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2.3 Store relationships The key to the successful management of a large multi-site installation lies in the seller's ability to manage a single set of assets that are shared among many stores. Rather than duplicating assets for each store, the store can share existing assets as needed. A good example of this is an installation with two stores: one B2B direct and one consumer direct (B2C). Each store can selectively share the contents of a single catalog rather than requiring that a separate catalog be created for each. If one store requires products unique to itself, those products can be added to the catalog and only that store can access them. The mechanism that WebSphere Commerce uses to share data assets such as catalogs is called the store path. Figure 2-7 shows an example of the store path. Figure 2-7 Store path An asset store is created to hold the catalog data. The two customer facing stores do not contain any catalog data. Instead they set their store paths to point to the catalog asset store. The business logic within WebSphere Commerce uses this store path to retrieve the catalog data, making it seem that it is inside the customer facing stores. It is also possible for each customer facing store to maintain its own products in the catalog. In this case, products created by the B2B direct store would not be visible in the consumer direct store, and those created in the consumer direct store would not be visible in the B2B direct store. Each store would have access to the filtered version of the shared catalog as well as those products that were created within the store. The store path in WebSphere Commerce provides the architecture for a variety of relationships between stores in order to support: Multiple stores in a site having the same: Storefront Business logic Store data Any combination of shared assets Other types of relationships between stores in a site such as: One store hosting another Transferring shopping carts from one store to another Relationships between stores that allow one store to provide a service to another store. For example, store A may host store B, or store C may use the catalog data from store D. Code that supports each store relationship is required to implement these store relationships. WebSphere Commerce includes many store relationships and the supporting code. These store relationships can be loosely grouped into the following categories. Relationships in which one store provides assets to another store. These types of store relationships include one store providing the following: URLs Commands Business policies Campaigns Promotions Property files Currencies Relationships in which one store has a business relationship with another store. These types of store relationships include: One store hosting another One store referring orders and RFQs to another store Table 2-1 provides a description of the predefined store relationship types. Table 2-1 Type Name Description -1 IBM commerce business policy One store uses business policies defined in another store. -2 IBM commerce tax   -3 IBM commerce campaigns One store uses campaigns defined in another store. -4 IBM commerce catalog One store uses catalog data defined in another store. -5 IBM commerce command One store uses commands defined in another store. -6 IBM commerce hosted store The hub store hosts the reseller, supplier, or hosted store. -7 IBM commerce price One store uses price data defined in another store. -8 IBM commerce referral The hub store has referral relationships with distributors. The hub store may transfer a shopping cart to a distributor store. Usually the store receiving the shopping cart is a proxy store for an external system. -9 IBM commerce segmentation One store uses customer segmentation data defined in another store. -10 IBM commerce URL One store uses URLs defined in another store. -11 IBM commerce view One store uses views defined in another store. -12 IBM commerce event   -13 IBM commerce inventory   -14 IBM commerce store item One store uses items defined in another store. -15 IBM commerce channel store One store acts as the hub store for another store. This relationship defines the relationship between the store directory and the hosting hub. -16 IBM commerce property files One store uses property files defined in another store. -17 IBM commerce currency conversion   -18 IBM commerce currency format   -19 IBM commerce supported currency One store uses currencies supported in another store. -20 IBM commerce counter value currency One store uses currency counter values defined in another store. -21 IBM commerce measurement format One store uses units of measurement defined in another store. -22 IBM commerce contract Allows a contract in one store to refer to a contract defined in another store. -23 IBM Promotions Relationship   Store relationship descriptions The database tables that are used to define the store path are: STRELTYP The store relationship type defines all the assets that can be shared. STOREREL Defines a relationship between an asset store and an Extended Site store.

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