Filter products

In the connector configuration page, with the following parameter, you can choose between a Simple or an Advanced filter to retrieve your PIM data:

If you select Simple all PIM products will be imported in SFCC.

If you select Advanced, the connector will only import the PIM products that match the search filters defined in the Import builder config parameters. You will use the Product Model Import builder config to filter product models and the Products Import builder config to filter Products).

For example, you can filter product properties or product values.

Since the SFCC Connector version 19.5.3, you can also filter "product value" and "locales".

For example, the filter below enables you to import products with a completeness greater than 99% in the en_US and fr_FR locales in the ecommerce channel. It ONLY retrieves the following attributes: name, description and mytext:

 {
 "search": {
 "completeness": [{
 "operator": ">",
 "value": 99,
 "locales": ["en_US", "fr_FR"],
 "scope": "ecommerce"
 }]
 },
 "attributes": ["name", "description", "mytext"]
 }
 

Advanced Product Filter  (akeneoProductsImportBuilderConfig): Filters import products if Site Preference 'Import Type' is selected as ‘Advanced’

Refer the following documentation to get more information on key-value structure of this filter: https://api.akeneo.com/documentation/filter.html#filter-on-product-properties

Map products attributes 

By default, the attributes filtered will be automatically created. You can use additional mapping to map system attributes, to transform attribute and to rename attribute

Exclude an attribute groups from the import process

More and more users need to exclude a whole attribute group from their import process. Most of the time, you need that feature because you have PIM technical attributes you don't want to import into SFCC. To do so, please use the Connection permission.

Once you have created the permission group, add it to the attribute in the permission section for every single attribute group you want to import.

System Attribute mapping

By default, SFCC products include a handful of attributes assigned to each product: Name, Brand, Manufacturer, Description, etc. For performance and cleaning purposes, it would be more convenient to map the default attributes with the PIM's to avoid duplicates in the SFCC product edit forms. If no mapping is performed on a default attribute, SFCC will import the PIM attribute as a custom one. The attribute value will be populated in this custom attribute rather than in the standard one.

Here are the default attribute you are able to map:

The mapping is a JSON structure to define the mapping between Akeneo PIM attributes to the standard Salesforce’s attributes. Key should be the akeneo attribute name (left column), and value should be the equivalent of that attribute on SFCC (right column).Please note that each PIM attribute is prefixed with the "akeneo_" label in Salesforce Commerce Cloud. 

Note: If you don't want to use this feature, please leave a space between curly brackets ({}).

Example:
 
{
"matching": {
"akeneo_name": "name",
"akeneo_description": "longDescription",
"akeneo_shortDescription": "shortDescription",
"akeneo_ean": "EAN"
	}
 }

Type transformation mapping

 Mapping the Akeneo attributes with the product custom attributes present in SFCC. Product custom attributes that are included in this config must be created and updated manually by the user on SFCC B2C Commerce side. Key should be the akeneo custom attribute name (left column), and value should be the equivalent of that custom attribute on SFCC (right column).

Please, note that each PIM attribute is prefixed with the akeneo_ label in Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Note: If you don't want to use this feature, please leave a space between curly brackets ({ }).

Example:
{
"matching": {
"akeneo_color": "color",
"akeneo_size": "size"
    	     }
}

Renaming attribute mapping

Use Renaming Attribute Mapping for the custom attributes that you want to be automatically created and updated

• Alternative to " Type Transformation Attribute Mapping”.
• The mapping allows for type conversion, enabling you to bypass type restrictions in the PIM (Product Information Management) system
• Customers can rename the attribute ID during the mapping process.
• Pre-existing data can also be mapped, such as pre-existing Name in the PIM to Title in Salesforce. This can be done by putting it in a different field in the connector and renaming the attribute.

Example:
{ 	
"matching": { 		
"akeneo_taste": "renamedTaste", 
"akeneo_number": "piecenumber" 	
     } 
}

Site specific attribute mapping

The site-specific mapping is parsed to extract and utilize information during the catalog import process.  

In this configuration,

1. the object keys correspond to the SFCC attribute IDs. 
2. The attributeType property indicates whether the SFCC attribute is a system or custom attribute. 
3. The matching array defines the mapping between the site ID and the PIM attribute ID.  

• Siteid: enter the site concerned by the mapping
• attributeId: enter the code of the PIM attribute (online_date for instance)

Changing scopability or localizability of attributes in PIM

The Akeneo PIM allows users to modify the scopability and localization settings of attributes.

When an attribute is updated from non localizable to localizable, and/or from non scopable to scopable, the connector automatically processes the change.

However, if an attribute is changed from non localizable to localizable, and/or from non scopable to scopable, manual intervention is required. If the data was already synced to SFCC before the change, the connector cannot detect and remove the obsolete values. The user must manually delete the outdated data in SFCC.

Synchronize products PIM status with the SalesForce online status (onlineFlag)?

Since the 20.2.2 version, configure in the connector configuration page how you want to synchronize your PIM Product status with Salesforce:

This configuration will allow you to map the PIM product status

with the SalesForce online status:

SKU or UUID import

Product ID Type On SFCC (akeneoProductIDTypeOnSFCC): Specifies the type of ID to be used on SFCC as the product ID for products imported from the Akeneo PIM. It has the options of SKU and UUID. Please note that if the user's Akeneo PIM version is older than 7.0, SKU will be used by default even if UUID is selected for this custom preference. 

 Product ID Type On SFCC (akeneoProductIDTypeOnSFCC) - Select what type of ID should be used on SFCC as the product ID, for the products imported from the Akeneo PIM.

o   SKU (SKU) - It is a unique identifier assigned to a product to track inventory and sales. SKUs are typically alphanumeric codes that help businesses manage their inventory and track product variations. Each product variant, such as size, color, or style, may have a different SKU to differentiate it from other variants.

o   UUID (UUID) - It is a 128-bit identifier that is used to uniquely identify information in computer systems. UUIDs are typically represented as a sequence of alphanumeric characters, separated by hyphens, in the form of "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx".

• UUIDs are generated using various algorithms and are designed to be unique across all devices and systems. They are commonly used in distributed systems, databases, and software applications to ensure that each entity or record has a unique identifier.

However, it's important to note that the type of ID used as the product ID on SFCC and displayed on the Products page can vary depending on the Custom Preference setting for Product ID Type. This setting provides flexibility in choosing the format of the product ID. 

If the Product ID Type is set to "SKU" (Stock Keeping Unit) in the akeneoProductIDTypeOnSFCC custom preference, product’s SKU from PIM will be used as the product ID on SFCC and displayed on the Products page. This is a common practice where each product variant has a unique SKU assigned to it. 

Alternatively, if the Product ID Type is set to "UUID" (Universally Unique Identifier) in the akeneoProductIDTypeOnSFCC custom preference, product’s UUID from PIM will be used as Product ID on SFCC. These UUIDs are designed to be globally unique and are commonly used when a highly unique identifier is required. 

The choice of Product ID Type depends on your specific business needs and the way you prefer to identify and manage your products within the system. It's important to configure this setting appropriately to ensure consistency and accuracy in your product management processes. 

Akeneo PIM Product Groups in SFCC

In Akeneo PIM, Groups are used to bind some products together.

Finding Product, product models and attributes once imported in SFCC