Shipping assets
Shipping is how a store handles physically delivering goods to customers. In most cases, goods are shipped from a fulfillment center, a separate agency that is responsible for warehousing the store's goods.
In order to offer shipping services, and charge for these services, a store created with WebSphere Commerce should include the following:
- At least one shipping mode
- At least one shipping calculation code
- Jurisdictions and jurisdiction groups
The following diagram illustrates the shipping structure in the WebSphere Commerce Server.
- Shipping modes
- The shipping mode is a way of shipping goods. More specifically, a shipping mode is the combination of a shipping carrier (which is a company that provides shipping services from a fulfillment center to a customer), and the shipping service offered by that carrier. For example, ABC Shipping Company, Overnight service and ABC Shipping Company, Express delivery are shipping modes.
A shipping mode belongs to a store entity. If the store entity is deleted, the shipping modes defined within that store entity are also deleted. A store is not required to have a default shipping mode, but IBM recommends.
- Shipping arrangements
- A shipping arrangement is an arrangement between the store and the fulfillment center, indicating that a fulfillment center will ship goods for a particular store using specified shipping modes. Certain restrictions can be placed on a shipping arrangement, including the time period for which the shipping arrangement is effective, and the shipping jurisdictions.
If a shipping arrangement is associated with a shipping mode, it applies only for that shipping mode. Otherwise, the shipping arrangement applies to all available shipping modes. A shipping arrangement is part of a store and will be deleted if the store is deleted.
- Calculation codes
- Calculation codes are used to calculate shipping charges, that is, a shipping calculation code indicates how shipping charges are calculated for order items. In order to calculate shipping charges on the order item, assign shipping calculation codes to either a catalog entry or a group of catalog entries.
A calculation code is part of a store entity. A calculation code can only be associated with one store entity, but a store entity may have several calculation codes. If the store entity is deleted, the calculation codes associated with that store entity are also deleted.
- Calculation rules
- Each calculation code has a set of calculation rules. Shipping charges for an order item may vary depending on the shipping mode, fulfillment center, and which shipping jurisdictions. ShippingJurisdictionGroupCalculationRules are relationship objects that associate shipping calculation rules with jurisdictions, fulfillment centers, and shipping modes, to determine which calculation rules should be used for each order item.
If the calculation rule, or any of the other objects referred to by the ShippingJurisdictionGroupCalculationRules, is deleted, the ShippingJurisdictionGroupCalculation rule is also deleted.
- Jurisdictions and jurisdiction groups
- Jurisdictions are geographical regions or zones representing a country or region, province or territory, or zip code range, to which you sell goods. Jurisdictions are grouped together to form jurisdiction groups.
WebSphere Commerce supports two types of jurisdictions: shipping jurisdictions and tax jurisdictions. Each of these jurisdictions is part of a corresponding group, for example, shipping jurisdictions are in the shipping jurisdictions group and tax jurisdictions are in the tax jurisdictions group.
Jurisdiction groups are associated with calculation rules. The calculation rule uses the jurisdiction group as part of the calculation to determine the shipping charge amount.
Jurisdictions and jurisdiction groups are part of a store entity. If the store entity is deleted, the jurisdictions and jurisdiction groups associated with that store entity are also deleted.
One shipping address may resolve to several shipping jurisdictions. For example, a shipping address in New York, United States will apply to the following shipping jurisdictions: "New York, United States", "United States", and "World". When a shipping address applies to multiple shipping jurisdictions, several shipping calculation rules will be applicable. In such cases, the precedence of the associated ShippingJurisdictionGroupCalculationRules is used to determine which rule or rules will be used.