Microsoft Dynamics Retail - Firebrand Training UK ... · PDF fileMicrosoft Retail in eCommerce...

Table of Contents

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Microsoft Dynamics® 80639 Training

Retail in eCommerce Stores: Installation and Configuration for Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012 R3

Microsoft Retail in eCommerce Stores: Installation and Configuration for

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Module 1: INTRODUCTION AND COURSE OBJECTIVES

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1-1

Microsoft Dynamics AX Courseware Contents ..................................................................................... 1-2

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Omni Channnel Vision ............................................................... 1-3

Course Objectives ............................................................................................................................................ 1-5

Module 2: ECOMMERCE ARCHITECTURE

Defining an AX Ecommerce Solution....................................................................................................... 2-2

Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce Architecture and Components .......................................... 2-5

Microsoft AX Retail Module ........................................................................................................................ 2-9

Commerce Data Exchange ........................................................................................................................ 2-11

CDX Real Time Service ................................................................................................................................ 2-18

Commerce Runtime ..................................................................................................................................... 2-20

Ecommerce Starter Site .............................................................................................................................. 2-25

Test Your Knowledge .................................................................................................................................. 2-34

Lab: Ecommerce Architecture .................................................................................................................. 2-36

Test Your Knowledge Solutions .............................................................................................................. 2-59

Module 3: INSTALLATION OF ECOMMERCE COMPONENTS

Pre-installation Tasks ..................................................................................................................................... 3-2

Deploy Retail Online Channel and Configure Settings ..................................................................... 3-5

For Server Farm: Configure Settings in the oob-topology.xml File .............................................. 3-6

Execute PowerShell Scripts to Deploy and Configure Online Store.......................................... 3-13

Verifying the Retail Online Store Deployment and Troubleshooting ...................................... 3-16


Lab: Online Storefront Installation ......................................................................................................... 3-22


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Module 4: ONLINE STORE SETUP AND PUBLISHING

Module Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 4-1

Set Up Online Store Integration ................................................................................................................ 4-7

Create the Online Store Navigation Structure .................................................................................. 4-14

Configure Data Distribution and Publish the Online Store .......................................................... 4-22

Manage and Publish Online Store Products ...................................................................................... 4-32

Set Up Shipping Charges for the Online Store ................................................................................. 4-49

Module Review .............................................................................................................................................. 4-52



Lab: Online Store Setup and Publishing .............................................................................................. 4-56

Module 5: MANAGE THE ONLINE STORE IN SHAREPOINT

Module Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 5-1

Search Driven Sites .......................................................................................................................................... 5-2

Cross-Site Publishing ...................................................................................................................................... 5-3

Web Parts and Display Templates ............................................................................................................ 5-6

Query Rules ..................................................................................................................................................... 5-15

Refiners and Faceted Navigation ........................................................................................................... 5-20

Query Suggestion and Query Spelling ................................................................................................. 5-26

Usage Analytics and Recommendations ............................................................................................. 5-30


Lab: Online Storefront SharePoint Administration .......................................................................... 5-34

Test Your Knowledge Solutions ............................................................................................................. 5-53



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Module 6: ECOMMERCE DEPLOYMENT TOPOLOGY

Module Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 6-1

Ecommerce Deployment .............................................................................................................................. 6-2

Online Store Topology .................................................................................................................................. 6-8

Module Review .............................................................................................................................................. 6-21



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MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION AND COURSE

OBJECTIVES

Module Overview

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail supports multiple retail channels.

Retail channels include online stores, online marketplaces, and brick-and-

mortar stores. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, the e-commerce

transactions are performed through an “online store.”

This module introduces the E-commerce Installation and Configuration

course and the course objectives.

Objectives

The objectives of this module are as follows:

Describe how the e-commerce solution is an important part of

the Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Omni-channel vision.

Explain the course structure and objectives.

INTRODUCTION

Training is an important component of maintaining the value of a Microsoft

Dynamics® AX investment. Quality training from industry experts keeps you

up-to-date and helps develop the skills that you must have to fully

maximize the value of the solution. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides many

kinds of training to meet different requirements, and includes online

training, classroom training, or training materials. Select the training type

that will best help you stay ahead of the competition.

Online Training

Online training delivers convenient, detailed training in the comfort of your

own home or office. Online training provides immediate access to training

24 hours a day, and is perfect for the customer who does not have the time

or the budget to travel. Online training options combine the efficiency of

online training with the thorough product coverage of classroom training.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Classroom Training

Classroom training provides, comprehensive learning through hands-on

interaction. From demonstrations to presentations to classroom activities,

you receive practical experience with instruction from a certified staff of

experts.

Training Materials

Training materials help you learn at your own pace, in your own time, with

information-packed training manuals. The many training manuals feature

many tips, tricks, and insights that you can reference continuously.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Courseware

The Microsoft Dynamics AX courseware consists of detailed training

manuals that are designed from a training standpoint. These manuals

include advanced topics, training objectives, exercises, interactions, and

quizzes.

Manuals that are available for purchase are located on CustomerSource or

PartnerSource.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Courseware Contents

Microsoft Dynamics AX courseware contains labs and quick interactions.

These labs and interactions help you improve the learning experience

through practical application.

Lab

Microsoft Dynamics AX training materials include labs. Typically, the labs are

offered in two levels to accommodate each student’s knowledge and

expertise. We recommend that you try the High level steps first. If you need

help to complete the task, review the information in the Detailed steps.

High Level Steps

High levels steps are the most challenging. These steps are designed for the

experienced student who requires little instruction to complete the required

task.

Module 1: Introduction and Course Objectives

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Detailed Steps

Detailed steps are designed for new users who require detailed instructions

and explanations to complete the lab. Detailed steps guide you through the

whole task. This includes navigation.

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Omni Channel

Vision

The e-commerce solution is an important part of the Microsoft Dynamics

AX for Retail Omni-channel vision.

Lesson Objectives

The objectives are as follows:

Describe Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Omni-channel vision.

Explain why the e-commerce solution is an important part of

this vision.

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Omni Channel Vision

The retail environment offers exceptional opportunities and many challenges.

Current economic factors that include an increase in products and shopping

formats, and easy access to information lets shoppers experience a comprehensive

retail experience. The retail experience is multifaceted and includes many aspects,

from the retailer’s website and call center to marketplaces and social networks.

The different ways that retailers try to engage customers also shows that customers

expect their retail experience to be connected, transparent, and consistent.

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail helps deliver an end-to-end solution for midsize

and enterprise retailers while offering many features across all retail channels. This

includes brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce. Additionally, Microsoft

Dynamics AX for Retail offers powerful, flexible, role-tailored, Omni-channel

scenarios seamlessly through modern, unified technology.

Features in Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail include the following:

End-to-end, search-based e-commerce.

Next-generation point of sale (POS).

A true Omni-channel commerce engine across all retail channels.


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The Microsoft Dynamics AX Omni Channel Vision figure shows how Microsoft

Dynamics AX for Retail intends to provide an end –to end solution for retailers

across all types of retail channels.

FIGURE 1.1: MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX OMNI CHANNEL VISION

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail is easy for retailers to use, and supports

multiple retail channels. The channels include online stores, online marketplaces,

and retail stores (also known as brick-and-mortar stores). Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 for Retail also supports call centers as a type of channel.

The Omni-channel approach gives retailers insight, the ability to operate with

quickness, and meet and exceed customer expectations. Currently, some retailers

that use Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail include Diane von Furstenberg, Eason,

Fanatics Inc., Marc Jacobs, Mattress Firm and Optic 2000.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX e-commerce solution is an important part of the Retail

Omni-channel vision. The e-commerce solution provides an online storefront that is

based on SharePoint 2013 that is configured and managed centrally from Microsoft

Dynamics AX for Retail.

With online stores, the retailer gives the store’s customers the opportunity to

purchase products from the online store, and, or from the brick-and-mortar store.


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Customers can select to purchase the products from the online store and have the

products shipped to locations that they select, or customers can obtain the products

at a local retail store.

The online store is created in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, and is then

published to a Microsoft SharePoint site. The properties that are defined for the

online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX control the behavior of the online store. For

example, the navigation category hierarchy is defined in Microsoft Dynamics AX and

assigned to the online store. When the online store is published to a SharePoint site,

the navigation category hierarchy is displayed in the online version of the store.

Shoppers use the navigation category hierarchy to browse the online store and to

search for products.

To create the online store, the components that are used to process the transactions

for the store must first be set up. This includes having to add assortments, apply

attributes, set up payment methods, and set up shipping methods. You can also

define prices, promotions, discounts, trade agreements, and shipping terms that are

specific to the online store.

After the online store is published to the SharePoint site, retail product catalogs can

be created for the online store. The products in the catalog become product listings

in the online store. When a shopper purchases products from the online store, the

available inventory is updated and synchronized in the Microsoft Dynamics AX

client. Also, sales orders are generated for the purchases and sent to the Microsoft

Dynamics AX client for order fulfillment and processing.

This course describes the architecture and the components of the e-commerce

solution. The course also describes how to install the online storefront, how to

configure and publish the online store, how to manage the products for the store,

and how to manage the store SharePoint experience. Additionally, the course

discusses deployment considerations for the e-commerce solution.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are as follows:

Describe the architecture of the e-commerce solution and the

components.

Explain Installation and Configuration of an online store.

Explain how to manage the SharePoint experience for an online

store.

Explain the deployment considerations for an e-commerce

solution.

The course consists of the following modules:

Introduction and course objectives


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E-commerce architecture

Installing an online store

Online store setup and publishing

Online store SharePoint experience

E-commerce deployment


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Module Review

Student Objectives

Test Your Knowledge

Test your knowledge with the following questions.

1. What do you expect to learn by participating in this course?

List three main objectives.


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Test Your Knowledge Solutions

Module Review and Takeaways

1. What do you expect to learn by participating in this course?

2. List three main objectives.

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MODULE 2: ECOMMERCE ARCHITECTURE

Module Overview

This module focuses on the architecture of Microsoft Dynamics Ecommerce

solution and its components.

Objectives


Explain the Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution.

Describe the Ecommerce solution architecture and its components.

Explain Commerce Data Exchange and the services that it contains.

Examine Commerce Runtime architecture and services.

Review the architecture of the starter site and its components.


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Defining an AX Ecommerce Solution

This lesson provides an overview of features of Microsoft Dynamics AX

Ecommerce solution.

Lesson Objectives

Define the Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution.

Explain its features.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Ecommerce Solution

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Ecommerce is an end-to-end solution, based on a powerful

search technology. It contains a fully integrated web storefront, complete catalog, and real-

time order management. The online storefront uses the cross-site publishing features and the

search capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides the

centralized store management capabilities.

A retailer creates an online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX, and then publishes it to a

SharePoint site. The properties that are defined for the online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX

control the behavior of the online store. For example, you define the navigation category

hierarchy in Microsoft Dynamics AX, and then assign the navigation category hierarchy to the

online store. When you publish the online store to a SharePoint site, the navigation category

hierarchy appears in the online version of the store. Shoppers use the navigation category

hierarchy to browse the online store and to search for products.

To create the online store, you must set up the components that enable transactions to process

for the store. This includes the following tasks:

Adding assortments.

Applying attributes.

Setting up payment methods.

Setting up shipping methods.

o Define prices, promotions, discounts, trade agreements, and shipping terms

that are specific to the online store.

o Create retail product catalogs for the online store.

Products in the catalog become product listings in the online store. When a shopper purchases

products from the online store, sales orders are generated for the purchases, and then sent to

Microsoft Dynamics AX for order fulfillment and processing. The available inventory is updated.


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The online store business processing is made easier by the Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce

Runtime (CRT) that is installed on a SharePoint farm. The CRT serves as the intermediary

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and an online store.

The “Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Ecommerce Solution Architecture” diagram shows the

integrated Ecommerce solution that is provided by Microsoft Dynamics AX and

SharePoint.

FIGURE 2.1: DYNAMICS AX 2012 R3 ECOMMERCE SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE

Microsoft Dynamics AX and SharePoint work in tandem to provide a complete

Ecommerce solution, as follows:

1. A retailer builds the product catalog for the online store in Microsoft

Dynamics AX.

2. The catalog is published to SharePoint, where the online store is

hosted. Publishing the catalog makes the products available in the

online store.

3. The online shopper browses the online store, adds the products to

the basket, and then uses the checkout process to place an order. The

checkout process includes selecting delivery options, and then

providing an online payment.


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4. After the order is placed in the online store, it is returned to Microsoft

Dynamics AX for fulfillment and processing.

5. The fulfilled order is delivered to the online shopper.

Ecommerce Solution Highlights

The highlights of Ecommerce solution include, but are not limited to, the

following:

Online Storefront and Content Management, including the following:

o Fully integrated online storefront, with content management that

uses industry-standard tools.

o Unique search-based technology that builds an online experience

from managed content, authored content, catalogs, and more, to

deliver the most accurate, timely, and consistent experience.

o Historical click pattern and device recognition to guarantee that

content is relevant.

o Centralized Ecommerce Management, including the following:

o All aspects of storefront management that are managed by

Microsoft Dynamics AX at retail headquarters and fully integrated

out of the box. These aspects include the following:

Hierarchies

Categories

Refiners

Payments

Shopping cart

Order fulfillment

Shipping

o Complete catalog management in Microsoft Dynamics AX to

significantly reduce complexity and coding.

o Elimination of middleware, nonstandard integration, and

challenges with order fidelity.

Ecommerce Solution Pillars

With this solution, a retailer can integrate assortment and category management

across channels, such as brick-and-mortar stores and online stores to provide a

consistent and connected customer experience. Customer convenience is

improved with cross-channel scenarios, such as “buy online/pick up in store.” The

cross-channel capabilities deliver convenience and transparency across all


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channels. Customers can buy, pick up, return, or replace on their own terms.

Support for social and mobile commerce means that the retailer can offer

promotions, discounts, or coupons that are targeted to devices or social networks,

and create new opportunities for customer engagement.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution has four key pillars, as follows:

1. Centralized data and order management across the following

channels:

Channel management

Catalog management

Merchandising

Order fulfillment

2. Cross-channel and cross-device workflows, as follows:

Cross-channel fulfillment

Omni-channel loyalty

In-store orders

3. Symmetrical omni-channel retail services, as follows:

Pricing, sales tax, and shipping services

Discounts and promotion services

Quantity and store availability services

4. Out-of-the-box Ecommerce with storefront developer platform, such

as the following:

Out-of-the-box “starter” storefront

Retail data exchange and commerce runtime

Integrated payment processing (available in the United

States)

Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce Architecture and

Components

This lesson details the high-level Ecommerce solution architecture and its

components.

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to discuss Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution

architecture and components.


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Microsoft Dynamics Ecommerce Solution Architecture

Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution architecture is distributed across

multiple computers and locations and consists of the following components.

Commerce Data Exchange: Real Time Service

The Commerce Data Exchange Real-time Service is a Windows Communication

Foundation (WCF) service that uses .NET Business Connector to make

communication easier between Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail headquarters and

the Microsoft Dynamics AX commerce runtime (CRT). In previous releases, this

service was called the Retail Transaction Service. Install this service by using

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup.

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server is part of the system for asynchronous

data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels, such as the

Retail online store. Async Server is installed at headquarters and communicates

with Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Client

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Client is part of the system for asynchronous

data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels, such as the

Retail online store. Async Client is installed at the channel, and communicates with

the channel database. You typically install one instance of Async Client for each

channel.

Commerce Runtime (CRT)

The Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce Runtime is a set of .dlls that perform

business logic and data processing for an online store. The CRT has four layers

(data access, services, workflow, API) and a database.

SharePoint 2013 Search

The Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 cross-site publishing platform uses Search

and search-driven pages to dynamically display content for customers.

Term Sets

You use term sets to tag catalog content, such as pages or list items, on the

authoring site. By doing this, terms categorize the content into a hierarchy. These

same terms are later used on the publishing site to issue queries, show

information about category and catalog item pages, create friendly URLs, and for


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managed navigation.

Retail Online Store Databases

When you deploy the online store, the system creates the following databases in

Microsoft SQL Server.

Channel database(s)

Identity Provider database

Custom Claims Provider database

The “Architecture of Ecommerce Solution” diagram shows the detailed

architecture of an Ecommerce solution.

FIGURE 2.2: ARCHITECTURE OF ECOMMERCE SOLUTION

The”Architecture of Ecommerce Solution” diagram shows Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail deployed

in the retailer’s head office. The online storefront is deployed on SharePoint Server 2013.The two-way


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connection between the head office and the online storefront is implemented by Commerce data

exchange (CDX).

You must install the commerce runtime (CRT) component on SharePoint 2013. It includes a specially

configured CRT database that stores data from the web storefront and shares it regularly with Microsoft

Dynamics AX in the head office. Data replication makes sure that important updates are made across the

organization. These important updates include sales order payments, gift card usage, and loyalty program.

CRT provides a set of assemblies that connect to the CRT database.

The online storefront is fully search-driven. It provides an online store experience on multiple devices.

These devices used to access the Online Store can be computers, tablets, and mobile phones.

The following table briefly describes each component that must be installed for the Online Store

deployment. Details of each component are covered in later sections.

Component Function

Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

with Retail module

You must install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to receive all

Microsoft Dynamics AX features and components. This

includes the Retail Headquarters module. Retail is a module

for Microsoft Dynamics AX that retailers use to manage a

chain of online and retail (brick-and-mortar) stores as one

enterprise. It controls daily operations and tracks sales

information for every store in the chain.

Retail Channel

Database

Channel databases hold retail data for one or more retail

channels, such as online stores or brick-and-mortar stores.

You can include data for a channel in more than one

channel database.

Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

Commerce Data

Exchange

Commerce Data Exchange is a system that transfers data

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels.

At retail headquarters, you must install Commerce Data

Exchange: Async Server and Commerce Data Exchange:

Real-time Service.

For an online store, you must install an instance of

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Client.

Microsoft

Dynamics AX

Commerce

Runtime

Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce Runtime (CRT) delivers

multichannel commerce capability that has uniform

extensibility. It makes business processing easier between

the head office and online store and serves as the

intermediary between Microsoft Dynamics AX and an

online store.


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Component Function

SharePoint Server

2013

You must install and configure SharePoint Server 2013

before you deploy the Online Store.

Retail online store A starter online store provides a developer platform that

you can customize for specific business must reach online

customers. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail includes

two Retail online “starter” stores. The Contoso store is

modeled after a fictitious online electronics retailer. The

Fabrikam store is modeled after a fictitious online clothing

store. When you install the Retail online store by using

Setup.exe or PowerShell, you specify which starter store to

deploy in your environment. You can then customize and

rebrand the starter store to meet your needs.

Microsoft AX Retail Module

Use the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Retail module to centrally manage the online channel. This module is

deployed in the retailer’s head office. The Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail module includes the following

capabilities:

Centralized channel management

Catalog management

Inventory and pricing management

Order fulfillment

The following table describes the Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail HQ capabilities.

Capability Description

Centralized Channel Management

Organization

Model

You can model all channels, physical stores, online stores, and

online marketplaces as part of the organization hierarchy.

Financial

dimension

You can map an online channel to a financial dimension for

management reporting.


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Navigation

hierarchy

This drives the browse experience for an online store

Channel

properties

Properties include shipping methods, price groups, customers,

language, currency, and store locations.

Catalog Management

Attributes

framework

This framework lets you define an engaging enrichment

experience by using user-definable attributes.

Centralized

category

management

Centrally manage category hierarchies for various scenarios.

Centralized

catalog

management

Centrally manage sales catalogs that are targeted for channels.

Publishing

from

Dynamics AX

to SharePoint

Transfer all catalog data to the product catalog site collection.

Kits Manage product as a kit with components, substitution,

substitution price, kit price. Functionality also covers ability to

assemble and disassemble kit configurations.

Inventory and Pricing Management

Pricing Establish the sales price of a product for a specific time and

customer. Pricing is by Affiliation, Loyalty, Catalog & Channel.

Discounts

Specify simple multiline discounts, and mix & match. Discounts

are by Affiliation, Loyalty, Catalog & Channel.

Price groups

Establish relationships between a channel, customer pricing,

and discounts. Designate multiple price groups for each retail

discount. Price groups are by Affiliation, Loyalty, Catalog &

Channel.


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Inventory

Management

Provides comprehensive inventory management for

purchasing, receiving, allocation, replenishment, item

availability, and more.

Loyalty

Program

Gives customers specific prices and discounts, multiple

programs associated to a loyalty card, and the ability to

redeem points. You can base earning rules on product/variant/

category, tiers, date and channel, and the ability to have

redeemable and non-redeemable points. Restrict rewards for

specific products.

Order Fulfillment

Centralized

order

fulfillment

Centralized order fulfillment from Microsoft Dynamics AX that

is independent of order origination with comprehensive

picking, shipping, and notifications.

Cross-channel

workflows

Lets you order online and pickup in store or order online and

return in store, and receive loyalty points.

Integrated

payment

processing

Extensible process that is PCI/PA-DSS certified, tokenization for

delayed capture.

Call Center Sales

Call Center

Sales

Management

Lets you do any of the following:

Upsell/cross-sell

Order hold

View configured telesales script

Continuity programs

Price adjustment post sales

Issue/redeem coupons

Duplicate customer management.

Reference Links: For more information about Microsoft Dynamics AX for

Retail capabilities, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/hh597299.aspx.

Commerce Data Exchange

This lesson discusses the Commerce Data Exchange and the services that it

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh597299.aspx



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includes.

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to describe Commerce Data Exchange services.

Commerce Data Exchange

Commerce Data Exchange is a system that transfers data between Microsoft

Dynamics AX and retail channels, such as online stores or brick-and-mortar stores.

The database that stores data for a retail channel is separate from the Microsoft

Dynamics AX database. A “channel database” holds only the data that is required

for retail transactions. For a brick-and-mortar store, the channel database is also

known as a “store database” and is typically located on the premises.

Master data is configured in Microsoft Dynamics AX and is distributed to channels.

Transactional data is created in the point of sale (POS) system or the online store,

and then is uploaded to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Data distribution is

asynchronous. In other words, collecting and packaging data at the source occurs

separately from receiving and applying data at the destination.

For some scenarios, such as price and inventory lookups, you must retrieve data in

real time. To support these scenarios, Commerce Data Exchange also includes a

service that enables real-time communication between Microsoft Dynamics AX

and a channel.

CDX is illustrated in the “Commerce Data Exchange Overview “diagram.


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FIGURE 2.3: COMMERCE DATA EXCHANGE OVERVIEW

The following table contains Commerce Data Exchange components.

Component Description

Commerce Data

Exchange: Async

Server (Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

R3 only)

Async Server handles asynchronous data exchange at

headquarters. Use Microsoft SQL Server change

tracking on tables to determine which data must be

packaged and sent to channels. Based on a

distribution schedule, Microsoft Dynamics AX

generates data packages and deposits them in a

working folder.

For more information, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/dn741449.aspx.

Commerce Data

Exchange: Async

Client (AX 2012 R3

only)

Async Client handles asynchronous data exchange for

a channel. The client starts the data. At a configurable

interval, Async Client polls for data to download. If

there is new data, Async Client takes the data from

the working folder, and then applies it to the local

channel database.


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Async Client also uploads sales transactions from the

channel to Microsoft Dynamics AX.




Commerce Data

Exchange: Real-time

Service

Real-time Service provides real-time data exchange

between a channel and Microsoft Dynamics AX.



US/library/jj679919.aspx.

Commerce Data

Exchange: Synch

Service (Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

R2 and Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

Feature Pack)

Synch Service handles asynchronous data exchange at

headquarters and at the channel. Based on a

distribution schedule, data is packaged and sent to

channels.

If you are using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3,

Synch Service is used only in an environment where

you must support previous POS versions during an

upgrade (N-1).

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server and Async Client

Async Server

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server is part of the system for asynchronous

data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels. Async Server

is installed at headquarters and communicates with Microsoft Dynamics AX. You

can distribute the communication load at the head office by installing multiple

instances of Async Server. Async Server runs as a Windows Communication

Foundation (WCF) service on IIS.

Microsoft SQL Server change tracking on the Microsoft Dynamics AX database

determines the data changes that you must send to channels. Based on a

distribution schedule, Async Server packages that data, and then saves it to a file

location. Commerce Data Exchange: Async Client periodically checks for new data

packages, collects the data packages, and then applies them at the channel.

Async Server Message Database

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn741439.aspx


http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj679919.aspx



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Async Server uses a message database to store status information for data

transfers that are in progress or are completed. Async Client contacts the message

database to determine whether there are new data packages to pick up.

You can use Async Server to transfer status messages from the message database

to the Microsoft Dynamics AX database. Then you can view the messages in

Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Each instance of Async Server can refer to only one message database. However, a

message database can have multiple instances of Async Server that refer to it. You

can have only one message database per partition in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Async Client

Commerce Data Exchange: Async Client is part of the system for asynchronous

data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels. Async Client

is installed at the channel, and communicates with the channel database. You

typically install one instance of Async Client for each channel.

Async Client runs as a Windows service. At a configurable interval, Async Client

checks with Async Server to see whether new data packages are available. If there

is new data, Async Client takes the data from the working folder, and then applies

it to the local channel database. Async Client also uploads sales transactions from

the channel to Microsoft Dynamics AX.

By default, Async Client uses the WS-ReliableMessaging protocol to transfer data.

Reliable messaging guarantees that the data transfers successfully over the

network. However, the confirmation actions that are sent between the source and

the destination can cause slower data transfers. For better throughput, use

streaming instead. However, streaming does not handle network problems.

Streaming is ideal for initial high-speed data synchronization or for ongoing

synchronization of large amounts of data. If you have a reliable network and high

data volume, we recommend that you stream data.

Async Client Message Database

Async Client uses a message database to store status information for data

transfers that are in progress or are completed.

The “Multiple Instances of Async Server” diagram shows the relationships between

partitions, message databases, and instances of Async Server.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 2.4: MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF ASYNC SERVER

To configure and schedule retail data distribution in AX 2012 R3, follow these

steps:

1. Set up connection profiles that enable the components of Retail to

communicate with one another.

2. Set up channel data groups. A “channel data group” is a group of one

or more retail channel databases. When you run a distribution

schedule, a data package generates for each data group. All channel

databases in a data group subscribe to the same data. A database can

belong to only one data group. For more information, see “Create a

channel data group” in this training material

3. Set up jobs in Retail Scheduler to distribute the data. Scheduler jobs




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are the mechanism for distributing data to and from locations. Jobs

are made up of subjobs that specify the tables and table fields that

contain the data to distribute. For more information, see “Configure

jobs and subjobs in Retail Scheduler” in this training material.

4. Set up distribution schedules. The distribution schedule is used to run

the data transfer, either manually or by scheduling a batch job in

Microsoft Dynamics AX. A distribution schedule can contain one or

more channel data groups and one or more scheduler jobs. For more

information, see “Schedule and run jobs in Retail Scheduler” in this

training material.

Reference Links: < For more information about the typical configuration of

Asynch Server, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn741219.aspx.

Connection profiles enable the components of Retail to communicate with one

another. Set up connection profiles before you configure data distribution settings

for Retail.

You must set up the following connections:

Real-time Service profile

Profile for Async Server

Profile for Synch Service

Channel profile

Channel database profile

AOS profile

Store database profile

Reference Links: For more information on how to set up connection

profiles, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj679913.aspx.Add

Reference Links here>

An online store has a Channel Database; similar channel databases are assembled

into a data group. For example, for stores that are in the same region or stores

that are of the same type, the databases are in one data group; an online store is

in another data group. All channel databases in a data group subscribe to the

same data. When a distribution schedule is run, a data package generates for each

data group. Use data groups to reduce the number of data packages that

generate from Microsoft Dynamics AX. This improves performance.

Reference Links: < For more Information about channel data groups, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn621060.aspx. Add Reference Links

here>




http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/hh580631.aspx








Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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In Retail, scheduler jobs are the mechanism for distributing data to and from

locations. Each job consists of one or more subjobs.

In AX 2012 R3, the following types of predefined jobs are created:

Download jobs – Download jobs send data that has changed from

Microsoft Dynamics AX to channel databases. Modifications to records are

tracked through SQL Server change tracking.

Upload jobs (P jobs) – Upload jobs pull sales transactions from a channel

into the Microsoft Dynamics AX database.

P jobs upload data incrementally. When a P job runs, Async Client checks the

replication counter for records that have already been received from a location.

The instance of Async Client for the channel sends only those records that have a

replication counter that is greater than the largest value found. P jobs do not

update data that was previously uploaded. To schedule and run the data transfer

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels, Commerce Data Exchange

uses Retail Scheduler jobs and distribution schedules.

Reference Links: For more information about jobs and subjobs in Retail

Scheduler, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj680084.aspx.

Jobs and subjobs contain the data distribution settings for specific tables and

fields in the database. A distribution schedule associates scheduler jobs with the

locations where data must be synchronized. After you create distribution

schedules, you can run them automatically in a batch, or run them manually.

Before you set up a distribution schedule in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, you

must create scheduler jobs and data groups. You can view information about past

runs of a distribution schedule job by examining the view history of a distribution

schedule form.

Reference Links: For more Information about Distribution Scheduler, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj710363.aspx.

CDX Real Time Service

Online store uses a CRT database that is synchronized periodically with Microsoft

Dynamics AX in the head office through the CDX Synch Service. Although you can


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perform most key operations in the CRT database, certain scenarios require direct

access to the data that is stored in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Online store calls the CDX Real-Time Service to communicate with Microsoft

Dynamics AX. Real-Time Service is a Windows Communications Framework (WCF)

service that you deploy on Internet Information Services (IIS) on a

communications server at the retailer’s head office. You can create a new website

for Real-Time Service, or you can use an existing site.

Real-Time Service enables multiple scenarios for the online store. This includes the

following:

Issue and redeem gift cards.

Redeem loyalty points.

Issue and redeem credit memos.

Create and update customer records.

Create, update, and complete sales orders.

Receive inventory against a purchase order or transfer order.

Perform inventory counts.

Retrieve sales transactions across stores and complete return transactions.

When you install the Real time Service, you also install the Retail Salt Utility and

.NET Business Connector. The Retail Salt Utility provides additional encryption for

the passwords and credentials that are associated with the Retail system.

Real-time Service uses .NET Business Connector to communicate with Microsoft

Dynamics AX, as shown in the “Real-Time Service” diagram.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 2.5: REAL-TIME SERVICE

Real-Time Service uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to help secure communication

between the head office and the store locations. Therefore, when you deploy a

Real-Time Service, you must first install a server certificate that is issued by a

trusted certification authority. Then you must run a PowerShell script and

InstallCommerceDataExchangeRealtimeService.ps1. This is provided when you

install the Real-Time Service binaries and configuration files to create the WCF

service.

