Chapter 1   Overview of iPlanet BuyerXpert Administration


This document provides information on how to administer a fully-installed iPlanet BuyerXpert system.

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Note	The iPlanet BuyerXpert Concepts document contains extensive conceptual and introductory information on iPlanet BuyerXpert. If you have not already read Concepts, do so now, before beginning administration.

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This chapter contains the following sections:

• About iPlanet BuyerXpert Administration

• Administration Tasks

• Administration Tools

• Stopping and Starting iPlanet BuyerXpert Components

• Guidelines for Restoring Data

• Administrator's Role in Upgrading

About iPlanet BuyerXpert Administration

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iPlanet BuyerXpert is made up of processes that interact with resources within the iPlanet BuyerXpert framework to accomplish the task of electronic procurement. As the administrator, you are concerned with the interactions of these elements.

Processes

The main iPlanet BuyerXpert processes are:

• Searching seller catalogs

• Ordering items from catalogs (creating requisitions or orders)

• Submitting requisitions for approval/submitting confirmed orders through checkout

• Approving requisitions as orders in BuyerXpert

• Transmitting orders to seller organizations

• Tracking requisitions and orders

• Receiving ordered goods from seller organizations in BuyerXpert

• Gathering payment information in BuyerXpert

An additional process, timecards, is used to create special timecards requisitions that traverse the approval and tracking processes of BuyerXpert.

Resources

During procurement, there are a number of entities that are manipulated by iPlanet BuyerXpert users, administrators, or processes. These entities are called resources, or business objects.

Resources are either system resources or organization resources. System resources apply to the entire iPlanet BuyerXpert system, affecting all organizations the same way. System resources can only be created, updated, or deleted by a superadmin. Organization resources are any iPlanet BuyerXpert resources that are not system resources. Organization resources can be created, updated, and deleted by the orgadmin for the organization, or any superadmin.

iPlanet BuyerXpert resources include the following:

• Members—organizations, organizational units, users, user groups, locations

• Accounting resources—accounting code segments, accounting code values

• Commodity resources——commodity code segments, commodity code values

• Units of measure resources—system units of measure, organization units of measure

• Additional information fields (AIFs)

• Pricing resources—price lists, price adjustments

• Payment resources—payment types and subtypes, payment instruments

• Shipping and freight

• Approval resources—approval matrix, approval model, delegation tables, approval cases

• Business rules

The main tasks you perform in administering iPlanet BuyerXpert concern setting up and modifying these resources and the business rules associated with them. In this guide, relevant information is contained in the following chapters:

• Chapter 3 "About iPlanet BuyerXpert Resources"

• Chapter 5 "Setting Up Business Rules"

• Chapter 7 "Importing/Exporting Data"

Most of the details and procedures of how to perform the administrative tasks are contained in the Admin interface Help.

Administration Tasks

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Administration begins after the iPlanet BuyerXpert system has been fully installed and configured for your site. Any sample data has been loaded, and decisions regarding business rules, organization setup, access and security, and catalog management have been made.

Your responsibilities for administering a iPlanet BuyerXpert system can be divided into the following categories:

• Availability tasks—Performing installation/upgrade (if applicable); making sure iPlanet BuyerXpert is running and available to users; monitoring performance, granting access to catalogs and reports; setting up access for ECXpert and OBI; managing seller catalog data; protecting data from damage or unauthorized access.

• Configuration tasks—Setting up resources and business rules for your organization, adding members, configuring new seller catalogs.

• Data management tasks—Adding, updating, or deleting system, product, organization, membership, and business rules data.

• Customization tasks—Integrating upgrades and customizations into iPlanet BuyerXpert.

Table 1-1 contains a list of iPlanet BuyerXpert administrator tasks. In this table, the right-hand column provides information about where to find instructions, guidelines, or tools for performing that task.

Table 1-1    iPlanet BuyerXpert Administrator Tasks Overview

Type of Tasks	Actions Required	Location of Instructions/Guidelines/Tools
Availability	Install or upgrade hardware or software.	Upgrade Notes, Installation Guide
	Start/stop iPlanet BuyerXpert and/or components. Restore data in databases. Upgrade your system.	Stopping and Starting iPlanet BuyerXpert Components section Guidelines for Restoring Data section Administrator's Role in Upgrading section
	Set up access.	Chapter 2 "Configuring Access"
Configuration	Set up resources.	Admin interface Help
	Set up business rules.	Chapter 5 "Setting Up Business Rules"
	Set up catalogs.	Chapter 6 "Administering Catalogs"
	Configure for timecards.	Chapter 9 "Administering Timecards"
	Configure for Actuate (reports).	Chapter 10 "Reports"
Data management	Modify catalog data.	Catalog interface Help
	Modify data (not catalogs).	Admin interface Help
	Import data (not catalogs).	Chapter 7 "Importing/Exporting Data" Admin interface Help
	Create and manage buyer catalogs. Edit and approve products. Create and maintain master ontology.	Chapter 6 "Administering Catalogs" Catalog Help
	Create new reports, modify reports.	Chapter 10 "Reports"
Customization	Implement customizations.	Chapter 12 "Customizing"

In general, the chapters in this Administrator's Guide are presented in the order that you should perform the tasks when setting up your iPlanet BuyerXpert environment:

1. Set up access.

2. Set up your resources.

3. Set up your business rules.

4. Set up taxation, if applicable.

5. Set up catalogs.

6. Configure reports.

Implementation planning details and a number of configuration procedures are contained in the Deployment Guide.

