Integrating Oracle iStore with Oracle Workflow

This chapter covers the following topics:

Integrating Oracle iStore with Oracle Workflow

This chapter describes the integration of Oracle iStore with Oracle Workflow to provide e-mail notifications of Customer UI events and Site Administration business reports.

Overview of Oracle Workflow

Business processes today involve getting many types of information to multiple people according to rules that are constantly changing. An integral part of Oracle Applications, Oracle Workflow lets you automate and continuously improve business processes, routing information of any type to people both inside and outside your enterprise according to business rules that you can easily change. Oracle Workflow does this by enabling e-mail notifications based on business event triggers.

For more information on Oracle Workflow, see the Oracle Workflow Guide.

Oracle iStore Functionality with Oracle Workflow

Oracle iStore provides seeded workflows in which there are predefined notifications and notification messages. In Oracle Workflow, the workflow that contains Oracle iStore notification workflows is the iStore Alert Workflow (IBEALERT).

Oracle iStore supports sending Oracle Workflow e-mail notifications in HTML and text formats, and seeds the message text for the seeded text format messages. Merchants can enable the HTML notifications at the workflow level based on their business requirements. In the Site Administration UI, merchants can select the HTML messages retrieved from Workflow, and map these to organization, user type, or site.

The notification e-mail messages are sent to users based on various events, including:

Notifications can be triggered by a site user (e.g., registration) or by the application itself (e.g., when an update message is scheduled for delivery). The e-mail messages include attributes (also called tokens) that are dynamically replaced with user-specific values -- such as the user's name -- when an e-mail is sent.

Notification events and messages are stored in Oracle Workflow data tables.

You can choose to use only the seeded messages for notifications. You can also create new messages using Oracle Workflow Builder. See the section, "Customizing Oracle iStore-Oracle Workflow Integration", below, for more information.

After you have the messages that you need, you can use the default configurations of ALL users, ALL sites, and ALL organization, or you can select messages for notification events based on site, organization, or user type combinations, using the Oracle iStore Site Administration UI. See the section, "Mapping New Notification Configurations", for details.

Notifications Business Flow

The business flow of a typical notification event is:

  1. Notification event occurs. (e.g., a user registers or requests to share a cart).

  2. Oracle iStore selects the message for the notification, in some cases based on the recipient's organization and user type. (These are configurable parameters -- see the section, "Mapping New Notification Configurations", below.)

  3. Oracle Workflow parses the message.

  4. Oracle Workflow enters dynamic content into e-mail.

  5. Oracle Workflow sends the message to the e-mail address of the user(s) involved in the event.

Note: Users must have a valid e-mail address stored in their registration data for the e-mail notifications to reach them.

Oracle iStore Notifications

Oracle iStore comes with seeded (supplied) Oracle Workflow notification events and messages. These are described below.

Notification Events Related to Orders

Following are the order-related notification events:

Notification Events Related to Shopping Cart/Quote Sharing

Following are the cart/quote sharing-related notification events:

Notification Events Related to Sales Assistance

Following are the sales assistance-related notification events:

Notification Events Related to Users and Registration

Following are the user management-related notification events:

See also: "Other Supported Notification Events for User Management"

Notification Events Related to Contracts

Following are the contracts-related notification events:

List of Seeded Oracle iStore Notification Events

The following table describes the seeded Oracle iStore notification events. The table also lists their triggers and seeded recipients.

