Account holder customers
Access is provided via a password controlled security log on. The log on is linked to an individual within a customer. One customer may have multiple individuals accessing the system and each individual is recorded within Bookmaster as a user for that customer account. E-mail details are kept for each individual and there is a facility to e-mail a password, with appropriate checks, in the event the individual forgets his or her password.
Individual users can define preferences such as whether to show the shopping cart after each title is added as well as at checkout time, number of titles to return after a search, etc. These preferences are held within the individual’s record within Bookmaster.
There is a catalogue facility which is maintained within Bookmaster and appears dynamically on the website based on the definition within Bookmaster.
Searchable fields can be defined and customised to suit user requirements.
Real time price (customer’s own price/discount and/or RRP) and stock availability is provided displaying actual stock quantities or different user defined indicators such as ‘available/not available’ or ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’, or both quantities and indicators if required. These options are user definable by title, title category and/or customer.
Whether to display titles in summary (providing minimum information to save space) or detail (with covers, blurbs, etc) is defined by the user preference.
Anonymous users
Being an anonymous user allows you to order products via e-Commerce, search for products, use the shopping cart and proceed with your order to the checkout. Anonymous users can be restricted from certain functions like browsing orders and backorders. As an anonymous user there is no need to log in. Anonymous users on the web will now be created as a contact in the system when they register. If a user does not register and checks out the purchased items then the anonymous name and address details for the user will be on the order delivery address but it will have no contact ID. If the anonymous user registers prior to checking out then the contact will created and the contact ID and the new customer details will be on the order. Once an order is placed by an anonymous user and the order details have been fulfilled the system sends an order acknowledgement via e-mail to the user and keeps a record of the e-mail address.
If placing a subscription order as an anonymous user you are required to register your user name and password when entering the order details. The system then generates a customer number for you and adds that customer to the Sub list. An order acknowledgement is also sent via e-mail to you.
Orders
Orders can be placed in many parts of the e-Commerce system – in fact wherever an ISBN is displayed, whether through a search or through the catalogue, and whether the title is displayed in detail or summary. The order number and any changes to delivery details are entered at checkout time.
There is an option for ‘fast’ order entry where only the ISBN and quantity need to be entered. This is used when the end customer knows exactly what they want to order including the ISBN and therefore there is no need to find the product through price and availability or catalogue searches.
There is an XML upload interface to upload a file containing orders. This enables a batch of orders to automatically populate the shopping cart and then be processed through the normal order processing system.
E-mail confirmations can be sent at various stages within the order processing cycle: order receipt, order pending (pending means the order has been halted by the workflow system because there is a violation of the internal business rules), order release and dispatch. This can be configured differently for individual end users of the e-Commerce system.
E-mails can be sent to Customer Service as backorder notifications based on business rules and customer/order definitions.
To facilitate order tracking, an order status inquiry provides details of all outstanding orders (not just those placed through e-Commerce), with the ability to position to a particular date, order number or product to make it easier to find an individual order. A backorder inquiry provides the same sort of detail but for backorders.
There is a centralized facility to manage all objects (such as covers, synopses, blurbs, tables of contents, sample chapters, etc) associated with a title. Additional objects can be added and they will immediately appear on the e-Commerce site in the relevant section for the associated ISBN. They are identified by an appropriate user definable icon. The list of objects displayed is also user definable.
Orders can be fast tracked (with an optional additional charge) based on customer request and/or predefined business rules based on order/customer definitions. It includes facilities for orders to be charged forward if required.
Process flow
