Ch 4 Content Authoring

Item edits are performed using the Standalone or Advanced Content Authoring screens. From either screen, items can be added or edited. The Advanced Content Authoring screen allows multiple items to be added/edited, whereas the Standalone screen allows a user to work on one item.

Differences between Standalone and Advanced content authoring screens:

Standalone Content Authoring screen Advanced Content Authoring screen
  • No Rich Search, Single Edit, or Multiple Edit Tab
  • No navigation to move to next or previous record
  • Rich Search, Single Edit, and Multiple Edit tabs are available
  • Exit button

Setting content authoring screen type

The type of content authoring screen used is set in the "Specific Screen Settings" configuration of My Settings. Find the "For editing and entering data, use:" row and select to use one of the following

The default setting is set to "Standalone Content Authoring screen".


Item List screen

When several items are selected in the Left Pane, they are displayed in an item list screen. For single items, they are displayed in a single edit screen. This screen allows a user to sort the list by any column of the item list table and to easily navigate through long lists of items.

Figure 4.1 - Sample Item List screen

Sorting item list

If desired, items can be sorted in descending order by clicking on any Attribute Name column headings of the Item List table. The down arrow indicates that if clicked, the items are sorted in descending order. If the up arrow is displayed, click it to sort the item list in ascending order. 

Figure 4.2 - Sort item list table  

Navigating item list

For large item lists, use the navigation links at the bottom of the item list table. Select a page to view or skip to the middle or last page of the item list.

Figure 4.3 - Navigate item list

Item list buttons

Figure 4.4 - Item list toolbar buttons

The following Item list buttons are described counter clockwise starting from the top-left corner.

 Add

Enter a number of items to add (default is 1) then click the ADD button. In the Multiple Edit screen, the new items are added to the top of the list.

 Edit Selected

Edit Selected Items

 Edit All

Edit all items on item list

Hierarchy drop-down field

Browse or select Hierarchy

Edit hierarchy Select a hierarchy from the drop-down filed and click this edit button to edit the hierarchy
Re-categorize items into different hierarchy Select an item or group of items to re-categorize first then select a hierarchy from the drop-down selection. Click the re-categorize button to display a new window that allows the user to select a different hierarchy. The change is not committed until the Save button is clicked.
Copy item to a different category

Select an item or group of items to copy first then select a hierarchy from the drop-down selection. Click the copy button to display a new window that allows the user to select a different hierarchy. The change is not committed until the Save button is clicked

Save as Basic Selection Click this button to save the current Item List as a basic selection in the Selection Console
Append Selection Append the current item list to a saved selection. Check the "Append Selection" box and select a saved selection from the drop-down field box to add the current item list to the selection
Selection drop-down field Select a saved selection to append an item list to
Delete

Deletes all an item. Be cautious when using this button. Once an item is deleted the action cannot be undone. Select an item or group of items, and then click the delete icon.

Number of items field and the Bulk Add button

Enter a number of items to add and click Bulk Add. The defined number of items to add appears in the Multiple Edit screen for data entry.


Single Edit screen

The Single Edit screen allows a user to edit a single item. This screen is displayed when a single item is selected for viewing or editing. For "Advanced Content Authoring", this screen is the Single Edit tab.

Single Edit screen buttons

There are a series of buttons, navigation tools, a status icon at the top and bottom of the Single Item screen.

Figure 4.6 - Single Edit screen buttons (top screen)

The following Single Edit screen features are described left to right.

Left icon Provides the status of the item. For example, if the item is synched with the database, or if an error has occurred
Catalog Name The catalog name is displayed in this top bar
Navigation buttons and Go Allows a user to navigate between pages of items. Type a page to go to and click Go.
View drop-down field and Go To change a view for the item, select a view and click Go.
Bring to top Allows a user to bring to the top of the order of items based on one of the following status:
  • Failed
  • Modified
  • New
  • Non-modified
  • Processing
  • Selected

For example, if "Failed" is selected, all of the failed items are pushed to the beginning of the item list.

Figure 4.5 - Single Edit screen buttons (bottom screen)

The following Single Edit screen buttons are described counter clockwise starting from the top-left corner.

Checkout Check out an item into a workflow
Macro Run a macro against the item
Action Preview item in a CSV, HTML, or Tab delimited format

Logs

View user defined logs for the item

Location Data This button is disabled unless location data has been configured for the item
Undo Changes

Undo Change

Refresh

Refresh the screen information.