Oracle iStore Seeded Notification Events
Notification Name Description Recipients Trigger
Notification Events Related to Orders      
Order Confirmation - Normal Confirms a normal order User who places the order User places an order in a web specialty site.
Order Confirmation - Next steps for faxed orders Explains the remaining steps for order submission User who places the order User places an order and chooses to fax a credit card or purchase order as payment.
Orders Not Booked Notification Announces that an order has not been booked. Order administrator (profile option IBE: Order Administrator for Booking Issues.) User's order is not booked.
Cancel Order Confirms cancelled order User who cancels order User cancels order using the web specialty site.
Return Order Confirmation Confirms submitted return User who submits return order request User submits return order.
Return Order Approval Notification Notifies of approved return. You can customize the message content to specify the return location where the company would like the return items to be shipped by the end customer. User who submits return order request User submits return order and it is approved.
Return Order Rejection Notification Notifies of rejected return User who submits return order request User submits return order and it is rejected.
Order Administrator for Partner Orders Used to send notification by Partner and Partner Primary Users Order Administrator for Partner Orders (profile IBE: Order Administrator) Partner user's order is not booked.
Notification Events Related to Shared Shopping Carts      
Generic Notification for Shared Carts Notifies existing members (whose role did not get updated) and the owner (unless the owner initiated the action); contains a URL which takes members to shared cart All existing members specified during sharing (Notify checkbox checked for these members)
Owner or administrator, when requesting sales assistance
Owner receives this notification when someone other than him (an administrator) requests sales assistance
User shares a cart or adds new members to an existing shared cart; or when owner or administrator requests sales assistance
Shared Cart Notification Confirms new shared cart (or re-shared cart) event and explains how to access shared cart Shared cart members (contains two messages -- one for B2B users, one for B2C users)
Owner gets Generic Notification when an administrator re-shares a cart
User shares a cart; or, a user re-shares a cart
Shared Quote Notification Confirms shared (or re-shared) quote event and explains how to access shared quote Shared quote members (contains two messages -- one for B2B users, one for B2C users)
Owner gets Generic Notification when an administrator re-shares a quote
User shares a quote; or, a user re-shares a quote
Change Access Level by Cart Owner Notifies users about access level changes Shared cart members whose roles have changed
Members get a Generic Notification if their access level is not changed
Owner gets Generic Notification when an administrator changes the access level of members
Shared cart owner/administrator changes access level of member
Change Access Level by Quote Owner Notifies users about access level changes Shared quote members whose role has changed Shared quote owner/administrator changes access level of member
Remove Cart Access by Recipient Notifies users about shared cart status Shared cart owner (members receive Generic Notification) Shared cart recipient removes his own access to a shared cart
Remove Quote Access by Recipient Notifies users about shared quote status Shared quote owner (members receive Generic Notification) Shared quote recipient removes his own access to a shared quote.
Stop Sharing by Cart Owner Notifies users that a shared cart has been un-shared by the owner or administrator Shared cart recipients Shared cart owner /administrator stops sharing a shared cart.
Stop Sharing by Quote Owner Notifies users that a shared quote has been un-shared by the owner or administrator Shared quote recipients Shared quote owner /administrator stops sharing a shared quote.
Notification Events Related to Sales Assistance      
Sales Assistance Request - To Sales Representatives Describes a request for sales assistance For shopping carts: The sales representative specified in the quote header's resource ID
For published quotes: The sales representative who is the quote's primary sales agent.
User requests sales assistance.
Sales Assistance Request - To Users Acknowledges a request for sales assistance User User requests sales assistance.
Notification Events Related to Users and Registration      
User Registration Welcomes a newly registered user after approval User; contains several messages:
  • B2C user, standard registration

  • B2C user, Need Online Access registration

  • B2B non-administrative user, standard registration

  • B2B non-administrative user, Need Online Access registration

  • B2B primary (administrative) user, standard registration

  • Online Access to Existing Account B2C user

  • Online Access to Existing Account B2B user

  • Partner non-administrative user, standard registration

  • Partner primary (administrative) user, standard registration


Note that the notifications Online Access to Existing Account functionality display as "Individual Partial" and "Business Partial" in the Site Administration UI.
B2C user registers, B2B regular user registers and is approved, B2B primary user registers
Forget Login Tells user his username and password User Registered user requests login information.
Notification Events Related to Contracts      
Contract Negotiations Request - Disapproval Announces rejection of a contract terms change request Contract sales representative for the user's operating unit Contract administrator rejects user's request for changes in contract terms.
Contract Negotiations Request - To Sales Representatives Describes a request for changes to contract terms Contract sales representative for the user's operating unit User requests changes in contract terms.
Contract Negotiations Request - Approval Announces approval of a contract terms change request User
Contract sales representative for the user's operating unit
Contract administrator approves user's request for changes in contract terms.
Contract Negotiations Request - Cancellation Announces cancellation of contract negotiations User
Contract sales representative for the user's operating unit
Contract administrator cancels contract that was created when a user requested changes in contract terms.
Contract Negotiations Request - To Users Acknowledges a request for changes to contract terms User User requests changes in contract terms.

