WebSphere Commerce Portal V5.4 Solutions

Chapter 4. Business requirements analysis and solution design 125

4.4 Architecture

At the enterprise level, the architecture helps communicate to the sponsor and all

stakeholders an understanding of the overall future directions for the IT

environment. This understanding will help management decision making about

major strategic IT investment, acquisitions, and sourcing. It provides a high-level

shared vision of the architecture and scopes of potential future IT systems.

The architecture section is used to provide an understanding of the following

topics:

1. Communicate to the sponsor and external stakeholders a conceptual

understanding of the intended IT system.

2. Provide a high-level shared vision of the architecture and scope of the

proposed IT system for the development teams.

3. Explore and evaluate alternative architectural options.

4. Enable early recognition and validation of the implications of the architectural

approach.

5. Facilitate effective communication between different communities of

stakeholders and developers.

6. Facilitate orientation for new people who join the project.

4.4.1 Architecture overview

An architecture overview diagram in Figure 4-3 on page 126 represents the

governing ideas and candidate building blocks of a commerce enabled portal

CEP site system. It provides an overview of the main conceptual elements and

Precondition None.

Primary actor Portal administrator.

Secondary actor None.

Main Scenario 1. Actor selects portlet to delete.

2. Actor deletes portlet.

3. System deletes portlet.

4. Use case ends successfully.

Alternatives None.

Use Case ID: name UCA1: Delete portlet

126 WebSphere Commerce Portal V5.4 Solutions

relationships in an architecture, including candidate subsystems, components,

nodes, connections, data stores, users, and external systems.

Figure 4-3 CEP architectural overview diagram

The main purpose of the architecture overview diagram is to communicate a

simple, brief, clear, and understandable overview of the target IT system,

providing a conceptual view of the components and operational environment as

seen in Figure 4-3.

Legend:

User interaction

Portal/Commerce interacts with Sametime/Quickplace

Portal

Commerce

Portal

HTTP Server

Payment

Services

Commerce

HTTP Server

SametimeQuickplace

Static HTML

Templates

Stylesheets

Static HTML

Templates

Stylesheets

Domino

Notes Data

Domino

Notes Data

Portal related

Databases

Commerce

related Databases

Payment

Database

Directory

Database

IBM

Directory Server

LDAP

HTTP Server

Directory and Databases

CEP commerce enabled portal solution

CEP portal web server

Note: The remote Portal HTTP Server is only used by the WebSphere Portal

server in our design.

Chapter 4. Business requirements analysis and solution design 127

Key concepts

The following are the key IT system level architectural concepts and describes

each subsystem in more detail:

򐂰 Portal HTTP Server

This subsystem enables users to access the CEP commerce enabled portal

solution while using WebSphere Portal functionality. User requests are

passed to the portal services for processing.

򐂰 Commerce Services

This subsystem enables users to use common WebSphere Commerce

functionality, such as browsing the catalog, maintaining the shopping cart,

placing an order, etc. This service includes registration and profile

management enabling users to register in a CEP site and work with their

profile information. The user registry is synchronized with the IBM Directory

Server where user profiles are stored. This data is used for authentication.

Included in this subsystem are enhanced role-based administration services.

In addition, the WebSphere Commerce services offers interfaces for portal

integration and Web services support.

򐂰 Portal Services

This subsystem enables users to use common WebSphere Portal

functionality, such as single sign-on, customization of skins and themes,

access to portlets, etc. This service includes registration and profile

management enabling users to register in CEP site and work with their profile

information. The Personalization Engine allows the definition of rule and

role-based profiles to personalize the user front-end experience. The portal

services includes a variety of portlets to access business services among

various applications. In advance, it is enabled for multi-channels.

򐂰 Quickplace Services

Collaborative workspaces are handled by the Quickplace services. The

services are accessible using portlets within the portal services or the CEP

commerce site.

򐂰 Sametime Services

This subsystem enables users to leverage instant messaging capabilities

such as online-help, chat, electronic meetings, etc. It is a base service for

CEP customer care and online help support. The messaging capabilities are

leveraged within the WebSphere Portal to provide users services such as

enhanced search, online help, etc. (for example, Sametime).

򐂰 Payment Services

This subsystem serves all payment request from WebSphere Commerce.