Add

Add an item

Clone

Select an item to clone and Click Clone. The item information is cloned into a new item with the primary key left blank

Drop

Drop an item from the catalog

Save

Save an item

Hierarchy drop-down field By default, this field shows the current hierarchy for the item. To switch the hierarchy used, select a value from the drop-down field

Hierarchy

Add or replace category mappings

Delete

Delete item


Multiple Edit screen

The Multiple Edit screen allows a user to edit multiple items. This screen is displayed when a multiple items are selected for viewing or editing. This screen is only available through the "Advanced Content Authoring" screens in the Multiple Edit tab.

The Multiple Edit screens has many of the same features as the Single Edit screen except for the following screen feature unique to the Multiple Edit screen (see image).  

Figure 4.7 - Added feature in the Multiple Edit screen

Select Page Select all items on this page only
Unselect Page Unselect all items on this page only
Select All Select all items in this selection/list
Unselect All Unselect all items in this selection/list
Resize column widths At the top of each column, there is a set of four resize options. This is used to Increase/reduce the size of the column or sort the columns ascending/descending 
Attribute type indicator At the top of each column is an image that indicates the attribute type
Down arrow next to enter value field Enter a value for an attribute in the top row, check the items that are to take this new value, click the down arrow to set the new value for all checked entries

Item management

To edit content using either the Standalone or Advanced Content Authoring screens, simply change the information in any field and click Save to commit the changes. Errors will occur if the user does not have authorization to make edits in the specific fields or if view only fields have been applied.

Edit Items

Editing a single item

 1. Select an item from the Left Pane or from an Item List. The item appears in a single edit screen.

2. Update the item information and click Save. If the item is not saved and the user attempts to leave the screen, a confirmation dialog box appears. Click "OK" to not save the item and to leave the edit screen.

Performing bulk edits

Editing multiple items can be done using the Multiple Edit Screen, which can be accessed through the Advanced Content Authoring screens. A single change can be made to multiple items, with the exception of the unique Primary Key. 

If a field is grayed out and no changes can be made, the item has not yet been saved to the database, thus the information has not been updated. Once the information is saved to the database, it is made available for editing.

1. From an item list, select a group of items to edit and click Edit Selected. The group of selected items appears in a screen for edit.

2. The top row in the Item Edit screen is used to perform a single change through out multiple item with the same attribute. Enter a value in the first row of the item attribute and click the ALL icon. The item attribute is updated with the new value.

3. Click Save to save all edits.

Add Items

Users have the choice to add an item one at a time or in bulk. Similar to Bulk Edits, users can add multiple items. Adding multiple item are performed using the Multiple Edit screen. This allows the user to update a single attribute for multiple items if the value is the same.

Adding a single item

1. Use one of the following methods to add an item:

2. Items are added through the Single Edit screen and are not committed to the system until clicking on Save before leaving the screen.

3. If a required field is not completed, an incorrect value was entered, or any other errors are performed, errors will display and the item is not saved.

Adding an item with location attributes

When adding an item, the item must be saved before adding a location attribute. Once the item is saved, the attribute can be populated.

Performing a bulk add

1. Multiple items can be added through the item list screen. Enter the number of items to add (defaulted to 20) and click +BULK ADD; the Multiple Edit screen is displayed.

2. The top row in the data entry screen is used to populate a single value to all item attributes. Enter a value in the first row of the item attribute and click the ALL icon or enter items one row at a time.

3. Once all items have been entered, click Save to add them to the catalog.

Copy Items

Items can be copied from one category to another category in the same catalog in the Left Pane. This does not move the item but creates an exact copy of the item to another category. 

Items cannot be copied to the Unassigned folder.

Copy a single item

Note: If an item is copied to multiple categories and then the item is deleted from one of the categories, ALL items are deleted from all categories. Use the Remove selection from the short menu to remove an item from a single category.

1. Right-click on the item to copy and click Copy.

2. Right-click the category where the item is to be copied and click Paste.

Clone items

Cloning an item is different than copying an item as all the item attributes remain the same except for the Primary Key, which is left blank. Thus, a unique value must be entered for the primary key attribute.

Cloning a single item

Cloning a single item can only be done from the Single Edit screen.