Reference Links: < For more information about the Real-Time Service

deployment, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj679919.aspx. Add


Commerce Runtime

This lesson discusses the Commerce Runtime and its components.

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to describe Commerce Runtime architecture and components

Commerce Runtime

The Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce Runtime (CRT) component serves as the

intermediary between Microsoft Dynamics AX and an online store. It provides an

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj679919.aspx


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engine for a retail channel and enables delivery of content and retail services in a

scalable way.

Commerce Runtime provides a set of assemblies that connect to the CRT database

that stores business data for the online store. CRT assemblies also use the CDX

Real-Time Service to connect to Microsoft Dynamics AX.

The “CRT architecture” diagram shows the CRT architecture.

FIGURE 2.6: CRT ARCHITECTURE

Commerce Runtime contains the following layers:

Data access layer – A data access layer that runs on the CRT database. In the

data access layer, raw data is translated into objects in memory. For example,

an object could be a product with attributes such as price and color. The data

access layer has functions that you can use to manipulate these objects.

Stored procedures pass packets of data from the database to data entities

that can be used in services and workflow. You can update the packets of data

to include new fields that you add in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Reference Links: < For more information about the data access layer and

data entities customization, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/jj916616.aspx. Add Reference Links here>




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Services layer – On top of the data access layer is a services layer. Services

query for real-time data. You can use these services to customize existing

functionality, or add your own services that have new functionality.

Reference Links: For more information about the CRT Services, go to


Workflow layer –On top of the services layer, there is the workflow layer. A

“workflow” is a collection of services and business logic that together define

business processes. For example, when a customer adds an item to the cart,

you can use workflow to do any of the following:

o Obtain the price.

o Perform validation.

o Check inventory quantity.

o Calculate shipping.

o Calculate tax.

o Calculate discounts.

You can use workflows that are included in Microsoft Dynamics AX, or you

can create new workflows. You can also use a workflow to connect to a third-

party system as part of your business processes.

Reference Links: < For more information about how to create workflows,

go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj916618.aspx.

Application Programming Interface (API): On top of the workflow layer is

the API layer. You can use the API for any of the following:

o Information about items

o Price calculation

o Shipping calculation

o Placing orders

You can extend the API to fit your business processes.




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Reference Links: For more information about APIs, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj992752.aspx. <Add Reference Links

here>

CRT Services

Microsoft Dynamics AX retail services are scalable and extensible services that are

empowered through a combination of the commerce data exchange and the

commerce runtime. Several services exist in the Commerce Runtime that support

the functionality of an online store. You can add your own services, or extend the

prebuilt services.

Services are enumerated as types in the Commerce Runtime configuration file that

is named commerceRuntime.config. You can add types in the Commerce Runtime

configuration file to control the services that are loaded in the Commerce

Runtime. Services are loaded in the order in which they are listed in the

configuration file. All default services are loaded automatically. However, if you

add a new service above one of the default services, the new service replaces the

default service.

Reference Links: For more information about how to integrate a service

into the Commerce Runtime, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


The following table describes the CRT prebuilt services.

Service Description

AddressService Verifies addresses and obtains location information, such as

cities, counties, or states.

ChargeService Calculates auto-charges, price charges, and shipping

charges for a transaction.

CurrencyService Converts currencies based on exchange rates.

CustomerService Maintains customer information.

DimensionService Enables customers to find items in your store based on

criteria like category or color.

EmailService Sends email to customers based on an email template that

is defined in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

LoyaltyService Implements a program that rewards repeat customers.

PaymentService Connects your online store to a payment service to provide

credit card authorization and use preconfigured payment





Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Service Description

processing. You can also extend the payment service to add

third-party payment processors.

PricingService Obtains the price of an item in real time. The price is

adjusted based on the base price and any applicable

discounts. You can customize discounts for each retailer.

ProductAvailabilit

yService

Calculates the quantities of available products for sale.

RoundingService Rounds the tender amount based on the tender type and

store.

SalesOrderService Creates a sales order based on a customer shopping cart.

ShippingService Calculates shipping costs and determine shipping options

for the current order. You can use shipping data from

Microsoft Dynamics AX or from a third-party shipping

service.

StoreLocatorServi

ce

Generates a list of stores based on criteria like nearness and

product availability.

TaxService Calculates the sales tax for the current order. You can use

sales tax information from Microsoft Dynamics AX or from a

third-party sales tax service.

TotalingService Calculates the totals on the sales transactions and sales lines.


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Ecommerce Starter Site

This lesson provides an overview of the Ecommerce starter site and its

components.

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to describe the Ecommerce starter site and its components.

Starter Store

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail includes two Retail online “starter” stores.

The Contoso store is modeled after a fictitious online electronics retailer. The

Fabrikam store is modeled after a fictitious online clothing store. When Retail

online store is installed by using Setup.exe or PowerShell, you specify which starter

store to deploy in the environment. After you deploy the starter store, you can

customize and rebrand it to meet the specific needs of the implementation.

CONTOSO ONLINE STARTER STORE

FIGURE 2.7: CONTOSO STARTER SITE


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 2.8: FABRIKAM STARTER SITE

The Contoso starter store is installed as part of the solution installation process

when you deploy the Ecommerce solution on SharePoint.

The online starter store provides customizable controls as described in the

following table.

Control type Available in starter store

Page layouts Address edit

Associate customer

Change password

Checkout confirm

Facebook logon

Issue gift card

Logon

Loyalty

My account


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Control type Available in starter store

Order review

Order confirm

Order history

Product details

Product gallery

Product quick view

Display templates Contoso_Default_Item_ProductDetails

Contoso_Default_Item_ProductGallery

Contoso_Default_Item_ProductQuickView

Control_KitRetailListWithPaging

Control_ProductVariants

Control_RetailListWithCarouselPaging

Control_RetailListWithPaging

Control_RetailListWithPagingNoCrt

Fabrikam_Default_Item_ProductDetails

Fabrikam_Default_Item_ProductGallery

Fabrikam_Default_Item_ProductQuickView

Filter_RetailMultiValue

Filter_RetailMultiValue_Body

GiftCard_Item_ProductDetails

GiftCard_ProductVariants

Item_KitComponentDetails_Contoso_Default

Item_Recommended

Item_SelectComponentSubstitutesQuickView_Contoso_D

efault

Controls/Web

parts

Shopping Cart

Mini shopping cart

Order history

Address – display, edit

Customer – display, edit

Wish List

Category landing

Welcome bar

Store product availability

The “Online Store Architecture” diagram shows the out-of-the-box online store

architecture.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn741462.aspx


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 2.9: ONLINE STORE ARCHITECTURE

The starter online store consists of two site collections: the product catalog site

collection and the publishing portal site collection. These collections are located in

the following separate web applications:

The product catalog web application uses Active Directory DS to

authenticate content authors. The product catalog site collection lists

product data. All libraries and lists are shared as catalogs.

The publishing portal web application uses Active Directory DS

authentication for designers and forms-based authentication for web

users. This web application is configured to enable anonymous access for

web users.

This web application is configured to give anonymous access for web users. The

product catalog site collection lists product data. This includes the Microsoft

Dynamics AX navigational hierarchy that is stored in the SharePoint Term Store.

The lists that are created by the online store publishing process are shared.

Internal users such as designers and other content authors have Contribute

permission level to add, update, and delete items in the asset library. The asset

library is added to the Suggested Content Browser Locations list for the authoring

and product catalog site collections so that content authors can use those assets


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in their content.

The search system indexes content from the authoring site and the product

catalog site collection. When a user views a page on one of the publishing sites,

queries from Search Web Parts on that page are sent to the search index. Results

are returned from the search index, and shown in the Search Web Parts on the

page.

Note: Because the publishing site collection is outside the firewall, the asset

library is located in a separate site collection in the same web application as the

publishing site collection. This gives users on the publishing sites read access to

those assets. Internal users, such as designers and other content authors, have

Contribute permission level to add, update, and delete items in the asset library. The

asset library is added to the Suggested Content Browser Locations list for the

authoring and product catalog site collections. This enables content authors to use

those assets in their content.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX SharePoint Connector is a service that includes a

SharePoint publishing job that runs in the OWSTimer.exe service. The job is called

RetailPublishingJob, and you can monitor it in SharePoint 2013 Central

Administration. It retrieves updated store and product information from the CRT

database, and then pushes it into the product catalog site collection. The

information is then crawled by Search.

Online Store Databases

When you deploy the online store, the system creates the following databases in

Microsoft SQL Server.

CRT database – The online store uses this database as a data store before

pushing data into SharePoint. By default, the database is named AxRetailSP.

Settings for this database are stored in the oob-topology.xml file under

Settings/Channel.

Identity Provider database – This database stores user credentials for

forms-based authentication. By default, the database is named SPFBA.


Settings/IdentityProvider.

Custom Claims Provider database – This database stores the mapping

between user identity and Microsoft Dynamics AX customer number when

the user creates an account. By default, the database is named SPAuthZ.


Settings/CustomClaimsProvider.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Online Store Pages

The online store is a search-driven SharePoint site. The starter store pages are built

by using the SharePoint 2013 page model that is illustrated in the “SharePoint

2013 Page Model” diagram.

FIGURE 2.10: SHAREPOINT 2013 PAGE MODEL

The SharePoint page model for a starter store contains the following main

elements:

Master pages

Page layouts

Search-driven Web Parts, such as the Content Search Web Part

Display templates that control the search results

Control display templates that control the layout of search results and

any elements that are common to all results such as paging, sorting, and

other links

Item display templates that control how each search result is displayed

and repeated for each result


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The starter store provides several master pages, page layouts, display templates,

and web parts. Each page layout uses a specific master page, and each page has a

corresponding page layout. For example, the welcome page for the site,

Welcome.aspx, has a corresponding page layout file that is named

WelcomeLayout.aspx. You can customize the master templates and page layouts

and create your own.

Reference Links: For more information about how to customize the online

store, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn387566.aspx. <Add


The starter site master pages include the following:

Storefront.master

StorefrontMobile.master

The page layouts in the online store include the following:

My account

Order history

Product details

Product gallery

Product quick view

Address edit

Associate customer

Change password

Checkout confirm

Facebook® Logon

The prebuilt display templates are as follows:

Item Product Detail

Item Product Gallery

Item Product Quick View

The web parts that are available out-of-the box include the following:

Add To Cart

Checkout

Promotion Code

Submit Order

Mini shopping cart

Shopping cart

Address



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Customer

Cascading style sheets (CSS) provide styling and formatting for the page layouts.

The CSS files for the online store are located in the following location on the

SharePoint application server where the online store is installed:

Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server

Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\STYLES\Storefront.

The following table lists the cascading style sheets that are used in the online

store.

Cascading

Style

Sheet

Description

AddressEdi

t.css

Defines the formatting for the components that appear on the

AddressEdit page.

AssociateC

ustomer.cs

s


AssociateCustomer page.

CheckoutC

onfirm.css


CheckoutConfirm page.

Control_Pr

oductVaria

nt.css

Defines the formatting that applies to the control that is

selected for the Item Details display template.

Core.css Defines global formatting that applies to all pages and user

interface (UI) components of the starter store.

CustomerE

dit.css


Login page.

Item_Prod

uctDetails.

css


ProductDetails page.

Item_Prod

uctGallery.

css


ProductGallery page.

Item_Reco

mmended

Defines the formatting that applies to the Item_Recommended

display template that is used by the following web parts:

Related Products

Customer Favorites

Shop By Brand


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Cascading

Style

Sheet

Description

Clearance items

Login.css Defines the formatting for the components that appear on the

Login page.

MyAccoun

t.css


MyAccount page.

OrderChec

kout.css


Checkout page.

OrderDeta

ils.css


OrderDetails page.

OrderHisto

ry.css


OrderHistory page.

ProgressBa

r.css

Defines the formatting for the checkout progress bar on the

OrderCheckout page that is displayed for Shipping information,

Billing Information, and Review.

Register.cs

s


page that enables a user to register a new account.

Reset.css Resets some default HTML formatting that is defined in Core.css

on the master page. This makes the pages as browser-

independent as possible.

Shopping

Cart.css


ShoppingCart page.

Tab.css Defines the formatting for the tab control that appears on the

Quickview and ProductDetails pages.

Welcome.c

ss


Welcome page.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Module Review

In this module the following concepts were covered

Ecommerce solution architecture and its components.

Commerce Data Exchange and the services that it includes.

Commerce Runtime architecture and services.

Architecture of the Online starter site and its components.

Test Your Knowledge


1. What is Commerce Data Exchange?

( ) It is a built-in Microsoft Dynamics AX service that provides exchange

rate for multiple currencies.

( ) It is a communication mechanism for Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail.

( ) It is an integration component that connects Microsoft Dynamics AX

with the third-party data providers.

( ) All the above.

( ) None of the above.

2. What layers does the Commerce Runtime contain?

( ) A data access layer, a shipping layer, a payment layer, and an API

layer.

( ) A basket layer, a checkout layer; a workflow layer, and an order layer.

( ) A data access layer, a services layer, a workflow layer, and an API layer.

( ) A presentation layer, a services layer and a data access layer

( ) None of the above

3. What site collections does the online store use? Select all that apply.

( ) A site collection that contains a product catalog site.

( ) A site collection that contains a shopping cart site.


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( ) A site collection that contains a publishing portal site.

( ) Two Site Collections that contains a product catalog site and

publishing portal site.

( ) None of the above.

4. What should be deployed in the Retail Headquarters as part of the commerce

data exchange setup to manage communication between the Retail

Headquarters and the online store?

( ) CDX Async Client

( ) CDX Async Server

( ) CDX Synch Service

( ) All the above


5. What are the key pillars of the Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution?

( ) Centralized data and order management across all channels.

( ) Cross-channel and cross-device workflows.

( ) Symmetrical omni-channel retail services.

( ) OOB e-commerce with storefront developer platform.

( ) All the above


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Lab: ECOMMERCE ARCHITECTURE

Scenario

In this lab, you explore the online store, place an online order, and then

synchronize the order from the online store to AX. The Contoso online store

provides an opportunity for web shoppers to pick up merchandise that they have

ordered online in Contoso brick-and-mortar stores. You use the POS register to

pick up this order in Contoso’s Boston brick-and-mortar store. Then you explore

the components of the online storefront, such as the Product Catalog site, the

products listings, and the Retail publishing job.

Objectives

The objectives of this lab are:

1. Explain the online store structure and navigation, the search-driven

experience, the product pages, and the checkout process.

2. Show how to sync the orders from the online store to AX manually.

3. Review the omni-channel experience that is enabled by AX Retail

when the online order is picked up in the brick-and-mortar store.

4. Explore the components of the online storefront solution, such as the

Product Catalog site, the products listings, and the Retail publishing

job.

Lab Setup

1. This Lab uses the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Demo VM Available

on Partner Source. Link :

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/AX/download

s/service-

packs/AX2012DemoToolsMaterials#MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012R3Solu

tionDemoPackageV1.0

2. The VM on Partner Source comes together with the following

documentation. Please review the documentation to set up the VM

before completing the Lab.

Release Notes

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/ReleaseNo

tesAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf

Technical Guide

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/AX/downloads/service-packs/AX2012DemoToolsMaterials#MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV1.0




https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/ReleaseNotesAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf



2 - 37

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/TechnicalG

uideAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf

Known Issues

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/KnownIssu

esforAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf

Sample data

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/AX2012R3

SolutionDemoPackageOverview.pdf

How to set up Network Adapter Priority

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoSet

NetworkAdapterPriorities.pdf

How to Start Crawl for Microsoft SharePoint Server Search

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoIniti

ateCrawlMicrosoftSharePointSearch.pdf

How to Use Virtual Machine Profile Manager

How to User Virtual Machine Profile Manager

3. Use USRT as the default company for all the Labs.

4. To fix the Synchronize Online Orders Job issue, follow these steps:

a. Open SQL Server Management Studio.

b. Connect to the AX2012R3A database engine.

c. Run the following query:

USE MicrosoftDynamicsAX

DROP TRIGGER

[AIFDynamicsConnectorDefaultServicesInsTrigAxdSalesOrderCredi

tCardAut024a098943b948f7a1a889249902d3b7]

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/TechnicalGuideAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf


https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/KnownIssuesforAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/KnownIssuesforAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV10.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/AX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageOverview.pdf


https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoSetNetworkAdapterPriorities.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoSetNetworkAdapterPriorities.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoInitiateCrawlMicrosoftSharePointSearch.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoInitiateCrawlMicrosoftSharePointSearch.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Servicepacks/HowtoUseVirtualMachineProfileManager.pdf


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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d. Restart the AOS Service.


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Exercise 1: Explore Online Store and Place an Order

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise, you browse the online starter store, refine the product listing, add

a product to a shopping cart, and then perform the checkout process.

Task 1: Browse the Online Starter Store.

High Level Steps

Browse the online store.

Detailed Steps

1. Open the browser, and then locate the Contoso online store that is

located at www.contoso.com.

Figure 1: Online Store Home Page

2. Explore the site home page that is illustrated in the diagram (Online

Store Home page). Notice the site navigation by product categories

on the top of the page. The site navigation is driven by the category

hierarchies that are defined in Microsoft Dynamics AX and published

to the online store.

3. Rest the pointer on Cameras, and then click Digital SLR cameras.

http://www.contoso.com/


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 2: Online Store Product Details Page

Task 2: Refine the product listing in the Online Starter Store.

High Level Steps

Refine the product listing.

Detailed Steps

1. On the Product Listing Page of the Online Starter store, explore the

page. In the “Online Store Product Display - Refiners” graphic, notice

the breadcrumb at the top of the page that is driven by the category

hierarchy that is defined in AX. Notice the refiners on the right side of

the page that let users quickly narrow their list of products. The

product attributes that are configured in AX drive these refiners.


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Figure 3: Online Store Product Display- Refiners

2. In the Refiners panel, under Price, click $1000 to display cameras

under this price.

3. On the Product listing page that displays cameras under $1000, in

the Refiners panel, under Brand, click A. Datum. This filters the

product list and displays A.Datum cameras that are under $1000.

4. Click A. Datum SLR Camera X135. The Product details page is

displayed.

5. In the Product details page, notice the rich product details, such as

the product description, images, feature lists, and specifications. These

details are all managed centrally in AX.

Task 3: In the Online Store, add a product to the shopping cart and

submit the order.

High Level Steps

1. Add a product to a shopping cart.

2. Provide the shipping information.

3. Provide the billing information.

4. Submit an order and receive the order confirmation.

Detailed Steps

1. In Contoso Online Store, open the Product details page for A.

Datum SLR Camera X135. See the “___” illustration.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 4: Online Store Product Details

2. Click Add to cart. The Mini-cart pop-up window appears on the

upper-right of the page. See “Mini cart Pop-up Window.” It shows the

customer what they have selected, without having to access the Cart

page.

Figure 5: Add to Cart - Mini-Cart Pop up Window

3. On the Mini-cart pop-up window shown above, click Checkout. The

Sign In page is displayed. Explore the page. As illustrated in the “Sign

In Page” graphic, notice that the customers can log on either with a

registered account or checkout as a guest.


2 - 43

Figure 6 :Sign In page

4. Click Checkout as guest. The Shipping Information page is

displayed. See the “Shipping Information Page” figure. Explore the

page. Notice that the orders can be shipped to the customer or the

customer can select to locate a nearby store for pickup.

5. Select Pick up Items in Store. The Delivery information page

opens. See the “Delivery information Page” figure.

Figure 7: Shipping Information Page

6. As illustrated in the “Delivery information Page graphic,” notice that a

map is displayed to help find the closest store. The stores are


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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configured in the Store locator groups in AX. The integration to Bing

maps lets you show the store on the map.

7. Under Find a store, type “02215” in the ZIP/Postal Code text box,

and then click Search. The store is shown on the map and its address

is displayed on the right side of the map. See the “Delivery

information Page” figure.

Figure 8: Delivery Information page

8. Click Next Step. The Billing information page is displayed. See the

“Billing information Page” figure.

9. Enter the following information:

Email address: <your email address>

Confirm email address

Name on card: Gregory Weber

Card number: 4111111111111111

Card type: Visa

Expiration month: Nov

Expiration year: 2015

CCID: 999

Address1: 123 Main Street

Address 2: Leave blank

City: Boston

State/province: MA


2 - 45

ZIP/postal code: 02215

Figure 9 :Billing Information page

10. Click Next Step. The Review and confirm page is displayed. See the

“Review and confirm Page” figure.

11. Explore this page to view the details of your order, and then click

Submit order.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 10 : Review and Confirm Page

12. The Order confirmation page is displayed. In the “Order

confirmation Page” graphic, note the order reference number that is

displayed on the page.


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Figure 11 : Order Confirmation page

13. Close the browser.

Results

You learned about the store structure and navigation, the search-driven

experience, the product pages, and the checkout process.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Exercise 2: Synchronize Online Orders and Pick Up Online

Order from a Brick-and-Mortar Store

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise you synchronize the orders from the online store to Microsoft

Dynamics AX. Data typically is scheduled to synchronize between the CRT and

Microsoft Dynamics AX periodically by using CDX: ASync Service. For lab

purposes, you can do this manually, on demand. Then you use the POS register to

obtain the order details and enable the customer to pick up the order in the store

that they selected for delivery.

Task 1: Run a job to bring online sales orders into Microsoft

Dynamics AX and synchronize the sales orders.

High Level Steps

1. Run a job to bring the online orders from the CRT database into


2. Synchronize online orders in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Detailed Steps

1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, and then select Retail

2. Click Periodic> Data distribution > Distribution schedule. The

Distribution Window opens. See the “Distribution Window” figure.


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Figure 12: Retail Area Page

3. On the Distribution schedule window, select job P-0001, and then

on the upper-right of the window, click Run now. See the

“Distribution schedule Window” figure.

Figure 13: Distribution Schedule Window

4. In the Confirmation dialog box, click Yes, and then click Close to

close the Distribution schedule window.

5. As soon as the online order data is sent to Microsoft Dynamics AX,


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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the online orders must be processed.

6. Point the legal entity to USRT.

7. On the Retail Area page, under Periodic, click Synchronize online

orders.

8. In the Synchronize online order jobs dialog box, click OK.

9. Close Microsoft Dynamics AX client.

Task 2: Pick Up an Online Order from the Store

High Level Steps

1. Log on to the POS terminal in the Boston store.

2. Search for the online order.

3. Select the online order items for pickup.

4. Take the payment.

Detailed Steps

1. Make sure that the POS is pointing to the Boston store by locating to

the folder at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics

AX\60\Retail POS, and then open the Pos.exe.config file in Notepad.

See the “Pos.exe config file” figure.

2. Do one of the following:

If the StoreId is pointing to BOSTON, then continue to step three.

If the StoreId is not pointing to BOSTON, close the file. In the

location in the same folder, find the Pos.exe.Boston-1.config file,


2 - 51

and then rename it to Pos.exe.config.

Figure 14: Pos.exe config file

3. Open POS at the Boston store by using the Retail POS shortcut from

the Start window.

4. Log on as Dan Park, the cashier, by using the following credentials:

Operator ID

000110Password 123

5. As the first user who logs into a POS client, you are prompted to open

a new shift. Click Open a new shift.

6. Select Tasks, and then select Customer orders.

Figure 15: Retail POS client

7. Click Recall order button. The Recall orders page

opens. See the “Recall orders Page” graphic.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 16: Recall Orders Page

8. On the Recall orders page, you can search for orders

by using several fields including the following:

o Order number

o Customer

o Start date

o End date

o And so on

9. Set the Start date as current date, and then click

Search. The online order is displayed on the Sales

orders page. See the “Sales orders Page” figure.

From here, you can view details, pickup, cancel, or

return the order.


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Figure 17 :Sales order page

10. Select Pick up order. The order items are displayed

in the Item Details screen. The customer can decide

to partly pick up orders or to fulfill the whole order.

Figure 18:Item details screen

11. Select Pickup all items

12. Orders picked up in the store require payment (the

payment authorization for the online order is

discarded). Click OK to confirm that no deposit is


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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applied, and then click Exact for payment

processing.

Figure 19: Payment processing options

13. Log out of the POS (no payment is processed in this

exercise).

Results

You learned how to synchronize the orders from the online store to Microsoft

Dynamics AX manually.

You completed an online order pickup in store process.


2 - 55

Exercise 3: Explore Online Storefront Components

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise, you explore the components of the online storefront solution in

SharePoint, such as the Product Catalog site, the products listings, and the Retail-

publishing job.

Task 1: Explore the components of the Online Storefront Solution in

SharePoint.

High Level Steps

1. Open the Retail Product Catalog site, and then review the product

listings and attributes.

2. Open SharePoint Central Administration, and then review the

definition of the Retail-publishing job.

Detailed Steps

To open the Retail Product Catalog site, follow these steps:

1. In the browser address bar, type “http://

ax2012r2a:40001/sites/RetailProductCatalog” to open the product

catalog site. See the “Retail Product Catalog Site” graphic.

Figure 20: Retail product catalog site


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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2. On Quick Launch in the left pane, click UncategorizedList_000. This

list contains the Microsoft Dynamics AX product listings. The

Uncategorized List page opens. See the “Uncategorized List Page”

figure.

Figure 21: Uncategorized list page

3. Double-click any product link. The list of product attributes is

displayed. On the main toolbar, click Browse.


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Figure 22: Product Attributes in Uncategorized list

4. Explore the product attributes, scroll to the bottom of the page, and

then click Close to return to the list of products. See the

“Uncategorized List Page” figure.

The products and attributes are set up in Microsoft Dynamics AX, and

then synchronized to the CRT database by CDX. Then the product

information from the CRT is retrieved by the Retail-publishing job

that pushes it into the product catalog site.

To review the Retail publishing job definition, follow these steps:

1. From the Start page, open SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.

2. Select Monitoring. The Monitoring page opens. See the

“Monitoring Page” figure.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 23: Monitoring Page

3. In the Timer jobs section, click Review job definitions. The Job

Definitions list is displayed in alphabetical order.

4. Locate the RetailPublishingJob. You may have to scroll to the bottom

of the first page and use the navigation arrows to move between

pages.

5. Click RetailPublishingJob. The Edit Timer Job page opens. See the

“Edit Timer Job” figure.


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Figure 24: Edit Timer Job

6. Review the settings, and then click OK to close the browser.

Results

You reviewed the Retail Publishing job definition.

You explored the Product Catalog site and the product listings.

Test Your Knowledge


1. What are the steps in pulling in all online store orders in the Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail Headquarters and synchronizing the sales orders?

2. What does the UncategorizedList_000 in the SharePoint Product

Catalog site contain?


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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1. What is Commerce Data Exchange?

( ) It is a built-in Microsoft Dynamics AX service that provides exchange

rates for multiple currencies.

(√) It is a communication mechanism for Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail.

( ) It is an integration component that connects Microsoft Dynamics AX

with third-party data providers

( ) All the above


2. What layers does the Commerce Runtime contain?

( ) A data access layer, a shipping layer, a payment layer, and an API

layer.

( ) A basket layer, a checkout layer; a workflow layer, and an order layer.

(√) A data access layer, a services layer, a workflow layer, and an API layer.

( ) A presentation layer, a services layer, and a data access layer


3. What site collections does the online store use? Select all that apply.

( ) A site collection that contains a product catalog site.

( ) A site collection that contains a shopping cart site.

( ) A site collection that contains a publishing portal site.

(√) Two Site Collections that contain a product catalog site and publishing

portal site.


4. What should be deployed in the Retail Headquarters as part of the commerce

data exchange setup to manage communication between the Retail

Headquarters and the online store?


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( ) CDX Async Client

(√) CDX Async Server

( ) CDX Synch Service

( ) All the above


5. What are the key pillars of the Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecommerce solution?

(√) Centralized data and order management across all channels.

( ) Cross-channel and cross-device workflows.

( ) Symmetrical omni-channel retail services.

( ) OOB e-commerce with storefront developer platform.

( ) All the above


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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ECOMMERCE ARCHITECTURE Lab

6. What are the steps in pulling in all online store orders in the Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail Headquarters and synchronizing the sales orders?

MODEL ANSWER:

i. Run the P-0001 Job from the Distribution

Schedule under Retail > Periodic.

ii. Run the job to “Synchronize Online Orders”

under Retail > Periodic.

7. What does the UncategorizedList_000 in the SharePoint Product Catalog site

contain?

MODEL ANSWER:

This list contains all the Microsoft Dynamics AX product listings. You can also view

the list of Product Attributes from this list.

3 - 1

MODULE 3: INSTALLATION OF ECOMMERCE

COMPONENTS

Module Overview

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Ecommerce solution includes a starter online

store that is built by using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013, developer tools, and

administrative and runtime components that integrate the SharePoint Ecommerce

site with Microsoft Dynamics AX. You can deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail

online store on a single server in a development or evaluation environment, or in

a Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Server scaled farm with multiple web front-ends for

production environments. This module covers the installation process and

validation of deployment and troubleshooting.

Objectives


Explain preinstallation tasks.

Present how to install online channel and configure settings.

Describe how to create and configure the online store by using the

PowerShell.

Review the online store deployment and troubleshoot online store

deployment issues.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 2

Pre-installation Tasks

This lesson describes the tasks that you must complete before you deploy the

Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail online store.

Lesson Objectives

Explain the required pre-installation procedures before you deploy the online

store.

Prepare the Environment

You must complete the following tasks before you deploy the Microsoft Dynamics

AX Retail online store.

Task Additional Notes

Verify system

requirements

At a minimum, make sure that you have 10 GB of RAM and

4 processors. We recommend 16 GB of RAM.

Verify that you installed the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 (64-

bit) on the SharePoint server.

Verify that the server is not a domain controller.

Deployment fails if the server is a domain controller.

Note: For development environment setup, you can have

domain controller, SQL server, SharePoint 2013, and AX

2012 in single box.

Install and

configure

SharePoint

Install Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013, Enterprise

Edition.

Install Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.

Reference Links: For the current cumulative update

that is available on SharePoint Server 2013. Go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn789211(v=offic

e.14).

Reference Links: For installation instructions for

SharePoint Server 2013 on a single environment that

uses SQL Server, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/cc262243.aspx.


SharePoint Server 2013 across multiple servers for a

three-tier farm, go to

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=286427.

