Configure Business Accounts

Understand Accounts, Contacts, and Contracts

Account-based commerce uses a combination of accounts, contacts, and contracts to manage access to a storefront by companies that do business with you.

In order to provide an organization with access to an account-based storefront, the organization needs an account on that storefront with pertinent details such as the organization name, logo, billing and shipping addresses, tax reference number, and so on.

An account can contain sub accounts that represent multiple hierarchies of organizational structure. For example, a principal account represents a company. That account can contain a number of sub accounts that represent divisions or business units, and each division sub account can contain a sub account for each department in the division. Sub accounts can automatically inherit account properties, billing and shipping addresses, and contract details from parent accounts. See Work with accounts for more information about creating accounts.

Each account is associated with a list of contacts. A contact is an individual within an organization who is allowed to purchase from the account-based storefront. You create contacts in the Retail Digital Commerce administration interface, but you can also assign delegated administration privileges to contacts so they can create and manage other contacts. See Understand delegated administration and Work with account contacts for more information.

Work with Multiple Stores from One Retail Digital Commerce Instance

When working with multiple sites, accounts must be associated with a contract, which assigns a catalog and a group of price lists for a given site. A contract between the storefront and the organization defines what products the organization can purchase on the site and how much it will pay for them. Note that before a contact can access a site, the contact’s account must have an associated contract.

You can configure the following business account-specific information on a per site bases:

contracts
approval settings
payment method types
shipping methods

For additional information on working with multiple sites, refer to the Run Multiple Stores from One Retail Digital Commerce Instance.

If a primary account includes sub accounts, each sub account automatically inherits its parent’s contracts by default. See Work with account contracts for more information.

Understand Delegated Administration

Once you set up an account for an organization, you can assign roles to contacts that allow them to manage certain aspects of their accounts.

Delegated administrators do not have access to the Retail Digital Commerce administration UI. Delegated administrators perform all account-management tasks on their My Account pages, which are available once they log into your store.

Changes saved by a delegated administrator or approver are immediately visible both on the storefront and in the Commerce administration interface.

See Understand account-based roles for details on the roles available to contacts.

Work with Accounts

Retail Digital 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 Retail Digital 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, Retail Digital 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:

On the Accounts List page, click New Account.
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.
Click Save.
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:

On the Accounts List page, click New Account.
Enter a name for the account in the Account Name box.
Under Location Hierarchy, select Sub Account.
Click the Edit button next to the Parent Account box.
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.
Click Done.
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.
Click Save.
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. For more information, see Add or change an account logo.
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 Retail Digital 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:

Click the advanced search icon to the right of the search field to display the Advanced Search dialog.
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.
Click Add Criteria to add another property to the search.
Each search can contain up to five properties.
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.
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:

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
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, Retail Digital 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:

Select the New Contact button.
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.
Verify that the account displayed is the correct account.
Click the Active check box to activate the contact.

Note:

Only active contacts can log into the store.
Click Save.

To associate an existing contact:

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

Modify an Account

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

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

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
Select the Approvals tab.
Check the Require approval checkbox and set the approval limit.
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:

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to modify.
Click the Select Image button.
Select the media file from the Media Library.
Click Add.
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:

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to move.
Click Principal Account under Location in Hierarchy.
If the account inherited property values from its parent, you must replace those values. See Create an Account for details about account properties.

To move an account to a new parent:

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to move.
If the account is currently a principal account, click Sub Account under Location in Hierarchy.
Click the Edit button next to the Parent Account box.
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.
Click Done.
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.
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.

On the Accounts page, click Accounts List and select the account to deactivate.
Uncheck the Active checkbox to indicate that the account has been deactivated.
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:

Select or create an account.
Select the Shipping/Payment tab.
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
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.

Work with Account Addresses

Each account can be associated with multiple addresses, such as billing and shipping addresses in different states.

An account’s addresses appear in the following places:

The Managed Account Address Book is seen by each of the account’s logged-in contacts. Contacts who are buyers can select billing and shipping addresses from the available account addresses when they place orders. Additionally, contacts who are delegated administrators and/or Account Address Managers can add and manage addresses for the account from their My Account page on the storefront.
The Address pane in the Retail Digital Commerce administration interface. Only Commerce administrators can see and work with addresses here. Contacts who are delegated administrators cannot access the Commerce administration interface.

Create Account Addresses

To create an address for an account:

Navigate to the account’s Addresses page in the administration interface or on the storefront:
- Retail Digital Commerce administrators in the administration interface: On the Accounts page, click the name of the account. Then click the Addresses button on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Delegated administrators on the storefront: Click My Account, then click Account Addresses.
Click New Address and enter the address details.
The table that follows this procedure describes the Address properties. Address properties in this table are part of the default address format that ships with Commerce. If your Commerce environment includes custom address formats, different properties might be available when you create an address. Additionally, custom address formats might make some of the required properties in this table optional. Contact your Site Administrator for details about creating addresses with custom address formats.
Click Save.

Property	Description
Nickname	(Required) An internal name that identifies the address in both the administration console and contacts’ account address book. Nicknames do not have to be unique across addresses or accounts.
Company Name	(Required) The name of the company.
Phone Number	(Required) A phone number for the company.
Address Line 1	(Required) First line of the address. For example, 1000 Smith Street.
Address Line 2	Second line of the address. For example, 4th Floor.
City	(Required) Name of the city where the address is located.
Province/State	(Required) Province or State where the address is located.
Country	(Required) The country where the address is located.
Postal/ZIP Code	(Required) Postal/ZIP code for the address.
Type	Commerce includes two types of addresses by default: Billing and Shipping. Your environment might also contain custom address types that you can select from the Type list. You can assign more than one type to each address.
Default Shipping Address	When a contact checks out on your store, the default shipping address is automatically selected and appears at the top of the list of available shipping addresses. Only one account address can be the default shipping address. By default, a sub account inherits its parent’s default shipping address. Changing the default shipping address for a sub account does not change it for the parent.
Default Billing Address	When a contact checks out on your store, the default billing address is automatically selected and appears at the top of the list of available billing addresses. Only one address can be the default billing address. By default, a sub account inherits its parent’s default billing address. Changing the default billing address for a sub account does not change it for the parent.