1. From the Single Edit screen, click Clone.

2. The item attributes are cloned, except for the Primary Key attribute, which is left empty.

3. Enter a unique value for the primary key and click Save.

Cloning a bulk of items

Bulk cloning items can only be performed from the Multiple Edit screen.

1. From the Multiple Edit screen, select the items to clone and click Clone.

2. All items are cloned except for the primary key attribute.

3. Enter a unique value for the primary key attribute and edit any information. Click Save to commit changes.

Delete Items

Items can be deleted from the left pane or from the an item list. To delete multiple items, use the item list.

Deleting a single item

Note: If an item is deleted using the Delete selection from the short menu, all instances of the item in the catalog will be deleted. Use the Remove selection to remove an item from a category, not all categories in the catalog.

1. Use one of the following methods to delete a single item:

2. When deleting items, a confirmation dialog box appears. Click OK to confirm the action.

Delete multiple items

Perform the deletion of multiple items in an Item List screen or Multiple Edit screen.

1. From the list of items, select the items to delete and click Delete.

2. A delete confirmation dialog appears, click OK.

Categorizing items

Items that are Unassigned can be categorized into their associated categories using the following steps:

1. From the Left Pane, open a catalog and view all items under "Unassigned Items".

2. To categorize a single item, click on an item and from the single edit screen, click the Hierarchy button, select a category, and click Save. The item is moved to the new category.

3. To categorize multiple items, select multiple items from the Left Pane and the items appear in an Item List. Select all items to categorize and lick the categorize button. Select a category and click Save. All the items are moved to the category.

Remove item from category

An item can be removed from a catalog using the short menu in the left pane.

1. Right-click on an item and select Remove.

2. A confirmation dialog appears confirming the item removal. Click OK.

3. The item is moved to the "Unassigned" folder unless the item has been assigned to multiple categories.

Re-categorize Items

After an item is categorized, it can be changed to a different category from the Left Pane or from the Item List.

Re-categorize items in the Left Pane

From the Left Pane, items can be moved from one category to another, but cannot be moved to the "Unassigned" folder. An item can only be moved to another category from the same catalog.

1. Right-click on the item to move and select Cut.

2. Right-click on the category to move to and click Paste.

3. The item is moved into the new category.

Re-categorize from the Item List

1. From the Item List screen, select a single or multiple items and click on the categorize button.

2. All categories for the catalog appear in a separate window. Select a category, click Save, and items are moved to the new category.

Uncategorized Items

Uncategorized from the Left Pane

1. From the Left Pane, select an item, right click, and select "Remove" from the short menu.

2. The item is removed from the category and moved into the "Unassigned " folder, unless the item is a part of another category.

Uncategorized from the Item List

1. Select an item from the Item List and click the Categorize button.

2. From the popup window, DO NOT select any category and click Save.

3. The item is moved to the "Unassigned" folder.

Errors Saving Data

If an incorrect value is entered for a catalog attribute, an error dialog box appears describing the type of error where it has occurred. Click OK, re-enter a correct value type, and click Save.


Item Selections

Selections are created to return a list of items that can be used for the following purposes:

Users have the ability to create a basic item selection. A Basic Selection is a list of items where the primary key of the items is the criteria remembered by the selection. 

The Item Selection Console is used to perform the following tasks:

Item Selection console buttons

previews a selection
edits a selection
deletes a selection

Basic Selection

A Basic Selection is configured with the following objects:

Note: Limit a selection to 5000 items or less. Larger selections may hang the application, causing a user to exit and log back into the application.

Create a new basic selection

Use the path Product Manager > Selections > Selections Console. The Item Selection Console appears. Click on the New Basic Selection and complete each step of the "Catalog Selection Editor" wizard.

1. Select Catalog 

2. Select Version 

3. Select Access Control Group 

4. Select Hierarchy 

5. Enter a name for the item selection in the Enter the Selection Name field.

7. Select a whole hierarchy, a specific hierarchy, or unassigned items.

8. To recursively select all sub-hierarchies, select a hierchy from the list and then at the bottom of the screen, click "On" and the Go button. To deselect all sub-hierarhcies, click "Off" and the Go button.

9. When the selection has been configured, click the Save button. The newly created selection is listed in the Selection Console.

Previewing selections

To preview a selection, click the Preview icon from the Item Selection Console. The results are displayed in an item list table format.