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn789211(v=office.14)

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn789211(v=office.14)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262243.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262243.aspx

Module 3: Installation of Ecommerce Components

3 - 3

Task Additional Notes

Install Microsoft

Dynamics AX

2012 R3

Install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3.


Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, go to


US/library/dd362138.aspx.

Setup and

configure

Microsoft

Dynamics AX

Retail

Reference Links: For setup instructions for Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail, go to


US/library/hh597201.aspx.

Reference Links: For instructions to import test sample

data, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


SharePoint Setting and Domain Account

Deployment of the online store requires you to configure settings in SharePoint.

You must also enter server names and domain service accounts in the online store

xml file, as described later in this topic. To avoid permissions issues and streamline

the deployment process, follow these steps:

1. Verify that all SharePoint application pools are running in IIS

Manager.

2. In SharePoint Central Administration, click Application Management

> Service Applications > Manage Services on Server, and verify

that the following services are running:

Central Administration

Manage Metadata Web Service

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application

Search Host Controller Service

Search Query and Site Settings Service

SharePoint Server Search

3. If you did not install and configure Microsoft Dynamics AX, verify that

you are a member of the system administrator role in Microsoft

Dynamics AX.

4. If you did not install and configure SharePoint, verify that you are a

member of the farm administrator role in SharePoint and that you

have administrator access to each site collection in the farm.

5. If you did not install and configure Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dd362138.aspx







Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 4

Dynamics AX, or SharePoint, verify that you are a member of the

Sysadmin role on the Microsoft Dynamics AX databases and all

SharePoint databases.

Domain accounts: The deployment process requires domain user accounts for

the following.

Retail Job User: You specified this account when you installed SharePoint. It

is the account under which the SharePoint Timer Service runs.

Product Catalog Web App Pool User: This account is specified in the

deployment XML file that is discussed later in this topic.

Store Front Web App Pool User: You specified this account when you

installed SharePoint. It is the account under which the Security Token Service

application pool runs in IIS Manager.

Verify or create a domain account for each of these users. You enter these

accounts in the deployment XML file later in this topic.

Prerequisite Validation

Before you install the Retail online store, run the prerequisite validation utility to

verify that system requirements are met. If requirements are not met, the utility

helps you install or configure most prerequisites. Additionally, you can view or

print a report that shows the results of the prerequisite validation. After you run

the prerequisite validation utility, and all validation results are successful, run

Windows Update to identify and install the latest updates before you continue

with the installation of Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail online store.

For Server Farm: Configure All Servers to Receive Remote

Commands

You must run the Enable-PSRemoting -Force PowerShell cmdlet on each server

and web front-end in the farm. This command configures the computer to receive

Windows PowerShell remote commands that WS-Management technology sends.

By default, Windows Server2012 Windows PowerShell remoting is enabled. You

can use Enable-PSRemoting to enable Windows PowerShell remoting on other

supported versions of Windows and to re-enable remoting on Windows Server

2012 if it becomes disabled.

Reference Links: Reference Links: For more information about this cmdlet,

including syntax and other parameters see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/hh849694.aspx.




3 - 5

Deploy Retail Online Channel and Configure Settings

You can use Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup to install the online channel on the

SharePoint server, and how to configure settings. Retail Online Channel includes

the required components to set up an online sales channel on the SharePoint

server. This component lets you integrate data from Microsoft Dynamics AX into

the SharePoint site.

You can also administer the online channel by using the Microsoft Dynamics AX

client. After you install the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Retail online channel by

using Dynamics AX Setup, several settings must be edited in the oob-

settings.xml (for all servers) and oob-topology.xml files for a server farm.

Lesson Objectives


Explain the steps that are required to install the Retail online channel.

Present the configuration settings in the online store XML files.

Install Retail Online Store

To install Retail online store, follow these steps:

1. Start Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup. Under Install, select Microsoft

Dynamics AX components.

2. Advance through the first wizard pages.

3. If the Setup Support files have not yet been installed on the server,

the Select a file location page is displayed. The Setup Support files

are required for installation. Provide a file location or accept the

default location, and then click Next. On the Ready to install page,

click Install.

4. On the Select installation type page, click Custom installation, and

then click Next.

5. Install Retail Channel Database by using the wizard

6. Create or setup up an SSL certificate (.pfx file) and create a new

Online store in AX Retail Module to get Operating Unit.

7. On the Select components page, select Retail Online Channel, and

then click Next.

8. On a standard environment setup, clear “configure the online store

together with channel” to run PowerShell scripts later for manual

setup.

9. On the Prerequisite validation results page, resolve any errors. For

more information about how to resolve prerequisite errors, see Check

Prerequisites. When no errors remain, click Next.

10. On the Ready to install page, click Install.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 6

11. After the installation is complete, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Windows Server 2012

If you deployed SharePoint Server 2013 on a server that runs Windows Server

2012, then you must complete the following procedure to make sure that the

Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll is not overwritten in the server’s global assembly

cache when you execute deployment scripts.

Note: You do not have to perform this procedure on Windows Server 2008

R2.

1. Open the manifest.xml file in the following directory on the

SharePoint server:

C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Retail Online

Channel\StoreFront\SP

2. Delete the following line of code from the manifest.xml file:

<Assembly Location="Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll"

DeploymentTarget="GlobalAssemblyCache" />.

3. Click Save, and then close the file.

For Server Farm: Configure Settings in the oob-

topology.xml File

After you install the online channel by using Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup, locate

the oob-topology.xml file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Dynamics

AX\60\Retail Online Channel\tools folder. This file stores configurations and

settings for your online store.

This section describes how to configure settings in the oob-topology.xml file. You

must configure database server names and SharePoint service account settings in

this file. If you do not configure the values that are described here, the

deployment fails.

Lesson Objectives

Explain how to configure settings in the oob-topology.xml file

Explain how to configure the settings of the connector service

Present the product catalog settings and the Retail Online Store publishing portal

settings


3 - 7

Explain how to configure Facebook integration.

Connector Settings

The oob-topology.xml file stores account and server settings for a connector

service that runs under the SharePoint OWSTimer.exe service. The connector

service uses a domain account to publish Retail jobs from Microsoft Dynamics AX

to SharePoint. When you execute the PowerShell scripts to deploy the online

store, the system creates a new SharePoint service and a service instance. You can

then view the service instance in SharePoint Central Administration on the System

Settings > Manage Services on Server page.

The new service instance is called Dynamics AX Publishing Connector Service. In a

production environment, the connector service should be installed on at least two

application servers (not web front-end servers). SharePoint prevents two service

instances from running at the same time, but does allow for failover support. You

can specify two application servers where the service instance should run in the

oob-topology.xml file, as described in the following procedure.

For application servers where the service instance should run in the oob-

topology.xml file, follow these steps:

1. Open the oob-topology.xml file in a simple text editor, such as

Notepad or Microsoft® Visual Studio.

2. Search for and replace [RetailJobUser] with the domain account

under which the retail publishing job should run; remove the

brackets. Type the domain account in this format:

Domain\UserAccount.

3. Search for and replace

[PublishingConnectorServiceInstanceServers] with the name(s) of

the application servers where the connector service should run, and

then remove the brackets. Type the application server names in the

format: “server1,server2”, and include the quotation marks.

4. Find [TargetServerNames], and then provide the server name.

5. Save your changes in the oob-topology.xml file.

Configure Settings in the oob-settings.xml File

This section describes how to configure settings in the oob-settings.xml file. By

default, the files are located in C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Dynamics

AX\60\Retail Online Channel\tools.

Product Catalog Settings

The PowerShell deployment scripts (described in the next lesson) create a product

catalog web application in SharePoint. The SharePoint Search indexer uses this

application. For more information about the product catalog and publishing


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 8

portal site collections, refer to Module 01 of this course.

To specify settings for the product catalog application, follow these steps:

1. Open the oob-settings.xml file in a text editor, such as Notepad.

2. Search in the oob-settings.xml file for the parameters in the following

table. Enter a new value for each parameter. For each value, keep the

quotation marks (“”), but remove percent signs (%).

Parameter Replacement value

“ProductCatal

ogWebAppPo

olUser”

Replace this value with the domain account under which the

product catalog application pool should run, for example

value="Domain\User".

“FarmAdminist

ratorAlias”

Replace the value with the domain account and alias of a

SharePoint farm administrator, for example


“FarmAdminist

ratorEmail”

Replace the value with the email address of a SharePoint

farm administrator in the form

value="[email protected]"

3. Save your changes in the oob-settings.xml file.

Retail Online Store Publishing Portal Settings

The PowerShell deployment scripts (described in the next lesson) create a web

application named C2WebApplication in IIS and SharePoint. The deployment

scripts then create site collections on the C2WebApplication. The following table

shows the default details of the site collections.

Zone Authentication URLs

Default Forms, Facebook http://%ComputerName%:40002

Intranet Windows http://%ComputerName%:40003

Internet Forms, Facebook http://www.contoso.com:40002

Extranet Forms, Facebook http://%ComputerName%:40004

Custom Forms, Facebook http://www.contoso.com:40004

Use the following table to specify settings for the Retail online store Publishing

portal in the oob-setting.xml file.


3 - 9


“StoreFrontWebAppPool

User”

Replace the value with the domain account under

which the Retail Store Publishing Portal application

pool should run, for example value="Domain\User".

“STSWebAppPoolUser” Replace the value with the domain account under

which the SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool is

running. You specified this account when you

installed SharePoint. To locate the account name in

IIS Manager, click Application Pools, right-click

SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool, and then

click Advanced Settings. The account name for this

application pool is listed under Process Model >

Identity. For example value="Domain\User".

“RetailJobUser” Replace the value with the domain account under

which the SharePoint Timer service is running. This

account was specified when you installed SharePoint,

for example value="Domain\User".

Encryption Settings

The Retail store publishing portal uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. For

production environments, you must register your domain and obtain a valid,

registered SSL certificate from a provider. For developer and evaluation

environments, you can use a self-signed certificate.

Reference Links: For information about how to work with certificates, see

Certificate Overview at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/cc732331(v=ws.10).aspx.

You must configure the following parameters in the oob-settings.xml for

developer/evaluation and production environments.


“StoreFrontPublicSSLCertT

humbprint”

Replace the value with the thumbprint that is

provided by your SSL certificate. Remove all spaces

between numbers and letters when you enter the

thumbprint in the oob-settings.xml file.

“StoreFrontPublicSSLCert

Directory”

Replace the value with the path of the directory

where the certificate’s .pfx file is stored.


PfxFileName”

Replace the value with the file name and extension.

By default, the extension is .pfx.


PfxPassword”

Replace the value with the password of the .pfx file.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732331(v=ws.10).aspx



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 10

Configure URLs and Ports

By default, the Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail online store web applications are

configured with port values for a development environment. These ports are

40001 – 40004. For production environments, we recommend that you use ports

80 and 443. The following table shows the web application parameters in the

oob-settings.xml file and the recommended port values for production

environments.

FIGURE 3.1: RECOMMENDED SETTINGS FOR PRODUCTION

ENVIRONMENTS

Configure Facebook™ Integration

The Retail online store can authenticate users who sign in by using their Facebook

credentials. This section describes how to configure your environment for

Facebook authentication.

Note: If you do not want to configure Facebook integration, follow the steps


3 - 11

in the next section, “Disable Facebook Integration.”

Step 1: Create a Facebook Application

To create an application that enables Facebook logon to your site, follow

these steps:

1. Log on to the Facebook developer site at

https://developers.facebook.com/apps.

2. Register as a developer on the Facebook developer site.

3. Click Create New App, and then follow the prompts to create a new

application. Enter the display name, namespace, and category. Click

Create App.

4. In the Settings section, access Basic info, and then click Add

Platform. Click the Website option, and then specify the Site URL.

5. Click Save Changes.

6. On the Applications Landing page, select the application that you

just created.

7. In the oob-settings.xml file, search for “FacebookApplicationId”.

Replace the value with the Facebook “App ID” that you received from

the Facebook Developer site.

8. In the oob-settings.xml file, search for “FacebookApplicationSecret”.

Replace the value with the “App Secret” that you created for your

Facebook application.

Figure 1: App ID and App Secret


Step 2: Configure Facebook Certificates

To create certificates for Facebook authentication, follow these steps:


table. Enter a new value for each parameter.


“FacebookCertificat

eDirectory”

Enter a value with the path of the directory where the

Facebook certificate is stored.

https://developers.facebook.com/apps


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 12


“FacebookCertificat

eLocalCopyDirector

y”

Enter a value with the path of a directory on the local

computer where the Facebook certificate is stored

during deployment.

“FacebookSigningC

ertificateCerFileNam

e”

Enter a value with the name of the certificate in the

form value=" CertificateName.cer".

“FacebookSigningC

ertificatePfxFileNam

e”

Enter a value with the name of the certificate in the

form value=" CertificateName.pfx".

“FacebookSigningC

ertificatePfxPasswor

d”

Enter the certificate password.

“FacebookSigningC

ertificateThumbprin

t”

Enter the certificate thumbprint.

“FacebookSslCertific

ateAuthorityCerFile

Name”

Enter the certificate file name.

“FacebookSslCertific

ateAuthorityThumb

print”

Enter the certification authority thumbprint.

2. Save the oob-settings.xml file.

Disable Facebook Integration

If you do not want to configure Facebook integration, you must disable

this feature in the oob-topology.xml file. To disable Facebook integration,

follow these steps:

1. Open the oob-topology.xml file in a text editor, such as Notepad.

2. Search in the oob-topology.xml file for the parameters in the

following table. Enter a new value for each parameter. For each value,

keep quotation marks (“”), but remove percent signs (%).


<TrustedIdentityTokenIssuer

id="Facebook" install="true"

deleteifexists="true">

Change both flags to “false”, for

example:

<TrustedIdentityTokenIssuer

id="Facebook" install="false"

deleteifexists="false">


3 - 13


<WebApplication

id="C2Webapplication" install="true"

deleteifexists="true">

In the <Zone> section, locate the

following parameter:

<AuthenticationProvider>Forms,Face

book</AuthenticationProvider>

Delete “Facebook” from this

parameter, for example:

<AuthenticationProvider>Forms</Au

thenticationProvider>

3. Save your changes in the oob-topology.xml file.

Execute PowerShell Scripts to Deploy and Configure

Online Store

After you configure all required parameters in the oob-settings.xml file, you are

ready to create and configure the online store by using PowerShell scripts. By

default, the PowerShell scripts described in this section are deployed by Microsoft

Dynamics AX Setup to the following directory on the SharePoint server:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Retail Online

Channel\tools.

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to list the PowerShell scripts that are used to create and configure

the online store.

InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 PowerShell Script

This script performs all tasks that are required to set up and prepare the online store

on SharePoint 2013.

To execute the InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 script, follow these steps:

1. Open the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell with elevated user

rights (open the Shell as Administrator).

2. Locate the following directory that contains the PowerShell scripts:


Channel\tools.

3. Execute the following command:

.\InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 14

Generate-WSP.ps1 PowerShell Script

This script creates SharePoint solution packages (.wsp files) for your environment.

The solution packages include properties such as connection strings, URLs, and

ports from the oob-topology.xml and oob-settings.xml files. The solution

packages also include binaries, images, and static web pages that were deployed

by Microsoft Dynamics AX setup to the Retail Online storefront directory.

To execute the Generate-WSP.ps1 script, follow these steps:





Channel\tools.


.\Generate-WSP.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml

Toggling options while rerunning scripts to preserve

previous installations

By default, existing databases, web applications, features, and settings are deleted

on rerunning PowerShell scripts; however, you can toggle different parameters in

the oob-topology.xml file to preserve databases, web applications, features, and

settings. You change a “true” flag to “false” to preserve deletions. For example, in

the oob-topology file, in the <Channel> section, the Database is configured as

follows:

<Database install="true" dropifexists="true">

By changing each flag to “false”, the deployment scripts preserve the existing

databases.

Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 PowerShell Script

This script deploys the generated SharePoint solution packages, starts the

SharePoint features on the corresponding sites, and executes any post-

deployment tasks that are required for setting up the store front.

To execute the Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 script, follow these steps:





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Channel\tools.


.\Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml

For Server Farm: Configure the Retail Online Store Across

the Farm

This section describes specific actions that you must perform to configure the

Retail online store across the server farm.

Configure the SharePoint Managed Metadata Service

You must configure the SharePoint Managed Metadata service as the default

store for new term groups. If you do not configure this setting, the Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail Publishing job returns the following error:

“ProcessRequiredSchema failing with standardCategoryField.TermSetId is empty

Guid.”

To configure the SharePoint Managed Metadata Service, follow these steps:

1. In SharePoint Central Administration, under Application

Management, click Manage service applications.

2. Click the Managed Metadata Service Connection row, and then click

Properties.

3. Select This service application is the default storage location for

column specific term sets.

4. Save your changes.

Configure Load Balancing

After you complete the previous procedures as part of the process to deploy the

Retail online store in a server farm, you can configure load balancing.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 16

Load balancing for the online store is implemented by using a Microsoft

SharePoint Server 2013 component called Request Manager. Similar to Microsoft

Network Load Balancing (NLB), Request Manager enables administrators to

manage incoming requests and determine how SharePoint routes these requests.

Reference Links: For more information about Configure Request Manager

in SharePoint Server 2013, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/jj712708.aspx.

For instructions on how to set up Microsoft Dynamics Retail Online store

ECommerce, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/jj991927.aspx#Setup.

Verifying the Retail Online Store Deployment and

Troubleshooting

After you run the deployment scripts and they complete without errors, you are now

able to verify and validate the online store deployment process.

This lesson includes troubleshooting tips and actions to take for specific error

messages.

Lesson Objectives


Explain how to validate the deployment of Retail online store.

Explain how to handle error messages.

Verify Dynamics AX Publishing Connector

After a successful deployment, the Dynamics AX Publishing Connector Service

runs in SharePoint Central Administration. At this point, the service displays the

following error: “No channel configuration could be found in the database.” This

means that the channel has not been configured in Microsoft Dynamics AX yet.

Reference Links: You must configure the channel in Microsoft Dynamics

AX. For directions for how to do this, go to: http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-




http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj991927.aspx#Setup

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj991927.aspx#Setup




3 - 17

Verify Online Store SharePoint Site Collections

After a successful deployment, you can view the Retail online store web

applications and site collections in SharePoint Central Administration. If you

specified different URLs for your web applications, adjust the following URLS by

following these steps:

1. In SharePoint Central Administration, open Application

Management, and then open View all site collections. You can view

all site collections that are created under each web application.

2. To check the Retail Catalog site and Retail Publishing site, copy the

following URLs into a browser, and then validate that you can locate

each site:

http://ServerName:40001/sites/RetailProductCatalog

This is your Retail Product Catalog site.

http://ServerName:40002/sites/RetailPublishingPortal

This is your Retail Publishing portal that is the Contoso Electronics

Superstore site.

Verify Creation and Sign In with a New Forms-Based User

Account

You should be able to register a new user account and logon from the public URL.

By completing the sign-up process, you verify SQL Server connectivity, SSL port

settings, and SSL certificate bindings.

To verify and sign in with a new forms-based user account, follow these steps:

1. Paste the public URL into a browser, and press Enter. For example:


2. Click Register a new account.

3. Type an email address and a strong password in the required fields,

and then click Create account. If you see more than one email and

password field on the page, it means that you executed the Deploy-

FarmSolutions.ps1 script multiple times on this server. This is a known

issue. To create the forms-based user account, you must type the

email address and strong password in each field. Also be aware that

you receive an error after you register the account because the online

channel has not been configured in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

4. Browse to the public portal site again (http://

ServerName:40002/sites/RetailPublishingPortal).

Click the Sign In link, and then enter the information for the account that you just

created. The system logs you onto the Contoso electronics site as a registered

user.

http://servername:40001/sites/RetailProductCatalog

http://servername:40002/sites/RetailPublishingPortal


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 18

Verify Browsing to the Public URL

If you registered a domain, you should be able to surf the web address for your

site. For example, you should be able to browse to

http://www.<your_domain>.com/sites/RetailPublishingPortal.

If you have not yet registered the domain, then you must create a hosts file entry

and disable proxy settings in your browser (if applicable) before you try to browse

to the web address.

Troubleshoot Online Store Deployment Issues

General tips: If you experience an error during the execution phase of one of the

deployment PowerShell scripts, you can rerun the script after you have resolved

the error.

You do not have to rerun completed scripts. If you rerun the Deploy-

FarmSolutions script, the system automatically invokes the DeactivateOnly-

Features.ps1 and RetractOnly-Solutions.ps1 scripts before you deploy the farm

solution. These scripts clean up actions that are performed by the Deploy-

FarmSolutions script before redeploying.

Developer Environment Setup tips: On a real-time scenario, the development

environments needs custom code to be built as a wsp package by using Visual

Studio, and then opening the Storefront solution. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Update the storefront solution with a new Storenamekey.snk file.

Resolve reference errors, and then build the solution.

2. Upon a successful build, drop the solution in the Final_WSP folder,

which is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics

AX\60\Retail Online Channel\Storefront\Final_WSP.

3. Similar steps must be followed for Retailjobs, ContosoDemoData and

FabrikamDemoData solution, if you have any changes. These

development solutions are located at the default location of the Retail

Sdk installation folder during the Microsoft Dynamics AX installation.

Out of the box, the default location is:

C:\Users\<CurrentAdminUser>\Documents\Retail SDK\Online

Channel.

4. Before you run the “Execute PowerShell scripts to deploy and

configure online store” steps in the previous section, run the

.\Prepare-FromWSP.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml.

5. Unpack the built Visual Studio package into the SP folder. This step

gets the built WSP package, and unpacks and adds metadata to the

manifest file, depending on the topology settings of the online portal

URL. When you follow the “Execute PowerShell scripts to deploy and


3 - 19

configure online store” procedure in the previous section, the

custom-built solution is deployed. If you receive any “.dlls missing”

errors during the deploy steps, follow these steps:

a. From the build Visual Studio solution, perform a GAC

update to push custom built assemblies that are thrown

as errors.

b. Rerun the current PowerShell script.

Search the SharePoint Unified Service Logging (ULS) logs: The SharePoint

ULS logs provides more information about errors. Search the event logs for a time

stamp that reflects your deployment activities. By default, the logs are stored at

the following location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web

Server Extensions\15\LOGS.

Configure tracing details in SharePoint Diagnostic Logging: The Windows

Event log and the SharePoint ULS log (C:\Program Files\Common

Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\LOGS) store exceptions for

events that are triggered when you deploy the Retail online store. Traces for the

Retail online store display “Dynamics AX Retail”. To help you troubleshoot the

deployment, you can adjust tracing and information levels by following these

steps:

1. In SharePoint Central Administration, click Monitoring, and then

click Configure diagnostic logging.

2. Select Dynamics AX Retail.

3. Use the drop-down lists in Categories, and select Verbose as the least

critical events and traces to log.

4. Save your changes.

Error: The file name is required: If you receive this error in the Command

Prompt window after you execute a script, it means that you did not add the

oob-topology.xml and oob-settings.xml files to the end of the script. Each script

must be executed in the following form: powershell .\ScriptName.ps1 oob-

topology.xml oob-settings.xml.

Error: 500 Internal Server: If you see this error in the Command Prompt

window after you execute the Deploy-FarmSolutions script, it means that you

have not installed the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 on the SharePoint server. Install the

URL Rewrite Module, and then execute the Deploy-FarmSolutions script again.

Error: System.Servicemodel.ServiceActivationException: If you see this error in

the Command Prompt window after you execute any of the PowerShell scripts, it

means that the server has insufficient RAM to complete the operation. Verify that

the server has at least 10 GB of RAM. If it is possible, increase the RAM to 16 GB,

and then execute the scripts again.

Error: System.InvalidOperationException: standardCategoryField.TermSetId


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 20

is empty Guid: This error can mean one of the following.

One of the SharePoint application pools is not running in

IIS Manager.

The Managed Metadata Service application is not

installed in SharePoint.

The wrong SKU of SharePoint is installed on the server.

Verify that all application pools are running in IIS Manager and that the Managed

Metadata Service application is installed and running in SharePoint. If you still see

this error, then uninstall all versions of SharePoint and restart the server. Reinstall

SharePoint Server 2013, and execute the PowerShell scripts again.

Domain account password changed: If a password for one or more of the

required domain accounts changes, then you must update the credentials for that

domain account in the following locations:

1. In IIS Manager, update credentials for any application pools that were

configured with the domain account.

2. In the Windows Services console, filter the list of services according to

Log On As and change any service that was configured with the

domain account.

3. If it is necessary, in SharePoint Central Administration, click Security

> Configure managed accounts. Edit or delete accounts as

necessary.

Return SharePoint Server to a Clean State

If for any reason, you want to return the server to a clean state, follow

these steps:

1. In SharePoint Central Administration, click System Settings, and

then click Manage Farm features. Deactivate the following features:

CustomClaimsProviderFeature

LoggingServiceFeature

RetailPublishingJobFeature.

If you do not see one or more of these features, go to step 2. Otherwise,

go to step 3.

2. On the System Settings page, click Manage farm solutions. Retract

each solution, and then click OK. IIS and SharePoint Central

Administration are temporarily unavailable.

3. On the Application Management page, click Manage web

applications. Delete C1 Application for Retail Store Front - Internal

and Out of box Store front – Public.

4. Restart the web service.


3 - 21


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 22

Module Review

This course highlighted the features and deployment steps of the Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Ecommerce Retail online store that is built by using

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.

Test Your Knowledge


1. What will you use to install the Retail online channel components on

SharePoint Server 2013?

( ) InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 PowerShell script

( ) SharePoint Central Administration

( ) Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Setup


3 - 23

Lab: Online Storefront Installation

Scenario

Ecommerce solution includes a starter online store that is built by using Microsoft

SharePoint Server 2013, developer tools, and administrative and runtime

components that integrate the SharePoint Ecommerce site with Microsoft

Dynamics AX.

Objectives

This lab discusses installation of the Online Storefront

After you complete this lab, you can do the following:

Install online channel and configure settings.

Create and configure the online store by using PowerShell.

Verify the online store deployment.

Exercise 1: DEPLOY RETAIL ONLINE CHANNEL AND

CONFIGURE SETTINGS

Exercise Scenario

This lab takes you through setting up the online channel. Retail Online Channel

includes components that you need to set up an online sales channel on the

SharePoint server. This component lets you integrate data from Microsoft

Dynamics AX into the SharePoint site.

You can also administer the online channel by using the Microsoft Dynamics AX

client. After you install the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Retail online channel by

using Dynamics AX Setup, there are several settings that must you must edit in the

oob-settings.xml.

Task 1: Install Retail Online Store

High Level Steps

Install Retail Online Store

Configure Settings in the oob-settings.xml file


Encryption Settings

Detailed Steps

To install Retail Online Store, follow these steps:

1. Start Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup. Under Install, select Microsoft


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 24

Dynamics AX components.

2. Advance through the first wizard pages.

3. If the Setup Support files have not yet been installed on the server,

the Select a file location page is displayed. The Setup Support files

are required for installation. Provide a file location or accept the

default location, and then click Next. On the Ready to install page,

click Install.

4. On the Select installation type page, click Custom installation, and

then click Next.

5. On the Select components page, select Retail Channel Database,

click Next, and then click Finish to exit the wizard.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 4, and then on the Select Components page, select

Commerce Data Exchange and configure with the respective values

on the wizard.

7. Click Finish to exit the wizard.

8. Repeat steps 1 to 4, then on the Select components page, select

Retail Online Channel, and then click Next.

9. Select Configure Later, and then click Next.

10. On the Prerequisite validation results page, resolve any errors. For

more information about how to resolve prerequisite errors, see Check

prerequisites. When no errors remain, click Next.

11. On the Ready to install page, click Install.

12. After the installation is complete, click Finish to exit the wizard.


3 - 25

Windows Server 2012

Because you deployed SharePoint Server 2013 on a server that runs Windows

Server 2012, you must follow these steps to make sure that the

Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll is not overwritten in the server’s global assembly

cache when you execute deployment scripts.

Important: You do not have to perform this procedure on Windows Server 2008

R2.

1. Open the manifest.xml file in the following directory on the

SharePoint server:

C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Retail

Online Channel\StoreFront\SP.

2. Delete the following line of code from the manifest.xml file:

<Assembly Location="Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll"

DeploymentTarget="GlobalAssemblyCache" />

3. Click Save, and then close the file.

This section describes how to configure settings in the oob-settings.xml file. By

default, the files are located in C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Dynamics


Product Catalog Settings

To specify settings for the product catalog application, follow these steps:

1. Open the oob-settings.xml file in a text editor, such as Notepad.


table. Enter a new value for each parameter. For each value, keep the

parentheses (“”), but remove percent signs (%).


“ProductCatal

ogWebAppPo

olUser”

Replace the value with the domain account under which the

product catalog application pool should run, for example,


“FarmAdminist

ratorAlias”

Replace the value with the domain account and alias of a

SharePoint farm administrator, for example,


“FarmAdminist

ratorEmail”

Replace the value with the email address of a SharePoint

farm administrator in the form

value=Username@YourDomain .com.


mailto:Username@YourDomain%20.com


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 26


The PowerShell deployment scripts, described in the next lesson, create a web

application named C2WebApplication in IIS and SharePoint. The deployment

scripts then create site collections on the C2WebApplication. The following table

shows the default details of the site collections.

Zone Authentication URLs

Default Forms,

Facebook

http://%ComputerName%:40002

Intranet Windows http://%ComputerName%:40003

Internet Forms,

Facebook

http://www.contoso.com:40002

Extrane

t

Forms,

Facebook

http://%ComputerName%:40004

Custom Forms,

Facebook

http://www.contoso.com:40004

Use the following table to specify settings for the Retail online store Publishing

portal in the oob-setting.xml file.


“StoreFrontWebAppPoolUs

er”

Replace the value with the domain account under

which the Retail Store Publishing Portal

application pool should run, for example,


“STSWebAppPoolUser” Replace the value with the domain account under

which the SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool is

running. You specified this account when you

installed SharePoint. To locate the account name

in IIS Manager, click Application Pools, right-

click SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool, and

then click Advanced Settings. The account name

for this application pool is listed under Process

Model > Identity, for example,


“RetailJobUser” Replace the value with the domain account under

which the SharePoint Timer service is running.

You specified this account when you installed

SharePoint, for example, value="Domain\User".


3 - 27

Encryption Settings

The Retail store publishing portal uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. For

production environments, you must register your domain and obtain a valid,

registered SSL certificate from a provider. For developer and evaluation

environments, you can use a self-signed certificate.

Reference Links: For information about how to work with certificates, see

Certificate Overview at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/cc732331(v=ws.10).aspx.

