Migrate > Take the first steps after WebSphere Commerce migration > Migrating marketing > Migrating marketing from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to Management Center v7



Overview of migrating marketing from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to Management Center v7

Review this information to understand the requirements for and process of migrating existing marketing data to the Management Center v7 Marketing tool.


WebSphere Commerce v7 configurations supported for marketing migration

The following configurations are supported for marketing migration:


Migration requirements for marketing objects

Only two types of WebSphere Commerce Accelerator marketing objects must be migrated: campaigns and Web activities. This is because campaigns and Web activities use a new data schema and new marketing services in Management Center. These changes make it easier to customize marketing activities and implement new features, while improving marketing performance. The following table summarizes requirements for moving different marketing objects to Management Center if you are migrating from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.

Existing WebSphere Commerce Accelerator marketing objects Requirements for managing these objects in Management Center
Campaigns Must be migrated to Management Center using the marketing migration utility.
Web activities Must be migrated to Management Center using the marketing migration utility.
E-Marketing Spots Can be opened and managed directly in Management Center; no migration required.
Content Can be opened and managed directly in Management Center; no migration required.
Customer Segments Can be opened and managed directly in Management Center; no migration required.
E-mail activities Cannot be migrated; if needed. recreate the E-mail activity in Management Center.
Marketing experiments Cannot be migrated; if needed, recreate the experiment in Management Center.
Content spots Cannot be migrated; if needed, recreate the content spot as an e-Marketing Spot with default content or as a Web activity in Management Center.

After migrating to the Management Center Marketing tool, business users must use Management Center to manage all marketing objects listed in the previous table going forward. Business users should not switch back and forth between WebSphere Commerce Accelerator and Management Center, even for marketing objects that do not require data migration, such as e-Marketing Spots and customer segments. The marketing services used with Management Center are different from the marketing engine used with WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. IBM recommends that you disable marketing in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator in the v7 installation to ensure business users do not use WebSphere Commerce Accelerator for marketing management.

If the site migrates to the Management Center Marketing tool and then decides to switch back to WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, see Configure the site to use WebSphere Commerce Accelerator Marketing instead of the Management Center Marketing tool.


Migration limitations for certain Web activities

Web activities cannot be migrated if they display product recommendations with either of the following Method options set:

These options are not supported in the Management Center marketing tool. The marketing migration utility will not migrate these Web activities, and the migration log file will contain an information message that identifies these Web activities.

To fill a vacant e-Marketing Spot that contained this type of Web activity, you can create a new, replacement Web activity after migrating to Management Center. Consider using the Recommend Catalog Entry template, which is the Management Center equivalent to the Product recommendation Web activity type in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.


Marketing migration utility

The marketing migration utility is a script that extracts campaign and Web activity data from the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator database tables and saves it to the Management Center database tables. After the data is migrated, business users can manage campaigns and Web activities in Management Center. The following diagram illustrates the data migration process:

The marketing migration utility


Post-migration configuration tasks

After running the marketing migration utility, there are a number of tasks to perform to ensure that the site is configured to support the marketing features available with Management Center v7. For example, change several properties in a configuration file to point to the marketing services that support Management Center and to enable features that support behavioral marketing. See the full list of tasks in Migrate marketing from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to Management Center v7.


Migrated Web activity representation in the Management Center user interface

Campaigns migrated to Management Center are managed in a properties view that is similar to WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. Web activities migrated to Management Center, however, are managed in a user interface that looks different from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. In Management Center, Web activities are managed in a flow diagram format in a tool called the Activity Builder. Note that the migrated Web activity will work the same way as it did on the storefront; the differences are visible only to business users managing the Web activity.

Use the following table to understand how Web activity options in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator user interface map to the Management Center flow diagram format for Web activities.

Map for Web activity type options
Web Sphere Commerce Accelerator option Management Center representation in the Activity Builder
Promotion option Recommend Promotion action in activity flow
Product recommendation–Suggest specific products option Recommend Catalog Entry action in activity flow
Category recommendation option Recommend Category action in activity flow
Advertisement option Recommend Content action in activity flow
Up-sell product option Display Merchandising Association action in activity flow
Cross-sell product option Display Merchandising Association action in activity flow

Map for target customer, target customer behavior, and daily schedule options
Web Sphere Commerce Accelerator option Management Center representation in the Activity Builder
Target specific customer segments option Customer Segment target in activity flow
Target customer behaviors option:

  • Current shopping cart contains SKU

  • Current shopping cart does not contain SKU

  • Current shopping cart contains category

  • Current shopping cart does not contain category

Shop Cart target in activity flow
Target customer behaviors option:

  • Previous purchase contains SKU

  • Previous purchase does not contain SKU

  • Previous purchase contains category

  • Previous purchase does not contain category

Purchase History target in activity flow
Days on which activity displays–Specific days of the week option Day and Time target in activity flow


Next topic:

Migrate campaigns and Web activities from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to Management Center


+

Search Tips   |   Advanced Search