Hierarchies

Hierarchies are stored separately from catalogs within WebSphere Product Center. This allows a user to view and eventually export a catalog using a hierarchy of their choice. The Hierarchy Console allows the user to modify all of the hierarchies stored within WebSphere Product Center. The user also has the option of creating a new hierarchy from this interface.

Before a hierarchy can be created a primary spec must be created for the hierarchy, which is done from the Specs Console. The primary spec that is attached to the hierarchy should contain the following minimum attributes:

There are two types of hierarchies that are used to organize information.

Creating a hierarchy

Used the following instructions to create either a category hierarchy or an organization hierarchy:

From Product Manager > Hierarchies > New Hierarchy, the Create Hierarchy wizard appears. Complete each step of the wizard.

1. Hierarchy Name: - enter a name for the hierarchy

2. Select Primary Specification: select a primary spec to use with the hierarchy

3. Select Display Attribute: select a display attribute from the drop-down selection

4. Select Path Attribute: select a path attribute from the drop-down selection

5. Select Hierarchy Type: select either "Category Hierarchy" or "Organization Hierarchy"

6. Select Access Control Group: select an ACG to use for the hierarchy

7. Once the hierarchy has been created, add it to the Left Pane and add sub-hierarchies (categories or users) as needed. Category hierarchies are listed in the left-pan drop down under "Hierarchies", and organization hierarchies are listed under "Organizations".

Managing Hierarchy Nodes

1. To edit a hierarchy, use the Left Pane to add, move, copy, delete, or view hierarchy attributes. Add a hierarchy from the Left Pane drop-down menu.

Note: Default hierarchies cannot be edited.

2. Click on a hierarchy node and view the hierarchy attributes.

3. To modify the hierarchies, right-click on a category and select an action from the short menu. If adding a category, make sure to right-click on the parent node where the new category will be added.

The short menu provides the user with five different functions to manipulate the hierarchy structure.

Add Category 

 Used to add a new category

Cut 

 Used to move an existing category to a new location within the hierarchy

Copy 

 Used to copy an existing category to a new location within the hierarchy without creating a new category

Paste 

 Move a category to a new location within the hierarchy after selecting Cut or Copy

Remove 

 Removed the category from use but does not delete it from the hierarchy.

Delete 

 Used to delete an existing category

Refresh 

 Used to refresh the hierarchy display

Hierarchy Rollback

Like catalogs, hierarchies have versions that can be rolled back. 

Hierarchy Delete

Hierarchy Mappings

Categories can be mapped between two hierarchies, which provide the ability to map an in-house categorization to a standard categorization without having to worry about individual item mappings.

For example, an internal tree called "Product Category" can be mapped to the standards of a "UNSPSC" tree.

When an item is created, the item can be mapped to a category in one tree. If the category is mapped to other trees, the item inherits the additional mappings.

Create hierarchy map

1. Use the menu path Product Manager > Hierarchies > Hierarchy Map > Mapping Hierarchies, the category map wizard appears.

2. Select a hierarchy to map "from" and a hierarchy to map "to".

3. A list of categories appears. Click the double arrow icon next to the category to map.

4. A separate window appears with the second hierarchy. Find the category to map (multiple categories can be selected) and click Save.

Note: A green checkmark indicates where a mapping exists.

5. Continue steps 3-4 until all categories have been mapped.

Adding a hierarchy mapping

1. Use the menu path Product Manager > Hierarhcies > Hierarchy Maps > Hierarchy Mapping Console, click the edit tool button next to the row that shows the source and destination hierarchies.

2. Browse the tree to find the category that is to be mapped.

3. Click on the double arrow icon next to the category to map. A screen pops up with the second hierarchy.

4. Find the categories to map to, select it and click Save.

Delete hierarchy mappings

Hierarchy name search

The Category search feature is implemented in various locations within WebSphere Product Center. This section discusses performing a search for category nodes in the Left Pane.

Features

1. Add a hierarchy to the Left Pane.

2. Click the Show On-Demand Search in the left pane to display the search criteria.

3. Define a criterion for the search, enter a string and select to search on the Display Name or Name. Click the green arrow button. The results are displayed in the Left Pane.

Note: Users can use a wildcard " * " when entering a string search. If a wildcard is not added as part of the search string, the system will look for an EXACT match.