You must configure the following parameters in the oob-settings.xml for

developer/evaluation and production environments.


“StoreFrontPublicSSLCertTh

umbprint”

Replace the value with the thumbprint that is

provided by your SSL certificate. Remove all

spaces between numbers/letters when you enter

the thumbprint in the oob-settings.xml file.

“StoreFrontPublicSSLCertDir

ectory”

Replace the value with the path of the directory

where the certificate .pfx file is stored.

“StoreFrontPublicSSLCertPfx

FileName”

Replace the value with the file name and

extension. By default, the extension is .pfx.

“StoreFrontPublicSSLCertPfx

Password”

Replace the value with the password of the .pfx

file.

Task 2: EXECUTE POWERSHELL SCRIPTS TO DEPLOY AND CONFIGURE

ONLINE STORE

High Level Steps

After you configure all required parameters in the oob-settings.xml file, you are

ready to create and configure the online store by using PowerShell scripts. By

default, the following PowerShell scripts that are described in this section are

deployed by Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup to the following directory on the

SharePoint server: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Retail

Online Channel\tools.

InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 PowerShell script

Generate-WSP.ps1 PowerShell script

Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 PowerShell script

Detailed Steps




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 28

After you configured all the required parameters in the oob-settings.xml file, you are

ready to create and configure the online store by using PowerShell scripts. By default, the

PowerShell scripts that are described in this section are deployed by Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup

to the following directory on the SharePoint server: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics


InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 PowerShell script

This script performs all required tasks to set up and prepare the online store front

on SharePoint 2013.

To execute the InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 script, follow these steps:



2. Locate the directory that contains the PowerShell scripts: C:\Program

Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Retail Online

Channel\tools.


.\InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml

Generate-WSP.ps1 PowerShell script

This script creates SharePoint solution packages (.wsp files) for your environment.

The solution packages include properties such as connection strings, URLs, and

ports from the oob-topology.xml and oob-settings.xml files. The solution

packages also include binaries, images, and static web pages that were deployed

by Microsoft Dynamics AX setup to the Retail Online storefront directory.

To execute the Generate-WSP.ps1 script, follow these steps:





Channel\tools.


.\Generate-WSP.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml

Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 PowerShell script

This script deploys the generated SharePoint solution packages, starts the

SharePoint features on the corresponding site,. and executes any post-

deployment tasks that are required for setting up the store front.


3 - 29

To execute the Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 script, follow these steps:





Channel\tools.


.\Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 oob-topology.xml oob-settings.xml

Task 3: VERIFYING THE RETAIL ONLINE STORE DEPLOYMENT

High Level Steps

After you run the deployment scripts and complete without errors, you can verify

and validate the following online store deployment processes:

Verify Dynamics AX Publishing Connector.

Verify Online store SharePoint Site Collections.

Verify creation and sign-in with a new forms-based user account.

Verify browsing to the URL.

Detailed Steps

After you run the deployment scripts and complete without errors, you can verify

and validate the online store deployment process.

Verify Dynamics AX Publishing Connector

After a successful deployment, the Dynamics AX Publishing Connector Service

runs in SharePoint Central Administration. At this point, the service displays the

following error: “No channel configuration could be found in the database.” This

means that the channel has not yet been configured in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Reference Links: You must configure the channel in Microsoft Dynamics

AX. For more information about how to do this, go to


Verify Online store SharePoint Site Collections

After a successful deployment, you can view the Retail online store web

applications and site collections in SharePoint Central Administration, by following

these steps:

1. In SharePoint Central Administration, open Application

Management.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 30

2. Open View all site collections. You should see all the site collections

that you created under each Web Application.

3. For the following URLs, copy the URL into a browser and validate that

you are able to locate each site:


This is the Retail Product Catalog site.


This is the Retail Publishing Portal that is the Contoso Electronics

Superstore site.

4. Verify creation and sign-in with a new forms-based user account.

You should be able to register a new user account and logon from the URL. By

completing the sign-up process, you verify SQL Server connectivity, SSL port

settings, and SSL certificate bindings.

To register a new user account, follow these steps:

1. Paste the public URL into a browser, and then press Enter. Example:

http://ServerName:40002/sites/RetailPublishingPortal.

2. Click Register a new account.

3. Enter an email address and a strong password in the required fields,

and then click Create account.

Note: If you see more than one email and password field on the page, it

means that you executed the Deploy-FarmSolutions.ps1 script multiple

times on this server. This is a known issue. To create the forms-based user

account, you must enter the email address and strong password in each

field. Also be aware that you receive an error after you register the

account because the online channel has not been configured in Microsoft

Dynamics AX.

4. Browse the public portal site again (http://

ServerName:40002/sites/RetailPublishingPortal).

5. Click the Sign In link, and then enter the information for the account

that you just created. The system logs you onto the Contoso

electronics site as a registered user.

Verify browsing to the URL

When you have a registered a domain, you should be able to surf the web address

for your site. For example, you should be able to browse

http://www.<your_domain>.com/sites/RetailPublishingPortal.

Reference: For information about how to troubleshoot, refer to the section

“Troubleshoot online store deployment issues” found in the previous sections.




3 - 31

Results

Retail Online Store Site is set up.

You can logon into the Retail Online Store site as a user.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

3 - 32



1. What do you use to install the Retail online channel components on

SharePoint Server 2013?

( ) InstallPrereqs-SPFarm.ps1 PowerShell script


(√) Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Setup

4 - 1

MODULE 4: ONLINE STORE SETUP AND PUBLISHING

Module Overview

After the online storefront is deployed on the SharePoint farm, you can set up the

online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Then, you can publish the online store to

the online storefront, and manage and publish the online store catalog.

An online store is modeled as a retail channel, and is added as a part of the

organization hierarchy. You create an online store in the Microsoft Dynamics AX

client. This store represents the online store that is published to a

Microsoft SharePoint site. The properties that you define for the online store in

Microsoft Dynamics AX control the behavior of the online store. For example, you

define the navigation category hierarchy in Microsoft Dynamics AX and assign the

navigation category hierarchy to the online store. When you publish the online

store to a SharePoint site, the navigation category hierarchy is displayed in the

online version of the store. Shoppers use the navigation category hierarchy to

browse the online store and to search for products.

To create the online store, you must set up the components so that the store’s

transactions can be processed. The components include adding assortments,

applying attributes, setting up payment methods, and setting up shipping methods.

You can also define prices, promotions, discounts, trade agreements, and shipping

terms that are specific to the online store.

After you publish the store to the SharePoint site, you can create retail product

catalogs for the online store. The products in the catalog become product listings

in the online store. When a shopper purchases products from the online store, the

available inventory is updated and synchronized in the Microsoft Dynamics AX

client. Also, sales orders are generated for the purchases and sent to the Microsoft

Dynamics AX client for order fulfillment and processing.

A conceptual model for the online store is shown in the Online Store Model figure.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 2

FIGURE 4.1: ONLINE STORE MODEL

The Retail online store uses the data, components, and the services of Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail components. These components include Retail Headquarters a

Retail channel database, and SharePoint 2013. You must install these other

components and applications before you install the online store.

Information about the components and the applications is shown in the following

table:

Task Details References

Install Microsoft

Dynamics AX

The installation guide

includes information

about deployment

planning, system

requirements and

specific instructions for

installing Microsoft

Dynamics AX features

and components.

http://technet.microsoft.com/

EN-US/library/dd362138.aspx

Install Retail

Headquarters

When you install Retail

Headquarters by using

Setup, you install the

basic components to run


EN-US/library/hh575193.aspx





Module 4: ONLINE STORE SET UP AND PUBLISHING

4 - 3


Microsoft Dynamics

AX Retail.

Install a Retail

channel database

Channel databases hold

retail data for one or

more retail channels,

such as online stores or

brick-and-mortar stores.

The data for a channel

can be included in more

than one channel

database.


EN-US/library/dn741218.aspx

Install and configure

components of

Commerce Data

Exchange

Commerce Data

Exchange is a system

that transfers data

between Microsoft

Dynamics AX and retail

channels.

At retail headquarters,

you must install

Commerce Data

Exchange: Async Server

and Commerce Data

Exchange: Real-time

Service.

For an online store, you

must install an instance

of Commerce Data

Exchange: Async Client.








EN-US/library/jj679919.aspx

Install and configure

SharePoint Server

2013

You must install and

configure SharePoint

Server 2013 before you

deploy the Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail

online store.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlin

k/?LinkId=286388

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlin

k/?LinkID=286427&clcid=0x4

09

Install the Retail

online store

Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 for Retail includes

two Retail online

“starter” stores. The

Contoso store is

modeled after a fictitious

online electronics

retailer. The Fabrikam

store is modeled after a

fictitious online clothing


EN-US/library/jj991927.aspx











http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=286388


http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=286427&clcid=0x409






Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 4


store. When you install

the Retail online store by

using Setup.exe or

PowerShell, you specify

which starter store to

deploy in your

environment. You can

then customize and

rebrand the starter store

to meet your needs.

To set up an online store, follow these steps.

1. Create the online store.

2. Add the online store to the appropriate organization hierarchies.

3. Add assortments that include the products that are available in the online

store.

4. Assign or create price groups for the online store.

5. Set up the modes of delivery available for the online store.

6. Assign the payment methods that are accepted for the online store.

7. If you allow shoppers to order products online and then pick up the products

at a local store, assign store locator groups to the online store.

8. Assign attributes for channels, products, and sales orders to the online store.

Channel attributes apply to the whole online store, product attributes apply to

the products that are offered in the online store, and sales order attributes

apply to the sales orders that are generated from the online store.

9. Map attributes to set the properties that determine how the attributes behave

in the online channel. For example, you can set attributes to be required or

searchable.

10. Publish the online store to generate the store structure on the SharePoint site.

Before you publish the online store to SharePoint, you must set up a

distribution location for the online store.

This module discusses the following:

Set up Online Store Integration

Create Online Store Navigation Structure

Create and Configure the Online Store

Configure Data Distribution and publish the online store

Manage Online Store Products and Publish the Catalog


4 - 5

The setup steps are listed in the Online Store Setup Checklist that is available in

the Microsoft Dynamics AX client: Retail > Setup > Online store setup checklist.

Reference Links: Online store setup procedures are listed in the

Documentation roadmap for a Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail online store in “Setup

and configure an online store” http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


Note: Before you start to set up the online store, you must first set up the

Retail components in Microsoft Dynamics AX. The components include products,

prices, promotions, discounts, and taxes.

Reference Links: For detailed instructions on how to set up Retail

components in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/hh597201.aspx.

Objectives

This module discusses the tasks, procedures, and configuration options for the

online store configuration and publishing.

This module includes the following lessons:

Set Up Online Store Integration

Create an Online Store Navigation Structure

Create and Configuring an Online Store

Configure Data Distribution and Publishing an Online Store

Manage and Publishing Online Store Products

Sett Up Shipping Charges for an Online Store

Online Store Setup Checklist

The topics in this module are in addition to the topics that are in the Online Store

Setup Checklist. The checklist is available in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client:

Retail > Setup > Online store setup checklist.

Use the procedures that are described in the following lessons. Also use the

Online Store Setup checklist to complete the set up and configuration of the

Retail online channel.





Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 6

FIGURE 4.2: ONLINE STORE SETUP CHECKLIST


4 - 7

Set Up Online Store Integration

This lesson discusses how to configure the online store integration in Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Lesson Objectives

The objectives include the following:

Provide an overview of the Online Store Integration in Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Explain how to set up the profile for an Async Server.

Explain how to set up the real time service profile.

Explain how to set up the channel profile.

Explain how to set up the channel database profile.

Provide an overview of how to set the payment connector.

Overview of Online Store Integration

To set up the online store integration, you must set up the data exchange

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and the Online Store. Tasks that are involved to

set up the online store integration include the following:


Set up channel

integration profiles

Profiles enable the

components of

Retail to

communicate with

one another. Set up

profiles before you

configure data

exchange settings.

Set up a profile for Async

Server:


US/library/dn621048.aspx

Set up a Real-time Service

profile :


US/library/hh580631.aspx

Set up a channel profile :


US/library/jj677402.aspx

Set up a channel database

profile :



Configure data

distribution and

scheduling

In Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012

R3, a channel data

group is a group of

one or more retail

Create a channel data group :



Configure jobs and subjobs in

Retail Scheduler:












Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 8


channel databases.

A data package is

generated for each

data group. All

channel databases

in a data group

subscribe to the

same data.

Scheduler jobs are

used to distribute

data to and from

stores. Jobs are

made up of subjobs.

Subjobs specify how

to distribute the

data in selected

tables and selected

table fields.



Send configuration

settings and data to

the stores

After online store

settings and data

exchange settings

are configured in

Microsoft Dynamics

AX, run jobs to

distribute data to

the online store

database.

Synchronize all data

for the channel

database. In the

Channel database

form, click Full data

sync, and then

select the

distribution

schedule that is

named Full sync.

Schedule and run jobs in Retail

Scheduler :



Topics that are explained in detail in the next sections include the following:

How to Set Up the Profile for an Async Server

How to Set Up the Real Time Service Profile

How to Set Up the Channel Profile






4 - 9

How to Set Up the Channel Database Profile

Payment Connector (United States only)

How to Set Up the Profile for the Async Server

The profile for Async Server specifies how frequently Async Client checks for data

packages to download and creates data packages to upload. You must configure

data download and upload intervals for each instance of Async Client in the

environment.

Async Client is part of Commerce Data Exchange, the asynchronous system that

shares data between the Microsoft Dynamics AX database and retail channel

databases. Async Client is installed for each channel, and communicates with the

channel database. Commerce Data Exchange also includes Async Server. Async

Server is installed at headquarters and communicates with the Microsoft Dynamics

AX database.

Reference Links: For more information about Commerce Data Exchange,

refer to the Commerce Data Exchange documentation on TechNet

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=391057. >

To create a new profile, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Retail scheduler > Channel integration > Async

Server profile.

2. Click New to create a new profile.

3. Enter a name and description for the profile.

4. In the Data download interval in minutes field, enter the interval at which

Async Client checks for data packages that are ready to be downloaded from

Microsoft Dynamics AX to the channel. Data packages are downloaded from

the working folder for Commerce Data Exchange.

5. In the Data upload interval in minutes field, enter the interval at which

Async Client creates and uploads data from the channel. Data packages are

uploaded to the working folder for Commerce Data Exchange.

Note: The procedure to set up the Real-time Service profile can be found later

in this lesson.

How to Set Up the Real Time Service Profile

When you set up a profile for Commerce Data Exchange: Real-time Service, you

enable a point of sale (POS) device or a store to retrieve or update real-time data

from Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Real-time Service performs as an agent for a device or a store. The POS device and

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=391057



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 10

the store never access the remote AOS instance.

Note: In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Feature Pack, Real-time Service is also used by Commerce Data Exchange: Synch

Service to upload status messages to Microsoft Dynamics AX.

This topic describes how to perform the following functions:

Set up a Real-time Service profile.

Assign a Real-time Service profile to a retail store (Microsoft Dynamics

AX 2012 R3).

Assign a Real-time Service profile to an online store.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to create the Real time Service profile, follow these

steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Retail scheduler > Channel integration > Real-time

Service profiles.

2. Select an existing profile, or press CTRL+N to create a new profile.

3. Enter a name and a description for the profile.

4. On the Connection FastTab, enter the following information:

o Server – Enter the server name or IP address where Real-time

Service is running.

o Port – Enter the port number that the web service for Real-time

Service uses.

Note: A port number is associated with each communication protocol that is

bound to the website. By default, the port number for the net.tcp protocol is 808

and the port number for the https protocol is 9081.

o Protocol – Select the communication protocol that Real-time

Service uses.

Note: By default, the protocol is net.tcp. However, the https protocol is also

supported. To use the https protocol, you must modify the web.config file for the

website.

o Web application name – Enter the name of the web application

that hosts Real-time Service.

o Common name – Enter the common name for the certificate

that is used to establish an encrypted channel with Real-time


4 - 11

Service.

Note: To find the common name, right-click the server certificate in IIS

Manager and select View. The common name for the certificate is displayed on the

Details FastTab, in the Subject field. This is usually the name of the domain for

which the certificate is issued. If you use a self-signed certificate, the common name

is usually the name of the computer for which the certificate is issued.

o Passphrase – Enter the passphrase that is used to authenticate

the connection.

o Language – Select the language that will be used for error

messages. You do not have to select the same language as the

AOS uses. However, you must select a language for which you

have a Microsoft Dynamics AX license.

o Real-time Service version – If the service has a different release

version than Microsoft Dynamics AX, select the version of this

instance of the service.

5. On the Settings FastTab, select the Commerce Data Exchange: Real-time

Service staff check box to enable the POS system to validate the operator

logon through the service.

Before an online store can access AOS to retrieve or update information in real

time, you must assign the online store a Real-time Service profile.

To assign a Real-time Service profile to an online store, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Online stores.

2. Double-click the online store to modify, and then click the Maintain button.

3. In the Online store form, click the General FastTab.

4. On Profiles, in the Real-time Service profile field, select the appropriate

Real-time Service profile.

To synchronize profile settings with the channel database in Microsoft Dynamics

AX 2012 R3, run the predefined 1070 job, or run the job that you have set up to

synchronize online channel data.

How to Set Up a Channel Profile

A channel profile contains properties that must be defined for a retail channel,

such as URLs for site collections. The available properties depend on the type of

channel.

To set up a channel profile, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Retail scheduler > Channel integration > Channel

profiles.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 12

2. Press CTRL+N to create a new channel profile.

3. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the profile.

4. Select the type of online channel that the profile is for. In Microsoft Dynamics

AX 2012 R2, only SharePoint online store is available. In Microsoft Dynamics

AX 2012 R3, you can also set properties for eBay, Amazon, and Retail Server.

5. Click Add to add a property to the profile. For each property, provide the

following information:

o Property key – Select the type of property to set for the selected

channel profile. The available properties depend on the profile

type that you selected. For example, for a profile type of

SharePoint online store, you can select the Catalog site

collection URL property.

o Property value – Specify a value for the property.

6. Click Validate profile to confirm that the property information for the profile

is correct.

How to Set Up a Channel Database Profile

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, a channel database profile provides the

information that is used for Microsoft Dynamics AX to communicate with a retail

channel database.

To set up a channel database profile, follow these steps.


database.

2. Click New to create a new channel database profile.

3. Enter the following information:

o Channel database ID – Type a name for the profile.

o Channel data group – Select a channel data group for the

database. When you run a distribution schedule, a data package

is generated for each data group. All channel databases in a data

group subscribe to the same data. A data group can contain one

or more databases. However, a database can belong to only one

data group.

o User name and Password – Enter the user name and password

that Async Client uses to communicate with Async Server. You

must use a unique user name for each channel database profile.

The user name and password that you enter are created and used

only for the channel database profile. The user is not required to

exist in Microsoft Dynamics AX, in Active Directory, or on the

local operating system.

o Async Server profile – Select the Async Server profile to use with


4 - 13

the database.

4. On the Retail channel FastTab, click Add to select the channels that use this

database.

5. If you use features that require Retail Server, such as Modern POS, enter

channel database information in the Retail Server FastTab. Enter the name of

the server that hosts the channel database, and then enter the name of the

channel database.

Reference Links: For more information about how to use earlier versions of

Retail POS, refer to the Support for Previous POS Versions white paper -

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=259822.

6. To synchronize all data for the channel database, click Full data sync and

then select the distribution schedule that is named Full sync.

How to Set Up the Payment Connector (United States

Only)

In the United States, you can integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX with Payment

Services. By doing this, the Microsoft Dynamics AX application can process credit

card transactions in an online store. Payment Services accepts many payment

types, and you can select from several payment providers.

Note: Important: The Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP are not

available outside the United States.

The process for how to set up Payment Services involves the retailer and the

Microsoft Dynamics AX partner.

To set up Payment Services, you must follow these steps in the order in which they

are shown here.

1. Partner – In Partner Portal, create a Payment Services account for the

retailer.

2. Retailer – In Customer Portal, set up a merchant account that uses a

payment provider.

3. Partner – In Partner Portal, start the payment provider.

4. Retailer – In Customer Portal, test the payment service.

5. Retailer – In Microsoft Dynamics AX, set up Accounts receivable for

Payment Services.

6. Retailer – In Microsoft Dynamics AX, set up online stores for Payment

Services.

Reference Links: For detailed instructions on how to set up Payment Services,



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 14

refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj680904.aspx.

Create the Online Store Navigation Structure

This lesson discusses how to set up a navigation structure for an online store. Before

you create an online store, you must define the retail channel navigation hierarchy

that you want to use in the online store. The retail channel navigation hierarchy

represents the category hierarchy that is displayed in the online store after the store

is published. When you publish retail product catalogs to the online store, the

products in the catalog map to the categories in the retail channel navigation

hierarchy. The hierarchy is also used by shoppers to browse in the online store.

Lesson Objectives


Present the retail Online Store Navigation.

Explain how to set up the Retail Navigation Hierarchy.

Explain how to enrich the navigation category data.

Overview of Online Store Navigation

A retail channel navigation hierarchy is required to create the product navigation

structure that is used in the online store. You must create the navigation hierarchy,

assign the navigation hierarchy to a retail channel navigation hierarchy type, and

then assign the navigation hierarchy to the online store. When the online store is

published, the category structure that is defined in the retail channel navigation

hierarchy is displayed in the online store. You can maintain the online store

navigation structure through the retail channel navigation hierarchy in Microsoft

Dynamics AX. Any changes that you make are updated when you republish the

online store to the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 site.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to set up the online store navigation, you must:

Set up the retail channel navigation hierarchy.

Improve the category data for the presentation in the online store.

How to Set Up the Retail Channel Navigation Hierarchy

The Retail navigation category hierarchy for a retail channel is created to set up a

category structure for products that you offer through an online store. You define

the category hierarchy, and then assign products, product attribute groups, and

attribute values to the categories. Then, you can assign the category hierarchy to



4 - 15

an online store. When the online store is published, the category structure that is

defined in the category hierarchy is displayed in the online store.

If you change a category in a navigation category hierarchy that is assigned to a

retail channel or a retail product catalog, you must follow these additional steps:

1. If you add or delete a category node, republish the channel and the

catalog that use the category hierarchy.

2. If you activate or inactivate a category, republish the channel and the


3. If you change the name of a category, republish the channel that uses

the category hierarchy.

Note: Before you can publish an online store, you must create a navigation

category hierarchy for a retail channel and assign the navigation category hierarchy

to the online store.

To maintain a retail channel navigation hierarchy, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Category hierarchies > Retail channel navigation

hierarchies.

2. On the Retail channel navigation hierarchies list page, on the Action Pane,

in the New group, click Category hierarchy to create a new channel

navigation hierarchy. Then, enter a name and description for the category

hierarchy. To modify an existing category hierarchy, select the category

hierarchy in the list.

3. Click Edit to open the Category hierarchy form, and then modify the

structure of the category hierarchy.

4. In the left navigation pane, select a category in the tree structure. Then, on

the Products FastTab, click Add to add one product at a time from the

products list. Or, click Add products to open the Add products form, and

then add one or more products to a selected category. If you use the Add

products form to add products to the category, you can select products from

any retail product hierarchy or any other hierarchy.

5. On the Product attribute groups FastTab, click Add to assign attribute

groups to the category.

6. Click View attributes to view the list of attributes that are included in the

attribute group.

7. Close the Category hierarchy form.

Reference Links: For detailed instructions on how to set up

Attributes and Attribute types, refer to


For detailed instructions on how to set up Attribute groups, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj728713.aspx .




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 16

How to Enrich Navigation Category Data for Presentation

After the category hierarchy is created, you can enrich the category data for the

presentation. You can set up text, images, or videos for a category hierarchy or

specific categories that can be presented to the web shoppers in the online store.

To add presentation text, images, or videos to a category hierarchy or specific

categories, follow these steps.

1. On the Retail channel navigation hierarchies list page, double-click a

category hierarchy.

2. In the left navigation pane, select the root node or a specific category node.

3. Click Edit presentation text to open the Catalog product presentation

form, and then click Edit to enter the text.

Note: You can add presentation text to add the category data that shoppers

can view when the shoppers browse in the online store.

4. Click Images to open the Images form, and then enter the URL for where the

image is stored. You can also view the images that you already added and

select one image to be the default image. The default image is displayed for

the category in the online store.

5. Click Videos to open the Videos form, and then enter the URL for where the

video is located. You can also view the videos that you already added and

select one video to be the default video. The default video is displayed for the

category in the online store.

Create and Configure the Online Store

This lesson explains how to set up an online store. The online store is a type of

retail channel that customers can access on the web. An online store gives a

retailer an online presence so that their customers can purchase products from

the retailer’s online store in addition to the retailer’s brick-and-mortar store.

Customers who purchase products from the online store can have the products

shipped, or the customers can pick up the products from a local store.


Explain how to create an online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Explain how to assign an online store to an Organization Hierarchy.

Describe how to configure the online store.

Explain how to publish the newly created online store to SharePoint

2013.


4 - 17

Overview of the Online Store Configuration

To set up the online store, you must create the online store, add the store to the

appropriate organization hierarchies, configure the store details, and publish the

store to a Microsoft SharePoint site.

After you publish the store, you can create retail product catalogs that you can

publish to the store. The retail product catalogs contain the products that you offer

through the online store.

Reference Links: For information about how to create retail product catalogs,

refer to the article on “How to Create Retail Product Catalogs”


How to Create the Online Store

When you create the online store, you define the online store navigation structure

and basic information. The details that you define for the online store in Microsoft

Dynamics AX control the behavior of the online store after the online store is

published. For more information about how to create the online store, refer to

“About online stores”- http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj682097.aspx .

To create the basic structure for the online store, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Online stores.

2. On the Online stores list page, on the Action Pane, on the Channel tab, click

Online store.

3. In the Online store form, on the General FastTab, enter information in the

following fields:

Field Description

Name Enter a name for the new online store.

Legal entity Select the legal entity to which the online store

belongs.

Warehouse Select the warehouse from which the products are

shipped or sourced. By default, this is the

warehouse that is used.

Search name Enter the store name that is displayed when a

shopper searches for the store online.

Category hierarchy Select the navigation category hierarchy for the

online store that is set up as explained in an earlier

lesson. Online stores must be assigned to a

category hierarchy that is assigned to the Retail

channel navigation hierarchy category hierarchy




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 18

Field Description

type. This field is located in the Channel product

attributes form, on the General FastTab. To open

the Channel product attributes form, in the

Online store form, on the Set up tab, click Store

product attributes.

Currency Select the currency that is accepted by default for

the online store.

Default customer Select the default customer for the online store.

You can use the default customer as a template to

enter the shipping address and other transaction

information when a customer is added to an

online transaction, but is not yet registered in the

store.

Customer address

book

Select the address book for which to add customer

records that are created in the online store.

Real-time Service

profile

Select the service profile. The online store uses the

profile data to access Microsoft Dynamics AX

Application Object Server (AOS) to retrieve or

update information in real time.

Channel profile Select the channel profile for the online store. The

channel profile contains the URLs for the

publishing site collection and the catalog site

collection for the online store.

Live channel

database

Select the database for the channel that is

currently active.

Prices include sales

tax

Select this check box to indicate that the online

store's prices include sales tax or value added-tax

(VAT).

Email notification

profile

Select the profile that contains the email message

templates to use to communicate with customers

at different points in the sales process for the

online store.

Note: In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, you can only configure a Microsoft

Dynamics AX Retail store to use a warehouse that is managed in Inventory

management. You cannot configure a Retail store to use a warehouse that is

managed in Warehouse management.

4. On the Payment accounts FastTab, in the Connectors field, select the


4 - 19

payment connector that is used to connect to the payment provider. Then,

enter the configuration data to enable payment processing for transactions

that are received through the online store.

5. On the Languages FastTab, click Add to add the languages that can be

displayed in the online store. Select the Default check box to specify the

language that appears by default.

How to Assign the Online Store to the Organization

Hierarchy

Before you can assign product assortments or fulfill orders for the online store that

you created, you must assign the store to one or more organization hierarchies. At

minimum, you must assign the online store to an organization hierarchy that

includes product assortments. Retail uses organization hierarchies to structure retail

channels. Organization hierarchies represent the relationships between the

organizations that make up the business. When you set up online stores, you can

add the online stores to an organization hierarchy. The stores then share the data

that is used for assortments, replenishment, and reporting.

When you create an organization hierarchy, you must assign the organization

hierarchy a purpose. The purpose indicates how the hierarchy is used in the business

structure. You can create one organization hierarchy for the store operations, and

use that hierarchy for assortments, replenishment, and reporting. Or, you can create

a separate organization hierarchy for each purpose. You can also create multiple

hierarchies that have the same purpose and assign a channel to each hierarchy.

If you intend to publish retail product catalogs to the online store, you should, at a

minimum, add the online stores to an organization hierarchy for assortments. The

products in a catalog are selected from the assortments that are assigned to the

online store. When the catalog is published, the publishing process compares the

effective dates for the assortment that is assigned to the online store with the

products that are included in the catalog. By doing this, the process determines the

products that will be available in the online store.

Reference Links: For more information about how to create and modify

organization hierarchies refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


To assign the online store to an organization hierarchy, in Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3, following these steps.

1. Click Organization administration > Setup > Organization >

Organization hierarchies.

2. In the Organization hierarchies form, select the hierarchy for which to add

the online store, and then click View.




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 20

3. In the Hierarchy designer form, on the Action Pane, click Edit.

4. Click Insert, and then click Retail channel. In the Retail channel form, select

an organization for which to add the online store, and then click OK.

5. After you finish making the changes, you have to do one of the following.

a. To save a draft, on the Action Pane, click Save as draft. Your changes

are saved. However, the hierarchy does not become active.

b. If you finished making changes to the hierarchy, click Publish and

close. When you publish a hierarchy, you must specify an effective

date. The effective date indicates when the hierarchy becomes active.

Note: If you close the Hierarchy designer form without saving the changes,

you may see a message that asks you to save the hierarchy as a draft or delete the

changes. If you close the message without making a selection, the changes are

deleted.

6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to add the online store to additional organization

hierarchies, if this is necessary.

How to Configure the Online Store

After you have set up the basic information for an online store and added the

information to the appropriate organization hierarchies, you can add more

configuration data for the store, such as attributes and delivery modes. Then,

publish the online store to create the basic store structure for the SharePoint site.

After the online store is published, you can assign product catalogs to the online

store. Then, you can publish the retail products to the online store so that the

products are made available to the customers.

