Process: Business processes
Flow
Process tree structure
The business processes are organized in a tree structure. The top of the tree shows the business models that WebSphere Commerce supports.
In WebSphere Commerce, a business model represents a sample business situation in which the WebSphere Commerce product may be used. A business model describes a scenario in which various parties use WebSphere Commerce to achieve their needs.
Within each business model, WebSphere Commerce provides one or more samples, referred to as starter stores, which may be used as a starting point to develop online sites.
The business processes within each business model are grouped into three areas:
1. Administrative processes
2. Starter stores
3. Solution
Administrative processes are those processes that are used to administer a site, a store, or an organization. Administrative processes are described generically. These processes are generally used as-is, that is a change to or an addition of an additional administrative process will usually entail customizing WebSphere Commerce.
For each business model, the set of administrative processes is divided into 'process groups'. Each process group contains the set of processes relevant to a particular component, or to a clearly identifiable area within the business model. Some process groups are shared among business models, while others are used by only a subset of the business models.
The processes within a process group may vary between business models. Variations are indicated by notes in the process diagrams, and by comments in the accompanying text descriptions.
Starter stores contain sample processes that would be followed by customers of the store. Many different kinds of stores, satisfying a wide range of business needs can be created with WebSphere Commerce. Use the processes described in starter stores as a guideline, or a starting point, for site development. Changing or adding a process to a starter store processes will require changes to the site design. Frequently, this type of change does not require customizing the underlying infrastructure.
A solution describes the high-level view of how all the administrative processes and starter store processes fit within the framework of the overall business model. A solution combines processes into a coherent picture which explains the relationship between the various process groups.
Subprocesses
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