Other Supported Notification Events for User Management

The following notifications events which use Oracle CRM user management workflows are supported when users register through Oracle iStore:

See the section, "Oracle iStore Seeded Notifications", for the user management notifications owned by Oracle iStore. See theOracle CRM System Administrator's Guide for information about Oracle CRM user management notifications.

Notifications Sent Based on Registration Type

The following table shows the e-mail notification sent based on which user type the user selects during registration. For more information on user types, see the chapter, Implementing User Management.

Notifications Sent Based on Registration Type
Registration Type iStore Welcome Notification JTF Welcome Notification JTF Approval Pending Request Notification to Approvers JTF Registration Approved Notification JTF Registration Rejected Notification
iStore/Partner Management Registration Yes No Yes Yes Yes
iStore/Partner Management Partial Registration Yes; but without password No Yes Yes Yes
iSupport Registration (where, app_id parameter is provided) No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Setting up Oracle iStore to Use Oracle Workflow Notifications

This chapter is limited to information specific to implementing Oracle iStore's Oracle Workflow notification events. For further details, please refer to the Oracle Workflow Guide.

Limited information about customizing notifications is also presented here, in the section, "Customizing Oracle iStore-Oracle Workflow Integration".

Setting up Oracle iStore to Use Workflow Notifications - Required Steps

iStore merchants can set the default email notification style that the iStore B2B and B2C users will receive upon registration. iStore merchants should set the IBE: Default User Email Style profile option to the preferred email notification style as a default value. The following list of email styles can be chosen:

Upon receiving registration confirmations, new iStore B2B and B2C users can access their iStore profiles and set the default email notification style to a preferred value. The iStore merchant has the ability to modify the list of values available for email notification styles. For example, if the email notification style for HTML mail with attachments style is not applicable, then the selection can be removed from the list of available email notification styles.

In addition to the Oracle-Workflow-specific setups documented in the Oracle Workflow Guide, you must set the profile option, HZ: Raise API Events (previously named HZ: Execute API Callouts), to Only Granular (V2) Events Enabled, in order to synchronize Oracle TCA data with Oracle Workflow user data. If this profile is not enabled, Workflow will not have required user details, and notifications -- even though generated -- will not be sent. See the Oracle TCA documentation for additional details.

Setting up Oracle iStore to Use Workflow Notifications - Optional Steps

iStore B2B and B2C users can enter or change their addresses (Address Book link), email addresses (Email Addresses link), and phone numbers (Phone Book link) available in their iStore profiles. Within the Email Addresses link, B2B and B2C users can select the primary email style to be used when they receive notifications. iStore B2B and B2C users can choose from a list of email styles, see the section, Setting up Oracle iStore to Use Workflow Notifications – Required Steps for more information.

Note: When a new iStore B2B or B2C user is created, their primary email style will be set to the value determined by the IBE: Default User Email Style profile option. The iStore customer can then access the iStore application, navigate to their profile, and change their primary email style in the Email Addresses link to one of the available email styles from the dropdown list.

This section contains optional steps to activate the Oracle Workflow integration with Oracle iStore.

Setting Default Administrator for Orders Errors

To specify a default username to receive a notification each time an error occurs during the ordering process, set the profile option, IBE: Order Administrator for Booking Issues. See the "Profile Options" appendix for more information.

Setting up Sales Representative Recipients

Several Oracle iStore notifications are sent to sales representatives and contract sales representatives. If you are integrating with the Oracle applications whose users are primarily sales representatives -- including Oracle Sales Contracts, Oracle Sales Online, and Oracle Quoting -- you must specify the sales representatives and contract sales representatives who receive notifications. Refer to the specific product documentation for further details. See the chapter, Implementing Customer Assistance, for information about this business flow.