Note: How to add more configuration data for the online store, such as the

assortments and the distribution location is discussed later in this module.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, to configure the online store, follow these

steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Online stores. In the Online

stores list, double-click a store.

2. In the Online store form, on the Action Pane, on the Channel FastTab, in the

Inventory group, click View assortments.

3. In the View assortments list, double-click an assortment. Or, on the Action

Pane, in the New group, click Assortment to add a new assortment.

4. In the Assortments form, on the Retail channels FastTab, add the online

store. If you add a new assortment, enter any additional details for the

assortment. When you finish, close the form.


4 - 21


Pricing group, click Price groups.

6. In the Retail channel price groups form, add the price groups for the online

store, and then close the form. Price groups define the trade agreements and

promotions that apply to the online store.

Note: To view the prices, price adjustments, and discounts for all the products

that are assigned to the online store, on the Action Pane, in the Pricing group, click

Pricing.

7. On the Action Pane, on the Set up Tab, follow these steps.

a. Click Channel attributes to add the attribute groups that apply to

the whole store. For example, a channel attribute might include a

PayPal address or an IP address for the online store. Channel

attributes are applied when the online store is published.

b. Click Store product attributes to add, modify, or remove product

attributes, attribute values, and attribute metadata for any product or

product category in the retail product hierarchy that is assigned to

the online store. You can maintain attributes for individual products

or product categories or you can maintain product attributes in bulk

by using Microsoft Excel. To map product attributes to attribute

metadata, in the Channel product attributes form, on the Setup

FastTab, click Set attribute metadata.

Reference Links: For more information about how to map attributes, refer to

the article on “Manage the Search Schema in SharePoint 2013 Preview”

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=265297.

Reference Links: For more information about how to maintain product

attributes for a retail channel, refer to “Add and update product attributes for retail

channels” http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn497796.aspx.

c. Click Sales order attributes to add attributes that are specific to

sales orders. Sales-order attributes are applied to sales orders that are

generated from the online store. For example, you can add a sales

order attribute for a gift box.




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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d. Click Modes of delivery to select the delivery methods that are

offered by the online store.

e. Click Payment methods to select the payment methods that are

accepted by the online store, such as credit cards and PayPal.

f. Click Store locator group assignment to assign the online store to a

store locator group. When you assign stores to store locator groups,

customers can be directed to locations where products are available,

based on the retail store or the online store where a product inquiry is

made.

g. Click Channel database to set up the links between the online store

in Microsoft Dynamics AX and the database that you use to publish

the online store.

Configure Data Distribution and Publish the Online

Store

This lesson discusses how to set up data distribution for an online store and the

publishing process. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, a channel data group is a

group of one or more retail channel databases. A data package is generated for

each data group. All channel databases in a data group subscribe to the same

data. Scheduler jobs are used to distribute data to and from stores. Jobs are made

up of subjobs. Subjobs specify how to distribute the data in selected tables and

selected table fields.

After the online store settings and the data exchange settings are configured in

Microsoft Dynamics AX, you can run jobs to distribute data to the online store

database. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, you can synchronize all data for the

channel database. In the Channel database form, click Full data sync and then

select the distribution schedule that is named Full sync.

To publish the Retail online store channel, you have to replicate the basic

structure of the online store between Microsoft Dynamics AX and SharePoint. You

create the basic structure of the online store channel in the Microsoft Dynamics

AX Retail module. You must complete the set up tasks before you can publish the

channel.

Lesson Objectives


Provide an overview of how to configure data distribution and

perform scheduling for an online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012.


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Explain how to set up a Channel Data Group.

Explain how to configure job and subjobs in retail scheduler.

Explain how to send configuration settings and data to the stores.

Explain how to publish the online store from Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 to the online storefront in SharePoint 2013.

Data Distribution and Publishing

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, you will set up data distribution and publishing.

Additionally, you will learn how to do the following:

Provide an overview of data distribution and publishing.

Set up the channel data group.

Configure jobs and a subjob for data distribution.

Publish the online store.

Send the first configuration setting and data to the online store.

How to Set Up the Channel Group

Channel Data Group is used to group similar channel databases. For example, to

group the databases for stores that are in the same region or stores that are of the

same type. All channel databases in a data group subscribe to the same data.

When you run a distribution schedule, a data package is generated for each data

group. Use data groups to reduce the number of data packages that are

generated from Microsoft Dynamics AX. This helps improve performance.

Note: Channel Data Groups are available only in Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3.

The Data Distribution in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 figure shows the

relationships between stores, databases, data groups, and data packages.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Figure 4.3: Data Distribution in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

To create a new channel data group, follow these steps.


data group.

2. Enter a name and description for the channel data group.

3. In the Retail channel schema field, select a schema based on the version of

Microsoft Dynamics AX that is being used and the type of channel that is

included in the data group.

4. Select a configuration of working folders.

Reference Links:

For more information about how to specify working folders, refer to the article on

“Specify working folders for Commerce Data Exchange” –

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn621058.aspx.

The Channel database FastTab displays the channel databases that are included



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in the group. You cannot change this information in this form. To change the data

group to which a database belongs, use the Channel database form.

Note: For more information, refer to the article “Set up a channel database

profile” – http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn621049.aspx.

How to Configure Jobs and Subjobs in Retail Scheduler

In Retail, scheduler jobs are used to distribute data to and from locations. Each job

consists of one or more subjobs. This topic explains how to create jobs and

subjobs to distribute retail data.

Initial Predefined Jobs and Subjobs

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 includes predefined scheduler jobs and subjobs that

meet the replication requirements of most organizations. To populate these jobs

and subjobs, you must initialize Retail. Complete this task even if you want to

customize these jobs and subjobs, because it helps save time.

To initialize Retail, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Parameters > Retail parameters.

2. On the General FastTab, click Initialize.

Note: If you already completed this task when you deployed Retail, you can

omit this procedure. The procedures in this documentation assume that you use the

jobs that are already set up when you initialized jobs and subjobs. If you have

modified these jobs or created additional jobs, you might want to modify the

procedures.

Predefined Jobs in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

In Microsoft AX 2012 R3, the following types of predefined jobs are created:

Download jobs – Download jobs send data that has changed from Microsoft

Dynamics AX to channel databases. Modifications to records are tracked

through SQL Server change tracking.

Upload jobs (P jobs) – Upload jobs pull sales transactions from a channel

into the Microsoft Dynamics AX database.

P jobs upload data incrementally. When a P job runs, Async Client checks the

replication counter for records that are already received from a location. The

instance of Async Client for the channel sends only those records that have a

replication counter that is more than the largest value found. P jobs do not

update data that is previously uploaded.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Create or Modify a Subjob

A subjob contains information about a single table. In Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3, to create or modify subjobs that distribute data between Microsoft

Dynamics AX and retail channels, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Retail scheduler > Scheduler subjobs.

2. Click New to create a new subjob, or select the subjob to modify. You can

also copy the settings of an existing subjob to a new subjob.

3. If you create a subjob, enter a unique identifier for the subjob in the Subjob

number field. Optionally, enter a description.

4. If the subjob replicates data from the channel database and writes data to the

Microsoft Dynamics AX database, select the Pull data check box.

5. In the Retail channel schema field, select the schema to use for the subjob,

based on the Microsoft Dynamics AX version and the type of channel.

6. In the Channel table name field, enter the name of the table in the channel

database. In the Microsoft Dynamics AX table name field, enter the name

of the table in the Microsoft Dynamics AX database. For P jobs, you must also

specify the temporary database table to use. To create the temporary table,

click Create staging table.

7. Enter other information in the form, if more information is required.

Reference Links: For more information about fields that are not described in

this topic, refer to the article on scheduler subjobs (form) –

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh597422.aspx.

Create or Modify the Scheduler Job

Each scheduler job consists of one or more subjobs. Jobs should contain subjobs

that are related. For example, the Currency job contains subjobs that update

currencies and exchange rates.

To create or modify a new job that has subjobs, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Retail scheduler > Scheduler jobs.

2. Click New to create a new job, or select the job to modify. You can also copy

the settings of an existing job to a new job.

3. If you create a job, enter a unique identifier for the job in the Job name field.

Optionally, add a description.

4. In the Retail channel schema field, select the schema to use for the job,

based on the Microsoft Dynamics AX version and the type of channel.



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5. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, if the subjob replicates data from the

channel database and writes data to the Microsoft Dynamics AX database,

select the Is upload check box.

6. Add subjobs to the job.



Reference Links: For more information about fields that are not described in

this topic, refer to the article on Scheduler job (form) –

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh672166.aspx.

How to Publish the Online Store

When you publish the Retail online store channel, you must replicate the basic

structure of the online store between Microsoft Dynamics and SharePoint. You

create the basic structure of the online store channel in the Microsoft Dynamics

AX Retail module.

Before you can publish the channel, you must follow these steps.

1. Add the online store to the organization hierarchy.

Reference Links: For more information, refer to “Create or modify an

organization hierarchy” – http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


2. Create the online store and configure properties in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Reference Links: For more information, refer to “Set up an online store” –


3. Configure the category hierarchy of the site.

Reference Links: For more information, refer to “Set up a retail hierarchy” –


4. Create the online store in SharePoint.

5. After you complete steps 1 through 4, you can publish the product schema to

SharePoint.

The Process for Publishing the Online Store figure shows how to publish a Retail

online store channel.







Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 4.4: PROCESS FOR PUBLISHING THE ONLINE STORE

Considerations for when you publish to the online store include the following:

The online store is created in Microsoft Dynamics AX and is published from

the Online stores form. The publish status changes from Draft to In progress.

Microsoft Dynamics AX takes a snapshot of the category hierarchies (known

as the Retail hierarchy) and properties.

The Commerce Data Exchange: Async server reads information about the

online store, hierarchies, and properties in the Retail store database. Then, the

Async server sends the information to the Commerce runtime (CRT).

The Async server synchronizes the tables in the channel database.

The Retail publishing job, which runs as a SharePoint timer job, receives

information about synchronized tables from the CRT API and creates

hierarchies for the site that you created in SharePoint.

The Retail publishing job creates term sets in SharePoint.

The Commerce Data Exchange: Real Time Service receives the status of the

Retail publishing job actions from the CRT API and publishes that status in

Microsoft Dynamics AX. The status is displayed as Published or Error.

How to Publish the Online Store

After you configure the online store, you can publish the online store. To publish

the online store that is created and configured in the earlier lessons use one of the

following procedures. The procedure that you use will depend on whether the

store is being published for the first time or the store is already published and is


4 - 29

being republished.

Note: If you change a category in a navigation category hierarchy that is

assigned to an online store or a retail product catalog, you must republish the

online store or catalog as follows:

If you add or delete a category node, republish the online store and

the catalog that use the category hierarchy.

If you start or stop a category, republish the online store and the


If you change the name of a category, republish the online store that

uses the category hierarchy.

If the online store is being published for the first time, follow these steps.



2. In the Online store form, on the Action Pane, on the Channel FastTab, click

Publish to publish the channel to a SharePoint site. When you click the

Publish button, the Publishing status is set to In progress.

3. Click Retail > Periodic > Data distribution > Distribution schedule. Select

the distribution schedule 1070, and then click OK.

4. In the Job for initial replication of data to an environment form, leave all

fields as they appear by default, and then click OK.

5. After the scheduler job is finished, one of the following publishing statuses is

displayed for the online store:

a. Published – The online store is published to the SharePoint site.

The category navigation is created in the online store, and retail

product catalogs can be published to the online store.

b. Failed – An error has occurred and the publishing process could

not be completed.

If an existing online store is being republished, follow these steps.



2. In the Online store form, on the Action Pane, on the Channel FastTab, click

Publish to publish the channel to a SharePoint site. When you click the

Publish button, the Publishing status is set to In progress.

3. Click Retail > Periodic > Data distribution > Distribution schedule. In the

Distribution schedule form, in the left navigation pane, select the

distribution schedule 1070.

4. Run the scheduler job.

i. To manually run the scheduler job, on the menu bar at the


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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top of the form, click Run now.

ii. To run the scheduler job in batch mode, on the Scheduler

jobs FastTab, verify that the Enabled check box is selected

for the job, and then click Create batch job.

iii. In the form that opens, enter information about the batch

job.

Reference Links: For more information about the options in the form, refer to

“Submit a batch processing job from a form” – http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/aa619588.aspx.

5. After the scheduler job is finished, one of the following publishing statuses is

displayed for the online store:

o Published – The online store is published to the SharePoint site.

The category navigation is updated in the online store, and retail

product catalogs can be published to the online store.

o Failed – An error has occurred and the publishing process could

not be completed.

6. If a retail catalog is set up for the online store, also run the 1150 (Catalog) job

to publish the catalog data by following the instructions in step 3.

Note: An online store must be set to a status of Published before a retail

product catalog can be published to the online store.

Reference Links: For information about how to create retail product catalogs,

refer to the article “Create retail product catalogs” –


How to Schedule and Run Jobs in Retail Scheduler

To schedule and run the data transfer between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail

channels, Commerce Data Exchange uses Retail Scheduler jobs and distribution

schedules.

Jobs and subjobs contain the data distribution settings for specific tables and

fields in the database. A distribution schedule associates scheduler jobs with the

locations where data must be synchronized. After you create distribution

schedules, you can automatically run the distribution schedules in a batch, or you

can manually run the distribution schedules.

Before you can set up a distribution schedule, you must create scheduler jobs and

channel data groups.

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/aa619588.aspx




4 - 31

If you use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, follow these steps to create a

distribution schedule.

1. Click Retail > Periodic > Data distribution > Distribution schedule.

2. Click New to create a new distribution schedule, or select a distribution

schedule to modify.

3. Enter a name and description for the distribution schedule.

4. Select Active to start the distribution schedule. If this option is not marked,

the distribution schedule will not run.

5. If you create a new distribution schedule, select the direction in which the

data will move. You can select from the following:

Download if the jobs in the distribution schedule transfer

data from Microsoft Dynamics AX to channels.

Upload if the jobs in the distribution schedule transfer

data from channels to Microsoft Dynamics AX. The

direction that you select determines the jobs that are

available to add to the distribution schedule.

6. On the Data groups FastTab, click Add to add one or more data groups to

the schedule. When you run the distribution schedule, a data package is

generated for each data group. All channel databases in a data group

subscribe to the same data. To remove a data group from the schedule, select

the data group and then click Remove.

7. On the Scheduler jobs FastTab, click Add to add one or more jobs to the

schedule. To remove a job from the schedule, select the job, and then click

Remove.

A batch job is a scheduled run of a job or a group of jobs. When you create a

batch job, you set up a timer in the AOS instance. The job is then run

automatically on the server. To run batch jobs, you must configure the batch

server.

To set up a batch job for a distribution schedule, follow these steps.

Reference Links: For more information about how to configure an AOS

instance as a batch server, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/gg731831.aspx .


2. Select a distribution schedule.

3. On the Scheduler jobs FastTab, select the Enabled check box for each

scheduler job that the batch job should run.

4. Click Create batch job. In the form that is displayed, enter information about

the batch job.

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg731831.aspx



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Reference Links: For more information about how to submit a batch

processing job from a form, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/aa619588.aspx .

Manage and Publish Online Store Products

This lesson discusses how to manage the online store products. A Retail product

catalog lets you identify the products that you want to offer in the online stores.

Lesson Objective

The objective is to explain how to manage online store products in Microsoft

Dynamics AX 2012.

The topics discussed in this lesson include the following:

How to Manage Online Store Products

How to Assign an Assortment to an Online Store

How to Add Price Groups to an Online Store

How to Manage an Online Store Catalog

How to Create an Online Store Catalog

How to Validate an Online Store Catalog

How to Submit an Online Store Catalog for Review and Approval

How to Publish the Online Store Catalog

How to Bulk Edit Product Attributes by using Microsoft Excel

Overview of How to Manage the Online Store Products

A Retail product catalog lets you identify the products that you want to offer in

the online stores. When you create a catalog, you identify the online stores where

the products will be offered, add products, and improve the product offerings by

adding merchandising details. After the catalog is approved, you publish the

catalog so that the products are made available in the online store.

Before you can publish a catalog, you must follow these steps.

1. Set up retail products and configure hierarchies, assortments, and variants.

Reference Links: For more information about how to set up retail products

refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/hh597210.aspx.





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2. Set up retail product catalogs and configure attribute groups and workflow.

Reference Links: For more information about how to set up retail product

catalogs refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj728683.aspx.

When you manage the online store products in Microsoft Dynamics AX, you must

perform the following activities:

Add an assortment to an online store

Manage an online store catalog

Manage prices and taxes

Publish an online store catalog

Note: Important: This lesson begins by adding assortments and price groups

to the online store. Then the lesson focuses on how to manage and publish the

online store catalog. The activities to manage prices, taxes, price adjustments and

discounts are not unique to the online store and are performed by using the

Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail module.

Reference Links: For instructions on how to set up a price

group, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/hh597133.aspx .

For instructions on how to set up taxes, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/hh580571.aspx .

For instructions on how to set up price adjustments and discounts,

refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/hh597114.aspx .

How to Assign an Assortment to the Online Store

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to assign an assortment to the online store, follow

these steps.




Inventory group, click View assortments.

3. On the Action Pane, in the New group, click Assortment to add a new

assortment. Or, in the View assortments list, double-click an existing

assortment.

4. In the Assortments form, on the Retail channels FastTab, add the online

store. If you add a new assortment, enter any additional details for the

assortment.

5. Close the form.







Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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How to Add Price Groups to the Online Store

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to add price groups to the online store, follow these

steps.




Pricing group, click Price groups.

3. In the Retail channel price groups form, add the price groups for the online

store, and then close the form. Price groups define the trade agreements and

the promotions that apply to the online store

4. To view the prices, price adjustments, and discounts for all the products that

are assigned to the online store, on the Action Pane, in the Pricing group,

click Price list.

Note: The Online store has to be in Draft status for the price group to be added.

Manage the Online Store Catalog

Retail product catalogs identify the products that you want to offer in the online

stores. When you create the catalog, you identify the online stores that the

products are offered in, add the products that you want to include, and improve

the product offerings by adding merchandising details. You can create multiple

catalogs for an online store.

The Retail Product Catalog Components figure shows the components that are

included in a retail product catalog.


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FIGURE 4.5: RETAIL PRODUCT CATALOG COMPONENTS

The components in the retail product catalog are described in the following table:


Attributes Attributes contain details about the product. You can assign

attributes to the retail channel or to a category. Assign

attributes to the retail channel if the attributes apply to the

whole channel. Assign attributes to a category if the

attributes apply only to the products that are assigned to

that category. Attribute values can be modified in the

catalog.

Products that you add to the catalog inherit the attributes

that you set at the channel or category level. The attributes

and attribute values appear in the online store. For example,

an attribute might be Color, and an attribute value might be

Green.

You can also combine attributes into attribute groups. This

makes it easier to assign multiple attributes to categories or

retail channels at one time.

You can edit the product attributes in a catalog in bulk by

using Microsoft Excel

HTML rich text HTML rich text is an attribute type that you can use to add

rich text details to highlight the catalog products or the


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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retail product categories. When the catalog is published, the

rich text appears in the online store.

For example, you can advertise a sale or promotion and use

HTML rich text to obtain the shopper’s attention in the

online store.

Images and

videos

Images and videos are attribute types that you can use to

add images or demonstration videos to the products.

For example, if the online store offers clothing, you can

display images of the clothing in different styles or colors. If

the online store offers exercise equipment, you can show a

demonstration of the exercise equipment. You add images

and videos by entering the URL for the location where the

image and video styles are stored. You can add multiple

images and demonstration videos to the products.

Products You select products to add to a retail product catalog from

the product assortments that are assigned to the online

stores. You can add products from one or more assortments.

Any products that you include in the catalog must also be

included in the assortments that are assigned to the online

stores. Otherwise, those products cannot be published to

the online store.

Product relations Products that you add to the retail product catalog might

be associated with other products, such as accessories or

products that offer an upsell opportunity. You can include

all related products in the catalog or you can select specific

related products.

Retail channel Retail product catalogs can be published only to online

stores.

The Catalog Conceptual Model figure shows the important concepts that are

needed to manage the product catalog.


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FIGURE 4.6: CATALOG CONCEPTUAL MODEL

To create and process a catalog, you must do the following:

Create an online store catalog

Validate an online store catalog

Submit an online store catalog for review and approval

Publish an online store catalog

The Catalog Process Flow figure shows the catalog process flow.

FIGURE 4.7: CATALOG PROCESS FLOW

How to Create an Online Store Catalog

When you create a catalog, you identify the online stores in which the products

will be offered, add the products that you want to include, and improve the

product offerings by adding the attributes to the products.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to create a catalog for one or more online stores,

follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Catalogs > Catalogs. On the Action Pane, in the

New group, click Catalog to create a new catalog.

2. You can also create a new catalog by copying an existing catalog. To copy a

catalog, on the Catalogs list page, select a catalog, and then, on the Action

Pane, in the Maintain group, click Copy.

3. In the Create new catalog dialog box, type a name and description for the

catalog.

4. In the Catalogs form, on the General FastTab, select the catalog owner and

enter an effective date and the expiration date for the catalog. When the

catalog is published, the effective date and the expiration date determine

when to make the products available in the online store. The Expiration date

is optional. Leave this field blank if the catalog does not expire.

5. On the Retail channels FastTab, click Add.

6. In the Choose organization nodes form, select the online stores that to

which the catalog applies, and then click Add >>.

7. Close the form.

Note: The online store must be set up before you can create a catalog, and it

must be published before you can publish the catalog.

8. On the Action Pane, in the Products group, click Add products.

Note: To add products to a specific category, select a category in the category

navigation pane, and then, on the Products FastTab, click Add.

9. In the Add products form, select the products that you want to add, and then

click OK. The product list is filtered by the assortments that are assigned to

the online stores that you selected on the Retail channels FastTab.

Note: If you add a product master to the catalog, any variants that are

defined for the product master are also automatically added to the catalog. When

the catalog is published, the product master and all the product master variants are

made available in the online store.

Products that are assigned to a category are automatically added to that category

in the catalog. Products that are not assigned to a category are added to the

Uncategorized category in the catalog. Products in the Uncategorized category

must be manually assigned to the appropriate category in the catalog.


4 - 39

To assign any uncategorized products to the appropriate category in the catalog,

follow these steps:

1. In the category navigation pane, select the Uncategorized category.

2. On the Products FastTab, select the products that you want to categorize.

3. Click Categorize products.

4. Select the categories to which you want to move the products to.

You can select one or more products to move to a single category at the same

time. To move products to different categories, you must select the products and

move the products one at a time.

5. In the category navigation pane, select each category in the catalog and do

one or more of the following:

a. On the Products FastTab, review the list of products in the selected

category.

b. Click Add to add products to the selected category.

c. Click Remove to remove any products from the selected category. If

the catalog is not published, you can delete the products from the

catalog category. If the catalog is published, you can remove

products from the catalog category. However, the catalog must be

republished for the product listings to be removed from the online

store.

Note: To remove products from the whole catalog, on the Action Pane, click

Remove products, and then in the Remove products dialog box, select the

products that you want to remove.

d. Click Related products to open the Related products form and then

view the list of products that are associated with the product. You can

select whether to include or exclude the related products in the

catalog.

6. Click Attributes to view the attributes that are assigned to the products and

to add or modify attribute values. If HTML rich text attributes, image

attributes, or video attributes are assigned to the product, in the Product

attribute values form, click Edit to add the HTML rich text or the URLs for

the images or video files.

How to Validate an Online Store Catalog

After you add the catalog components to the catalog, you must validate the

catalog. The validation process makes sure that all the required data is included

and is valid so that the publishing process can succeed.

The validation process verifies that required data for channel attributes and


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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product attributes is complete and valid. The process also verifies that the online

stores that are assigned to the catalog are complete and valid, and have a status

of Published.

After the validation process is completed, you can view a detailed explanation for

any warnings or errors that are found. Products that generate a warning cannot

be published to the online store. A catalog that contains any errors cannot be

published until the errors are resolved.

Note: You can publish a catalog that contains products that have warnings.

However, these products do not appear in the online store.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to validate the catalog, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Catalogs > Catalogs. On the Catalogs list page,

select a catalog, and then, on the Action Pane, in the Maintain group, click

Edit.

2. In the Catalogs form, on the Action Pane, in the Publish group, click

Validate catalog.

3. In the Validate catalog form, click Validate catalog to run the validation

process. If you have never run the validation process for the catalog, then the

fields in the form are blank. If you have run the validation process for the

catalog, then the results from the last validation are displayed in the form.

You can run the validation process as many times as needed.

4. In the Channel summary section, review any errors or warnings for the online

store.

5. In the Product summary section, in the Channel field, select the online

stores that are assigned to the catalog, and then review any errors or warnings

for the products.

6. Correct any errors that are found by the validation process. Then, repeat steps

2 through 5 until the catalog is valid and ready to be submitted for review.

How to Submit an Online Store Catalog for Review and

Approval

After a catalog is validated, you can submit the catalog for review and approval. A

catalog must be approved before it can be published. You can configure workflow

so that catalogs are automatically approved or require manual approval.

Reference Links: For detailed instructions on how to configure workflow for

retail product catalogs, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-



4 - 41


In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to submit the catalog for approval, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Catalogs > Catalogs.

2. On the Catalogs list page, select a catalog, and then, on the Action Pane, in

the Maintain group, click Edit.

3. In the Catalogs form, in the workflow message bar, click Submit. The catalog

status is changed from Draft to Submitted for approval.

4. If you are an approver, in the Catalogs form, in the workflow message bar,

click Approve. When the catalog is approved, the catalog status changes to

Approved.

Publish an Online Store Catalog

When you publish a catalog this makes the products and product information

available in a specific online store. Before you publish the catalog, you must

publish any online stores that are assigned to the catalog. When you publish the

online store this generates the online store structure and the navigation

categories, whereas when you publish the catalog, this generates the product

listings that appear in the online store. After the catalog is published, you can view

the product listings that are generated during the publishing process.

The Retail Product Catalog Publishing Architecture figure shows the online

channel (that is the online store) publishing and the catalog publishing.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 4.8: RETAIL PRODUCT CATALOG PUBLISHING ARCHITECTURE

The retail product catalog from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is published to the

SharePoint product catalog site. When the online channel and the catalog are

published, their entities are mapped to the entities in the SharePoint cross-site

publishing platform. The Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail Catalogs Features figure

shows several features of the retail product catalog that are published to

SharePoint.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail Catalogs Features figure also shows the Product

catalog features that are published to the SharePoint product catalog site.


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FIGURE 4.9: MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX RETAIL CATALOG FEATURES

A high level overview of the process that is used to publish the retail product

catalogs to the online store follows:

Microsoft Dynamics AX reads the product tables in the Retail

database.

The Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server synchronizes all

products in the channel database.

The CRT/Publishing Connector creates a listing. A listing is an instance

of a product for a channel at a given point in time. For example, a

product might be “jeans” and the variant might be “red”. The system

creates a listing for “red jeans”.

The system determines whether any new attributes are added for the

listing. If a new attribute exists, for example if the listing “red jeans”

includes a new attribute called “texture”, and this attribute is marked

as “Included” at the channel level, then the system creates a custom

site column for that attribute. The system creates a new rule for this

list item and finishes the process in SharePoint by creating a new row

for the “red jeans” listing.

The CRT records the publishing status for the listing.

The Commerce Data Exchange: Async Server synchronizes the

publishing status of the “red jeans” listing with all other publishing

statuses.

The status shows either Published or Error.

The Retail Product Catalog Publishing Process figure shows the Retail Product

Catalog publishing process.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 4.10: RETAIL PRODUCT CATALOG PUBLISHING PROCESS

Reference Links: For more information about site columns and list items

refer to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=311682 and

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=311683 for the "Share a library or list as a

catalog” section"

The effective date that you defined for the catalog determines when the products

are available in the online store. The expiration date that you defined for the

catalog determines when the products are removed from the online store. The

whole catalog can be retracted.

The Retracting Product Listings figure shows the process for how to retract

product listings.




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FIGURE 4.11: RETRACTING PRODUCT LISTINGS

Considerations for when you perform the process include the following:

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, the expiry date is set to the current date and time.

The system sets the catalog publishing status to In progress.

Commerce Data Exchange: Synch Service synchronizes the tables that are

related to the expired listings to the online storefront.

In the online storefront, the system deletes all affected listings from the CRT

database.

SharePoint deletes all affected listings from the product catalog site. Now,

these listings are not available on the publishing site.

The CRT records the publishing status as expired for all affected listings.

The Commerce Data Exchange: Synch Service synchronizes the publishing

status of the expired listings from the online storefront to Microsoft

Dynamics AX.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, the catalog publishing status changes to

Published or Error.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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How to Publish the Online Store Catalog

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to publish the catalog, follow these steps.



the Maintain group, click Edit.

3. In the Catalogs form, on the Action Pane, in the Publish group, click Publish.

4. In the Publish catalog form, in the Publish field, select one of the following

options:

a. Only products that have changed – Select this option to

publish only the changes that are made to the catalog since

the last time that the catalog is published.

a. All products – Select this option if this is the first time that the

catalog is being published, or if you want to republish the whole

catalog.

5. In the Product totals by channel grid, review the total number of product

listings to be created, updated, or deleted when the publishing process is

completed.

6. Click OK to start the publishing process.

7. In the Catalogs form, on the Retail channels FastTab, select an online store,

and then click Listings.

8. Or, on the Products FastTab, click Listings to review the product listings for a

specific category.

9. In the Listings form, review the product listings that the publishing process is

creating, updating, or deleting for the selected online store. You can also

review the listing status that is updated by Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce

Runtime. The following statuses are displayed:

a. In progress – The catalog is being published, republished, or

retracted.

b. Success – The publishing process has completed and the product

listings are updated in the online store.

c. Error – An error occurred, and the product listing could not be

processed.

How to Bulk Edit Product Attributes by Using Microsoft

Excel

This topic explains how to use Microsoft Excel to update attributes such as size,

color, and dimensions for products that you sell in the retail channels. You can use

Excel to update attributes for products in a catalog. In Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3, you can also use Excel to update products that are not included in a


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catalog.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, you use product attributes to add

merchandising details to the products that you offer in the online store. Product

attributes include color, size, product dimensions, and other product details. To

make product attributes visible in the online store, you add the product attributes

to the products that are listed in the retail catalog.

You can edit product attributes at any time. You can edit product attributes one

by one in the retail catalog by using the Catalog details form, or you can bulk

edit product attributes by exporting them to Excel. Then, in Excel, you can edit the

product attributes and import the changes back into the retail catalog. In Excel,

you can also edit product attributes for the whole catalog or you can edit only the

product attributes that are assigned to a specific category.

