Oracle Applications: Oracle iStore Overview

Oracle iStore consists of two distinct but integrated user interfaces viz. Administrative Application and Customer Application

Administrative Application is used for :

Create Unlimited Number of Sites
Setup Pricelists, Shipping Methods etc.
Build Product Catalog using Oracle Inventory
Change site look and Feel by selecting different Section Templates and Product Display Templates
View and Configure Workflow notifications
View Business and Operational Reports

Customer Application is full web based Shopping Application. It has various features viz.

Online shopping and orders processed into Oracle Order Management
Saves and Share Carts, Quotes etc
Track Orders
Cancel Orders
Submit Return Orders
Store and access user addresses and credit card data

Order iStore is an integrated part of E-Business Suite. It communicates with various Oracle EBS modules.

Oracle iStore Include following components:

Business Objects- The schema for storing customer orders, product catalog and presentation element (IBE & ASO Database Schema)
Runtime Services & APIs- These include PLSQL and Java based APIs which manipulate the Business Objects (Data)
Configurable Customer Application Templates- All customer application menus and pages are customizable using logical template names
Processing and Routing Templates- In combination with display templates, these templates contain logic and appropriate business flows
Oracle BLAF (Browse Look And Feel) compliant user interface for Administrative and customer application

Mandatory Modules for Oracle iStore

Oracle Receivables: AR is need to acces Customer and related information viz. Customer Details, Calculate Taxes, Generates Invoices

Oracle General Ledger: GL is needed for providing Business Unit Information to iStore and setting up of Chart of Account , Calendar, Currencies and Business Unit

Oracle Human Resources: HR Stores information related to organization and needed for tasks like setting up of Business Group, Locations, Legal Entities, Operating Unit, Employees, Bill-To and Ship-To Countries

Oracle Inventory: Stores all products (also called as items in inventory terminology)

Oracle Order Management- iStore is can be called as WEB based Order Management for Order capture. iStore uses OM to track and process customer orders and shipping details. iStore uses Order Capture APIs and Schema to communicate with OM. OM is required include setting of System Parameters, Transaction Types, Workflows, Order Number sequence, defaulting rules, flag shipping methods as web enables, payment types

Oracle CRM Technology Foundation -This must be implemented in order for iStore to work properly.

Important Responsibilities

Following responsibilities are needed to implement Oracle iStore

iStore Administrator - Required for Setup content, section, site, templates etc
iStore Concurrent Program Administrator-Required for Execute concurrent programs for data refresh
IBE_CUSTOMER :-Required for Placing Orders using iStore website
CRM HTML Administrator (with all available ROLES):-Required for Setting business users and associate them to appropriate receivables account, Create Roles
Application Developer:- Required for Setting message codes and message text
Application Developer Common Modules (AK_DEVELOPER):-Setup regions, region items/attributes used for Post Sales (Order Tracking)

Important Profiles

Profile Option Name	Value
IBE:Category Set	Valid Value from LOV
IBE:Item Master Organization	Valid Value from LOV
MO:Operating unit	Valid Value from LOV
IBE:Price Event For Shopping Cart	Batch Processing
IBE:Create Order In Entered State if It has errors while Booking	Yes
IBE:Shopping Event Before Shopping Cart	Enter Order Line
IBE:Default Payment Term	Valid Value from LOV
JTF_PROFILE_DEFAULT_APPLICATION	671

JTF_PROFILE_DEFAULT_CSS	jtfucss.css

JTF_PROFILE_DEFAULT_CURRENCY	USD
JTF_PROFILE_DEFAULT_RESPONSIBILITY	21819 (iStore Admin at Application Level)
ASO:Automatic Numbering	Yes
ASO:Credit Card Authorzation	Yes (if CC Allowed)
ASO:Default Quote Status	Store Draft
ASO:Default Order State	Booked
ASO:Default Order Type	Mixed
ASO:Default Sales Rep	No sales credit
ASO:Enable TCA Changes	Yes
ASO:OM Defaulting	Yes or No (based on OM Defaulting Rules)
HZ:Generate Party Number	Yes (ApplicationLevel)
HZ:Generate Party Site Number	Yes (ApplicationLevel)
Sequential Numbering	Yes (Site Level)
QP:Item Validation Organization	Valid Master Org
ASO : ATP Default Customer	Valid Customer
IBE: Retrieve Price When Displaying Items	Yes
IBE: Use Price list associated with Specialty Site	Yes

iStore Setup - Concurrent Programs

Execute Following Concurrent Programs

1. iStore Search Insert (To Populate iStore Item Search Table)- Generally executed only once or for complete refresh

2. iStore Section Search Refresh (Can be executed multiple times)

iStore Setup - Web Server

Oracle iStore is a JSP based application hence there is a need of bouncing of Web Server for various occasions

