Work with accounts

Commerce administrators use the administration interface to work with accounts.

Administrators can create and modify accounts, as well as provide account information, such as addresses, contacts, contracts and logos. Accounts can access multiple sites. Once you have created an account, you can use the site selector to choose the site to work with. Once you have created account assets, such as a contact or a contract, you can indicate which sites to work with using the All Sites tab.

For a user to successfully log into a store, the account must be active, the user’s contact should be active and the account should be associated with a valid contract. If a business has multiple entities, such as departments or divisions, that require a different set of products or prices, you can create a separate sub account for each entity.

Each contact can be associated with multiple principal accounts and sub accounts, though in the case where a contact is associated with more than one account, you can assign a default account to each contact. When a contact that is associated with more than one account is logged into your online store, they can switch to any of their active accounts by selecting an account from a drop-down list in the store’s header. They can add items to the cart for one account, then switch to another account and add items to that account’s cart. The shopping cart for one account persists while a contact is shopping for another account.

Contacts must be created by either a Commerce administrator or another contact who is a designated administrator. Contacts cannot register on your store themselves.

Create an account

You can specify whether a new account is a principal account or a sub account:

  • A principal account is an account that does not have a parent account. It can be a stand-alone account or it can be the top-level account in an account hierarchy.
  • A sub account is the child account of another account in an account hierarchy.

    When you create sub accounts, Commerce does not limit the depth of the hierarchy, but sub accounts inherit account properties only up to the 14th level.

To create a new principal account:

  1. On the Accounts List page, click New Account.
  2. Enter the information that identifies the new account. See the table that follows this procedure for information about each property.

    By default, Principal Account is already selected under Location in Hierarchy.

  3. Click Save.
  4. Now you can associate addresses, contacts, and contracts with the account you just created. See Work with account addresses, Work with account contacts, and Work with account contracts for more information. You can also work with an account’s order approval settings. See Use Order Approvals for more information.

To create a new sub account:

  1. On the Accounts List page, click New Account.
  2. Enter a name for the account in the Account Name box.
  3. Under Location Hierarchy, select Sub Account.
  4. Click the Edit button next to the Parent Account box.
  5. Select an account from the list. You can filter the list by typing or pasting some text in the Accounts box.

    The filter control matches letters or numbers that you type, wherever they appear in the name or ID, not just at the beginning. Usually, as you type more characters, there are fewer matches. When you see the account you want, select it.

  6. Click Done.
  7. By default, the sub account inherits its Description, Classification, DUNS Number, Account Type, Unique Identification Number, Tax Reference Number, VAT Reference Number, and Account Logo from the parent account. To replace an inherited value, uncheck the Inherit checkbox next to the property you want to change, and then enter the new information. See the table that follows this procedure for information about each property.
  8. Click Save.
  9. Now you can associate addresses, contacts, and contracts with the account you just created. See Work with account addresses, Work with account contacts, and Work with account contracts for more information. You can also work with an account’s order approval settings. See Use Order Approvals for more information.

The following table describes the properties that identify an account.

Property Description
Account Logo The logo to be associated with this account. See #GUID-51A1A670-5581-42A3-8827-58FA3D97DF07/TITLE_X5J_43Z_HHB for more information.
Account Name The name of the account. This field is required.
Account Type The account type can be none, company, division, department or group. Default is set to none.
Active Activates the new account. If an account is not active, none of the contacts associated with it will be able to log into the store.
Classification Identifies the type of account: Standard, Preferred and Enterprise, OEM, Distributor and Supplier
Description A description of the account.
DUNS Number If used, a DUNS number is a unique nine-digit number employed by businesses who have established Dun & Bradstreet credit.
Location in Hierarchy Indicates if this is a principal account or it is a sub-account.
Tax Reference Number If used, a tax reference number associated with the account.
Unique Identification Number If used, the account’s Unique Identification Number.
VAT Reference Number If used, the account’s Value Added Tax identification number.
Additional Information

If custom properties were created for accounts, they appear at the bottom of each account’s General tab, in the Additional Information section.

Custom account properties are created with the Commerce Admin API. Once a custom account property is created, the property is added to all accounts, including accounts that already existed when the custom property was created.

For more information, see Create custom properties for accounts.

Find accounts

You can search for an account by entering any part of the account name into the search field at the top of the Accounts List page.

You can search by multiple criteria, including custom properties, by following these steps:

  1. Click the advanced search icon to the right of the search field to display the Advanced Search dialog.
  2. Select a property from the drop-down list.

    You can search by account name, account ID, or any custom short text properties that have been added to the account.

  3. Click Add Criteria to add another property to the search.

    Each search can contain up to five properties.

  4. If you are searching on more than one property, select one of the following:
    • Match all: (default) Search results include the accounts that match all the search criteria. If an account matches some of the criteria but not all, it is not returned.
    • Match any: Search results include the accounts that match any search criteria.
  5. Click Search.

Associate a contact with an account

You can create contacts without associating them with an account by following the instructions described in Work with account contacts. This section describes how to associate existing contacts with an account.

Note: A sub account does not inherit its parent account’s contacts. You must add manually add contacts to a new sub account.