Edit or Delete Account Addresses

To edit or delete an address:

Navigate to the account’s Addresses page in the administration console or on the storefront:
- Retail Digital Commerce administrators in the administration interface: On the Accounts page, click the name of the account. Then click the Addresses button on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Delegated administrators or Account Address Managers on the storefront: Click My Account, then click Account Addresses.
Select the name of the account with the address to modify.
Make the edits to the address.
Once you have made your changes, click Save.
To delete the address, click the delete icon in the upper right corner of the address.

Work with Account Contacts

Contacts are shoppers who perform various activities for the account.

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 working with multiple sites in a single Retail Digital Commerce instance, before a contact can access a site, the contact’s account must have an associated contract.

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

The list of an account’s contacts appears in the following places:

The My Account page seen by the account’s delegated administrators. Delegated administrators can add and manage accounts for the account from their My Account page on the storefront.
The Contacts pane in the Retail Digital Commerce administration interface. Only Retail Digital Commerce administrators can see and work with contacts here. Delegated administrators cannot access the Commerce administration interface.

Understand Account-Based Roles

Roles grant access permissions to account-based contacts. These roles allow you to specify the actions that each contact can perform. Note that a contact can have more than one assigned role.

Retail Digital Commerce defines two types of storefront roles:

Standard roles - These roles are defined for use across all existing and new accounts. These roles can be assigned to a user either globally or in the scope of one or more accounts.

Note:
In earlier versions of the storefront access control system, standard roles were referred to as global roles.
Account roles - Also called organizational roles, applies to a single account only. If a contact is assigned an account role, the role grants access to functions only in the account in which the role is defined.

Merchants can create custom roles - both standard and account.

For details on creating and managing Storefront roles, see Understand access control for account-based storefronts.

We provide the following pre-defined account roles that you can assign to a contact:

Role	Description
Account Address Manager	Contacts that have the right to create, edit and delete account addresses. Additionally, these contacts have the ability to manage account addresses during the checkout process.
Administrator	Assigning this role lets you delegate some administrative tasks to a contact. Delegated administrators can create, and manage contacts for their accounts, including assigning and removing administrator and approver privileges for other contacts. They can also view, create, and manage addresses for their accounts, including specifying a default billing and shipping address for an account. Delegated administrators can only see and work with contacts and addresses for accounts to which they are assigned.
Approver	Assigning this role lets you delegate the task of approving orders to a contact. Approvers can view and approve any orders in their accounts that require approval, including their own orders. Approvers can only see and work with orders for accounts to which they are assigned. For further information, refer to the Use Order Approvals section.
Buyer	The default role, which allows the contact to purchase items from the account-based catalog.
Profile Address Manager	Contacts that can create, edit and delete profile addresses. Additionally, these contacts have the ability to manage profile addresses during the checkout process.

To assign roles to a contact:

Create a new contact, or select a contact to work with.
Select Accounts Membership.
Click the edit icon.
Select the Account Address Manager or Profile Address Manager Storefront Roles and click Save.

For roles for internal users, see Configure Internal User Accounts.

Create a Contact

Both Retail Digital Commerce administrators and contacts who are delegated administrators can create new contacts. Retail Digital Commerce administrators can create contacts for all accounts, as well as contacts that are not associated with any accounts. Delegated administrators can create new contacts only for their own accounts.

The process of creating a contact does not include assigning a password. When a contact is associated with an account, Retail Digital Commerce automatically sends an email to the contact that contains a link for setting a new password. The new password must conform to the password policy you set on the Shopper Settings page. For more information, see Configure Shopper Settings.

In order for a contact to receive the email they use to create their password, your store must have an email service configured and you must customize and enable the Account Assignment Changed email template. For more information, see Configure Email Settings.

To create a contact as part of an account:

Navigate to the account’s Contacts page in the administration interface or on the storefront:
- Retail Digital Commerce administrators in the administration interface: On the Accounts page, click the name of the account. Then click the Contacts button on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Delegated administrators on the storefront: Click My Account, then click Contacts.
Click New Contact and enter the contact’s details.
Click Save.
Click the Account Memberships link.
Select the storefront roles for this contact.
Save your changes.

Edit a Contact

You can edit a contact’s first name, last name, account, active status, and the values of any custom properties. You cannot edit the email address or password. Contacts who forget their passwords must click the Forgotten Password link on the store’s login page and enter their login email address. Retail Digital Commerce sends a link to the email address. The contact clicks the link to reset their password. If the link has expired when the contact clicks it, they see a page where they can request a new link.

To edit a contact do the following:

Click the Settings icon, then click Accounts.
Click the New Contact button.
Enter the information for the new contact. See the two tables that follow this procedure for information about each field.
Once you have made your changes, click Save.
Refer to the Configure the password policy for information on resetting contact passwords.

The following table describes the contact’s General properties.

Property	Description
Last Name	The last name of the contact. This field is required.
First Name	The first name of the contact. This field is required.
Email Address/Login ID	The email address of the contact. The contact uses this email address to log into your store. This is also the address where Commerce sends email that the contact uses to set their password. This field is required. Note: Once the contact has been created, you cannot modify the Email Address/Login ID.
Active	Specifies whether the contact is active. Only active contacts can log into the store, see catalogs and prices associated with their accounts. Active contacts are active on all accounts they are associated with.
Additional Information	If custom properties were created for shopper profiles, they appear at the bottom of each contact’s General tab, in the Additional Information section. Custom profile properties are created with the Commerce Admin API. Once a custom profile property is created, the property is added to all shopper profiles, including any profiles that already existed before the custom property was created. For more information, see Add custom properties to a shopper type. Custom profile properties do not automatically appear on your store, for example, when a delegated administrator creates a new contact. To allow custom profile properties to be displayed and edited on your store, you must write custom widgets to retrieve the values of custom profile properties, and also set the values of any custom properties you have created. See Access custom properties using the UserViewModel for more information.

The following table describes the contact’s Account Memberships properties.