Mapping New Notification Configurations

Oracle iStore ships with the seeded notification events described in earlier in this chapter. For any notification event, if you have not set up a message for a specific site, organization, or user type, Oracle iStore uses the default message, mapped to ALL sites, organizations, or user types.

When mapping new configurations, three parameters can be used to determine the mapping:

If integrating with Oracle Partner Management, you must set up the user types: Register as a partner and Register as a user of an existing partner. See the chapters, Integrating Oracle iStore with Oracle Partner Management, and Implementing User Management, for details.

If you wish to send different email text for B2C, B2B and partner party-types, but, the same email notification text regardless of whether the user is a Primary user, regular B2B user or Online Access to Existing Account user, you can map the same message to the IBE_PRIMARY/IBE_BUSINESS/IBE_PARTIAL_BUSINESS user types. Additionally, if you wish to send different notifications for B2B Primary and B2B regular users, you may map the message for both IBE_BUSINESS and IBE_PARTIAL_BUSINESS user types, but use a different message for IBE_PRIMARY.

Important: Oracle iStore does not allow customization of notification events. Customers can only customize the notification messages. See the Oracle Workflow Guide for details.

The following table shows sample message configurations for the notification Order Confirmation - Normal.

Sample Configurations for the Notification Order Confirmation - Normal
Organization User Type Message
All All Message 1 (default)
All Register as a user of an existing company Message 2
Organization A All Message 3
Organization A Register as individual Message 4

When Oracle iStore sends a notification, it chooses the message with the parameters that match the user's data most closely, or it selects the default configuration.

For example, with the message configuration listed in the table above, an individual user who places an order against Organization A receives Message 4, not Message 1 or Message 3.

If more than one message applies to the user, the user's organization takes precedence over the user type. For example, with the message configuration listed in the preceding table a business user who places an order against Organization A receives Message 3, not Message 2.

Organization, user type, and site are not relevant to certain notifications. In such cases:

Oracle iStore Notification Events Configurable Parameters

The following table shows the notification events and their configurable parameters.

Configurable Parameters for Oracle iStore Notification Events
Notification Event Site Org. User Type
Cancel Order No Yes Yes
Change Access Level by Cart Owner Yes Yes Yes
Change Access Level by Quote Owner Yes Yes Yes
Contract Negotiations Request - Approval No Yes Yes
Contract Negotiations Request - Cancellation No Yes Yes
Contract Negotiations Request - Disapproval No Yes No
Contract Negotiations Request - To Sales Representatives No Yes No
Contract Negotiations Request - To Users No Yes Yes
Forget Login Yes Yes Yes
Order Confirmation - Next steps for faxed orders No Yes Yes
Order Confirmation - Normal No Yes Yes
Orders Not Booked Notification No No No
Remove Cart Access by Recipient Yes Yes Yes
Remove Quote Access by Recipient Yes Yes Yes
Reports - iStore Historical Summary No No No
Reports - iStore Top Orders No No No
Return Order Confirmation Yes Yes Yes
Return Order Approval No Yes Yes
Return Order Rejection No Yes Yes
Sales Assistance Request - To Sales Representatives No Yes No
Sales Assistance Request - To Users No Yes Yes
Share Cart Notification Yes Yes Yes
Share Quote Notification Yes Yes Yes
Stop Sharing by Cart Owner Yes Yes Yes
Stop Sharing by Quote Owner Yes Yes Yes
User Registration No Yes Yes

Steps to Map New Configurations

Use the following procedure to add message configurations for notification events according to site, organization, or user type. For a list of seeded notification events, see the section, "Oracle iStore Seeded Notifications".

Prerequisites

Steps

  1. Log in to the Site Administration UI. In the Advanced tab, select the Notifications subtab. The Notification Events page opens with a list of existing Notification Events.

  2. Select the Details icon for the notification event that you want to modify or copy. The Notification Event Details page opens, displaying the default, seeded configuration for this notification event and any other configurations that have been created.