Setting up defaulting rules in order management
Modifying text messages in oracle forms
Modifying lookups in oracle forms
Running Oracle Pricing Concurrent Programs, Building sourcing rules
Adding new items to inventory as well as attribute changes
Setting Site level profile options
Setting up discoverer reports
Applying Patches

Customer Application Display Components

iStore utilizes JSPs (java server pages) along with APIs to retrieve dynamic data along with static HTML data. iStore uses templates and other components to present customer application viz.Display Templates, Section and Product Hierarchy and Content - images and HTML content

iStore Setup- Catalog Creation

http://<Host Name>:<port>/html/jtflogin.jsp and use following steps to create a catalog

1. Navigate to Catalog Tab to see Hierarchy.

2. Click Section image in Accessories Section which is root section. This will create a new section and open up a page to set the various properties.

3. Select Accessories as parent section and mark the Status as Published.

4. Update other fields viz. Section name, Section Code, Description etc.

5. There are Mandatory Product (inventory ) Attributes setup in Oracle inventory viz. Web Status Flag - Published, Orderable on web - Yes, OE Translatable - Yes, Customer Order Enabled- Yes.

6. Similarly all iStore products should be present in pricelist used while iStore Site Creation setup and Order Management Workflow should be assigned to the order type used in iStore (order type profile option)

iStore Setup- Site Creation

Following few steps will create an iStore website.

1. Click Sites tab at the top page

2. Click Create Sites Button to open page 'Update Site Details" Update the Site Name, Description fields

3. Set Default Language to "American English"

4. Set Default Currency to "US Dollar"

5. Set Walk-in Pricelist to "CKMS Pricelist" or any valid pricelist

6. Set Catalog Root Section to Newly Created Section in previous slides

7. Check all check boxes except (Restrict customer access by responsibility)

8. Click Apply to save the changes

9. Click Payment Link on LHS of update sites screen. Add the necessary payment type (invoice/credit card etc).

10. Click Apply to save changes

11. Click Shipment Link on LHS of update Sites Screen

12. Add necessary Shipping methods

13. Click Apply to Save the changes

14. Click Responsibility link on LHS of Update Sites Screen and add IBE_CUSTOMER responsibility and click apply to save the changes

15. Click Access Link on LHS and Select No Restrictions button and save the changes

iStore -Using iStore Customer Website

Browse the newly created iStore site using URL http://<host>:<post>/html/ibezhome.jsp and login using user id which has IBE_CUSTOMER responsibility, Add the Products to the Cart and Place the Order. After receiving Order Confirmation screen, Order will land in Oracle Order Management with Flow_Status_code as ENTERED or BOOKED based on iStore Setups. iStore JSPs internally call Order Capture APIs (ASO APIs) and ASO tables for transferring Order Information from iStore to Order Management.

iStore Customizations- Tips

If User Interface requirements are not fulfilled by seeded templates the JSP customizations will be required.
The new JSPs will be created based on seeded JSPs which will be attached to seeded Display Templates using Template Manager screen of iStore Administrative site
To reflect any changes in JSPs, Item Attributes, Prices etc. Web server will have to be bounced.
To view source code of class files used in JSPs developer needs to have following tools

Java Decompilers e.g.DJ Java Decompiler 3.9, Jcavaj , JSP editor like JDeveloper or even text editor editplus is sufficient

To get information about JSP is getting displayed (which is not necessarily same as jsp name in URL) while using iStore site, use following steps

Copy the hard coded texts from JSP page e.g. field label etc.
Login to Oracle Applications as Application Developer and navigate to message maintenance screen
All hard codes labels/texts in iStore are store as Messages in Database with message code starting from IBE%
Get the appropriate message code by querying messages screen
Login to UNIX and change directory to $COMMON_TOP/html
Use grep command to file given message code in iStore JSPs which will will give list of all JSPs containing given message code e.g.

grep -l "IBE_YOUR_PRICE_COL" ibe*.jsp

Important Tables/Views in iStore

Table/View Name	Purpose
IBE_DSP_ATTACHMENTS_V	Stores JSP names attached to various templates
IBE_CT_IMEDIA_SEARCH	Product Search
IBE_SECTION_SEARCH	iStore Section information
IBE_DSP_SECTION_ITEMS	Sections and Associated Items
IBE_MSITE_INFORMATION	iStore Site Information
ASO_QUOTE_HEADERS_ALL	iStore Order Header
ASO_QUOTE_LINES_ALL	iStore Order Lines
ASO_SHIPMENTS	iStore Order Shipment information
FND_NEW_MESSAGES	All iStore hardcode messages

Pages

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Oracle iStore Overview