Property	Description
Default Account	The account that this contact is automatically associated with when they log into your store. Each contact can be associated with only one default account. Only Retail Digital Commerce administrators see this property. Delegated administrators cannot assign a new contact to a different default account.
Accounts	All accounts with which this account is associated. Only Retail Digital Commerce administrators see this property. Delegated administrators cannot assign a new contact to accounts.
Storefront Roles	Specifies the contact’s role for an account. You can assign different roles to a contact for each account they are associated with. Retail Digital Commerce administrators can assign roles to all contacts. Delegated administrators can assign storefront roles only to contacts in accounts for which they have the Administrator role. Refer to the Understand account-based roles for detailed information on each role.

Property

Description

Default Account

The account that this contact is automatically associated with when they log into your store. Each contact can be associated with only one default account.

Only Retail Digital Commerce administrators see this property. Delegated administrators cannot assign a new contact to a different default account.

Accounts

All accounts with which this account is associated.

Only Retail Digital Commerce administrators see this property. Delegated administrators cannot assign a new contact to accounts.

Storefront Roles

Specifies the contact’s role for an account. You can assign different roles to a contact for each account they are associated with.

Retail Digital Commerce administrators can assign roles to all contacts. Delegated administrators can assign storefront roles only to contacts in accounts for which they have the Administrator role.

Refer to the Understand account-based roles for detailed information on each role.

Find Contacts

You can search for a contact by entering first name, last name, or email address into the search field at the top of the Contacts List page.

To search by multiple criteria, including custom properties, click the advanced search icon to the right of the search field to display the Advanced Search.

Select a property from the drop-down list.
You can search by first name, last name, email address or any custom short text properties that have been added to profiles.
Click Add Criteria to add another property to the search.
Each search can contain up to five properties.
If you are searching on more than one property, select one of the following:
- Match all: (default) Search results include the contacts that match all the search criteria. If a contact matches some of the criteria but not all, it is not returned.
- Match any: Search results include the contacts that match any search criteria.
Click Search.

Deactivate a Contact

You cannot delete a contact, but both Retail Digital Commerce administrators and delegated administrators can deactivate a contact. Contacts who are no longer active cannot log into any of the accounts to which they were assigned. See Create a Contact for details about setting a contact’s Active property.

Retail Digital Commerce administrators can also remove a contact’s association with an account in the administration interface.

Allow Contacts to Create Addresses

Business account contacts can be allowed to add or manage an account address or an individual shopper’s address during the checkout process if they have been configured with the appropriate role.

This section describes how to work with Storefront Classic widgets. For details about corresponding OSF widgets, see Design Account-Based Storefront Pages.

To allow a contact to create a shopper’s address when placing an order, assign that contact the Profile Address Manager Role. This role allows a contact to see, select and create a new profile address when they are working with profiles or placing an order. Note that this role is not required to see or select a profile when working with profiles or placing an order.)

A contact can also be allowed to create or edit an account address when working with a profile or placing an order. To do this, give the contact the Account Address Manager role. Note that this role is not required to see or select an account address when working within the profile or placing an order. It is possible for a contact to have both the Account Address Manager and Profile Address Manager roles. By default, the delegated administrator has both of these roles. Contacts do not have these roles by default.

When implementing this feature on the store front, you need to ensure that you have the latest version of the Managed Account Address widget, which allows contacts to manage addresses when placing an order, if they have been assigned the appropriate role. For information on the Managed Account Address Book widget, refer to the Appendix: Layout Widgets and Elements.

Additionally, you must create a vertical tab on an instance of the profile layout and ensure that you have the latest version of Account Address Book widget, which allows the contact to manage addresses in the Profile area, if they have been assigned the appropriate role. For information on creating a vertical tab, refer to the Add vertical tabs section. For information on the Account Address Book widget, refer to the Appendix: Layout Widgets and Elements.

Work with Account Contracts

Contracts let you associate a particular catalog, price group, and other terms with each account.

Contracts can be created within the context of a published site. You can associate an account with more than one contract. This allows you to run multiple sites from a single Retail Digital Commerce instance. Note that a contact cannot access a site until a contract has been associated with the contact’s account. For information on working with multiple sites, refer to Run Multiple Stores from One Commerce Instance.

Once you have defined a contract for an account by associating the account with a catalog and a price group, you can change the catalog or price group but you cannot leave either field blank. To prevent a contract from being used, deactivate the account so that all transactions with the account stop. See Deactivate an account for more information.

If you enable Account Activated or New Contract Added emails, all contacts associated with an account are notified when a contract is added, or if the account is moved to a new parent, where it inherits the parent’s contracts by default. See Enable the types of email your store sends for more information.

Commerce administrators create and manage contracts in the Commerce administration interface. Delegated administrators cannot perform these tasks.

Create or Update an Account Contract

To create a new contract or update an existing contract:

On the Accounts page, select the account whose contract you want to manage.
Click the Contract tab to see contract information for the site selected in the site selector.
If you are working with a sub account, it inherits its parent account’s contract for the selected site by default. To replace an inherited contract, uncheck the Inherit Contact checkbox.
Enter or modify the information for the contract. See the table that follows this procedure for information about each field.
Click Save.

Property	Description
Catalog (required)	A catalog associated with this contract. Only published catalogs appear in the list of catalogs you can select from. See Manage Your Catalog for more information.
Contract Description	A description of the contract.
Contract Name (required)	The name of the contract.
External Contract Reference	Alphanumeric value that allows you to store contract references from an external system.
Price List Group (required)	A price group associated with this contract. Only active, published price groups appear in the list of price groups you can select from. See Configure Price Groups for information.
Site	Information on the site associated with this contract including the site name and URL. Note that only a published site can be associated with a contract.
Terms and Conditions	Text field to provide terms and conditions of the contract.

Understand Shoppers and New Account Registration Requests

You can allow a prospective account-based shopper to request registration of a new store account.

Enabling this feature lets a shopper submit an account registration request for a new account by providing required business details. The information is reviewed by an administrator from the merchant side after the shopper submits the required details, and, if needed, the administrator may request additional details from the shopper such as credit checks. The registration request is then either approved or rejected. If the request is approved, the new contact for the account is activated.

An example of how the basic process works is provided in the list that follows. This high-level description is provided only as example and an introduction and does not necessarily mean that your process would work exactly this way.

For example, all of the emails that are sent during the approval/rejection process are only lightly touched upon in the example process flow. For more detail on the automated emails described in the process, refer to Configure Email Settings.

