide/advanced-pricing/advanced-pricing

Customer Account Price Lists

The Customer Account Price Lists feature allows implementers to display, in the Customer Application catalog, products and prices from price lists tied to a customer.

This feature is implemented as an iStore profile option, along with Oracle Pricing setups.

Customer Account Price Lists Functional Flow
Following is the functional flow for catalog logic when using the customer account price lists feature:

1. If the customer account profile option is Yes and the price list can be located, the application retrieves and caches the account-level price list, and displays these prices in the catalog.

2. However, if the price list cannot be located, the application checks the value of the site-based price lists profile,

IBE: Use Price List Associated with Specialty Site.
• If the site-based price lists profile is Yes, the application retrieves and caches the price list specified for the site, and displays these prices in the catalog. If it cannot retrieve this price list, the application sets the price list to null, and no prices are retrieved.
• If the site-based price lists profile is No, the application sets the price list to null, and no prices are retrieved.

Implementing Customer Account Price Lists
Use the following steps to implement customer account price lists:

• Step 1 - Set Profile Option
• Step 2 - Link Customer to Price List

Carts and Orders

Oracle iStore Customer Application shopping carts enable customers to store products for purchase and then ultimately to purchase the items using the carts. The ability to create and save shopping carts is automatically enabled in your specialty sites. Several other cart features are controlled by profile options whose setups are discussed in this chapter.

For both B2B and B2C users, Oracle iStore shopping carts are characterized by the following:

• Users can add items to the active cart at any time and Users can maintain any number of carts.
• Users can save carts for retrieval up until the expiration date, which is specified in a profile option discussed later in this chapter, in the section, "Shopping Cart Expiration Values".
• The shared cart feature allows users to participate in collaborative shopping and purchasing. This feature can be turned on or off by setting a profile option. Oracle iStore can send e-mail messages to users involved in sharing carts.
• As with all Customer Application pages, the pages that display shopping cart functionality use seeded Display Templates, allowing a wide range of display possibilities.
• Note that cart versioning does not occur in Oracle iStore.
• Shopping carts are tied to the operating unit associated with the site where they are created. Therefore, if a customer creates a shopping cart and then navigates to a site mapped to a different operating unit, the cart he had previously will have disappeared and he will need to create a new cart.

• Active Shopping Carts: In a user session in the Customer Application, an active cart is the cart currently being updated by the user.
• Saved Shopping Carts: A saved cart is a cart which has been saved for later use. For more information, see the following sections within this chapter: "Active/Saved Carts Process Flow", "Accessing Saved Carts", and "System-Saved and Default-Named Shopping Carts".
• Quotes: Quotes are either sales representative-published quotes or carts for which users have requested sales assistance. Quotes can be shared. This functionality requires integration with Oracle Quoting.
• Shared Shopping Carts: A shared cart is a shopping cart shared with other users.

Order Tracking

Once an order is submitted in an Oracle iStore site, customers can log into the site and access their order details (including invoices, payments, shipping, and returns) in Order Tracker, if the administrator has enabled this functionality.

In the Customer Application, Order Tracker is available to registered users through the Orders icon. The Order Tracker section consists of the following subtabs:
• Track Orders
• Pending Orders
• Invoices
• Payments
• Returns
• My Products
Note that the specific functionality must be implemented for the relevant subtab to appear

To implement advanced search, set the profile option, IBE: Enable Advanced Order Tracker Search, to Yes.

Product Display

Product Summary




Product Details

Order Returns

Oracle iStore's Returns feature allows both B2B and B2C users to return items from orders placed. In today's e-commerce environment, accepting return items in Web stores is standard functionality. Providing returns functionality both reduces the cost of doing business for merchants, and provides a invaluable step toward a complete customer self-service orientation.

To address this business requirement, Oracle iStore provides Returns functionality in the Customer Application. Using the Orders menu in the Customer Application, customers can initiate returns for orders which are in Booked or Closed status in Oracle Order Management. If an approval process is being used, an administrator can use Oracle Order Management to evaluate the returns, and either approve or reject the returns. Merchants can set up returns with or without Oracle Workflow approval mechanisms in place.

The following is a high-level Returns flow:
1. To initiate a return (also known as a Return Material Authorization, or RMA), customers select applicable items, specifying the return quantities and return reasons.

2. After the customer submits the RMA, Oracle iStore automatically sends a confirmation e-mail notification to the customer.

3. Once Oracle Order Management processes the return order, the appropriate e-mail notification is sent to the user, notifying him whether the RMA has been approved or not (if approvals are being used). For approved RMAs, merchants can set up a return location to be sent in the e-mail notification.

4. After an RMA is approved, on the back end, Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Accounts Receivable work to complete the RMA processing, by fulfilling the order lines and generating credit memos.

5. RMAs are then available for the customer to track in Order Tracker.

The following functionality exists wit Oracle Order Management Release 11.5.10:
1. Merchants can implement pre-booking approval processes for returns.

2. The status of pending returns is User Working (regardless of whether pre-booking approval processes are being used). Return orders in Entered/User Working status are always part of a user's pending returns queue. These cannot be tracked as submitted orders in the Returns pages.

3. When the user submits the return (clicks Submit Return button):
• If an Approval List has been set up in Order Management:
--Order status moves from User Working to Pending Internal Approval
--User will be able to see the returns in Pending Internal Approval status in the Returns subtab
--Based on the approver's action, the return then moves to Booked or Rejected status.
• If an Approval List has not been set up in Order Management, then the order status moves to Booked status.

