Streamlining Employee Creation in SAP Commerce Backoffice: A Custom Approach

In the dynamic world of e-commerce, managing Backoffice users efficiently is crucial for smooth operations. Recently, we embarked on a journey to implement a robust solution for creating, updating, and managing employee users in SAP Commerce Backoffice. While SAP Commerce offers extensive functionality out of the box, this particular requirement needed a custom solution to meet our goals effectively.

Visual Representation

FlowChart:

This flowchart illustrates the provisioning process for SAP Commerce BackOffice access. The employee initiates the process by submitting a request with pre-defined roles via the Access Portal. The request goes through an approval process, where it is either approved or rejected. Upon approval, the Middleware triggers a custom REST API call to the SAP Commerce Cloud, which handles the provisioning of the employee's BackOffice access.

Sequence Diagram:

The following sequence diagram illustrates the asynchronous flow of the access request process, middleware handling, and SAP Commerce customization:

SAP Commerce Backoffice does not provide an out-of-the-box any API for creating, updating, or managing employees and top of with specific roles in a single call. This limitation prompted us to design a custom extension that simplifies the process and eliminates the need for multiple API calls. The key goals of this customization were:

1. Unified API Call: A single API call that handles employee creation, updates, or soft deletion.
2. Role-Based Access: Ensuring that backoffice login mechanisms validate user access based on assigned roles.
3. Soft Deletion Mechanism: Removing roles from a user effectively disables access without permanently deleting the user, aligning with system integrity and audit needs.

Custom Solution Overview

Our solution was designed to achieve the above goals while maintaining a clean and efficient architecture. Below is a high-level overview of the sequence and customization involved:

1. Submit Access Request: The process begins when an access request is submitted via a portal. The user receives an acknowledgment immediately, ensuring an asynchronous interaction.
2. Approval Workflow: The request is approved within the AccessPortal, which triggers the backend processing.
3. Middleware Processing: Middleware retrieves authentication tokens and processes the request by forwarding it to SAP Commerce.
4. SAP Commerce Customization: A custom API in SAP Commerce Backoffice handles:
5. Notification: Upon successful processing, an email notification is sent to the user, confirming the status of their access request.

Key Features of the Custom API

• Single API Endpoint: The API supports three key operations:
• Role Validation: The backoffice login mechanism checks for valid roles. If a user has no roles, they are effectively denied access.
• Scalability: The unified approach reduces complexity, improves performance, and ensures consistency across operations.

Why This Matters

This approach highlights the flexibility and extensibility of SAP Commerce. By leveraging custom extensions, we can tailor the platform to meet specific business needs while maintaining simplicity and efficiency in our operations. Additionally, the use of a single API reduces maintenance overhead and ensures a seamless experience for both end-users and administrators.

Final Thoughts

This solution demonstrates how customization can enhance SAP Commerce to meet unique requirements. By consolidating employee management operations into a single API call, we’ve streamlined processes and eliminated redundancies, paving the way for better system performance and user experience.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this approach or learn about similar customizations you’ve implemented in your projects. Let’s connect and share insights!