The administrator for the account-based shopper enables the ability for a shopper to request registration of a new store account in the Settings area of administrator user interface. Refer to Configure Account-based Shoppers in the Configure Shopper Settings section for more details.
A prospective account-based shopper uses the store user interface to submit a new account registration request. When the registration request is received, its status at this point is New.
The administrator sees the new registration request in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page. Refer to Work with account registration requests for more information on how to view and work with these types of requests.
The administrator opens the registration request and begins reviewing it.
The administrator saves some review changes and/or explicitly sets the request status to Review.
Another administrator reopens the registration request to review it and decides more information is needed before an approval decision can be made. This administrator can then change the status to More Info Needed.
Outside of the store, the administrator emails the account requester asking for additional information.
The account requester sends the administrator the required information and sends it back to the administrator.
After reading the account requester’s email, the other administrator opens the registration request, adds the new/missing information, and sets the registration request’s status back to Review.
The original administrator opens the registration request and makes a decision whether to accept or reject the account request.
If the administrator accepts the registration request, an approval email is sent to the account requester. The registration request then disappears from the Registration Request list and appears in the Account list. The account requester then becomes a contact in the new account.
If the administrator rejects the registration request, they can optionally enter comments to add to the rejection email.

The rejection email is sent to the account requester and the registration request remains in the Registration Request list with a status of Rejected.

Work with Account Registration Requests

When the shopper submits the requested initial information, the administrator can see the new registration request in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page where they can then view, search, and work with account registration requests.

Anyone with the Administrator and/or Account Manager Role can view, update, accept, and reject registration requests.

After the initial submission of the required details by the shopper, the account request is reviewed from the merchant side by the administrator. At this point, the administrator may also request from the shopper additional details such as credit checks and more. Upon receipt of all the requested information, the administrator then either approve or reject the registration request. If the request is approved, the new contact with the account is activated and can then begin transacting business.

The new registration request list in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page provides the information in a list divided into columns titled Company Name, Request ID (generated by the system), Request Date, and Status. The registration request list is paginated.

The Status of a request can be either New (the request is new and has not been viewed), Review (the request has been viewed or changed and needs to be acted upon), More Info Needed (the request has been viewed and an action needs to be taken to collect more account or shopper information before the request is approved or rejected), or Rejected (the account request has been rejected and no contact has been activated).

You can use the Commerce Admin REST API to add a custom rich-text property to accounts that gives administrators a place to log and track internal notes for registration requests. For an example that shows how to create and use this kind of custom property. See Create custom properties for accounts for an example that shows how to create and use this kind of custom property.

Note:

As mentioned, custom properties can be introduced with the registration request once the request has been approved but they are not saved by default. If you wish to save these custom properties, you can use the Retail Digital Commerce Admin API to add custom properties to registration requests by using the updateItemType endpoint with the organizationRequest item type. For details on doing so, see Use the REST APIs.

Work with the Account Registration Request List

The new registration request list in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page lets you do the following:

Filter the list by status. The default view of the list is to show all statuses.
Use a typeahead search box. The placeholder text in the box is ‘Filter account requests.” When you type a string, the list is filtered to records containing that string in the Company field.
Sort the list by Request ID, Company, or Request Date. The default sort order is by Request date.
Look at other pages of the list as the list is paginated as the list grows longer.

Search for a Specific Registration Request

In the search box found in the Registration Requests list view, you can search for registration requests by Company or by Request ID.

You can also use an Advanced Search control (same as found in the accounts and contacts user interfaces) to search for registration requests by creating expressions like the following:

<property 1> contains <value 1>
          <property 2> contains <value 2> ...
          <property 5> contains <value 5>

You can also specify “Match Any” or “Match All.”

The properties available for this type of search must be:

Of type string OR
A custom string property of a registration request, account, or profile OR
Properties such as Account, Name, Account Number, Company Name, Tax Reference Number, First Name, Last Name, Email Address, and more.

Also, the Advanced Search control feature presents you with an indented dropdown list of choices of string properties and custom properties to help you select fields that you may want to choose from other information groups. Use these steps:

Click the advanced search icon to the right of the search field to display the Advanced Search dialog.
Select a property from the drop-down list.
You can search by Account, Contact, and Registration Request information groups or any custom short text properties that have been added to the account.
Click Add Criteria to add another property to the search. Each search can contain up to five properties.
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.
Click Search.

You can also use a typeahead search box for an account by entering any part of the account name into the search field at the top of the Registration Requests page.

View and Edit Account Registration List Request Details

To look at and/or edit an actual new or existing registration request from the list in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page, click the Registration ID (which is a link) of the request found in the list.

Each request displays four tabs of information. Some of the fields on the tabs can be viewed and some can be edited. These tabs are:

Request tab containing the following fields:
- Status – A dropdown list that can be used to change the status of the requests. The choices are New, Accept, Reject, More Info Needed, and Review.
- Request ID, Registration Request Date, Site Where Request Originated, and Notes from the requester. These are all Read-only.
General tab containing the following fields (grayed out if the account was rejected):
- Company Name from Request and Related to Existing Account. These are Read-only.
- Account Name. This is the Company Name provided by the requester.
- Classification – This is a dropdown list to select details about the classification of the type of account.
- Account Type - This is a dropdown list to select a specific type of account.
- Tax Reference Number, DUNS Number, Unique Identification Number, and VAT Reference Number – These are all inherited from the Company Account.
Contact tab containing the following fields (grayed out if the account was rejected):
- First and Last Name – These are Read-only. For an existing contact, the First Name and Last Name stored in the system take precedence over those submitted, and are the ones displayed.
- Email/Login ID – These are editable unless it is the email address of an existing account-based contact, in which case it is read-only in the UI. (It is editable via API in either case.). The administrator cannot change the email address to the email address or login ID of an existing shopper.
Address tab containing the following fields (grayed out if the account was rejected). This page displays all addresses that have been submitted. By default, each address consists of the following editible properties. These address properties are part of the default address format that ships with Retail Digital Commerce. If your Retail Digital Commerce environment includes custom address formats, different properties might be available on the Address tab. Additionally, custom address formats might make some of the required properties in this list optional. Contact your Site Administrator for details about creating addresses with custom address formats.
- Nickname
- Company
- Address 1
- Address 2
- City
- Zip/Postal Code
- Country
- State/Province
- Type
- Phone

If there is no address associated with the request, you are shown the message “This registration request does not have an associated address.”