    • Optionally, you can remove non-seeded notification configurations

    • Optionally, you can disable/enable a configuration by selecting the notification configuration and selecting the Enable or Disable button.

  3. In the Notification Event Details page, select Add Notification Event. In the Add Configuration page, use the lists-of-values to map the notification event at the desired level. The LOVs will only be updateable if the notification event can be mapped at that level.

Customizing Oracle iStore-Oracle Workflow Integration

You can choose to use only the seeded messages for Oracle iStore notifications. If you want to create additional messages, you can use the planning steps below to assist you:

If you are upgrading Oracle iStore and have customized Workflow messages, then you must do the following:

Creating Messages

Use Oracle Workflow Builder to create and edit messages for Oracle iStore notifications. The Oracle Workflow item type iStore Alerts Workflow (IBEALERT), in the data store file IBENOTIF.wft, contains all Oracle iStore notifications and their messages and attributes, except for the notifications Summary Report and Top N Orders Report. The item type iStore Alert Reports (IBEECRRP), in the data store file IBEVWFR.wft, contains the notifications Historical Summary Report and Top N Orders Report.

Note: Do not modify the seeded messages. Changes to the seeded messages will be overwritten when you apply patches. Instead, copy the seeded messages into new messages, then modify the new messages.

Each message is associated to an internal name and is linked to an Oracle iStore notification event. The following table lists the message prefix for each notification event. See the section, "Oracle iStore Seeded Notifications", above, for descriptions of the notification events.

Seeded Message Template Names for Oracle iStore Notifications
Notification Event Message Template Name
Cancel Order CANCELORDER
Change Access Level by Cart Owner CHANGEACCESSLEVEL
Change Access Level by Quote Owner CHANGEACCESSLEVEL_QUOTE
Contract Negotiations Request - Approval TERMAPPROVEDNOTIF
Contract Negotiations Request - Cancellation TERMCANCELLEDNOTIF
Contract Negotiations Request - Disapproval TERMREJECTEDNOTIF
Contract Negotiations Request - To Sales Representatives SALESQUOTENOTIFICATION
Contract Negotiations Request - To Users CUSTQUOTENOTIFICATION
Forget Login FORGETLOGINNOTIFICATION
Order Confirmation - Next steps for faxed orders ORDFAXNOTIFICATION
Order Confirmation - Normal ORDCONFNOTIFICATION
Orders Not Booked Notification ORDNOTBOOKEDNOTIFICATION
Remove Cart Access by Recipient ENDWORK
Remove Quote Access by Recipient ENDWORK_QUOTE
Reports - iStore Historical Summary IBE_ECR_SUMM_ALERT
Reports - iStore Top Orders IBE_ECR_TOPORD_ALERT
Return Order Confirmation - B2B user IBE_RETURNORDERCONF_B2B
Return Order Confirmation - B2C user IBE_RETURNORDERCONF
Return Order Approval IBE_RETURNORDERAPPROVED
Return Order Rejection IBE_RETURNORDERREJECT
Sales Assistance Request - To Sales Representatives SALESASSISTNOTIFICATION
Sales Assistance Request - To Users CUSTASSISTNOTIFICATION
Share Cart Notification SHARECARTNOTIF
Share Quote Notification SHAREQUOTENOTIF
Stop Sharing by Cart Owner STOPWORKING
Stop Sharing by Quote Owner STOPWORKING_QUOTE
User Registration ACCTREGNOTIFICATION

Oracle Workflow replaces attributes in messages dynamically with user-specific values when it sends a notification. The following table lists the iStore Alerts Workflow attributes.