4. Any errors from validations being done from Oracle iStore will show up in the Oracle iStore UI after the user adds the items to the return order (in the Create Return: Review and Submit page), prior to submission. Additionally, the error messages that display are more detailed than pre-Release 11.5.10 versions of Oracle Order Management.

5. E-mail notifications support --- Since Oracle iStore return orders are created with a transaction type having an order flow of "Order Flow - Return with Submission and Approval", when a return is Booked (irrespective of whether approval is setup or not), Oracle Order Management calls Oracle iStore to send an approval or rejection notification to the customer. Oracle iStore seeds two notifications for this purpose:
Return Order Approval and Return Order Rejection. See the chapter, "Integrating Oracle iStore with Oracle Workflow", for details.

Note: If you are using Oracle iStore Release 11.5.10 with Oracle Order Management Release 11.5.10, set the profile option, IBE: Enable Return Pre-booking Approval, to enable the pre-booking approval process in Oracle Order Management.

Order Cancellation

Oracle iStore allows B2B and B2C users to cancel orders that they have placed in the Customer Application, if the orders are in Booked or Entered status in Oracle Order Management. B2B customers also can cancel orders across organizations.

Order Cancellation Process Flow

The process flow for order cancellation is as follows:

1. A user accesses the Order Summary or Order Details pages, and initiates the order cancellation process by selecting the Cancel Order button.
Note: The Cancel Order button displays in the Customer UI only if the profile option, IBE: Enable Order Cancellation in Order Tracker, has been set to Yes, and the order is cancellable (in Entered or Booked status). In addition, B2B users who do not have the IBE_CANCEL_ORDER permission will be unable to access the button.
B2B users with the IBE_CANCEL_ORGANIZATION_ORDER permission can cancel orders across operating units for their organization.
Users who have enabled Express Checkout will be able to cancel Express Checkout orders before they are submitted to Order Management.

2. Once a user initiates the cancellation request, the system checks to see if the order is cancellable. If it is, the user is taken to the Order Cancellation page.
If the order is not cancellable, the cancellation process is aborted and a message is presented to the user which informs him that the order is not cancellable online and to contact his sales representative.

3. In the Order Cancellation page, the user is prompted to select a Cancellation Reason from a drop-list.

4. Once the cancellation request is submitted and accepted, a confirmation message displays on the UI.

5. Oracle iStore sends the Cancel Order e-mail to the user confirming that the order has been cancelled.

Implementing Order Cancellation
The cancel order feature is enabled by setting a profile option and ensuring that your B2B users have the appropriate permissions in their user roles. See the following sections for more information:

• "Set Cancel Order Profile Option"
• "Verify B2B User Permissions"

Multiple Organization Architecture

A global implementation of your Oracle Applications enables you to do business in multiple countries, languages, and currencies. Leveraging Oracle Multiple Organization Architecture ("multi-org"), a global implementation allows you to:

• Create multiple sets of books/Ledgers, each with its own unique calendar, chart of accounts, and functional currency. Each set of books then can be tied to a sub-organization of your master organization, and to separate legal entities.
• Sell Inventory from one legal entity (which uses one set of books) and ship them from another legal entity (using a different set of books). Oracle Receivables can automatically record the appropriate intercompany sales by posting intercompany accounts payable and accounts receivable invoices.
• Reuse database tables, meaning one-time data entry.
• Ability to segregate transactions by operating unit -- since each organization is uniquely linked to an operating unit -- yet still share certain information (such as customers) between organizations.
• Support multiple currencies (including the Euro) and several languages.

Istore Integration

Oracle iStore integrates with many other Oracle applications to provide and extend its functionality; therefore, a large portion of your implementation will involve understanding, setting up, and maintaining the integrating applications. iStore's dependencies and integrations range from those applications that supply an underlying structure for your sites to those that extend its functionality and capabilities. The applications that provide structure are mandatory, while ones that enhance Oracle iStore are optional integrations.

Oracle E-Business Tax
Oracle iStore integrates with Oracle E-Business Tax to display calculated tax information (Tax codes, Tax rates & Tax amounts)  to customers. By default, Oracle iStore displays only cart-level tax data, but you can configure the pages to display tax data at the item level.

General Ledger
GL provides business unit information to Oracle iStore. You also set up currencies in GL.
If you are implementing Oracle iStore reports, then you must create a single  calendar with the periods types: Day, Week, Month, Quarter, and Year, in order for the reports to work. Or, if you do not want to add all of these periods to the GL calendar, for reporting purposes, you can create a separate calendar for Oracle iStore in GL with the required period types.

Human Resources Management System
HRMS stores information related to your organization. Use HRMS to set up employees and bill-to and ship-to countries.

Inventory
Oracle Inventory serves as the repository of products that can be sold through Oracle iStore. Before you can create products in Oracle Inventory, you must set up and define the category structures within which products reside.
In addition, several Oracle Inventory flags need to be set in order for products to display in the Oracle iStore Customer Application.

Order Management
Oracle iStore uses the Oracle Order Management suite of applications to:
• Process, record, and track customer orders and shipping details
• Set up basic pricing
• Set up payment and shipping options
Oracle Order Management integrates with Oracle iStore via Oracle Order Capture APIs and schema. Order information is communicated to Oracle Order Capture via the ASO_Update_Order API.

CRM Technology Foundation
Oracle CRM Technology Foundation provides the underlying technology stack for the Oracle HTML applications.
After this implementation, perform the Oracle iStore-related setups listed in the following sections:
Set up Host Configuration, Cookie Properties, Set up Look and Feel Property, Component Caches.