Below the tabs, there is a Cancel button and a Save button. If you click Cancel, any changes you have made are discarded. There is no confirmation dialog. The Save button applies changes made in all tabs.

Work with Registration Requests to Review, Change Status, Approve, and Reject Requests

When you have enabled Account-based Shoppers in the Shopping Settings areas and are able to view the registration requests, you can see these requests in the Registration Requests area of the Accounts page.

The following provides an example of the change/approval/rejection process that occurs with a new registration request.

When a new account request is received, the request enters the system with a status of New until you either change the status of the request and save it, or you open the request without changing it.

If you save changes that do not include a status change:

An error occurs and the detail view is kept open.
If the save is successful and the status is New, the status is then changed to Review. If there is an exception with provided addresses, then there may have to be some editing done in another dialog. Finally, close the detail view and return to the list view.

If you save changes that include a status change:

If there are changes other than the status change, save them.
If an error occurs, you see an error message but the detail view is kept open.
If the save is successful, you can move on to making the status change

If you make a status change of Review or More Info Needed

Change the status.
Close the detail view and return to the request list view.

If you choose Accept from the status dropdown list while making a status change:

You are given the option to provide comments that are added to the acceptance email sent to the shopper who made the request. The comments are limited to 1000 characters.
You are requested to Click Accept to Create this as a New Account. To edit the account after accepting it, select the account in the Accounts List.
If you chose Accept on the confirmation dialog, you are shown a confirmation dialog while making changes. Be sure to check the uniqueness of the account name. If it is a duplicate, you receive an error message that the account name already exists and that you should choose another one. You are also returned to the list view. Assuming the account name is unique, add the account to the Accounts UI. The contact is now an active contact on the account.
Close the detail view and return to the list view.
Remove the registration request from the list view. The account and contact are both inactive at this point. If the contact is already an active contact, that person remains active.
An approval email is sent to the shopper who submitted the registration request. If you click Cancel on the confirmation dialog, you are returned to the detail view.

If you chose Reject from the status dropdown:

You are given the option to provide comments optional comments that are added to the rejection email sent to the shopper who made the request. The comments are limited to 1000 characters.
You are requested to Click Reject to Reject the Registration Request. Once this request is rejected, it can no longer be edited or accepted.

If you click Reject on the confirmation dialog:

Change the status to Rejected.
Close the detail view and return to the list view.
The rejected registration request appears in the list.
All fields in the registration request become read-only. In the details view, all of the tabs besides the Request tab are grayed out.
A rejection email is sent to the shopper who submitted the registration request.
Clean up the entry after it is rejected. When a registration request is rejected, you can hard delete the pending contact and organization. Do not delete the contact if it is an existing contact.
The email address (username) of the contact is now free for re-use for a new account-based or regular (anonymous) contact.

Understand Contact Registration Requests

In addition to account registration requests, you can allow an existing account-based shopper (contact) or a registered non-account-based shopper to submit a contact registration request.

A registered non-account-based shopper can be defined as a shopper with an email address that is not registered. An existing account-based shopper would have an email address that was registered as part of their role as an account-based shopper.

Note:

A logged-in account-based shopper can also submit a contact request with the email address of a different account-based contact or with an email address that does not exist in the system. A contact registration request cannot be submitted by/for an existing registered non-account-based shopper - that is, with the email address of an existing registered non-account-based shopper. If the email address is that of a registered non-account-based shopper, the system returns the error message that the email address must be new or be that of an existing account-based contact.

A contact registration request means that either type of shopper wishes to be added as a contact to an existing business account. The contact registration request is then either approved or rejected by a merchant administrator or by a delegated administrator. This type of request is not the same as an account registration request that is described in previous sections of this chapter. Unlike account registration requests, there is not an administrator user interface setting to enable or disable this feature.

The request process feature lets a shopper submit a request to be added as a contact to an existing business account by providing required contact and account details. The information is reviewed by an administrator or a delegated administrator from the merchant side after the shopper submits the required details. If needed, the administrator may request additional details from the shopper. Additional information that is needed must be requested and received separately from this feature either via a phone call or through emails. The contact registration request is then either approved or rejected. If the request is approved, the new contact for the account is activated and added to the account.

Understand the Contact Registration Request Process Flow

An example of how this basic contact registration request process works is provided in the procedural list that follows. Anyone with an Administrator, Delegated Administrator, and/or Account Manager Role can view, update, accept, and reject contact self-registration requests.

Note:

This high-level description is provided only as example and an introduction and does not necessarily mean that your process would work exactly this way. For example, all of the emails that are sent during the approval/rejection process are only lightly touched upon in the example process flow. For more detail on the automated emails described in the process, refer to Configure Email Settings.

A registered non-account-based shopper or an existing account-based shopper uses the store interface (via a widget provided with the layout) to request to be added as a contact to Account A. Refer to Submit new contact registration information for additional details.
The registered non-account-based shopper or an existing account-based shopper gets an email acknowledging that the request has been received. The request’s status is New.
The administrator or the delegated administrator for Account A are notified via an email that there is a new contact self-registration request that has been received.
The administrator sees the new request in the Contact Registration Requests area of the Accounts administration user interface. The delegated administrator sees the request via a widget provided on the store.
The administrator or the delegated administrator for Account A opens the registration request and begins reviewing it.
The administrator or the delegated administrator for the account saves some changes and/or explicitly sets the status to “Review.”
The delegated administrator for the account decides more information is needed before an approval decision can be made and changes the status to “More Info Needed.”
Outside of Retail Digital Commerce, the delegated administrator emails the registered non-account-based shopper asking for information.
The registered non-account-based shopper sends the delegated administrator an email with the required information.
After reading the registered non-account-based shopper’s email, the delegated administrator opens the request, adds some information, and sets the request’s status to Review.
The administrator or the delegated administrator opens the request and makes a decision.
If they accept the request then
- Optionally, they provide comments (if needed) to add to the approval email.
- The request disappears from the Request list.
- The registered non-account-based shopper receives an email indicating that the contact request is approved.
- The shopper now appears as a contact in Account A.
If the administrator or the delegated administrator rejects the request then
- Optionally, they can provide comments to add to the rejection email.
- The request remains in the Contact Registration Requests list with a status Rejected.
- The shopper receives an email indicating that their request is rejected.