Administration Tools

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All user-level tasks are accomplished using a web-based graphical user interface (the User interface). Administrator-level tasks are accomplished using the graphical administrative interface (Admin interface), the User interface, and various other tools.

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Note	The Admin interface online Help contains procedures and reference material associated with the tasks that can be performed using the interface screens. Procedures for individual tasks are also contained in the User interface Help.

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Table 1-2 lists the tools available to you and the tasks you can perform using them.

Table 1-2    Administration Tools

Tool	Task You Do with Tool
User interface	Verify changes made using the Admin interface. Track requisition and order status. Troubleshoot user problems.
Admin interface	Administer access and security. Manage data. Monitor processes. Troubleshoot administrative problems.
Reports	Track productivity, spending, activity, requisitions, and so on.
Import utility	Import product, membership, and system data.
Upgrade utility	Migrate your data to a new version of BuyerXpert.
Catalog Manager	Manage catalogs; create catalog data.
Process Manager	Set up approval processes.
iPlanet BuyerXpert logs	Review for successful completion of importing. Gather troubleshooting data.
Command line utilities	Import product, membership, and system data. Tune the system. Troubleshoot problems.
UNIX	Manage system components Backup and restore data

Stopping and Starting iPlanet BuyerXpert Components

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Depending on what task you need to accomplish, you may have to stop or restart your iPlanet BuyerXpert system. It is important that you perform the steps for these tasks in the correct order.

Stopping the BuyerXpert System

1. Shut down BuyerXpert.

   % IAS-ROOT/ias/bin/KIVAes.sh stop

2. Shut down the Directory Server.

   % LDAP-ROOT/slapd-instance-name/stop-slapd

3. Shut down the iPlanet Application Server.

   % IAS-ROOT/slapd-machine-name/stop-slapd

   % IAS-ROOT/stop-admin

4. Shut down the iPlanet Web Server.

   % IWS-ROOT/https-machine-name.red.iplanet.com/stop

   % IWS-ROOT/https-admserv/stop

Starting/Restarting the BuyerXpert System

1. Start the iPlanet Web Server.

   % IWS-ROOT/https-admserv/start

   % IWS-ROOT/https-machine-name.red.iplanet.com/start

2. Start the iPlanet Application Server.

   % IAS-ROOT/slapd-machine-name/start-slapd

   % IAS-ROOT/start-admin

3. Start the Directory Server.

   % LDAP-ROOT/slapd-instance-name/start-slapd

4. Start BuyerXpert.

   % IAS-ROOT/ias/bin/KIVAes.sh start

Guidelines for Restoring Data

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One of your most important responsibilities is protecting your data. This includes the following:

• Oracle database data

• LDAP directory data

• Staged update files

• Customization files

If you have a DBA on site, the database has its own backup schedule. However, if you are planning to put import files or customization files into production, you need to coordinate with the DBA to make sure that all backups are current before overwriting anything. This also applies to the LDAP data, if it is administered by a person other than yourself.

When to Restore the Oracle Database

The most commonly required restoration of data is the Oracle database. You might need to restore Oracle data if:

• You are upgrading BuyerXpert

• You are planning to manipulate data directly in LDAP or through SQL in Oracle

• You are conducting periodic maintenance

When to Restore LDAP Data

LDAP data restoration is needed if:

• The data is corrupted

• The system must be restored to a previous state after an unsuccessful upgrade or unsuccessful data manipulation

When to Restore Customizations

The main situation requiring you to restore customizations that your organization has made is during an upgrade. You need to first make backup copies of your customizations, and then restore them after you have upgraded your system to the latest version.

Administrator's Role in Upgrading

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When hardware or software is being upgraded in your BuyerXpert environment, you must plan carefully so that your data is protected and users are impacted as little as possible. Although the actual upgrading is done by your iPlanet representative, you are responsible for protecting your data and keeping your users informed and productive. Full instructions for upgrading from one version of BuyerXpert to another are contained in the Upgrade Guide.

In general, it is good practice to schedule upgrading activities to take place during non-critical hours. If the upgrade is a long process, you need to plan for multiple phases of implementation.

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Note	It is crucial that you back up your entire system before any upgrading steps are started.

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Administrator's Role in Upgrading Software

When your BuyerXpert system is initially installed, three environments are set up:

• Staging

• Development

• Production
  

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  Note	Software upgrading is usually done on either your staging or development system, never directly on your production system. After you have verified that the upgrade is successful on the staging system, the upgrade can then be implemented to your BuyerXpert production environment.

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The following types of upgrading can be done to the BuyerXpert software:

• New version upgrade

• Service pack upgrade

• Developer customizations done by a programmer

• Customizations done by you

New Version Upgrade

When you are upgrading to a new version of the BuyerXpert software, follow the instructions in the Upgrade Guide.

Service Pack Upgrade

When you are upgrading to a service pack release of the BuyerXpert software, follow the instructions in the release notes for the service pack.

Administrator's Role in Upgrading Hardware

Observe the following guidelines when adding or upgrading hardware in your environment:

• Back up all databases, LDAP, and other data sources.

• Stop the web server, LDAP server, Oracle server, applications server, and any other servers.

• Restart all servers.

• Verify functionality of the upgrade.

• Notify users of what happened, what's different, and so on.