Using Excel in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

You can use Excel to bulk edit product attributes for products that are offered in

any retail channel, even if the products are not included in a retail catalog. In

Microsoft AX 2012 R3, bulk editing product attributes in Excel is even easier.

Improvements to functionality let you to do the following:

Easily identify required attributes.

Enter URLs for images and videos directly in the spreadsheet and

upload that data back to Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Select the appropriate value from a fixed list when multiple values are

assigned to a specific attribute.

More easily assign an appropriate value to attributes that include a

minimum and maximum value range. If minimum and maximum

value ranges are not defined for an attribute, the minimum and

maximum value ranges that are defined for the system are used.

Prerequisites

Before you can use Excel to bulk edit product attributes in a retail catalog, you

must complete the following tasks.

Task More information

Enable digitally signed macros and

disable all other macros in Excel.



Define product attributes. http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-







Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Task More information

Set up attribute groups. http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


Assign attribute groups to retail

categories or retail channels.




US/library/jj682095.aspx#ConfigureAnd

Publish

Create a retail catalog.

Note :

If Microsoft AX 2012 R3 is installed,

you can update product attributes

in a retail catalog that is assigned

to a retail store, online store, or call

center. You can also update

product attributes outside a retail

catalog by using the Channel

product attributes form.







Install Microsoft Office Add-ins for




Bulk Edit Attributes for Products that are Included in a Retail Catalog

This procedure applies to all versions of Retail in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. If

you use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, you must complete some additional

steps that are described later in this section.

To use Excel to bulk edit attributes for products in a retail catalog, follow these

steps.



the Maintain group, click Edit. If the catalog is already published, when you

click Edit this changes the catalog status to a status of Draft.

3. In the Catalogs form, do one of the following steps.

a. To edit all product attributes in the catalog: In the





http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj682095.aspx#ConfigureAndPublish












4 - 49

category navigation pane, select the root node, and then

click Edit in Excel.

b. To edit only attributes that are assigned to products

in a specific category: In the category navigation pane,

select the category, and then click Edit in Excel.

It might take a several minutes for Excel to open and the attributes to appear.

4. In Excel, edit the attributes for the products in the categories that you

selected.

5. When you finish editing the attributes, in Excel, click the Dynamics AX tab,

and then in the Update group, click Publish. This process might take several

minutes.

6. After the publishing process is completed, you can close Excel.

To verify the changes, in the Catalogs form, follow these steps.

1. In the category navigation pane, select a category.

2. On the Products FastTab, select a product in the grid, and then click

Attributes.

Additional Steps for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

If Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is installed, you must publish the updated data

and then send the updated data to the stores.

To publish the updated product attributes, follow these steps.

1. In the Catalogs form, on the Action Pane, in the Publish group, click Publish.

2. In the Publish catalog form, in the Publish field, select one of the following

options:

a. Only products that have changed – Select this option

to publish only the changes that are made to the catalog

since the last time that the catalog is published.

b. All products – Select this option if this is the first time

that the catalog is being published, or if you want to

republish the whole catalog.

After the catalog publishing process is completed, follow these steps.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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2. In the Distribution schedule form, in the left navigation pane, in the Name

column, select the 1150 (Catalog) scheduler job.

3. To run the job manually or in batch mode, do one of the following:

a. To manually run the scheduler job, on the menu bar at

the top of the form, click Run now.

b. To run the scheduler job in batch mode, on the

Scheduler jobs FastTab, verify that the Enabled check

box is selected for the job, and then click Create batch

job. In the form that is displayed, enter information

about the batch job.

Set Up Shipping Charges for the Online Store

This lesson discusses how to configure shipping charges for the online store.

Lesson Objective

The objective is to explain how to set up shipping charges for the online store in

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Set Up Shipping Charges for the Online Store

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, when you set up up shipping charges for the online

store, you must also set up modes of delivery and shipping charges for the online

store.

How to Set Up Modes of Delivery for the Online Store

You can specify the modes of delivery that are available to customers during

checkout in the online store. You can also specify different modes of delivery for

specific combinations of products and addresses.

Note: Before you can set up the modes of delivery for the online store, you

must create modes of delivery.

This topic explains how to specify the modes of delivery that are available to

customers in the retail stores and the online stores. You can also specify different

modes of delivery for specific combinations of retail channels, products, and

geographic areas.

To set up the modes of delivery that are offered to customers, follow these steps.

1. Click Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Distribution > Modes of


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delivery.

2. Click New or select an existing mode of delivery, and then, on the Retail

channels FastTab, click Add line to add one or more channels that use the

mode of delivery.

3. In the Choose organization nodes form, select an organization hierarchy.

4. Expand the Available organization nodes: list, select an organization node

that includes the channels that you want to add, and then click Add.

5. When you finish adding channels, click Close.

6. On the Products FastTab, specify the products to include or exclude from the

mode of delivery. Click Add line to add one line, or click Add products to add

multiple lines.

7. On each line, in the Category and Product fields, specify the product. If the

product is a variant, select the product in the Product variant field.

8. In the Line type field, specify whether to include or exclude the product from

the mode of delivery. For example, if all the products except one product use

the mode of delivery, add two lines. On the first line, select ALL in the

Category field, and select Include in the Line type field. On the second line,

specify the product to exclude, and then select Exclude in the Line type field.

9. On the Addresses FastTab, click Add line to specify the countries or regions

and states or provinces to include or exclude from the mode of delivery. For

example, if the mode of delivery does not serve Alaska or Hawaii, add three

lines. On the first line, select USA in the Country/region field, and then select

Include in the Line type field. On the second line, select USA in the

Country/region field, select AK in the State/province field, and then select

Exclude in the Line type field. On the third line, do the same to exclude

Hawaii.

For information about how to create modes of delivery, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/aa619881.aspx. <

How to Set Up Shipping Charges for Online Store

In Retail, you can define the following types of shipping charges for online orders:

A fixed amount for a range of order totals. This includes free shipping

for order totals greater than a specified amount.

A fixed amount for each item.

A charge that is provided by the shipping carrier. This charge can be

marked up by a specified percentage.

A percentage of the total.

You can also define a shipping charge for a mode of delivery, a group of modes of

delivery, or all modes of delivery.

To setup the shipping charges to be used by an Online Store, follow these steps.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Note: Before you can specify shipping charges, you must create modes of

delivery. For information, refer to the article on Modes of delivery (form) –

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/aa619881.aspx.

1. Click Retail > Setup > Charges > Auto charges.

2. Click New, and then, in the Level field, select Line.

3. In the Account code and Customer relation fields, do one of the following:

a. If you want the shipping charges to apply to a specific

customer, select Table in the Account code field, and

then, in the Customer relation field, select the customer.

b. If you want the shipping charges to apply to a group of

customers, select Group in the Account code field, and

then, in the Customer relation field, select the group.

c. If you want the shipping charges to apply to all

customers, select All in the Account code field.

4. In the Mode of delivery code and Mode of delivery relation fields, do one of

the following:

a. If you want the shipping charges to apply to a specific

mode of delivery, select Table in the Mode of delivery

code field, and then, in the Mode of delivery relation

field, select the mode of delivery.

b. If you want the shipping charges to apply to a group of

modes of delivery, select Group in the Mode of delivery

code field, and then, in the Mode of delivery relation

field, select the group.

c. If you want the shipping charges to apply to all modes of

delivery, select All in the Mode of delivery code field.

5. On the Lines FastTab, click Add.

6. In the From amount field and the To amount field, specify the transaction

totals to which the shipping charge applies. For example, if you want all orders

that are less than 100.00 United States dollars (USD) to be charged 5.00 USD for

shipping, and orders that are 100.00 USD or more to have free shipping, add

two lines that contain the following values:

From amount To amount Charges value

First line 0 100 5

Second line 100 <blank> 0

7. If you want the shipping carrier to provide the shipping charge, in the Category

field, select External.



4 - 53

Reference Links: For more information about the Auto charges form, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/aa582856.aspx.



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Module Review

This module discussed the tasks, procedures and configuration options that are

required to set up the online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

The lessons described in this module include the following:

How to use the Online Store Setup Checklist

How to Set up the Online Store Integration

How to create the Online Store Navigation Hierarchy

How to Create and Configure the Online Store

How to Configure Data Distribution and Publish the

Online Store

How to Manage and Publish Online Store Products

How to Set Up Shipping Charges for the Online Store

.

Best Practice: How you publish the online store depends on the version of

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 that you use and whether you publish the online store

for the first time or republish an existing online store.

If you change a category in a navigation category hierarchy that is assigned to an

online store or a retail product catalog, you must republish the online store or

catalog as follows:

If you add or delete a category node, republish the online store and

the catalog that use the category hierarchy.

If you start or disable a category, republish the online store and the


If you change the name of a category, republish the online store that uses the

category hierarchy.

The online store must be set to a status of Published before a retail product catalog

can be published to the online store. For information about how to create retail

product catalogs refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj728697.aspx



4 - 55

Test Your Knowledge


1. How many Catalog site collection URL properties can you set up in the online

channel profile?

( ) You can set up two Catalog site collection URL properties in the

online channel profile.

( ) You can set up multiple Catalog site collection URL properties in the


( ) You can set up one Catalog site collection URL property in the online

channel profile.

2. Which components must be set up in Microsoft Dynamics AX for the online

store integration in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3?

( ) CDX Async Server Profile, Real Time Service Profile, Channel Profile,

Channel Database profile, Channel Data Group

( ) CDX profile; online store database profile; AOS profile; online channel

profile.

( ) Synch Service profile; online product catalog profile; AOS profile;

online channel profile; Real-time Service profile

3. Where is the navigation hierarchy for the online store configured?


( ) Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail Module

( ) SharePoint publishing site collection

4. Can you assign the online store to one or more organizational hierarchies?

( ) No, you cannot assign the online channel to an organizational

hierarchy.

( ) Yes, you can assign the online channel to only one organizational

hierarchy.

( ) Yes, you can assign the online channel to one or more organizational


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 56

hierarchies.

5. Select the component that is created at a SharePoint site when the online

store is published.

( ) The layout for the online store home page

( ) The online store navigation hierarchy

( ) The online product catalog

6. Which of the following is the correct process that is used to create and

process the online store catalog?

( ) Create a catalog, validate the catalog, publish the catalog

( ) Create a catalog, add products and categories, submit the catalog for

approval, publish the catalog

( ) Create a catalog, validate the catalog, submit the catalog for approval,

publish the catalog

7. Where can you configure the shipping charges for the online store?

( ) Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail

( ) Microsoft Dynamics AX Sales and Marketing

( ) CRT shipping service


4 - 57



1. How many Catalog site collection URL properties can you set up in the online

channel profile?

( ) You can set up two Catalog site collection URL properties in the


( ) You can set up multiple Catalog site collection URL properties in the


(√) You can set up one Catalog site collection URL property in the online

channel profile.

2. Which components must be set up in Microsoft Dynamics AX for the online

store integration in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3?

(√) CDX Async Server Profile, Real Time Service Profile, Channel Profile,

Channel Database profile, Channel Data Group

( ) CDX profile; online store database profile; AOS profile; online channel

profile.

( ) Synch Service profile; online product catalog profile; AOS profile;

online channel profile; Real-time Service profile

3. Where is the navigation hierarchy for the online store configured?


(√) Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail Module

( ) SharePoint publishing site collection

4. Can you assign the online store to one or more organizational hierarchies?

( ) No, you cannot assign the online channel to an organizational

hierarchy.

( ) Yes, you can assign the online channel to only one organizational

hierarchy.

(√) Yes, you can assign the online channel to one or more organizational

hierarchies.

5. Select the component that is created at a SharePoint site when the online


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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store is published.

( ) The layout for the online store home page

(√) The online store navigation hierarchy

( ) The online product catalog

6. Which of the following is the correct process that is used to create and

process the online store catalog?

( ) Create a catalog, validate the catalog, publish the catalog

( ) Create a catalog, add products and categories, submit the catalog for

approval, publish the catalog

(√) Create a catalog, validate the catalog, submit the catalog for approval,

publish the catalog

7. Where can you configure the shipping charges for the online store?

(√) Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail

( ) Microsoft Dynamics AX Sales and Marketing

( ) CRT shipping service


4 - 59

LAB: ONLINE STORE SET UP AND PUBLISHING

Scenario

The online starter store is centrally configured in Microsoft Dynamics AX. This lab

will help you explore how to configure the Contoso online starter store. The lab

explains the options that you might want to modify for the implementation, and

also shows how to publish the online channel and the online store catalog.

Additionally, this lab shows how to monitor the Retail publishing job status and

how to validate the catalog publishing.

Objectives


Explore the configuration of the online channel for the Contoso

online store.

Explain how to publish an online channel.

Explore the catalog set up for the Contoso online store.

Describe the shared metadata and the channel-specific metadata.

Explain how to publish the online store catalog.

Describe how to monitor the Retail publishing job status and how to

validate the catalog publishing.

Set Up Details

This lab uses the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Demonstration

Virtual Machine (VM) that is available on Partner Source –

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/sales-

marketing/demo-tools/virtual-machines/AX2012DemoToolsMaterials.

The VM on Partner Source includes the following documentation.

Review the documentation to set up the VM before you complete the

lab.

Document Link

Release

Notes

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Se

rvicepacks/ReleaseNotesAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV1

0.pdf

Technical

Guide

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Se

rvicepacks/TechnicalGuideAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackage

V10.pdf

Retail Point

of Sale User

List

https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=cf70c1d3-

b430-4f1d-8afe-98b8389df94a

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/sales-marketing/demo-tools/virtual-machines/AX2012DemoToolsMaterials








https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=cf70c1d3-b430-4f1d-8afe-98b8389df94a



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

4 - 60

Demo Data https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/Se

rvicepacks/AX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageOverview.pdf

How to Set

up Virtual

Networking

https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=f817c2ce-

f2a3-494c-9993-65571deafef1

The default company to use for all the labs is USRT.

Online Store Set Up Checklist

The exercises in this lab can also be performed by using the online store setup

checklist. The checklist is available in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client – Retail >

Setup > Online store setup checklist.

Figure 1: Online Store Setup Checklist



https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=f817c2ce-f2a3-494c-9993-65571deafef1



4 - 61

Exercise 1: Online Channel Configuration and

Publishing

Scenario

In this exercise, you will explore the configuration settings for the online starter

store channel. This includes the attributes metadata, the store locator groups and

the data distribution setup. Then, you will publish the online channel.

Objectives


Explore the setup of the online channel for the Contoso online starter

store.

Publish the online channel.

High Level Steps

The high level steps include the following:

1. Open the Contoso online store channel in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

2. Explore the attributes metadata.

3. Examine the store locator group.

4. Publish the online channel.

Detailed Steps

The detailed steps include the following:

1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, and then select Retail.

2. In the Common section, expand Retail channels.

3. Select Online stores.

4. In the list of online stores, select Contoso online store. Notice that the

navigation hierarchy that is assigned to the Contoso online store is shown

in the list. Click Edit on the upper-left side of the screen.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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5. If a confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes to confirm that you will

edit the store and move the store to the draft mode.

The Online store form is displayed. This form includes the configuration

settings for the online store, the online storefront and for Microsoft

Dynamics AX processing.


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6. Explore the Online store window. Notice that, for example, that you can

set up the navigation category hierarchy, the payment connector, the

languages, and other options.

7. Click the Set up FastTab, and then click Store product attributes. You

will find that the Contoso online store is selected. Now, click the Set up

FastTab, and then click Set attributes metadata.

8. The Set attributes metadata window appears. In the left navigation

pane, the category hierarchy is displayed. This is the navigation category

that is used to move and browse for products in the online store. Expand

the Computers node.

9. Select Laptops, and then expand the Channel product attributes

FastTab.

10. Explore the product attributes that are displayed. You can configure how

the different attributes will be used in the online storefront. For example,

whether an attribute can be searched, or if an attribute should be used as

a refiner. Click the Processor attribute.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Notice that the Processor attribute can be searched, retrieved and

refined. This means that the web shopper can filter the laptop listing on

the online storefront by using his or her processor characteristics.

11. Click the Dimensions attribute.

Notice that, although the Dimensions attribute can be searched and

retrieved, the Dimensions attribute cannot be refined. The web shopper

cannot filter the laptop by using his or her dimensions because this

attribute is not displayed as a refiner in the Contoso online storefront.

12. Close the Map attributes form.

13. Now, explore the store locator group that is set up for the Contoso online

store. The store locator group defines the locations that should be

considered for in-store pickup scenarios.

14. Click Store locator group assignment.


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15. In the Store locator groups form, notice that there is only one store

locator group, All stores, that is set up for the Contoso online channel,

and then click Close to return to the Online store window.

16. Now, explore the profiles that are set up for the Contoso online store. In

the Online store window, on the Profiles section, explore the settings for

a profile configuration in the Contoso online store, such as the Real-time

Service Profile and the Channel profile.

17. In the Online store window, click the Channel FastTab, and then click

Publish.

18. Click Yes in the dialog box that is displayed to confirm the channel

publishing.

19. Click Close to close the Online store window.

20. Return to the Retail area page by clicking Retail in the navigation path

on the upper side of the screen. Leave the Microsoft Dynamics AX client

open if you continue to the next exercise.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Exercise 2: Catalog Setup and Publishing

Scenario

In this exercise, you will explore the online store catalog setup and publishing. This

includes product improvements that have additional metadata that is specific to

the online store. Before products can be improved in a catalog, the products must

first be assorted to the channel. Therefore, you will explore the assortment that is

assigned to the online store. Then, you will review the product metadata that is

shared between channels, before you review the online store catalog. Finally, you

will validate and publish the online store catalog to the online store.

Objectives


Explore the online store catalog settings.

Examine the shared metadata and the channel-specific metadata.

Publish the online store catalog.

High Level Steps


1. Explore the assortment that is used for the online channel.

2. Review shared metadata that is set up by using the attribute

groups.

3. Explore the Electronics catalog settings.

4. Review the channel specific product attributes.

5. Explore listings.

6. Remove a product from the catalog.

7. Publish the catalog to the online store.

Detailed Steps


1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics AX client and select Retail if the Microsoft

Dynamics AX client is not already open.

2. In the Common section, click Assortments.

Assortments are used to determine where and when products are

available, for both brick and mortar stores and online stores.


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3. In the list of assortments, select Contoso Electronics. This assortment is

used for the Contoso Electronics channels, and includes an online store.

4. Double-click the assortment to view the assortment’s characteristics.

Or, you can click Edit, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to edit

the assortment.

5. Explore the Assortment window. Notice that this assortment is assigned

to the online channel.

6. Click Close to return to the Assortments window.


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Or, if you opened and edited the assortment in step 4, click Publish, and

then click Close. In the Assortments page, click Refresh and then

validate that the assortment status changed from Draft to Published.

7. Explore the attribute metadata. Click USRT on the navigation path and

select Product Information Management, or select Product

Information Management area in the left navigation pane.

Custom attributes can be defined to add the needed metadata to

generate effective search and refinement in the online channel.

8. In the Product Information Management area page, in Setup, expand

Attributes, and then select Attribute groups.

Attributes are grouped for easier management, and then assigned to

products at the category level.

9. In the list of attribute groups, select SLR Cameras.

10. Review the attributes in the SLR Cameras group. Notice that you can set

up the default value at the attribute level. Now you can add more

information about the attributes for a specific product in a specific

channel and, or for a specific time, by using a catalog.


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11. Close the Attributes group form.

12. Explore the attributes for the SLR cameras that are set up in the online

store catalog. Browse to the Retail area page by clicking USMF on the

navigation path and select Retail, or select the Retail area in the left

navigation pane.

13. In the Common section, expand Catalogs, and then select Catalogs.

14. Select the Contoso Base Catalog. This catalog is already published and is

currently being used by the Contoso online store.

15. Click Edit, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to edit the catalog.

16. In the category hierarchy, in Electronics, expand the Cameras node and

then select Digital SLR cameras.


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17. Select A. Datum SLR Camera X135, and then click Attributes.

18. Expand Channel product attributes. Notice that there are different tabs

for the Shared product attributes and for the Channel product attributes

that are specific for the online channel. For example, the Brand attribute

is specific for the Contoso online channel. Additional channel-specific

attributes improve the product in the online store with additional

information.

19. The attributes can also be viewed in list form. Click Show list to view the

attributes in a list. Notice the Attribute source column that lists where the

attribute is set up.


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20. Click Close to return to the catalog window

21. Explore the listings that are created for the improved product when the

catalog is published to the online storefront. In the catalog window, make

sure that A. Datum SLR Camera X135 is selected, and then click Listings.

22. Review the listings, and then close the Listings form to return to the

Electronic Catalog window.

23. In the Electronics catalog window, clear the selection for A. Datum SLR

Camera X135.

24. Remove a product from the catalog. Select the product variant Pink A.

Datum SLR Camera X135, and then on the upper area of the Products

list, click Remove.


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25. The black product variant is removed. Notice that the pink and the silver

variants remain in the catalog.

26. In the Publish group, click Validate catalog to validate that the catalog

is ready to be published and that there are no errors in the catalog.

27. Click Validate catalog.


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28. After the validation is completed, review the validation results. If there are

no errors or alerts, click Close.

29. In the Publish group, click Publish.

Important: The lab environment is set up for the catalog to be automatically

approved for publishing. However, in live implementations, we recommend

that you start the approval workflow for catalog publishing.

30. In the Publish catalog form, in the Publish field, select Only products

that have changed to publish only the changes that are made to a

catalog since the last time that the catalog is published.

31. In the Product totals by channel grid, review the number of product

listings to be created, updated, or deleted when the publishing process is

completed.

32. Click OK to start the publishing process.

33. In the Catalogs form, on the Retail channels FastTab, select an online

store, and then click Listings.

34. In the Listings form, review the product listings that the publishing

process is creating, updating, or deleting. The following statuses are

displayed:

a. In progress – The catalog is being published, republished, or

retracted.

b. Success – The publishing process is completed and the product

listings are updated in the online store.

c. Error – An error occurred, and the product listing could not be

processed.

35. Explore other options in the catalog window if you want, and then close

the Microsoft Dynamics AX client.

Exercise 3: Validate Catalog Publishing

Scenario

In this exercise you will validate the catalog publishing by exploring the Retail

Publishing job and the Product Catalog site in SharePoint.


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Objectives


Monitor the Retail Publishing job status.

Work with the Product Catalog site and the product listings.

Validate that the catalog is successfully published.

High Level Steps


1. Open the SharePoint Central Administration and check the

status of the Retail publishing job.

2. Open the Product Catalog site and validate that the black A.

Datum SLR Camera X135 is removed from the product

catalog.

3. Open the online store site and validate that the black A.

Datum SLR Camera X135 is no longer available.

Detailed Steps


1. Open SharePoint 2013 Central Administration from the Start screen.

2. Select Monitoring.

3. In the Timer jobs section, click Check job status.

4. In the Timer Job Status page, on the upper-left side of the screen, click

Job history.


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5. In the Job History page, locate the RetailPublishingJob and validate

that its status is Succeeded.

6. In the browser address bar, type http://

ax2012r2a:40001/sites/RetailProductCatalog to open the product

catalog site.

7. On Quick Launch in the left navigation pane, click

UncategorizedList_000. This list contains the Microsoft Dynamics AX

product listings.

8. In the search box, type X135 to locate the A. Datum SLR Camera X135,

and then click the magnifying glass to start the search.


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9. Two results are displayed—the pink camera and the silver camera. Click

the first product link, scroll down to view the RetColor attribute and

validate that its value is Pink.

10. Explore the list of attributes, and then scroll to the bottom of the

attributes list, and then click Close.

11. Optionally, repeat step 8 and step 9 to validate that the second product

variant is for the silver camera and its RetColor attribute is set to Silver.

12. Open the store site www.contoso.com and validate that the black A.

Datum SLR Camera X135 is no longer available in the online store.

Note: Depending on the crawler settings, you might have to wait several

http://www.contoso.com/


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minutes before the changes in the product catalog are published to the

online store site.

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MODULE 5: MANAGE THE ONLINE STORE IN

SHAREPOINT

Module Overview

The starter online store includes the patterns and best practices that are required

to support production-ready deployments. The starter online store also includes

powerful, search-driven, adaptive experiences that are offered by SharePoint

Server 2013.

The crawl component indexes the product catalog lists and the term store of the

Product Catalog Site collection. The crawled data is stored in the Search Index.

Cross-site publishing uses one or more authoring site collections to author and

store content, and one or more publishing site collections to control the design of

the site. Search-driven pages dynamically display content for customers.

When a user views a page on one of the publishing sites, queries from Search

Web Parts on that page are sent to the search index. Results are returned from the

search index and the CRT, and the results are shown in the Search Web Parts on

the page. There are several ways that the search can be adjusted to meet specific

use cases, for example by using query rules, query suggestions, content search

web parts, and recommendations.

Reference Links: For more information about Search in SharePoint 2013,

refer to “Overview of search in SharePoint Server 2013” at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219738.aspx.

Objectives


Provide specific information on how search affects the e-commerce

storefront.

Explain how cross-site publishing and search in SharePoint 2013 are

used to provide the following:

o Dynamic pages (through Web Parts and display templates).

o Targeted content (through query rules).

o Navigation and facets.

o Query suggestions and query spelling (“did you mean”).

o Recommendations (to improve the end-user relevance over time).



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Search-Driven Sites

Lesson Objectives

The objective is to describe the concepts that are related to the search in an

e- commerce setting.

Search-Driven Sites

The out-of-the-box starter storefront that is included with Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3 is fully functional. The starter storefront can serve as a starting point to

create a customized user experience that is based on specific requirements.

FIGURE 5.1: SEARCH-DRIVEN SITES

Components of search-driven sites include the following:

o Term store: Holds the whole product hierarchy. SharePoint

Server 2013 includes the Term Store Management tool. You can

use this tool to create and manage term sets. If you have the

appropriate permissions, you can use the Term Store

Management tool to perform the following tasks:

Create or delete a term set.

Add, change, or delete terms.

Arrange managed terms in a term set into a hierarchy.

Define synonyms.

Import terms.

Make enterprise keywords into managed terms by

moving the keywords into a term set.


5 - 3

o Catalog site collection: Holds the product catalogs that are

published from Microsoft Dynamics AX.

o Asset site collection: Stores images, videos, and other assets.

o Search index: Holds all content and metadata that is crawled. To

build the search index, you must first start a full crawl of content

that is specified in one or more content sources.

A content source is a set of options that you can use to

specify what type of content is crawled, what URLs to

crawl, and how frequently the content should be crawled.

Content sources are set up and maintained in Central

Administration by a Search service application

administrator.

o Publishing (rendering) site collection: Holds the online store

(UI).

As an administrator, you can define result sources (six) based on the content that

is available from the search index. One way to quickly understand the concept of a

result source is to consider the result source as a reusable query. You can create

result sources to specify a location from which search results can be retrieved, for

example, the URL for a catalog. Or you can specify that search results are only to

be retrieved for a particular item type—for example, pictures.

One example might be to set the result source to include all listings that are

currently valid (in other words, outdated listings never appear on the site).

Finally, the online store queries (seven) the index. When the query-processing

component receives a query from the search front end, the query-processing

component analyzes and processes the query to improve precision, recall, and

relevance. The processed query is submitted to the index component. The index

component returns a result set. The result set is based on the processed query that

is sent to the query-processing component. Then, the query-processing

component processes the result set, before the result set is returned to the search

front end.

Reference Links: For more information about the search components, refer

to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj219738.aspx.

Cross-Site Publishing

This lesson describes the basic concepts that are related to cross-site publishing

and how to verify cross-publishing in an e-commerce setting.



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Lesson Objectives

The objective is to describe the concepts that are related to the cross-site

publishing.

Cross-Site Publishing

The cross-site collection publishing feature in SharePoint Server 2013 works as

follows: you use the authoring site collection (product catalog site) to author and

store content, and one or more publishing site collections to control the design of

the site and to show the content. The functionality that is provided by this feature

is called cross-site publishing. Site collections are available as part of the Retail

online starter store.

The authoring site collection, known as the Product Catalog Site, includes a list

of product data and all libraries and lists are shared as catalogs.

The product catalog content web application uses Active Directory to authenticate

content authors. The catalogs are indexed by the search system and made

available to the publishing site collection (publishing portal).

The publishing site collection (publishing portal) issues queries for data that is

indexed. The publishing site collection shows the data on web pages by using

Web Parts that use search technology (for more information, refer to the

following section).

The publishing portal web application uses Active Directory authentication for

designers and forms-based authentication for web users. This web application is

configured so that web users can have anonymous access. Additionally, you brand

content on the publishing site.

Note: As mentioned in the, “E-commerce Architecture” module the publishing

site collection is outside the firewall. Therefore, the asset library is located in a

separate site collection (in the same web application as the publishing site

collection) so that users on the publishing sites have read access to those assets.

Internal users such as designers and other content authors have Contribute

permission to add, update, and delete items in the asset library. The asset library is

added to the Suggested Content Browser Locations list for the authoring and

product catalog site collections so that content authors can use those assets in their

content.

Validate the Connection between the Publishing Portal and Authoring Site

To validate that the E-commerce Publishing Portal is connected to the Product

catalog/Authoring site (achieved automatically when the starter store is


5 - 5

deployed), browse to SharePoint Central Administration, and then click

Application Management> View all site collections. All the site collections that

are created under each web application should be visible.

For the following URLs, copy the URL into a browser and validate that you can

browse to each site:


This is the retail product catalog site.


This is the retail publishing portal. This is also the Contoso Electronics

Superstore site.

To manage the catalog connections, browse to Site settings > Manage catalog

connection. (Click Connect to catalog to view all the available catalogs.)

FIGURE 5.2: MANAGE CATALOG CONNECTIONS

Validate the Crawling

To validate that the crawling works as expected (meaning that all content is

included and no errors are found), follow these steps.

1. Click Central administration > General application settings.

2. In Search, click Farm search administration.




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3. Click the Search Service application (link).

4. In Diagnostics (on the left side column), click Crawl log.

Web Parts and Display Templates

This lesson describes how search-driven Web Parts and display templates are used

to present content in the online storefront.

Lesson Objectives


Describe how search-driven Web Parts and display templates are

managed.

Describe how search-driven Web Parts and display templates can be

used to create dynamic pages and manage metadata.