To associate a contact with an account:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
  2. Click the Contacts tab.

From this screen you can create a new contact or associate an existing contact. When you add a contact to an account, Commerce sends an email to the contact’s address that contains a link for setting a new password. The password must conform to the password policy you set on the Shopper Settings page. For more information, see Configure Shopper Settings.

To create a new contact to associate with an account:

  1. Select the New Contact button.
  2. Enter the required fields, which include Last and First Name, and Email/Login ID.

    Note: You cannot modify the email address once the contact has been saved.

  3. Verify that the account displayed is the correct account.
  4. Click the Active check box to activate the contact.

    Note: Only active contacts can log into the store.

  5. Click Save.

To associate an existing contact:

  1. Select Add Contact button.
  2. Select the contact from the table
  3. You can search for a contact by entering the first name, last name or email address into the search field.
  4. Click Add.

Modify an account

Only an Oracle Commerce administrator can modify an account using the following steps:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
  2. If you have multiple sites, use the All Sites tab to select the site associated with the account.
  3. Enter the updated information for the account.
  4. Click Save.

Add account approval

You can add account approval limits to an account. Note that approval limits are site specific. Refer to the Use Order Approvals section for information on order approvals. Set the approval limits using the following steps:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
  2. Select the Approvals tab.
  3. Check the Require approval checkbox and set the approval limit.
  4. If your environment uses an external service that can determine approval settings, select the check box. See Use Webhooks for information on extending the Order Approval services and working with webhook APIs.

Add or change an account logo

Logos or media files must be loaded using the Media page before they can be associated with an account. Refer to the Upload media files section for information.

To add or change a logo, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
  2. Click the Select Image button.
  3. Select the media file from the Media Library.
  4. Click Add.
  5. The image is displayed in the logo field.

You can delete the logo by clicking the X in the upper right corner.

Move an account

You can move an account to a new position in its current hierarchy or you can move it to a different hierarchy. Keep the following in mind when you plan to move an account:

  • You cannot make a parent account a sub account of any of its children. For example, you cannot make a principal account a sub account in its current hierarchy.
  • You can move both principal and sub accounts to different hierarchies.
  • Changing a sub account to a principal account moves it to the top of a new hierarchy.
  • When you move a parent account, all its sub accounts move with it.
  • Any account keeps its addresses, contracts, and contacts when you move it. If an account has no addresses and you move it to be a sub account, it automatically inherits any available addresses from its new parent.

To make a sub account a principal account:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to move.
  2. Click Principal Account under Location in Hierarchy.
  3. If the account inherited property values from its parent, you must replace those values. See #GUID-51A1A670-5581-42A3-8827-58FA3D97DF07/GUID-E3CA4A72-A9F7-4247-9BED-57F8F4BA88FA for details about account properties.

To move an account to a new parent:

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to move.
  2. If the account is currently a principal account, click Sub Account under Location in Hierarchy.
  3. Click the Edit button next to the Parent Account box.
  4. Select an account from the list. You can filter the list by typing or pasting some text in the Accounts box.

    The filter control matches letters or numbers that you type, wherever they appear in the name or ID, not just at the beginning. Usually, as you type more characters, there are fewer matches. When you see the account you want, select it.

  5. Click Done.
  6. By default, the moved account inherits its Description, Classification, DUNS Number, Account Type, Unique Identification Number, Tax Reference Number, VAT Reference Number, and Account Logo from the parent account. To replace an inherited value, uncheck the Inherit checkbox next to the property you want to change, and then enter the new information. See the table that follows this procedure for information about each property.
  7. Click Save.

Deactivate an account

You cannot delete an account; however you can deactivate an account. When an account has been deactivated, no contact that has been associated with the account will be allowed to log into the store.

  1. On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to deactivate.
  2. Uncheck the Active checkbox to indicate that the account has been deactivated.
  3. Click Save.

Associate shipping and payment methods with an account

When you create or update an account, you can specify shipping and payment methods used with the account. These methods can be set for accounts that are associated with a site.

Before you can associate any shipping or payment methods, you must configure the methods so that shoppers can use them. Shipping methods, which are configured using the Settings > Shipping Methods tab, are described in the Configure Shipping. Payment methods are selected using the payment gateway tab in Settings > Payment Gateways. For information on configuring payment methods, refer to the Configure Payment Processing.

To associate shipping and payment methods:

  1. Select or create an account.
  2. Select the Shipping/Payment tab.
  3. If you click the Use All of the Site Shipping Methods checkbox, all of the shipping methods used on the currently selected site will be available and will be displayed.

    If you deselect the check box, add the shipping methods to use. You can select multiple methods

  4. If you click the Use All of the Site Payment Method Types checkbox, all of the payment method types used on the currently selected site will be available. If you deselect the check box, add the payment method types to use. You can select multiple methods.

Note that if the shipping method or payment method type is added to a site in Settings, and you have not selected the associated Use all check box, you must manually add the new shipping or payment method to an account before shoppers can use it.

A shipping method or payment method type that is associated with an account/site pair cannot be removed or disabled. You can remove the association by going to the account’s Shipping/Payment table, selecting the site and deleting the shipping or payment method.