Attributes for the Item Type iStore Alerts Workflow
Display Name Internal Name Description Type
First Name FIRSTNAME User's first name Text
Last Name LASTNAME User's last name Text
Login Name LOGINNAME User's login name Text
Password PASSWORD User's password Text
Email Address EMAILADDRESS User's e-mail address Text
Event Type EVENTTYPE Notification event type Text
Send To SENDTO Recipient's e-mail address Text
Quote Id QUOTEID Quote ID Number
Quote Name QUOTENAME Quote name Text
Quote Detail with tax QUOTEDETAILWITHTAX Quote detail with tax information Document
Quote detail without tax QUOTEDETAILWOUTTAX For quote line details with tax info Document
Contract Number CONTRACTNO Contract number Number
Order Detail ORDERDETAIL Order detail Document
Order Detail without tax ORDERDETAILWOUTTAX Order detail without tax Document
Order Detail with tax ORDERDETAILWTAX For order detail with line level tax info Document
Order Header ORDERHEADER Order header Document
Order Footer ORDERFOOTER Order footer Document
Error Message ERRMSG Error message Text
Comments COMMENTS User's comments Text
Order Header ID ORDERID Order header ID Number
Item Key ITEMKEY Item key Text
Quote Number QUOTENUM Quote number Number
Cart Version QUOTEVER Cart version/quote version Number
URL URL URL (e.g., a shared cart link) Text
Sharee Number SHNUM Shared cart recipient number Text
Message Name MESSAGE Message name Text
Requester Name REQ_NAME Requester name Text
Requester First Name REQ_F_NAME Requester first name Text
Requester Last Name REQ_L_NAME Requester last name Text
Person Title PERSON_TITLE Person title Text
Contact Phone CONTACTPHONE Contact phone Text
Cart Name CARTNAME Cart name Text
Cart Date CARTDATE Cart date Text
Ship Method SHIPMETHOD Ship method Text
Ship-to Name SHIPTONAME Ship-to name Text
Ship-to Address SHIPTOADDRESS Ship-to address Text
Specialty Store Name MSITENAME Specialty site name Text
Reason REASON Reason code for sales assistance request Text
Order Number ORDERNUMBER Order number Text
Contact Name CONTACTNAME Contact name Text
Context Message CONTEXT_MESSAGE Context Message Text
Access Level ACCESSLEVEL Access Level Text
Old Access Level OLDACCESSLEVEL Old Access Level Text
Update Message UPDATEMSG Update Message Text
Retrieve Message RETRIEVEMSG Retrieve Message Text
Order Detail Header ORDERDTLHEADER Order Detail Header Document
Permission to view net price VIEWNETPRICE Permission to view net price Text
Store User Type STOREUSERTYPE Store User Type Text

The item type iStore Alert Reports has a different set of attributes, listed in the following table.

Attributes for the Item Type iStore Alert Reports
Display Name Internal Name Description Type
Report Frequency FREQUENCY Report frequency, e.g., DAY, MONTH Text
Report Scale SCALE Report amount scale Number
Currency Code CURRENCY Currency code Text
Number of Rows NUMROW Number of rows Number
Report Subject REPORT_SUBJECT Report subject Text
Document Identifier DOCUMENTID Document identifier Text
Report Body REPORT_BODY Report body Text
Bin Refresh Date BIN_DATE Bin refresh end date Text
Table of Contents TOC Table Of Contents Document
Request Server REQ_SERVER Request Server URL Document
Style Sheet STYLE_SHEET Style Sheet for Alert Reports Document
Day Reports REPORT_DAY_BODY Day Reports Document
iStore Shopping Cart Summary IBE_ECR_BIN_SUMM_CARTS iStore Shopping Cart Summary Document
Global Week Detail Reports REPORT_WEEK_BODY Global Week Detail Reports Document
Global Month Detail Reports REPORT_MONTH_BODY Global Month Detail Reports Document
Global Quarter Detail Reports REPORT_QUARTER_BODY Global Quarter Detail Reports Document
Global Year Detail Reports REPORT_YEAR_BODY Global Year Detail Reports Document

Use the following procedure to create customized Oracle Workflow messages for the Oracle iStore notifications.

Steps

  1. Create a new message using Oracle Workflow Builder, and name it with the appropriate prefix for the notification event, as listed in above table.

  2. Copy the message attributes from the seeded message for the notification event to the new message.

  3. Modify the message text as necessary.

  4. Restart the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to refresh the cache objects.

  5. You can now map this message to its notification by organization and user type. See the section, "Mapping New Notification Configurations", above, for more information.

See Oracle Workflow Guide for more information on working with messages.