Understand working with contact registration requests

When a shopper submits the required information for the contact registration request, an Administrator sees the new registration request in the Contact Requests area of the Accounts page, and can view, search, and work with contact registration requests there.

Both Contact Requests and Account Requests menu items appear as sub-items under Registration Requests in the Accounts navigation page in the administration user interface. Anyone with the Administrator and/or Account Manager Role can view, update, accept, and reject registration requests.

Note:

The Contact Requests tab always appears in the user interface. The Account Requests tab will not appear if Account Registration is disabled in Settings and there are no account registration requests with a status of New, Review, More Info Needed, or Rejected.

After the initial submission of the required details by the shopper, the contact registration request is reviewed from the merchant side by the administrator (or delegated administrator). At this point, the administrator (or delegated administrator) may also request from the shopper additional details such as credit checks and more. Upon receipt of all the requested information, the administrator (or delegated administrator using the appropriate widgets on the storefront) then either approve or reject the registration request. If the request is approved, the new contact with the account is activated and can then begin transacting business.

Work with the Contact Registration Request List

The information in the new contact registration request list can be looked at by both Administrators and Delegated Administrators. The information that follows describes the differences in the information that is available to each separate Role.

Via the administration user interface, the new contact registration request list for Administrators in the Contact Requests area of the Accounts page provides the following information in a list divided into the following:

Column Head	Description
Request ID	Request ID generated by the system. This provides a link that opens the request details.
Requested Account ID	Account ID that the requester provided
Requested Account Name	Account Name that the requester provided
Email Address	Email address that the requester provided
Last Name	Last name that the requester provided
First Name	First name that the requester provided
Originating Site	Site on which the request originated (Site name - or, if name is unavailable, Site ID)
Request Date	Date when the request was received. (No timestamp is provided)
Status	Displays Status icon (for statuses of “Rejected” and “More Info Needed”) The Status of a request can be either New (the request is new and has not been viewed), Review (the request has been viewed or changed and needs to be acted upon), More Info Needed (the request has been viewed and an action needs to be taken to collect more account or shopper information before the request is approved or rejected), or Rejected (the contact registration request has been rejected and no contact has been activated). The status is the same regardless of which Admin is viewing it.

You can also do the following with the new contact registration request list:

Filter the list by status. The default view of the list is to show all statuses.
Use a typeahead search box. The placeholder text in the box is “Search for registration request.” When you type a string, the list is filtered to records containing that string in the Company field.
Sort the list by the following:
- Email address: A-Z or Z-A
- First name: A-Z or Z-A
- Last name: A-Z or Z-A
- Request date: Newest or Oldest
- Request ID: A-Z or Z-A
- Requested account name: A-Z or Z-A

The default sort order is by Request date: Newest.

Look at other pages of the list as the list is paginated as the list grows longer.

Column Head	Description
Request ID	Request ID generated by the system. This provides a link that opens the request details.
Email Address	Email address that the requester provided
Last Name	Last name that the requester provided
First Name	First name that the requester provided
Originating Site	Site on which the request originated (Site name - or, if name is unavailable, Site ID)
Request Date	Date when the request was received. (No timestamp is provided)
Status	Displays Status icon (for statuses of “Rejected” and “More Info Needed”) The Status of a request can be either New (the request is new and has not been viewed), Review (the request has been viewed or changed and needs to be acted upon), More Info Needed (the request has been viewed and an action needs to be taken to collect more account or shopper information before the request is approved or rejected), or Rejected (the contact registration request has been rejected and no contact has been activated). The status is the same regardless of which Admin is viewing it.

The Delegated Administrator can also do the following with the information that they are allowed to view:

Filter the list by status. The default view of the list is to show all statuses.
Use a typeahead search box. The placeholder text in the box is “Search for registration request.” When you type a string, the list is filtered to records containing that string in the Company field.
Sort the list by the following:
- Email address: A-Z or Z-A
- First name: A-Z or Z-A
- Last name: A-Z or Z-A
- Request date: Newest or Oldest
- Request ID: A-Z or Z-A

The default sort order is by Request date: Newest.

Look at other pages of the list as the list is paginated as the list grows longer.

Search for a Specific Registration Request

As an Administrator in the Contact Request list view, you have access to Advanced Search in the administrator user interface via a typeahead search box.

Note:

This functionality is not available for Delegated Administrators in the store’s Registration Requests widget.

The placeholder text is “Filter contact requests.” When you type a string, the Contact Request list is filtered to records containing that string in the Last Name field.

You can also use an Advanced Search control (same as found in the accounts, contacts, and contact registration user interfaces to search for contact registration requests by creating expressions like the following:

<property 1> contains <value 1>
 <property 2> contains <value 2>
...
<property 5> contains <value 5>

You can also specify “Match Any” or “Match All.”

The properties available for this type of search must be:

Of type string OR
A custom string property of a contact registration request, account, or profile OR
Queryable static string properties that include:
- Last Name
- Email Address
- First Name
- Contact Registration Request Property ID
- Request ID
- Requested Account ID
- Requested Account Name
- Approver Comments
- Notes from the Requester

Also, the Advanced Search control feature presents you with dropdown lists of two groups of properties with the headers Contact and Request.

The group and the order of the properties for each header are as follows:

Under the Contact header:
- The Contact static properties listed above, in alphabetical order
- Any Contact dynamic properties, in alphabetical order
Under the Request header:
- The Request static properties listed above, in alphabetical order
- Any Request custom properties, in alphabetical order

When you use the extended search control, keep in mind the following:

The first row is populated with the “Last Name” property.
The “contains” operator is not shown; it is implicit.
Multiple terms with the same property are supported.
“Match All” is the default.
When an extended search is in effect, the text, “Advanced Search Results Shown” appears in the search box.
After you perform an extended search, the next time you open the Extended Search control, the criteria from your last search is displayed. This is true even if you have performed simple searches since performing the extended search. The criteria persist until you perform another extended search.
The Extended Search control allows at most 5 criteria.