Managed Properties: Map Attributes

When content is crawled, the metadata of the items that are crawled is

represented as crawled properties, whereas the publishing content from Microsoft

Dynamics AX is crawled and managed properties are mapped. This explicitly

controls names for the managed properties (only managed properties are

included in search results).

In a catalog, managed properties are the specifications of the items in the library

or list, such as Title, Color, or Product Category.

Reference Links: For more conceptual information about crawled and

managed properties, refer to the article on automatically created managed

properties in SharePoint Server 2013 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/jj613136).

You can specify settings for managed properties to affect how content appears in

Search Web Parts and in search results. We recommend that you maintain and

control managed properties from Microsoft Dynamics AX. We recommend that

you do this because the changes that are made in SharePoint are overwritten

every time that a new publishing is performed in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, to control managed properties, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Online stores. In the

Online stores list, double-click a store.

2. Click Map attributes.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj613136



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3. In the Map attributes form, for each category in the online store,

select the options that indicate how the attributes for each category

or channel product should behave in the online store on the

SharePoint site. The attributes are mapped to the managed properties

on the SharePoint site.

For example, you can select whether an attribute can be searched, refined,

retrieved, sorted, and queried. These options determine how the value of this

attribute is saved in the search index on the SharePoint site, and if and how this

attribute appears in the online store pages.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Managed property

setting

What it does Example Full crawl or reindex

SharePoint list/library

required after changing

setting

Searchable Enables querying against the

content of the managed

property. The content of this

managed property is included

in the full-text index.

If the property is "color", a

simple query for "red" returns

items that contain the word

"red" and items whose color

property contains "red".

Yes

Queryable Enables querying against the

specific managed property.

The managed property name

must be included in the query,

either specified in the query

itself or included in the query

programmatically.

If the managed property is

"color", the query must

contain "color:red".

Yes, from disabled to enabled.

Retrievable Enables the content of this

managed property to be

returned in search results.

Enable this setting for

managed properties that are

relevant to present in search

results.

Enables the content of this

managed property to be

returned in search results.

Enable this setting for

managed properties that are

relevant to present in search

results.

Yes, from disabled to enabled.

Refineable Yes - active: Enables using the

property as a refiner for search

results in the front end. You

must manually configure the

refiner in the web part.

Yes - latent: Enables switching

refinable to active later,

without having to do a full re-

crawl when you switch.

Both options require a full

crawl to take effect.

If the “color” managed

property is set to Refinable,

you can set up Author as a

refiner in your search front-

end later.

Yes, from disabled to enabled

(if not already set to Sortable)

Sortable Yes – active: Enables sorting

the result set based on the

property before the result set is

returned.

Yes – latent: Enables switching

sorting to active later without

having to do a full re-crawl

when you switch.

Both options require a full

crawl to take effect.

Use for large result sets that

cannot be sorted and retrieved

at the same time.

Yes, from disabled to enabled

(if not already set to Refinable)


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Page Model

SharePoint uses templates to define and show the pages that a site shows. The

structure of a SharePoint page includes the following three main elements:

Master pages define the shared framing elements for all pages in the

site. These elements can include the header and footer, top navigation,

breadcrumbs, search box, site logo, and other branding elements. The

master page remains consistent as visitors browse the site.

Page layouts define the layout for a specific class of pages. A page layout

is a template for a specific type of page in your site, such as a product

gallery page or a product details page. As its name implies, a page layout

defines the layout or structure for the body of a page.

Pages are created from a page layout by authors who add content to

page fields.

o Authors can create pages and add content to the page fields, and the

authors can add Web Parts to any Web Part zones or Rich Text

Editors.

o Pages are structured so that content authors cannot make changes

outside page fields.

o In the search-driven pages scenario, the SharePoint page also

contains the following:

Search-driven Web Parts, such as the Content Search Web Part.

The Content Search Web Part (CSWP) is a Web Part that is

introduced in SharePoint 2013. The Content Search Web Part

uses many styling options to display dynamic content on

SharePoint pages. Each Content Search Web Part is associated

with a search query and shows the results for that search query

from the search index.

Display templates control the managed properties which appear

in the search results of a search-driven Web Part. These templates

also control the styling and behavior of those search results. In

other words, you can use display templates to change how search

results appear on the page.

Display templates are code examples of HTML and JavaScript that

show the information that is returned by SharePoint. The

information to be displayed is inserted into the page in JSON

format.

The two types of templates include the following:

Control display templates control the layout of search

results and any elements that are common to all results

such as paging and sorting.


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Item display templates control how each search result is

displayed and repeated for each result.

The Master Page, Page Layout, and Page with Web Part figure shows the Master

Page, page layout and page with a web part.

FIGURE 5.3: MASTER PAGE, PAGE LAYOUT, AND PAGE WITH WEB PART

Search-Driven Web Parts

With search-driven Web Parts, you can dynamically present information that is

stored in the search index. The presentation of data in the Content Search Web

Part is controlled by display templates. The display templates are located in the

Master Page Gallery together with master pages and page layouts.

A set of out-of-the-box (OOTB) reusable Web Parts is included with the storefront.

Some of these Web Parts are already associated with the Commerce Runtime

services and other services, such as Product gallery and Product details that are

already bound to the search index.

Customizable controls that are included with the starter online store include the

following:


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Control type: Available in starter store:

Page layouts My account

Order history

Product details

Product gallery

Product quick view

Address edit

Associate customer

Change password

Checkout confirm

Facebook logon

Display templates Item_ProductDetails

Item_ProductGallery

Item_ProductQuickView

Web Parts Add to cart

Checkout

Promotion code

Submit order

Mini shopping cart

Shopping cart

Address

Customer

Reference Links: For more information about customizable controls in the

starter online store, refer to the TechNet article about Controls.

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn194016.aspx)


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Content Search Web Parts use two types of display templates, control and item.

The Tool Pane of Content Search Web Part figure shows a Content Search Web

Part.

FIGURE 5.4: TOOL PANE OF CONTENT SEARCH WEB PART

As part of the design or branding of the site, you can create custom display

templates that use layouts, styles, and the behavior that you define.


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FIGURE 5.5: TWO DIAGRAMS OF CONTENT SEARCH WEB PARTS

Control Display Template

The control template determines the overall structure and layout of how you want

to present the search results, such as a list including paging or a slide show. Each

Content Search Web Part uses one control template.

The control template also includes functionality that is common to all the search

results. This includes paging, sorting, view options, and separators.

The Control Template Outlined on Web Part and WebPage figure shows the

control template that is outlined on a web part and on a webpage.


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FIGURE 5.6: CONTROL TEMPLATE OUTLINED ON WEB PART AND

WEBPAGE

Item Display Template

The item template determines how each result in the set is displayed, and the

template is repeated for each result. An item template can display an image, an

image with text, a video, and other content.

The item display template also determines the managed properties and the values

that the Content Search Web Part shows. In this example, the item template

displays three managed properties—a small-sized image, a product name as a

hyperlink, and a brief text description.

The Item Templates Outlined on Web Part and WebPage figure shows the item

templates outline on a web part and on a webpage.


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FIGURE 5.7: ITEM TEMPLATES OUTLINED ON WEB PART AND WEBPAGE

The starter store provides several master pages, page layouts, display templates,

and Web Parts. Each page layout uses a specific master page, and each page has a

corresponding page layout. For example, the welcome page for the site,

Welcome.aspx, has a corresponding page layout file that is known as

WelcomeLayout.aspx. You can customize the master templates and page layouts

and create your own in addition to the prebuilt templates and layouts.

Reference Links: For more information about how to customize the online

store, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn387566.aspx.

Query Rules

This lesson describes query rules and how the query rules are used to support

content.

Lesson Objectives


Describe how query rules works.

Apply query rules in an e-commerce scenario.

Query Rule Conditions and Correlated Actions

In a query rule, you specify conditions and correlated actions. When a query

meets the conditions in a query rule, the search system performs the actions that

are specified in the rule to improve the relevance of the search results.

Examples of this might be to narrow the results or change the order in which



Dynamics AX 2012 R3

5 - 16

results appear.

For example, a query rule condition can be based on “Query Matches Keyword

Exactly.” In other words, if someone types a keyword such as “camera,” you might

want to show the camera that you have in stock on top (so you would define a

rule that says, “if someone types ‘camera,’ show camera x on top”).

FIGURE 5.8: QUERY RULE TO SUPPORT CERTAIN RESULTS

Another example might be that you have several instruction manuals on the site

for which you have defined a specific content source.

You can then easily use “Query More Common in Source, “and define a rule that

says, “If someone types in manual, instruction manual, or instruction manual x,

support results from the Source manuals” (in other words, show the results on

top).


5 - 17

Several defined query conditions can be used to support content. Query

conditions include the following:

Query

condition

Description Configuration Example

Query

Matches

Keyword

Exactly

Select this option if

you want the query

rule applied when a

query exactly

matches a word or

phrase that you

specify.

In the Query exactly

matches one of

these phrases text

box, type one or

more phrases

separated by

semicolons.

You type "picture; pic" in

the Query contains one

of these phrases box.

The query rule applies

when a user types,

"picture" or "pic" in a

search box. The rule is not

applied if a user types

"pictures" or "sunny

picture."

Query

Contains

Action Term


you want the query

rule applied when a

query contains a term

that indicates

something that the

user wants to do. The

term must be at the

beginning or end of

the query.

Specify the action

term that causes the

query rule to be

applied by doing one

of the following:

Select Action term is

one of these

phrases, and type

one or more phrases.

Select Action term is

an entry in this

dictionary, and then

click Import from

taxonomy. In the

Import from

taxonomy dialog

box, select a term

from a term set, and

then click Save.

You type the word

"download" in the Action

term is one of these

phrases text box. When a

user types "download

Contoso Electronics

datasheet" in a search

box, the user is probably

not searching for a

document that contains

the words "download,"

"Contoso," "Electronics,"

and "datasheet." Instead,

the user is probably trying

to download a Contoso

Electronics datasheet.

When a user types

"download Contoso

Electronics datasheet" in a

search box, the query rule

is applied, and only the

words "Contoso,"

"Electronics," and

"datasheet" are passed to

the search index.

Query

Matches

Dictionary

Exactly


you want the query

rule applied when the

query exactly

From the Query

contains an entry in

this dictionary

menu, select a

A word that a user types

in a search box matches

an entry in the


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Query

condition


matches a dictionary

entry.

dictionary. To specify

a different dictionary,

click Import from

taxonomy. Then

from the Import

from taxonomy

dialog box, select a

term from a term set,

and then click Save.

preconfigured People

Names dictionary.

Query More

Common in

Source


you want the query

rule applied if the

query is frequently

issued by users on a

different result source

that you specify.

In the Query is more

likely to be used in

this source menu,

select a result source.

In the Query is more

likely to be used in this

source menu, select Local

Video Results. The query

rule is applied if a user

types the word "training"

in a search box and that

word is frequently typed

in a search box in the

Videos vertical.

Result Type

Commonly

Clicked


you want the query

rule applied if other

users frequently click

a particular result

type after they type

the same query.

In the Commonly

clicked results

match result type

menu, select a result

type.

In the Commonly clicked

results match result

type box, select

SharePoint Micro Blog

post. If users frequently

click a micro blog post in

search results, then in the

Actions section, you

might want to configure

the most recent micro

blog post as the first

supported result, and the

next most recent micro

blog post as the second

supported result, and so

on.

Advanced

Query Text

Match


you want to use a

regular expression, a

phrase, or a

dictionary entry to

To match all

telephone numbers

that are in a certain

format, you specify a

regular expression in

the Query matches

To match all telephone

numbers that are in the

format nnn-nnn-nnnn,

you specify the regular

expression "$?(\d{3})$?-

?(\d{3})-(\d{4})".


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Query

condition


cause the query rule

to be applied.

this regular

expression box.

To browse to the Manage query rules page for a site, follow these steps.

1. Verify that the user account that performs this procedure is a member

of the Owners group for the site.

2. On the Settings menu for the site, click Site Settings.

3. On the Site Settings page, in the Site Administration section, click

Query Rules.

To create a query rule, follow these steps.

1. On the Manage Query Rules page, in the Select a

Result Source menu, select a result source for the new

query rule.

2. Click New Query Rule.

3. On the Add Query Rule page, in the General

Information section, in the Rule name field, type the

name for the query rule.

4. Expand the Context section.

5. In the Context section, select from the following:

I. To apply the query rule to all result sources, select All

sources.

II. To apply the query rule to one or more specific result

sources, select one source. By default, the result source

that you specified earlier is selected. To add a result

source for the query, click Add Source. In the Add

Source dialog box, select a result source, and then click

Save.

To restrict query rules, follow these steps.

1. To restrict the query rule to categories, for example, to

specify that a query rule should apply only when a term

from the managed navigation term set is included in the

query, click Show more conditions, and then specify

how to restrict the query rule.

2. To restrict the query rule to a category, click Add

category. In the Import from Taxonomy dialog box,

select a term so that when you include the term in a

query the query rule will be applied, and then click Save.

3. To restrict the query rule to a user segment, follow these

steps:


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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i. Click Add User Segment.

ii. In the Add User Segment dialog box, in the Title field, type the title

for this rule.

iii. In the Import from taxonomy dialog box, select a term that

represents a user segment that will cause the query rule to be applied

when it appears in a query.

iv. Click Save.

v. In the Query Conditions section, follow these steps:

a. Select one of the conditions listed in the table shown

earlier.

b. Click Remove Condition to configure this query rule to

be applied for every query that users type at the level at

which you are creating the rule.

For example, if you are creating this rule for a site

collection, click Remove Condition if you want this rule

to be applied for every query user’s type inside any

search box in the site collection.

c. Decide when to make the rules active. By default, a rule is

active until it is manually deactivated. However, you can

also control when a rule is active by using a schedule.

This can be very useful when a query rule must be active for a set period, for

example when certain products should be on sale.

Refiners and Faceted Navigation

This lesson describes how dynamic navigation and facets work and how they are

used.

Lesson Objective

The objective is to describe the basic concepts that are related to dynamic

navigation and facets.

Refiners

You can add refiners to a page to help users quickly browse to specific content.

Refiners are based on managed properties from the search index and are

managed through the Publishing Portal site collection.

The two types of refiners (both are based on managed properties) include the

following:


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Stand-alone refiners

Refiners for faceted navigation

Stand-alone refiners are usually applied in scenarios where you have unstructured

content, and where the refiners can be applied across all content. These refiners

are frequently used on a search results page to narrow search results. An example

is brand or color that applies to all products.

However, on a product site, many product categories are handled, each with

specific requirements. For cameras, the number of pixels might be of interest,

whereas the hard disk drive is important for computers.

The Content Search Web Part is used to display content on the category page.

Because the Content Search Web Part uses search technology to display search

results, you can use refiners to narrow search results that appear in the Content

Search Web Part.

Adding refiners for faceted navigation is performed on the tagging term set on

the authoring side. When you specify the refiners to use in a specific category, it is

helpful to use the tagging term set as a guide.

In the Contoso scenario, this is the Product Hierarchy term set. By default, when

the refiner's label appears, the label displays the name of the Managed Property.

If that is not what you want, you must specify the label that will be displayed for

the label that corresponds to the managed property.

By default, all children of a term inherit refiners that are added to a parent term.

For example, a refiner that is added to the term "Cameras" applies to all its

children, such as "Camcorders” or “Camera accessories.” You can override this

inheritance to add or remove refiners for a child category.

Enable a Term Set for Faceted Navigation

To configure refiners for faceted navigation, you must first enable the relevant

term set for faceted navigation. Perform this procedure on the authoring site

collection.

To enable a term set for faceted navigation, follow these steps.


of the Designers SharePoint group on the authoring site collection.

2. On the authoring site collection, on the Settings menu, click Site

settings.


Term store management.

4. In the Taxonomy Term Store section, select the term set that you

want to enable for faceted navigation.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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5. Click the Indented use tab, and then select Use this Term Set for

Faceted Navigation.

6. Click Save.

Add Refiners to a Term Set

When you configure refiners for faceted navigation, you can add refiners to all

terms or to specific terms in a term set. Perform this procedure on the authoring

site collection.

To add refiners to all terms in a term set, follow these steps.




settings.



4. In the TAXONOMY TERM STORE section, click the term set that you

have enabled for faceted navigation.

5. Click the FACETED NAVIGATION tab, and then click Customize

refiners.

6. On the Refinement Configuration page, in the Available refiners

section, use the buttons to select the refiners that should be added to

the term set, and also to specify the order in which you want the

refiners to appear. If you have specified an alias for a managed

property that can be refined, this alias is displayed in the

Configuration section.

7. In the Configuration for section, specify how you want each refiner

to appear.

8. Click OK to close the Refinement Configuration page, and then

click Save.

To add refiners to specific terms in a term set, follow these steps.




settings.



4. In the Taxonomy term store section, click the term set that you have

enabled for faceted navigation, and then click the term to which you


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want to add term-specific refiners.

5. Click the Faceted navigation tab, and then click Stop inheriting.

6. Click the Faceted navigation tab, and then click Customize refiners.

7. On the Refinement Configuration page, in the Available refiners

section, use the buttons to select the refiners that should be added to

the term set, and also to specify the order in which you want the

refiners to appear. If you have specified an alias for a refinable

managed property, it appears in the Configuration section.

8. In the Configuration for section, specify how you want each refiner

to appear.


click Save.

To add a Refinement Web Part to a page, follow these steps.

1. Browse to the page where you want to add the Refinement Web Part

(RWP).

2. Click the Settings menu, and then click Edit Page.

3. In the Web Part Zone where you want to add the Web Part, click Add

a Web Part.

4. In the Categories list, click Search.

5. In the Parts list, click Refinement, and then click Add.

When you add the Refinement Web Page to a page, it shows some default

properties. Because you want to use refiners that are specific to the store, you

have to configure the Web Part accordingly.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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To configure refiners, follow these steps.

FIGURE 5.9: WEB PART TOOL PANE

1. In the Web Part (refiners), click the Web Part Menu, and

then click Edit Web Part.

2. In the Web Part tool pane, in the Refiners section,

select “Use the refinement configuration defined in the

Managed navigation term set.”

3. Click OK, and then Save the page.

How to Display Refiners

Generally, there are two ways refiner values can be displayed—as a list or grouped

in intervals. For refiners such as brand or zoom, you can usually show these

refiners as lists.

However, when you use numeric refiner values, we recommend that you display

the numeric refiner values as intervals. For example, consider all the refiner values

for a refiner such as Price.


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FIGURE 5.10: DISPLAY REFINERS – AS A LIST

FIGURE 5.11: DISPLAY REFINERS - GROUPED

It is important to define how you want the refiner values to be displayed because


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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the different display options are connected to the property type.

To set ranges for refiner values, follow these steps.

1. Browse to the Refinement Configuration page, in the Selected

refiners section.

2. Click the refiner for which you want to set ranges.

3. In the Configuration for section for Intervals, select Custom, and

then type the ranges in the Thresholds box.


click Save.

Query Suggestion and Query Spelling

Lesson Objectives


Describe how query suggestion and query spelling works.

Configure query suggestion and spelling.

Query Suggestions

Query suggestions, also known as search suggestions, are suggested phrases for

which users have already searched. Query suggestions appear in a list in the

Search Box as the user types a query.

By default, the search system automatically creates suggestions for a query when

users have clicked the results for that query at least six times. This can be one

result, or any combination of results for that query. A query suggestion appears

only if it contains at least one of the words that are typed. The search system

generates query suggestions daily for each result source and for each site

collection. Therefore, the automatically generated query suggestions can be

different for each result source and for each site collection.

When you manually add query suggestions by using the steps in this procedure,

the query suggestions are added on the Search service application level.

Additionally, the query suggestions apply to all result sources and all site

collections.

Add Phrases that are Always or Never Used as Query Suggestions

To add phrases that are always or never suggested to a user as he or she performs

a query, you first have to create one or several text files that contain these


5 - 27

phrases. Then, you must import the text files into the search system. You must add

each phrase as a separate line in the text file that you create.

Note: If you import a text file that has phrases for query suggestions, you

overwrite any existing query suggestions in the search system.

To add phrases that are always or never used as query suggestions, follow

these steps.

1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is an

administrator for the Search service application.

2. Click the Query Suggestion Settings page.

3. On the home page of the SharePoint Central Administration website,

in the Application Management section, click Manage service

applications.

4. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the Search service

application.

5. On the Search Administration Page, in the Queries and Results

section, click Query Suggestions. The Query Suggestion Settings

page opens.

6. In the Language for suggestion phrases section, select the

language of the query suggestions that you always want to suggest.

7. In the Always suggest phrases section, click Import from text file.

8. Browse to the file that you want to import, and then click OK.

9. Click Save Settings.

To add phrases that are never used as query suggestions, follow these

steps.



2. Open the Query Suggestion Settings page.



applications.


application.



page opens.

6. In the Language for suggestion phrases section, select the

language of the query suggestions that you never want to suggest.

7. In the Never suggest phrases section, click Import from text file.

8. Browse to the file that you want to import and then click OK.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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To enable or disable query suggestions, follow these steps.

Note: By default, query suggestions are turned on.



2. Open the Query Suggestion Settings page.



applications.


application.

5. On the Search Administration page, in the Queries and Results


page opens.

6. In the Search Suggestions section, do one of the following:

i. To enable query suggestions, select the Show search suggestions

check box.

ii. To disable query suggestions, clear the Show search suggestions

check box.


Query Spelling

If a user enters a word in a search query that might be misspelled, the search

results page displays query spelling corrections. This is also known as "Did you

mean?" For example, if someone enters a query that contains the word "laptop,”

the query spelling correction would be "laptop".

These query spelling suggestions are based on the closest matches in the default

spelling dictionaries and the Query Spelling Inclusions list. For terms that you

enter in the Query Spelling Exclusions list, query spelling suggestions are never

displayed.

Although you can edit the Query Spelling Inclusions and the Query Spelling

Exclusions list, you cannot edit the default spelling dictionaries. However, this

action might require 10 minutes for any changes to the Query Spelling Exclusions

or the Query Spelling Inclusions list to take effect.

The query spelling exclusions and inclusions lists are managed in the Term Store.


5 - 29

To access the Term Store Management Tool, follow these steps.





applications.


application.


section, click Search Dictionaries. The Term Store Management Tool

opens.

To exclude words from query spelling corrections, add the terms to the Query

Spelling Exclusions list.

To exclude terms from query spelling corrections, follow these steps.

Note: Create a separate term for each query spelling correction exclusion. Do

not create subterms for terms in the Query Spelling Exclusions list. Term hierarchies

are ignored in this context.

1. On the Site Settings: Term Store Management Tool page, click the

arrow to expand the Search Dictionaries menu.

2. Click Query Spelling Exclusions, click the arrow, and then click

Create Term.

3. Type the word that you want to exclude in the box that appears.

4. Click anywhere on the page to add the term to the Query Spelling

Exclusions list.

To include words in query spelling corrections, add terms to the Query Spelling

Inclusions list.

To include terms in query spelling corrections, follow these steps.

Note: Create a separate term for each query spelling correction inclusion. Do

not create subterms for terms in the Query Spelling Inclusions list. Term hierarchies

will be ignored in this context.



2. Click Query Spelling Inclusions, click the arrow, and then click

Create Term.

3. Type the word that you want to include in the box that appears.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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4. Click anywhere on the page to add the term to the Query Spelling

Inclusions list.

You can edit the names of terms in the Query Spelling Exclusions and Query

Spelling Inclusions lists.

To edit a term, follow these steps.



2. Depending on the list in which the term is located, click Query

Spelling Exclusions or Query Spelling Inclusions.

3. Double-click the term that you want to edit.

4. Type the new name for the term.

5. Click anywhere on the page to save the edited term.

Usage Analytics and Recommendations

Usage analytics in SharePoint Server 2013 automatically tracks how users view

different items. Every time that a user views an item, the system issues a usage

event and adds the event to the total and recent view counts for that item.

Usage events that are preconfigured include the following:

Views – Number of views for a single item, page, or

document.

Recommendations Displayed – Number of times a

single item, page, or document appeared as a

recommendation.

Recommendation Clicks – Number of times a single

item, page, or document is clicked when it is displayed as

a recommendation.

The usage analytics information can help you configure recommendations on the

site. The recommendations that are shown are based on how users previously

interacted with a site, tracked by the usage events.

You can use the data that is generated by usage events in the following ways:

Show recommendations or popular items on your

site – By using recommendations, you can guide users to

other content that might be relevant to the users, based

on how the users previously interacted with the site. You

can add recommendations to a page by adding one or


5 - 31

more Web Parts. The Recommended Items and Popular

Items Web Parts are especially designed to show

recommendations.

Sort search results by the number of counts of a

usage event – For example, show items that have the

most view events at the top of search results.

View the usage event data in the Most Popular Items

usage report – This report applies to all items in a library

and lists the most popular items for each usage event—

for example, a list of the most viewed pages in a library.

View the usage event data in the Popularity Trends

report – This report applies to a Site Collection, a Site or

a single item in a library or list. The report shows the daily

and monthly counts for each usage event—for example,

the total views of a page on a specific day.

By default, a search for several reports is created. As a search administrator you

can easily follow the trends over time. You can determine what generates top

queries, if people do not find what they look for (0 result queries), and more.

This information is valuable to use when updates are made to query suggestions,

query spelling, and so on.

To view the usage reports, follow these steps.

1. Click Central administration > General application settings.

2. In Search, click Farm search administration.

3. Click the Search Service application (link).

4. In Diagnostics (on the left side column), click View usage reports.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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FIGURE 5.12: USAGE REPORTS

Reference Links: For more information about analytics, refer to Overview of

analytics processing in SharePoint Server 2013.




5 - 33

Module Review

This course highlighted the features that are provided by the Search in SharePoint

2013.

Test Your Knowledge


1. Which component determines the managed properties and the values that

the Content Search Web Part displays?

( ) The Content Search Web Part

( ) The Control display template

( ) The Item display template


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Lab: Online Storefront SharePoint Administration

Scenario

The starter online store includes the patterns and best practices that are required

to support production-ready deployments. This includes powerful, search-driven,

adaptive experiences that are offered by SharePoint Server 2013.

Objectives

The goal for this lab is to familiarize you with the new concepts for Web Content

Management (WCM) and Search in SharePoint 2013.

After you complete this lab, you will be able to perform the following:

Explain the new Content Search Web Part.

Explain the basics of page templates.

Define the Content Search Web Part.

Describe how promotions can be used and how

promotions are started.

Lab Setup

Before you begin, consider the following.

This lab uses the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Demo Virtual

Machine (VM) that is available on Partner Source at https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/sales-

marketing/demo-tools/virtual-

machines/AX2012DemoToolsMaterials.

The VM on Partner Source includes the following documentation.

Review the documentation to set up the VM before you complete

the lab.

Document Link

Release Notes https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/S

ervicepacks/ReleaseNotesAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageV

10.pdf

Technical Guide https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/S

ervicepacks/TechnicalGuideAX2012R3SolutionDemoPackag

eV10.pdf











5 - 35

Retail Point of Sale User

List

https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=cf70c1d3-

b430-4f1d-8afe-98b8389df94a

Sample Data https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/S

ervicepacks/AX2012R3SolutionDemoPackageOverview.pdf

https://mbs.microsoft.com/files/customer/AX/Downloads/S

ervicepacks/DemoDataElementsMicrosoftDynamicsAX.pdf

How to Set up Virtual

Networking

https://mbs2.microsoft.com/fileexchange/?fileID=f817c2ce-

f2a3-494c-9993-65571deafef1

In addition to the documents that are listed here, you must also use

the attached documents for any issues that are created by the

outage of SharePoint 2013 Managed Metadata Service.

Workaround for

eCommerce issue related to outage of Managed Metadata Service (SharePoint).docx

The default company that you must use for all labs is USRT.

To connect to the lab environment, you must log on to the SharePoint (SP) Virtual

Machine (VM) as the Administrator with the following credentials:

Username: CONTOSO\Administrator

Password: pass@word1

To complete this lab, you must change Web.config and the Master Page to edit

the Content Search Web Part (CSWP).

To change the Web.config, follow these steps.

1. Search for IIS Manager by using Windows key + Q to start to search

the application in the modern user interface (UI). Type IIS and then

the application shortcut will be displayed.

2. Click to open IIS Manager.








Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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3. Select the website Out of box Store front – Internal and right-click

in this website, and then click the Explore option.

4. In the newly opened text box, open the Web.config with Notepad.


5 - 37

5. On the following line, set the validateRequest attribute to false:

<pages enableSessionState="false" enableViewState="true"

enableViewStateMac="true" validateRequest="false" clientIDMode="AutoID"

6. On the following line, set the requestValidationMode attribute to

2.0 :

<httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" requestValidationMode="2.0" />

To change the Master Page settings, follow these steps.

1. Browse to Site Settings at

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/settin

gs.aspx (Please note port 40003)

2. Select Master Page on the menu.

3. On the Site Settings | Master Page Settings page, select the Seattle

master page as the default setting.

4. Click OK to save the change.

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/settings.aspx

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/settings.aspx


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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Exercise 1: Configure Content Search Web Part on a

Category Page

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise, you will learn how to configure the Content Search Web Part to

return the correct content in the online store. The content must relate to the

product category that the user has selected in the navigation menu.

NOTE: To perform these tasks, you must be logged on to the Contoso Publishing

portal as the Administrator. View the documentation for the system that you are

working on for more information about how to perform as the Administrator.

Task: To edit the Content Search Web Part, follow these steps.

1. Browse to Cameras->Digital SLR Cameras. You can also use the URL

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal.

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal


5 - 39

2. In the upper-right corner, click the settings icon and select Edit

Page from the drop-down menu that appears.

3. In the Edit Page dialog box that appears, select Edit Page Template.

4. Scroll down until the web part that contains the products appear

(some cameras should be shown).

5. In the Web Part, click the Web Part Menu, and then click Edit Web

Part.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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You should receive a page that resembles the following:

6. In the Content Search Properties dialog box (this appears in the

upper-right corner of the page), select Change query.

The page now shows the settings for the CSWP. Notice, that in the

RelevantResults section, the results that are displayed are the same

products that are displayed on the store front end.

http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-66-12/2100.ChangeQuery.png


5 - 41

In the Select a query drop-down list box, the Retail Listings result source

is preselected. This is a predefined result source that lists all products in

the product catalog.

In the Restrict by tag section, if you select any radio buttons, the results

change according to the radio buttons that you have selected.

7. Select Don’t restrict by any tag. The result preview update should

be visible.

