Overview of the pricing and promotion process flow

In the IBM® WebSphere® Commerce, Version 7, Feature Pack 5 integration with Sterling Order Management, Release 9.2, WebSphere Commerce provides pricing calculations and promotion information for orders. The two systems interact with each other by means of user exits that are supplied as part of this integration.

The following diagram and description explain these services and the pricing process flow.

The following steps describe the Pricing and Promotion Process Flow diagram shown above.

  1. If a shopper on the WebSphere Commerce Store Website is ordering items online, an implicit pricing request takes place as part of that order. This request employs the Pricing Engine within WebSphere Commerce. The Promotion Engine is also used if promotions, discounts, or coupons are being applied to the order.
  2. Pricing and promotion calculation results are returned to the shopper on the Store Website.
  3. If a Customer Service Representative (CSR) at the IBM Sterling Call Center, the IBM Sterling Store, or other Order Management channel initiates a pricing request by performing an item search or viewing item information, this invokes the SCWC_getItemPriceUE service.
  4. An order, pricing rule details, or coupon validation request invokes the SCWC_getOrderPriceUE service, SCWC_getPricingRuleDetailsUE service, or SCWC_ValidateCouponUE service, respectively. An order modification request also follows this path.
  5. Depending upon the request, the appropriate user exit sends an input XML to a JMS queue.
  6. WebSphere Commerce picks up the input XML in the JMS queue. In the WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus (WESB), the user exits are mapped to the WebSphere Commerce BODs (Business Object Documents) GetEntitledPrice , ProcessOrder, GetPromotionDetails, and ValidatePromoCode.
  7. Pricing requests are handled by the WebSphere Commerce Pricing Engine. Order calculation requests are handled by both the Pricing and Promotion Engines. Pricing Rule Details and Coupon Validation requests are handled by the Promotion Engine.
  8. Depending upon the request, WebSphere Commerce performs all pricing and promotion calculations, and the appropriate BOD sends output results to the WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus. The WESB maps the BODs to corresponding UEs and puts them in a JMS queue.
  9. Sterling Order Management picks up the output results in the appropriate output user exit.
  10. These calculation results are returned to the CSR at the Sterling Call Center, Sterling Store, or other OMS Channel.
  11. Because orders reside in the Sterling Order Management, when WebSphere Commerce is finished pricing them, confirmation of an order creation or a change is pushed to WebSphere Commerce by the events CREATE_ORDER.ON_SUCCESS, CONFIRM_DRAFT_ORDER.ON_SUCCESS, CHANGE_ORDER.ON_SUCCESS, and CHANGE_ORDER.ON_CANCEL. These events also update promotion usage statistics in the WebSphere Commerce Promotion Engine.
  12. The corresponding services on the WebSphere Commerce side are FinalizePromotionCalUsage for both CREATE_ORDER and CONFIRM_DRAFT_ORDER, UpdatePromotionCalUsage for CHANGE_ORDER.ON_SUCCESS, and CancelPromotionCalUsage for CHANGE_ORDER.ON_CANCEL.