You cannot search for registration requests via store APIs.

View and Edit Contact Registration Request Details

Contact registration request details be looked at and/or edited by both Administrators and Delegated Administrators. Administrators use the Contact Requests area of the Accounts page in the administrator’s user interface to view, search, and work with contact registration requests. A Delegated Administrator can perform the same functions using the Contact Registration Requests widget on the store.

The information that follows describes the differences in the information that is available for viewing and editing for each separate Role.

To look at and/or edit an actual new or existing contact registration request as an Administrator, click the Request ID (which is a link) of the request found in the Contacts Requests area of the Accounts page. When you do that you see a detail view that combines the following information:

Data received from the requester
All custom contact self-registration request properties
Selected static contact (profile) properties
All custom contact (profile) properties

Each request displays two tabs of information: Request and Contact. Some of the fields on the tabs can be viewed and some can be edited. The following contains more details on the information found on each tab:

Request tab containing the following fields:
- Status – A dropdown list that can be used to change the status of the requests. The choices are New, Accept, Reject, More Info Needed, and Review.

The dropdown shows New when the request is first opened. Once the status changes, the New status is removed from the dropdown. If the profile has been deleted, the Status can only be changed to Reject.

This field is Editable except if the Status is Rejected it becomes read-only. Also, if the contact has been deleted, the Status can only be changed to Rejected.

Request ID - Read-only.
Request Date - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Site Where Request Originated - URL, Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Notes from the requester - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Rejection comments - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API. Displayed only if the request was rejected.
Any custom properties that exist – Editable unless the Status is Rejected.
Contact tab containing the following fields:

Note:

This tab is grayed out if the profile has been deleted. This would occur either via the Agent API (for GDPR reasons) or because the request was rejected and the contact was new.

First Name – Read only. For an existing contact, the First Name stored in Retail Digital Commerce takes precedence over the submitted First Name and is displayed here.
Last Name – Read only. For an existing contact, the Last Name stored in Retail Digital Commerce takes precedence over the submitted Last Name and is displayed here.
Email/Login ID – Read-only.
Requested Account ID - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Requested Account Name - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Account Name - Accessed via the picker. Editable unless the status is Rejected. This is the name of the account to which the contact will actually be added. This name will be pre-populated in the field with the requested account if the system identified the account.
Any custom properties that exist – Editable unless the Status is Rejected. If the email address is that of an existing contact, the existing contact’s property values take precedence over the submitted values and are the ones displayed.

If you click Cancel, any changes you have made are discarded. The Save button applies changes made in all tabs.

Note:

The previous fields described list fields that are displayed in the administration interface. The following fields can be edited only in the REST API:

approverComments (listed above as Rejection Comments, but the field is also editable by API on an approved request)
approvedBy
approvedSource

As a Delegated Administrator, you can look at and/or edit the following information in a contact request that you are working on. Each request displays two tabs of information: Request and Contact. Some of the fields on the tabs can be viewed and some can be edited. The following contains more details on the information found on each tab:

Request tab containing the following fields:
- Status – A dropdown list that can be used to change the status of the requests. The choices are New, Accept, Reject, More Info Needed, and Review.

The dropdown shows New when the request is first opened. Once the status changes, the New status is removed from the dropdown. If the profile has been deleted, the Status can only be changed to Reject.

This field is Editable except if the Status is Rejected it becomes read-only. Also, if the contact has been deleted, the Status can only be changed to Rejected.

Request ID - Read-only.
Request Date - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Site Where Request Originated - URL, Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Notes from the requester - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API.
Rejection comments - Read-only in the user interface but editable via API. Displayed only if the request was rejected.
Contact tab containing the following fields:

Note:

This tab is grayed out if the profile was deleted. This would occur either via the Agent API (for GDPR reasons) or because the request was rejected and the contact was new.

First Name – Read only. For an existing contact, the First Name stored in Retail Digital Commerce takes precedence over the submitted First Name and is displayed here.
Last Name – Read only. For an existing contact, the Last Name stored in Retail Digital Commerce takes precedence over the submitted Last Name and is displayed here.
Email/Login ID – Read-only.

If you click Cancel, any changes you have made are discarded. The Save button applies changes made in all tabs.

Note:

The previous fields described list fields that are displayed in the Delegated Administrator user interface. The following fields are editable via API:

approverComments (listed above as Rejection Comments, but the field is also editable by API on an approved request)
approvedBy
approvedSource

Work with Contact Requests to Review, Change Status, Approve, and Reject

Submitted contact registration requests can be seen in the Contact Requests area of the Accounts page.

The following information provides an example of an Administrator’s or Delegated Administrator’s change/approval/rejection process that occurs when working with a new contact registration request. When a new contact request is received, the request enters the system with a status of New until you either change the status of the request and save it, or you open the request without changing it.

If you save changes that do not include a status change
- If an error occurs you receive an error message and the detail view is kept open.
- If the save is successful and the status is New, the status is then changed to Review. If there is an exception with provided addresses, then there may have to be some editing done in another dialog. Finally, the detail view closes and you are returned to the list view.
If you choose Accept from the status dropdown list while making a status change and have clicked Accept to confirm the choice:
- You are given the option to provide comments that are added to the acceptance email sent to the shopper who made the request. The comments are limited to 1000 characters.
- Validations are performed on the information if it is accepted.
- If there is an error, an error message is displayed and you are returned to the details view.
- If there are no errors, the contact is added to the account. The detail view is closed and you are returned to the list view. The request is removed from the list view.
- If the contact is new, it is activated. If it is an existing active contact, it is left active. If it is an existing inactive contact, it is left inactive.
- An approval email is sent to the shopper who submitted the request.
- If you click Cancel on the confirmation dialog, you are returned to the detail view.
If you select Reject from the status dropdown list:
- You are given the option to provide comments that are added to the rejection email sent to the shopper who made the request. The comments are limited to 1000 characters.
- Validations are performed on the information that is rejected.
- If there is an error, an error message is displayed and you are returned to the details view.
- If there are no errors, the status is changed to Rejected.
- The detail view is closed and you are returned to the list view.
- The rejected request is kept in the list.
- All fields in the request are made read-only.
- In the details view, The “Contact” tab is grayed out (unless the contact is an existing contact).
- The shopper who submitted the request is sent a rejection email.
- You must clean up the entry after it is rejected. When a contact request is rejected, you can hard delete the pending contact and organization. Do not delete the contact if it is an existing contact.
- If you click Cancel on the confirmation dialog, you are returned to the detail view.