8. In the Add additional filters, type southridge and then click

outside the text box to force an update. The result preview should

now contain only products that include southridge.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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9. Select the TEST tab at the top of the page. Now, the whole query that

is sent to search to populate the product page, (this includes the filter

term that you have selected) is visible.

10. Click Cancel to delete the changes that you made.


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Exercise 2: Verify the Display Template

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise, you will learn how to configure the display template for the

Content Search Web Part. Display templates are used to control how content

should be displayed in a Content Search Web Part (CSWP). Remember that the

content that is displayed in a CSWP is composed of search results that are

returned and based on the query that is defined in the Web Part. So, when you

customize a display template, you are customizing how search results should be

displayed in the Web Part.

Task: To verify Contoso design templates, follow these steps.

1. In SharePoint, browse to Site settings -> Master Pages and page layouts

(This should be on the Web Designer Galleries in the Site Settings page.

2. You can use the URL

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/RedirectPage.

aspx?Target={SiteCollectionUrl}_catalogs/masterpage.

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/RedirectPage.aspx?Target=%7bSiteCollectionUrl%7d_catalogs/masterpage

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/_layouts/15/RedirectPage.aspx?Target=%7bSiteCollectionUrl%7d_catalogs/masterpage


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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3. Select the Display Templates folder.

4. Click Library > Open with Explorer. (This is an optional step). This folder

contains the Contoso Electronics templates that are used to display the site.

Also notice that an associated .js (JavaScript) file is automatically created for

each display template. You can open any files and view the contents.


5 - 45


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

5 - 46

5. Browse to the main site by clicking the logo in the upper-left

corner (you might have to click Browse to view the logo). This returns you to

the main page of the Contoso Electronics site. If you make changes, make

sure that you delete the changes before you continue.

Now, you must determine how the CSWP is configured to use the display

templates.

6. Browse to “Digital SRL Cameras.” To browse directly to this page, use the link

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/cameras/digital-slr-cameras

(Note port 40003.)

Because the site layout changed through the master page earlier, the site will not

resemble the site that is shown in the following screen:



5 - 47

Instead, the site resembles the site that is shown in the following screen:

7. Click Settings > Edit Page. The Edit Page screen appears with a message

that states “You’re about to edit a page that’s used for multiple URLS.”

8. To view the pages that use the same template page, click the “View Affected

URLs” link. The Page URLs window opens. Now, all the category pages that

use the same template page are visible. This functionality lets you make a

change in only one place. However, the change is shown in each product

category


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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9. Close the Page URLs window to continue.

10. Return to the Edit Page screen, and then click “Edit Page Template”.

11. In the Web Part, click the Web Part Menu > Edit Web Part. Now, you have

to verify the item display template.

12. On the Item menu, verify that the Product Gallery Item Template is

selected.

13. Click OK, and then save the page


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Exercise 3: Create Your Own Item Display Template

Exercise Scenario

In this exercise, you will learn how to deploy your own item display template and configure the

display template for your Content Search Web Part. Display templates are used to control how

content should be displayed in a Content Search Web Part (CSWP). By providing your own template,

you can control how each item (in this scenario) is shown on screen. Remember that the content that

is displayed in a CSWP is composed of search results that are returned based on the query that is

defined in the Web Part. When you customize a display template, you are customizing how search

results should be displayed in the Web Part.

Task: To create your own item display template, follow these steps.

1. In SharePoint, browse to Site settings > Master pages and page

layouts. (This should be on the Web Designer Galleries in the Site

Settings page.

2. Click Library > Open with Explorer. (This is an optional step.)

3. Select the Content Web Parts folder.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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4. Now, you will edit a copy of the file Item_ProductGallery.html. To perform this

edit, you must open the library in Windows Explorer.

5. Make a copy of the file Item_ProductGallery.html, name it

Item_ProductGallery_Custom.html. Or, if the folder is not displayed in

Windows Explorer, download a local copy and make the edits on the local copy.

6. In Item_ProductGallery_Custom.html edit, use Notepad to make the following

edits:

i. Title – Add the word custom.

ii. Add style="background-color: red" to the div tag on line 127.


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iii. Save the file and exit Notepad. Note: If you have not used the

Windows Explorer mode, you must upload the file. For more

information about how to upload a file, view the documentation that

is available on TechNet. .

7. After the file is saved, return to SharePoint, and browse to a product page, by

using the URL

http://ax2012r2a:40003/sites/RetailPublishingPortal/cameras/digital-slr-

cameras.

8. Select Edit page.

9. Scroll down the page to the Product Gallery Web part and select Edit Page in

the right-side corner of the web part.




Dynamics AX 2012 R3

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10. Scroll back up the page to view the Properties dialog box. In the Display

Templates section on the Item, the Custom Product gallery item template

should be visible.

11. Select the template.

12. Select the Display Templates folder.

13. Scroll down to view the product listing change according to the selected

template.


5 - 53

14. If you want to examine the template, you can select other templates to

determine how the rendering is affected. When you are finished, click Cancel to

delete the changes.


Dynamics AX 2012 R3

5 - 54



1. Which component determines the managed properties and the values that

the Content Search Web Part displays?

( ) The Content Search Web Part

( ) The Control display template

(√) The Item display template

6 - 1

MODULE 6: E-COMMERCE DEPLOYMENT TOPOLOGY

Module Overview

The e-commerce deployment includes the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail

components. The Retail components are located in the headquarters office and on

the SharePoint Server 2013 farm that is used for the online store.

You must carefully plan the system topology before you deploy the e-commerce

solution. The development, testing, and production environments should be

improved for throughput, response time, scalability, and availability.

This module discusses the considerations that are used to plan the deployment

topology for the e-commerce solution. The module focuses on the online store

topologies, server roles, and the increased availability and performance

considerations.

This module includes the following lessons:

E-commerce deployment

Online store topology

Objectives


Explain the e-commerce deployment topology considerations.

Review reference and examples that are used to plan the topology for

an online store implementation.



6 - 2

E-commerce Deployment

This lesson describes the Omni-channel deployment topology considerations for

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail. The lesson also describes the server roles

for the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail components that are used for the

headquarters office and the SharePoint Server 2013 farm for the online store.

Lesson Objective

The objective is to explain the e-commerce deployment topology considerations

in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Omni-Channel Topology

The Omni-Channel Deployment Topology figure shows a high-level view of the

Omni-channel deployment topology. This topology is for online stores and brick-

and-mortar stores.

FIGURE 6.1: OMNI-CHANNEL DEPLOYMENT TOPOLOGY

Depending on the business requirements for the e-commerce solution, the

deployment can include several data centers. For example, data centers located in

different geographies, such as the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The Multiple Online

Store Datacenters figure shows the topology that includes multiple online store

datacenters.

Module 6: E-COMMERCE DEPLOYMENT TOPOLOGY

6 - 3

FIGURE 6.2: MULTIPLE ONLINE STORE DATACENTERS

E-commerce Infrastructure Architecture

The Server Roles figure shows the logical infrastructure architecture and the main

server roles for the e-commerce solution implementation.

FIGURE 6.3: SERVER ROLES

The Server Roles figure also shows the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail

components for the headquarters office and the SharePoint Server 2013 farm that

is used for the online storefront.

The server roles that are shown in the Server Roles figure are described in the

following table:



6 - 4

Server

Role

Description

Head Office: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail

Microsoft

Dynamics

AX

Applicatio

n Object

Server

(AOS)

AOS controls the communication between Microsoft Dynamics

AX clients, databases, and applications. AOS also hosts Microsoft

Dynamics AX services and the workflow system. You can deploy

AOS on a single computer or create a load-balanced cluster of

multiple AOS instances.

SQL Server

(Microsoft

Dynamics

AX DB)

Database server that hosts the Microsoft Dynamics AX database.

This includes the Microsoft Dynamics AX database that stores

transaction and reference data, and a model store that stores all

application functionalities for Microsoft Dynamics AX and

includes customizations.

Microsoft

Dynamics

AX 2012

Commerce

Data

Exchange

(CDX)

Async

Server

Commerce Data Exchange is a system that transfers data

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and retail channels, such as

online stores or brick-and-mortar stores.

The database that stores data for a retail channel is separate

from the Microsoft Dynamics AX database. A channel database

holds only the data that is required for retail transactions.

Commerce Data Exchange Async Server handles the

asynchronous data exchange at the headquarters office.

Microsoft SQL Server changes the tracking on tables and is used

to determine the data that must be packaged and sent to

channels. Based on a distribution schedule, data packages are

generated from Microsoft Dynamics AX and deposited in a

working folder.

For more information, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn741449.aspx.

Online Store: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

SharePoint

Front End

SharePoint 2013 front end servers.



6 - 5

Server

Role

Description

SharePoint

Back End

SharePoint 2013 Microsoft Dynamics back end servers.

Microsoft

Dynamics

AX

Commerce

Runtime

(CRT)

Microsoft Dynamics AX Commerce Runtime uses business

processing for the online store and serves as the intermediary

between Microsoft Dynamics AX and an online store.

Microsoft

Dynamics

AX 2012

Commerce

Data

Exchange

(CDX)

Async

Client

Commerce Data Exchange Async Client handles asynchronous

data exchange for a channel. Data transfer is started by the

client. At a configurable interval, Async Client requests for data

to be downloaded. If there is new data, Async Client takes the

data from the working folder and applies the data to the local

channel database.

Async Client also uploads sales transactions from the channel to


For more information, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


SQL Server

(SharePoin

t DB, CRT

DB)

Database server that hosts SharePoint databases and the CRT

database.

Note: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 requires the Active Directory domain

controller (DC) that is a prerequisite for installing Microsoft Dynamics AX. The

domain controller server role is not shown in the Server Role figure.

Depending on specific requirements, additional server roles might be deployed in

the headquarters office. The additional server roles are described in the following

table:

Server Role Description

Enterprise

Portal for

Microsoft

Dynamics

AX

Enterprise Portal provides web-based access to the Microsoft

Dynamics AX data and functionality for business users. A set of

websites is provided that is known as the Enterprise Portal for

Microsoft Dynamics AX. The Enterprise Portal requires Internet

Information Services (IIS). IIS is a feature of Windows Server,





6 - 6

Server Role Description

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and Microsoft SharePoint

Server.

SQL Server

Reporting

Services

(SSRS), SQL

Server

Analysis

Services

(SSAS)

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is the primary

reporting platform for Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft SQL

Server Analysis Services is a server-based solution that provides

functionality for online analytical processing (OLAP). OLAP

reports help users analyze business data and identify trends

that users might not discover if they view the data in

traditional reports.

Headquarters Office Infrastructure Considerations

When you deploy the Microsoft Dynamics AX e-commerce solution, you must

have a good understanding of the organization or the customer requirements.

This helps make good decisions as you plan the solution implementation. You

must carefully consider the performance requirements for the deployment during

the planning stage. This helps guarantee that the deployment is successful.

Reference Links: For more information about how to plan the Microsoft

Dynamics AX system topology and sample deployment scenarios, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd309725.aspx .

Based on the performance requirements, the server components in the head

office support scale-out options. The scale-out options include clustering or multi-

instance. For smaller implementations, you can also combine multiple

components on the same server.

You must consider several factors when you plan the hardware infrastructure for

the Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment in the headquarters office. Some factors

include the total average number of transactions that are processed for each work

hour, and the transactional volume for when you plan the hardware and software

components. The hardware and software components include the following:

Database server infrastructure, such as the type and number of drives

How many Application Object Server (AOS) clusters

How many AOS instances in a cluster

How many batch servers

Network capacity


6 - 7

Note: IMPORTANT: In Microsoft Dynamics AX, a transaction is the

processing of a single line item. For example, a sales order that has 100 line items is

considered 100 transactions.

The performance of the database can significantly affect overall Microsoft

Dynamics AX performance. For the best performance, the SQL Server environment

and storage subsystem must be configured correctly.

Reference Links: For more information about how to configure SQL Server

and storage settings, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/dd309734.aspx.

When you evaluate the e-commerce transactional volume, you must estimate how

many transactions are generated by the online store and how many

corresponding transactions could be triggered. You must also determine whether

there are any integration points to internal or external applications. For example, a

large volume of transactions can originate from the integration with the logistics

providers. This volume of transactions must be factored into the infrastructure and

topology planning.

Reference Links: For more information about how to plan the hardware

infrastructure for Microsoft Dynamics AX deployments, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dd362104.aspx.

Several performance benchmarks can help you plan the hardware infrastructure.

As part of the release process for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft

performed a series of performance tests to help customers and partners better

size capacity for the infrastructure that they required for their implementations.

The performance tests showcase how the solution can be scaled based on

important business scenarios that are related to the retail industry. The

performance tests included many functional scenarios across different client and

integration technologies and provided a view of the core retail scenarios. The

benchmark tests results are published on the Partner Source website and in the

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Retail Performance white paper that is available for

download.

Reference Links: You can download the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Retail

Performance white paper from Partner Source at

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/global/deployment/documentation/white

-papers/ax2012_retailperformance . You must sign in to Partner Source to

download the white paper.




https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/global/deployment/documentation/white-papers/ax2012_retailperformance

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/global/deployment/documentation/white-papers/ax2012_retailperformance



6 - 8

Online Store Topology

The online store is a search-driven site that uses SharePoint 2013 search

technology to dynamically show content. This lesson begins with the overview of

search components and then discusses the server roles that are included in the

online store topology. The lesson also discusses the sample online store

topologies and hardware sizing. Additionally, the lesson provides the increased

availability and performance considerations that you must have to plan the online

store deployment.

Lesson Objective

The objective is to provide reference and examples to help you plan the topology

for the online store implementation.

Search Components

The search architecture in SharePoint 2013 includes several search components

and databases. SharePoint 2013 search components include the following:

Crawl

Content-processing

Analytics-processing

Index

Query-processing

Search administration

The crawl component crawls the content sources. You can crawl many content

sources, for example, file shares, product catalog, and SharePoint content. To

retrieve information, the crawl component connects to the content sources by

invoking the appropriate indexing connector or protocol handler. After the crawl

component retrieves the content, the crawl component passes crawled items to

the content-processing component.

The content-processing component processes crawled items and sends these

items to the index component. The content-processing component performs

operations such as document parsing and property mapping. The content-

processing component also performs linguistics processing such as language

detection and entity extraction, and transforms crawled items into artifacts that

are included in the search index. Additionally, the content-processing component

also writes information about links and URLs to the link database.

Reference Links: For more information about crawling content sources and


6 - 9

content processing, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-


The analytics-processing component performs two types of analyses—search

analytics and usage analytics. The analytics-processing component uses

information from these analyses to improve search relevance, create search

reports, and generate recommendations.

Search analytics is about how to extract information, such as links, how many

times an item is clicked, anchor text, data that is related to people, and metadata,

from the link database. This information is important to relevance.

Usage analytics is about how to analyze usage log information that is received

from the front end through the event store. Usage analytics generates usage and

statistics reports.

The results from the analyses are added to the items in the search index.

Additionally, results from usage analytics are stored in the analytics-reporting

database.

Reference Links: For more information about analytics processing, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj219554.aspx .

The index component receives processed items from the content-processing

component and writes those items to an index file. Index files are stored on a disk

in the server that hosts the index component.

The index component also receives queries from the query-processing component

and returns result sets.

You can divide the search index into discrete portions that are known as index

partitions. The search index is the aggregation of all index partitions. Each index

partition holds one or more index replicas that contain the same information. To

achieve fault tolerance and redundancy, you can create additional index replicas

for each index partition and distribute the index replicas over multiple servers.

The index component is the logical representation of an index replica. In the

search topology, you have to set up one index component for each index replica.

Reference Links: For more information about search index and search

schema, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj219669.aspx.

The query-processing component analyzes and processes queries and results. The

query-processing component also performs linguistics processing, such as word

breaking and stemming. When the query-processing component receives a query

from the web front end, the query-processing component analyzes and processes







6 - 10

the query to improve precision, recall, and relevance. The processed query is

submitted to the index component. The index component returns a result set that

is based on the processed query to the query-processing component. Then, the

query-processing component processes that result set, before the result set is

returned to the web front end.

Reference Links: For more information about query-processing and order

results, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj219669.aspx.

The search administration component runs the system processes for search. This

component is used to set up the search, and then adds and starts instances of the

other search components.

Search Databases

SharePoint 2013 search databases include the following:

Crawl

Link

Analytics-reporting

Search administration

The crawl database stores tracking information and historical information about

crawled items. For example, the crawl database stores information about the last

crawl time, the last crawl ID and the type of update that occurs during the last

crawl.

The link database stores information that is extracted by the content-processing

component. The link database also stores information about search clicks. The

information includes how many times people click a search result from the search

result page. This information is stored unprocessed, and then is analyzed by the

analytics-processing component.

The analytics-reporting database stores the results of usage analytics and statistics

information from the analyses. SharePoint uses this information to create Excel

reports that show different statistics.

The search administration database stores search configuration data, such as the

topology, crawl rules, query rules, and mappings between crawled and managed

properties. The search administration database also stores the access control list

for the crawl component. There can be only one search administration database

for each search service application.

Reference Links:



6 - 11

For more information about how search components and databases interact, refer

to the “Search architectures for SharePoint Server 2013” technical diagram that can

be downloaded from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=258449.

For more information on Search in SharePoint Server 2013 refer to -

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219738(v=office.15).aspx

Server Roles

Server Roles that are included in the online store topology include the following:

Front end SharePoint web server

SharePoint application server

Database server

The front end SharePoint web server role performs the following functions:

Hosts search web parts and web part pages to answer search queries.

Can be shared with the SharePoint application server. In the online

store, the query-processing component and the index components

exist on the front end web servers to make the maximum use of the

available hardware resources and to simplify scaling out the search

topology.

Hosts CRT.

Holds the whole search index if only one index partition is configured.

Otherwise, the front end SharePoint web server role holds parts of the

index that are associated with the index partitions as the partitions

are configured by the administrator.

Consider the following when you plan the location and topology for the search

index:

The query-processing component routes incoming queries to index

replicas.

Each index replica is an index component.

At least one index partition must be configured for each farm.

Add more index replicas to increase query throughput.

Add one index partition for every 10 million items in the search index.

The SharePoint application server role hosts all the search components and the

Commerce Runtime (CRT) if only one server is configured. Otherwise, the

SharePoint application server role holds the search components that are

associated with the server, as the search components are configured by the

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=258449

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219738(v=office.15).aspx



6 - 12

administrator, and the CRT.

At least one of each search component must be configured for each farm.

Note: Important: You cannot have multiple search components of the same

type on one application server.

To provide redundancy, you can add search components on separate servers. You

can use Windows PowerShell to deploy the search components on separate

SharePoint 2013 servers so that you can scale out the search topology.

Reference Links: For more information about how to manage search

topology in SharePoint Server 2013, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-

US/library/jj219705.aspx .

The database server role hosts the following databases:

Search.

CRT

Optional SharePoint Server 2013 databases

The database server can be mirrored or clustered for increased availability. To

increase performance and capacity, consider adding disks to the database server

or adding database servers (this depends on the cause of the slowdown in the

system).

Sample Online Store Topologies

When you plan the online store topology, consider the volume of the content, the

estimated amount of page views, the queries for every second, and the increased

availability and fault tolerance.

The sample topologies in this section show the online store deployments that are

based on SharePoint 2013 search technology.

Note: SharePoint Server 2013 is a complex and powerful product, and there is

no one-size-fits-all topology solution. Each SharePoint Server 2013 deployment is

defined by its usage and data characteristics.

Single Server

The single server online store deployment consists of one server that runs

SharePoint Server 2013 and hosts all search components, Commerce Runtime




6 - 13

(CRT), Commerce Data Exchange (CDX), and a supported version of SQL Server.

Although this architecture might be appropriate to use for evaluation or

development, we recommend that you do not use this architecture for a

production environment.

Small Farm

A small farm serves only limited online store deployments, a small user base, a low

usage load (some requests can be for each minute and some requests can be for

each second), and a small volume of data (10 gigabytes or less).

There are two tiers for the small farm topology. They include the following:

One or two servers that can combine the SharePoint 2013 server role

and the communication server role. The SharePoint servers host the

search components and the Commerce Runtime (CRT).

A single database server or cluster.

Note: The Commerce Data Exchange (CDX) can be installed on one of the

SharePoint server computers, or on a separate communication server.

The Small Farm Topology figure shows a sample small farm topology.

FIGURE 6.4: SMALL FARM TOPOLOGY

Note: The CDX is not shown on the Small Farm Topology figure

Abbreviations that are used in the Small Farm Topology figure include the

following:



6 - 14

Ad Search administration component

An Analytics-processing component

Co Content-processing component

Cr Crawl component

In Index component

Qu Query-processing component

WFE Web front end

The CRT abbreviation in the Small Farm Topology figure refers to the Commerce

Runtime that is used earlier in this module.

The major characteristics of this sample topology include limited redundancy and

failover.

Medium Farm

The medium farm topology that is used for the online store introduces the three

tier farm architecture, and includes the following:

Dedicated front end SharePoint web servers that have the index

component and the query-processing component.

Dedicated back end SharePoint application servers.

One or more database servers or clusters.

Separating the front end server tier from the application server tier provides more

flexibility in service isolation and helps balance the load across the system.

The medium farm topology is the most common architecture. The medium farm

topology includes many topologies and farm sizes, and serves environments that

have the following characteristics:

Usage load of up to about 160 page views each second

Data store of one or two terabytes.

The sample medium farm that is shown in the “Medium Farm That

Accommodates 85 Page Views Each Second” figure shows a fault-tolerant

SharePoint Server 2013 search farm topology that is improved for 3,400,000 items.

The sample farm accommodates 85 page views every second (306 000 page views

every hour) and 100 queries every second (360 000 queries every second).


6 - 15

Note: The topology that is shown on the Medium Farm That Accommodates

85 Page Views Each Second figure is improved for physical hardware. However, you

can also deploy this topology on virtual computers.

FIGURE 6.5: MEDIUM FARM THAT ACCOMMODATES 85 PAGE VIEWS

EVERY SECOND

Note: The CDX is not shown on the Medium Farm That Accommodates 85

Page Views figure.

To scale out this sample topology to process another 28 page views every second

(113 page views every second, 406800 page views every hour), you can add

another front end SharePoint server that has a web front end, index component,

and query-processing component. This topology represents a replica as shown on

the Medium Farm That Accommodates 113 Page Views Every Second figure.

Scale out sample topology



6 - 16

FIGURE 6.6: MEDIUM FARM THAT ACCOMMODATES 113 PAGE VIEWS

EVERY SECOND

The Medium Farm That Accommodates 113 Page Views Every Second figure does

not show the CDX.

Reference Links: For more information about the medium farm, refer to the

“Internet Sites Search architectures for SharePoint Server 2013” technical diagram

that can be downloaded from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=258449.

To accommodate more traffic for the online store, you can change the number of

computers on the farm that run the front end web server role that has the index

component, and the query-processing component. However, each additional

front end server can have fewer throughputs compared to the front end servers

that are already in the environment. Actual performance changes depend on how

the SharePoint deployment is built. Microsoft ran several performance tests to

scale out the medium farm. The results showed that as the number of computers

increased, the complexity of the topology started to surpass the gains.

Reference Links: For more information about how to estimate capacity and

performance for medium SharePoint Server 2013 farms and the performance test

results, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg398060.aspx.

Large Farm

Large farm topologies include the breakdown of services and solutions across

multiple farms, and additional scaling out of the tiers on a single farm. Several

SharePoint Server 2013 services can be deployed on a dedicated services farm

that serves requests from multiple farms that are being used. Typically, in these

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=258449



6 - 17

large architectures, there are web servers, multiple application servers, and

multiple SQL Server–based servers or SQL server clusters.

Characteristics for large farm topology deployments include the following:

Usage load in the range of hundreds of requests every second

Dataset in the range of 10 or more terabytes

Increased Availability Considerations

For an online store deployment topology that has increased availability, you must

add the following features:

Additional computers to sustain the load if one or more of the front

end web server computers that has Index nodes are not available.

Additional computer that runs crawl and content-processing

components (CPC) to make sure that the site still reflects updates

when the computer that has the CPC role is not available.

Additional computer that runs with the service applications in

distributed cache roles if the existing computer is not available.

SQL Server topology that continues to serve database queries if one

of the database servers is not available.

Hardware Requirements

This section describes the minimum hardware requirements for online store

servers that host a medium farm topology. The hardware requirements apply to

the following servers:

SharePoint 2013 application servers and web servers that have search

components and CRT.

Database servers that have search databases.

The minimum amount of random access memory (RAM) requirements for a server

that hosts a search component is the total amount of RAM that is required for

that server. For example, if you host a content-processing component, a search

administration component and a crawl component on one server, the total

minimum amount of RAM that is required for that server is 24 gigabytes (GB).

Each server must have sufficient disk space for the base installation of the

Windows Server operating system. Additionally, each server must have sufficient

disk space for diagnostics such as logging, debugging, and creating memory

dumps, and so on. For production use, the server must also have additional free

disk space for day-to-day operations and for the page file.

The minimum hardware requirements for SharePoint application servers and front

end web servers that host search components are shown in the following table.



6 - 18

Search

component on

the physical

server

RAM Hard disk Processor

Index component 48 GB for each server in the

farm that hosts an index

component, a query-

processing component, and

the web front end.

500 GB

additional disk

space,

preferably a

separate disk

volume/partitio

n.

All

components:

64-bit,

4 cores

minimum,

8 cores

recommended

. Analytics-

processing

component

24 GB for each server in the

farm that hosts an analytics-

processing component, a

crawl component, a content-

processing component and,

or a search administration

component.

300 GB

additional disk

space,

preferably a

separate disk

volume/partitio

n.

Crawl component

Content-

processing

component

Refer to the requirements that

are listed for the analytics-

processing component.

80 GB for

system drive.

Query-processing

component


are listed for the index

component.

Search

administration

component


are listed for the analytics-

processing component.

The hardware requirements for database servers that host search databases are

shown in the following table.

Compone

nt

Minimum requirements

Processor 64-bit, 4 cores for small topologies.

64-bit, 8 cores for medium topologies.

RAM 8 GB for small topologies.

16 GB for medium topologies.

Hard disk 80 GB for system drive.


6 - 19

Compone

nt

Minimum requirements

Hard disk space depends on how much content is already on

the disk.

Performance Considerations

When you plan an online store deployment, consider the following to improve

performance.

Cache

The query and the query results are cached with Windows Server AppFabric, in

key-value pairs. The query is the key and the results are the value. For each query,

there is an approximate 50 percent cache ratio. This means that if you have a

usage pattern of 200 queries every second, about 100 queries are sent to the

search index and the other 100 queries are cached. The results from the cache

have reduced query latency than those that you retrieve from the search index.

For example, results for the home-page queries that are frequently run are likely

to be cached.

Continuous crawl

Consider enabling continuous crawl with an interval of one minute, instead of the

default interval of 15 minutes. You can only enable continuous crawl on

SharePoint content sources.

Anonymous access

Anonymous queries are cached. Therefore, the anonymous queries are less

expensive because of the reduced query latency.

Query latency

Query latency is influenced by caching, anonymous access, and factors such as the

number and complexity of query rules that are applied and started. Also, consider

the characteristics of the storage on which the search index is stored. For example,

a disk that has multiple spindles can improve the access speed of the disk and

reduce query latency

Index partition size

More items in the search index generally mean increased latency. Each index

partition can contain up to 10 million items. Online stores would rarely have more

than 10 million items to show. Therefore, the online stores must have only one

partition as described in the earlier topology. You can use more index partitions to

either host more than 10 million items or to have more, smaller, and faster index

partitions.



6 - 20

Reference Links: For more information about how to use multiple search

partitions, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj219628.aspx.

Number of Controls on a Page

Each control or Web Part that you add to a page (or page layout) adds some

overhead to the server response time for the page.

Number of Synchronous Content Search Web Parts on a Page.

Avoid having to use more than five synchronous Content Search Web Parts on a

page. When you process a request for a page, SharePoint Server 2013 performs as

many as five queries in parallel and returns the results. If more than five queries

are on a page, SharePoint Server 2013 performs the first five queries before

SharePoint Server 2013 starts to execute the next set of five queries. If pages

require more than five Content Search Web Parts, you might run the additional

Content Search Web Parts in asynchronous mode or use query rules and result

blocks.

Asynchronous CSWP Mode for Slow Queries

Content Search Web Parts has an asynchronous mode. The query that is

associated with the web part is performed after the browser loads the page. Use

this mode for slow queries so that the rest of the page appears faster for users.

Otherwise, we recommend that you use synchronous queries for best page load

times.

Number of Refiners

A Refinement Panel Web Part that has many refiners increases the time to process

a query. You can change the number of refiners.

Reference Links: For more information about how to configure refiners, refer

to http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj679902.aspx .




6 - 21

Module Review

This module described the tasks, procedures, and configuration options that are

required to set up the online store in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

For more information about deployment topologies for an Online Store in

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2013 R3, refer to

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj991928.aspx#Topology63.

Test Your Knowledge


1. Is the following statement true or false: “The e-commerce implementation can

include only one datacenter that hosts the online store”?

( ) True

( ) False

2. What search component receives queries from the query-processing

component and returns the result sets?

( ) Index component

( ) Content-processing component

( ) Crawl component

3. How can you deploy the search components on separate SharePoint 2013

servers so that you can scale out the search topology?

( ) Use Windows PowerShell

( ) Use SharePoint Central Administration

( ) Use SharePoint setup

4. How many queries can SharePoint Server 2013 perform in parallel when a

request for a page is being processed?

( ) 10

( ) 5

( ) 4

5. How many items can an index partition contain?

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/jj991928.aspx#Topology63



6 - 22

( ) Each index partition can contain up to 1 million items.




6 - 23


MODEL ANSWER:

1. Is the following statement true or false: “The e-commerce implementation can

include only one datacenter that hosts the online store”?

( ) True

(√) False

2. What search component receives queries from the query-processing

component and returns the result sets?

(√) Index component

( ) Content-processing component

( ) Crawl component

3. How can you deploy the search components on separate SharePoint 2013

servers so that you can scale out the search topology?

( ) Use Windows PowerShell

( ) Use SharePoint Central Administration

(√) Use SharePoint setup

4. How many queries can SharePoint Server 2013 execute in parallel when a

request for a page is being processed?

( ) 10

( ) 5

(√) 4

5. How many items can an index partition contain?


(√) Each index partition can contain up to 10 million items.


Course 80639:

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 for

Retail in e-Commerce Stores: Installation and

Configuration

This courseware is provided “as-is”. Information and views expressed in this courseware, including URL and

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