Chapter 7 : Integration
SAP Commerce Cloud supports third party software integration. This chapter will explore common integration scenarios and configurations.
Overview
SAP Commerce provides developers with a rich integration environment. Some of the principal tools in its armory:
- ImpEx
- Cloud Platform Integration (Integration API)
- Data Hub
- OCC Hub
- Platform Webservices
- CIS (Commerce Infrastructure Services)
- SBG (Subscription Billing Gateway)
CPQ Product Configuration
- SAP CPQ Runtime Engine runs on Commerce Server
- Pre-integrated to B2B and B2B Accelerator
- Initial & delta Master Data replication
- Leverage ERP VC & pricing & S/4HANA models
- Guided conflict resolution (Ensuring configurations are compatible, can walk through corrections)
- Responsive & configurable UI
- Integrated with WCMS
- Configuration summary
- Product variant as match, facet or basic start configuration
- Sales modelling (SAP Commerce Cloud rules)
- Use images as characteristics / values
The SAP Customer activity repository (CAR) collects transactional data from various applications and sales channels, including PAS transactions from connected stores. It provides real-time stock information at point of sale. Display point of sales transactions on the account information in the online store.
The SAP service cloud synchronizes customer data using Data Hub.
- Ticketing system integration
- Single Sign On
- Catalog and storefront access for SAP Service Cloud customer service agents
- ASM Module integration
- Highly scalable for large enterprises
The SAP CRM Service Management
- Customer can:
- Register a purchased product
- Create a service ticket and complaints
- View and renew service contracts
- View service order and invoice
- Customer service agent can:
- Use SSO to access ASM storefront from the CRM interaction center
ImpEx
- ImpEx is an out-of-the-box CSV-based import export framework
- Requires familiarity with the SAP Commerce type system
- Enables developers to create, update, export, and remove items.
- Schedules synchronization at runtime between SAP Commerce and an ERP or LDAP system
- Import of sample data into a testing system or real data for migration.
- For better performance, data import sequence should be considered.
- For large data imports, the Distributed ImpEx engine imports into batches for faster processing. (Utilizes the whole server)
Hot Folders
- Good for regular/ongoing updates
- Specify a Hot Folder on your server’s filesystem
- Place a simple CSV data file in the folder
- The folder gets polled by SAP Commerce
- The data will be visible at once
- Processed files are archived automatically
DataHub
SAP Commerce’s key enabler for Asynchronous and master data integrations of sap commerce with SAP and non-SAP backends. It is Unidirectional.
Integration APIs
This is where SAP wants the business model to go. Though DataHub is still good.
An API is an application programming interface. It is a set of rules that allow programs to talk to each other. The developer creates the API on the server and allows the client to talk to it.
Inbound OData Services
- Create services dynamically by defining Integration Objects
- EDMX schema definition for convenient mapping in SCPI
- Create and update (deep persistence supported)
- Batch uploads supported (with a configurable limit)
- Look up by Integration Key
Outbound OData Services
- Dynamic service for publication of integration objects to external http endpoints
- Send integration objects to OData v2
- Payload structure defined by runtime-configurable Integration Objects
- Create http destination endpoints in the backoffice via apiregistry extension
- Built-in extensibility for more complex cases
Integration Backoffice UI Tool
- New backoffice perspective/cockpit for modeling and monitoring of integration data
- Model the transformation between integration objects and type system
- Edit and view the structure of the integration objects (services and payloads)
- View the EDMX metadata generated for easy SCPI mapping
Key benefits
- Provide a real-world view and encapsulation of platform types
- Runtime configurable services in Backoffice or Impex
- No restart or re-compilation of the platform necessary.
- Define payloads for both inbound and outbound requests for easy mapping in SCPI
- Monitor inbound data in the Backoffice
- Align with vision for integration SAP applications in cloud and Hybrid environments.
Restful API
REST determines how the API looks. It stands for “Representational State Transfer”. It is a set of rules that developers follow when they create their API. One of these rules states that you should be able to get a piece of data (called a resource) when you link to a specific URL.
Each URL is called a request while the data sent back to you is called a response.
Omni Commerce Connect (OCC)
The OCC exposes the following key commerce functionality to API clients:
- Viewing the list and details of all placed orders
- Placing your own product-specific reviews
- Checking the list of available points of service and verifying stock levels for local services.
- Integrating external systems to create navigation and content structures
- Ensuring fast and optimized search
- Exploring detailed product information
- Ensuring proper user administration
- Manage existing product reviews, art details, promotion details, coupons, and customer data
- API (Call Reference – V2)
Platform Web Services
- (Alternative to OCC)
- Uses REST
- Every type available without configuration
- Every item is exposed as a resource, with resource calls generated automatically
- Attribute selectors to save bandwidth
- FlexibleSearch-based pagination
- Commands with customizable logic
- Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) is available for each
- Protected
- API Depreciated 1811
- Knowledge of important in case a CRM system needs to feed customer information into SAP commerce cloud, for example.
Commerce Infrastructure Services
Commerce Infrastructure Services are for commerce calling other services through CIS cloud.
Data Modeling
SAP Commerce allows you to match your specific business needs through product and data modeling. Good understanding of the type system allows you to reflect in your application your business model. Here we will explore types from a data model perspective.
The core-items.xml file contains the basic definitions of the most fundamental item types and relations provided and used by the platform. These include definitions for different kinds of users, orders, and products, among other entities. If an extension contributes new item types, extends existing item types, modifies relationships, or adds relationships to the overall data model, it must do so in a file named <extension-name>-items.xml, located in its own top-level resource directory.
SAP Commerce refers to data types as itemtypes, each defined in an itemtype XML element. You define a new item type by adding a new itemType element to the<extension-name>-items.xml file. Similarly, SAP Commerce refers to a one-to-many and many-to-many relationship between itemtypes as a relation, and you define new relations by adding a relation XML element to the <extension-name>-items.xml file.