A contact self-registration request does not ever need to have a Review or More Info Needed status. You can open a new request, make changes, change the status to Accept or Reject, and Save. In the example just described, the contact request goes from New to Rejected, or from New to adding the contact to the account.

Store the Source of an Approval or Rejection

When a request is approved or rejected, Retail Digital Commerce stores the value of a source property that indicates where the approval or rejection came from. These are the options:

If the administrator approved or rejected the request in the administrator user interface, the system, “Administrator” is stored as the source.
If the request was approved or rejected using the Admin endpoint, Retail Digital Commerce stores “Administrator” as the source by default, or stores any string value provided in the call.
If the request was approved or rejected in the store user interface or by the store API, Retail Digital Commerce stores “Delegated Administrator” as the source.
If the request was approved or rejected by an external system, Retail Digital Commerce stores the string value provided in the call (if provided).

Note:

Source values that are provided are not localizable.

Understand more about Working with Contact Requests

The following provides some additional information about working with contacts and new contact registration requests:

There is only one version of a contact. Therefore, an update to a contact’s details made in one place (the Accounts user interface, the Account Registration user interface, or the Contact Registration Request user interface) appears in all the user interfaces.
Re-using a contact with a pending contact registration request - If a shopper who is not yet a business account contact has a contact registration request pending, and the Administrator or Delegated Administrator wants to add the shopper to an existing account, the Merchant Administrator must either approve the request and then add the contact, or reject the request and then create the new contact.

If the Merchant Administrator tries to create a new contact, and the email address is that of a contact registration request pending, the message, “The email address you entered has a pending contact registration request. To add the user to an account, you must first approve or reject the request” is displayed.

If the Delegated Administrator tries to create a new contact, and the email address is that of a contact registration request pending, the message, “The email address you entered has a pending contact registration request. You or the merchant must accept or reject the request before you can add the user to an account” is displayed.

In a configuration where account-based shoppers and registered non-account-based shoppers coexist, if a shopper (or an API) tries to create a new registered non-account-based shopper profile using an email address that has a pending business account contact registration request, the message: “You cannot use this email address at the moment. Please contact the system administrator” is displayed

Cleaning up after a rejected request and re-using the contact - When a registration request is rejected, you must hard delete the pending contact. (Do not delete the contact if it is an existing contact.). After that is done the email address (username) of the contact is now free for re-use for a new business account contact and registered non-account-based shopper contact.

Delete Contact Information

When you delete a contact’s profile to comply with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) right to erasure, you must also remove personal information about the contact that appears in orders and other items, such as purchase lists.

You should redact these account-based commerce items before deleting the contact’s profile.

This section describes how to prepare for deleting a contact’s profile and delete or redact account-based commerce items that contain the contact’s personal information. See Delete shopper information for information about deleting profiles for contacts, redacting orders, and redacting registration requests.

Delete Purchase Lists as an Agent or Administrator

Purchase lists (personal or shared) let shoppers quickly access frequently purchased items. If a contact has created (and possibly shared) purchase lists, delete them before you delete the contact’s profile. You can delete purchase lists in the console. Keep in mind the following:

You (the Administrator) should ask the person to delete any purchase lists she created, before you delete their profile.
The console can be used to delete the list even if the purchase list is shared.
When a shared purchase list is deleted, the recipients of a shared list do not receive an email notification.
To delete a purchase list in the console, find the contact’s profile page and click the Purchase Lists tab.
To delete a purchase list with the API, use the deletePurchaseList endpoint. (If for business reasons you do not want to delete purchase lists, you can redact them instead.) See Delete or redact purchase lists in Delete shopper information for more information.

See Enable Purchase Lists for details about purchase lists and shared purchase lists.

Prepare to Delete the Profile for an Approver

The order approvals feature for account-based storefronts lets administrators enable order approvals for an account and specify a purchase limit. When a contact within the account creates an order that exceeds the purchase limit, the order is sent to an approver for confirmation before it is submitted.

If a contact is assigned the Approver role, they can approve orders for their account. Before you delete the profile for a contact who is an approver, perform the following tasks:

Remove the Approver role from the contact for all accounts before deleting the profile. (A contact’s profile cannot be deleted if the contact has the Approver role for any account.) See Manage approvers for an account for more information.

Important:

Make sure each account still has at least one approver left. You cannot remove the Approver role from the last approver on the account or deactivate the last approver on the account if there are orders pending approval or the order approval feature is enabled.

Use the Admin API to remove the approver’s ID from all orders they approved using the Admin API. See Delete an approver in Delete shopper information for more information.

Deactivate Scheduled Orders

Scheduled orders let shoppers create an order and a schedule that determines the frequency used to fill the order in the future. If a contact has created scheduled orders, deactivate them before you delete the contact’s profile so that the orders will no longer be placed. Once scheduled orders are deactivated, you can either delete or redact them. See Delete or redact scheduled orders in Delete shopper information for more information.

You can deactivate scheduled orders in the Retail Digital Commerce Console or with the Agent API:

To deactivate a scheduled order in the Console, find the contact’s profile page and click the Scheduled Orders tab. See Schedule an order in Understand punchout orders for more information.
To deactivate a scheduled order with the Agent API, use the updateScheduledOrder endpoint. See Understand Extension Features for details about using the REST APIs.

See Create Scheduled Orders for details about scheduled orders.

24 Configure Business Accounts

Understand Accounts, Contacts, and Contracts

Understand Delegated Administration

Work with Accounts

Work with Account Addresses

Work with Account Contacts

Work with Account Contracts

Understand Shoppers and New Account Registration Requests

Work with Account Registration Requests

Work with Registration Requests to Review, Change Status, Approve, and Reject Requests

Understand Contact Registration Requests

Understand working with contact registration requests

Work with Contact Requests to Review, Change Status, Approve, and Reject

Delete Contact Information