A vast majority of our customers seek out SAP CDC and Commerce with a focus point of digitizing commerce. Along with this, they come to us in hopes of creating a way to nurture a robust and CX rich customer lifecycle, so that they can build trust with their customers.
To fulfill these goals, many find a solution in the integration of SAP Customer Data Cloud and SAP Commerce Cloud.
CDC (Customer Data Cloud) and Commerce Cloud offer a simple implementation process with standard out-of-the-box functionality and integration. This article will cover the main design considerations and best practices for integration.
Firstly, we’ll discuss the virtues of each cloud – before providing an overview of how they interact with, and benefit-from, one another.
SAP Customer Data Cloud
Customer Data Cloud broadly oversees the creation of user accounts on web/app forms. It enables compliant consent capture and re-consent processes on all forms while allowing for login authentication to access digital properties. Identity Sync, Webhooks, and REST APIs can be used to create integration flows.
The core tenants of SAP Customer Data Cloud are:
Identity – previously RaaS, a Customer Identity Access Management solution enabling connection with website and app users
Consent – manages user privacy, preferences, and customer consent in accordance with data privacy laws
Profile – a layer of user profile data gathered through using Customer Identity or Customer Consent
B2B – helps businesses manage relationships in a transparent way by combining authorization with authentication and identity management.
SAP Commerce Cloud
Commerce Cloud provides comprehensive and personalized e-commerce experiences with end-to-end commerce processes, resulting in:
- Reduced cost of ownership via simplification of commerce setup
- Simplified cart-checkout process, product content and experience management, promotions, and order management
- Seamless integration and interaction with components built natively on the same platform
SAP Customer Data Cloud Together with Commerce Cloud
As the flowchart above displays, SAP CDC and Commerce are deeply intertwined. They play off of each other despite serving different purposes in the consumer lifecycle.
Throughout many implementations and integrations, we’ve found that the following areas frequently require special focus:
- Customer Onboarding (self-registration or invite)
- Organization Registration (B2B)
- Data Migration
- Commerce built-in extension (GConnector for Commerce Cloud 1811 or older)
Primary differences in the integration between SAP CDC and Commerce result from B2B and B2C having different user lifecycles.
- B2C onboarding occurs through user self-registration (in the majority of cases)
- B2B onboarding occurs through organization registration and user invite from a partner admin or company admin (in the majority of cases)
B2C Implementation
Customer Self-Registration
Setup
- Customer Data Cloud: Master for online member profile
- SAP Commerce Cloud: Partial copy of member profile
Customers can self-register an account while they’re active on a Commerce site, because they’re allowed to make purchases without preliminary approval. Self-registration is as follows:
- Visit Commerce site
- Provide profile details (email, name, address, etc)
- Email validation
- SAP Customer Data Cloud registers and verifies the customer
- SAP Customer Data Cloud replicates the customer to Commerce Cloud automatically, using Commerce’s built-in extension
B2B Implementation
Organization Registration
Setup
- Back-end system (example case: S4 HANA): Master for org’s data
- SAP Customer Data Cloud: Partial copy of org’s data
- SAP Commerce Cloud: Partial copy of org’s data
Organization registration offers two options; self and offline registration
1. Self-Registration
With the use of screensets and client side APIs, customers can allow their partners to self-register their organization. This flow is as follows:
- Partner admin – aka delegated admin – submits details about themselves and their org
- IT Admin reviews registration request
- IT Admin looks up the org in the back-end system
- IT Admin creates the org in the back-end system; generating a Business Partner Identifier (BPID)
- IT Admin updates the org in CDC using the BPID, gaining approval
- Org is then replicated from back-end to SAP Commerce Cloud
2. Offline Registration
With offline onboarding, registration (and sometimes approval) will not be managed using SAP Customer Data Cloud. Rather, the customer would create the org themselves within the back-end system. This process is:
- Collect partner org information
- IT Admin registers a new org in the back-end system; generates a BPID
- Org is replicated to SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Customer Data Cloud
- Optional step: IT Admin completes invitation process within SAP Customer Data Cloud
Customer Onboarding
- Back-end system (example case: S4 HANA): Partial copy of online member profile
- SAP Customer Data Cloud: Master for online member profile
- SAP Commerce Cloud: Partial copy of member profile
Customers, approval-granters, managers and admins (or Partner Members) need to have their access to the Commerce app delegated or granted to them. Because of this, self-registry often does not apply, or is not available. Given this, a head administrator will invite members and grant the necessary rights to them. This process usually covers the following steps:
- Partner admin visits Commerce app
- Partner admin launches the delegated admin console
- Partner admin invites a new member by providing mandatory profile info and assigning roles
- Member accepts the invite, completes registration
- Customer marked as registered within SAP CDC
- Customer logs on and is replicated from SAP CDC to SAP Commerce with a link to their org
Data Migration
In a typical use-case, SAP Customers implementing CDC with Commerce Cloud already have member and org data stored in their legacy systems. This data should be migrated into SAP Customer Data and Commerce Clouds prior to production launch – or a bad customer experience might result. Users may need to register again, feeling that the system is not intelligent enough to remember them. Integration problems and process failures could also result. Data migration is therefore strongly recommended before the solutions are rolled out.
Here are the primary considerations of data migration
- Data Source: Usually, back-end master systems for org data and legacy CIAM systems for user data
- Unique Identifiers: BPID (Business Partner ID) or UID (User ID); respectively
- Data Mapping
- Password hashing validation
- Data Transfers; SAP Commerce Cloud exposes oData APIs, SAP CDC offers Extract Transform Load (ETL) functionality- from IdentitySync.
This implementation will succeed – if you’re operating from the proper understanding of user journeys and data flows! Reach out to ASAR Digital if you have any questions, or would like to arrange to see a demo of these integrated systems.