Reports

WebSphere Product Center’s analysis module leverages the application’s powerful scripting engine to enable users to create and run custom reports. The report scripts are used to define how the information is ordered and formatted. Users can utilize these sophisticated reporting tools to analyze online sales activity along multiple dimensions: by customer, product/SKU, region, destination, etc.

A report structure for analyzing and reporting progress and results can easily be created once and then many instances of it can be run against different catalogs. The results might be delivered to a location of choice: by email, ftp, post, or XML connect. Copies of the outgoing reports are of course always stored in Document Store as well.

A user might analyze how catalogs are being processed, for example, by creating a report that summarizes all categorized items in all published versions of a particular catalog.

Report Console

The Report Console is the command center for creating, viewing, and editing reports, as well as scheduling them for delivery to user specified destinations. The console table lists the existing instances of reports in alphabetical order.

 

Name

User specified name for the instance of the report. A single report type might have multiple instances if it includes input parameters.

Type

User-defined script that generates the report is what defines its type. The user names the type during the report creation flow and then defines the report in the WebSphere Product Center script editor. All instances of this report type will now use the defined script as the template for generation.

Schedule

The Schedule icon takes the user to the Schedule Status Information screen where details on the report generated by clicking "Go" may be viewed in summary.

Action

The "Go" button schedules the report instances to be generated and distributed. The "preview" link simply generates the report in a new window for immediate preview.

Delivery Location

The delivery location tells the user what the chosen mode of distribution for the report, during the creation of the report instance, and links to the distribution flow where the details of that distribution may be modified.

Creating a report

Use the menu path: Product Manager > Reports > Reports Console. The Reports Console appears. Click the NEW icon and the Create/Edit Report wizard appears. Complete each step of the wizard.

1. Select Report Type: Choose a report type from the drop-down menu and click Select. In this step it is possible to create or edit a report type.

2. Report Name: Enter a name for the report and click Next.

3. Select Distribution: Choose a distribution type from the drop-down menu and click Select. In this step it is possible to create or edit a distribution type.

4. A message box indicates that the report was successfully created. Return to the Reports Console to view the newly created report.

Preview Report

From the Report Console, click the preview button under the Action column to generate an on-screen display of the report. This enables the user or administrator who creates it to view the report for accuracy before scheduling its distribution.

1. Find the report to preview from the Reports Console.

2. From the Action column, click the preview button.

3. A new window appears with the report details. If desired, send the report to a printer.

Generate Report

The "Go" button performs the action of generating and delivering the report. To manually generate a report, use the following steps:

1. Find the report to generate from the Reports Console.

2. From the Action column, click the Go icon to generate and distribute the report to its defined destination mode.

View Report Status

To view the status information of a report, do the following:

1. Find the report from the Reports Console.

2. From the Schedule column click the status button. Status information is displayed in the Schedule Status Information interface.

3. Click the Job Details button for more information regarding the generated report.

4. Click the Refresh button, to update the status information.

Delete Report

To delete a report, use the following steps:

1. From the Reports Console, find the report that is to be deleted.

2. From left side of the report name, click the delete button.

3. A dialog box appears confirming the deletion of the report. Click OK to delete the report or Cancel to quit the delete operation.


Lookup Tables

Lookup tables are provided to enhance the content management functionality available in WebSphere Product Center. They are used to perform search and replace functions within a catalog, and can also be used to validate data contained in specific catalog fields. Create standard tables, i.e. units of measure (UOM), currencies, or countries. Create custom replacements tables, i.e. BK = Black and BL = Blue.

The creation and management of lookup table records is very similar to standard item creation and management. The set of tools available to manage lookup tables, like available for catalogs, include Bulk operations (add,edit) and the Search tool.

Creating Lookup Tables

To manually create a lookup table:

1. Select Type: Select "Single String Key".

2. Select spec: Choose a lookup table spec to use. In this step, it is possible to create or edit a lookup table spec.

3. Lookup Table: Enter a name for the lookup table.

4. From the Lookup Table console, click the preview button to view the newly created lookup table. Since it is a new table, no items are found.

5. Click the add or bulk add buttons to enter values for the lookup table.

Deleting items from lookup table

1. From the lookup table, select the items to delete by clicking on the box next to the item name.

2. Click delete button and the item is removed from the lookup table.

Search lookup tables

1. From the Lookup Table Console, select a lookup table and click SEARCH. The Search screen appears.

2. Enter a criterion in the Search Criteria table and click SEARCH. The results are displayed in the same screen.