Difference between WCS v7 and WCS v8

Key Difference:

1. Management Center

2. Spring framework and Struts framework 

3. Enhancements for Customer Service

4. Enhancements for business users

5. IBM Commerce Insights

6. Enhancements for Developers

1. Management Center

WCS v8 - Management Center is updated to use Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and the open source Spring Framework.Developers who customize the Management Center can now view their changes without first compiling their code. Additionally, the Management Center user interface now has a new look

WCS v7 - Management Center was based on Adobe™ Flash technology

2. Spring framework and Struts framework

WCS v8 - Management Center is updated to open source Spring Framework. which includes built-in best practices and design patterns, your site developers can customize Management Center more easily. The Struts framework is no longer used for building Management Center. Instead, all files that used the Struts framework within the LOBTools web project for Management Center are replaced with files that use the Spring framework. The move to using the Spring framework improves the underlying architecture of Management Center and makes it easier for developers to focus more on application-level business logic instead of the infrastructure when customizing Management Center.

The Struts framework is still used for the following tools and projects in Version 8:

• CommerceAccelerator (WebSphere Commerce Accelerator)
• OrganizationAdministration (Organization Administration Console)
• SiteAdministration (Administration Console)
• Rest
• Search
• Stores

WCS v7 - WebSphere Commerce used the Apache Struts framework for building all front-end tooling, including Management Center.

3. Enhancements to Customer Service

WCS v8  - IBM Customer Service allows Customer Service Representatives(CSR) to directly login to the Aurora store, its's a similar to the registered customer. 

The customer service representative (CSR) can utilize the same buying experience that customers use to provide assistance with site activities, for example, assist customers to manage their cart content and assist with the checkout process. As a part of the buying experience, the CSR can look up customer accounts and orders, and help customers with their account management.

CSR can create new orders, view order history, and cancel orders but returns capability is not yet available, it’s needed to be added as part of a customization. 

This feature is based on REST API’s.

Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce is a separately purchased solution for WebSphere Commerce V8.0 clients.

WCS v7 -  CSR to directly login to the Aurora store feature was not present in WCSv7.

The IBM Sales Center for WebSphere Commerce v7 manages stores, customers, organizations, orders, quotes, and payment information. The IBM Sales Center is a rich client interface which is installed on CSRs' systems.

However from IBM WebSphere Commerce V8.0 Sales Center is no longer included.

4. Enhancements for business users

WCS v8 - Management center UI revamped for the business users the Management Center user interface in version 8 has a new look.

Leverages a software platform upgrade to the latest versions of the web application server, database, and integrated developer environment.

Allows businesses to use the Gift Center capability in their physical stores, without the purchase of an additional license.

WCS v7 - Features is not available in version 7 , Management center UI is based on Adobe™ Flash technology.

5. IBM Commerce Insights

WCS v8 - Commerce Insights is a software as a service (SaaS) offering that empowers merchandisers, product managers, and marketers with the flexibility and agility to innovate quickly by leveraging business data and analytics in a combined view.

Commerce Insights makes online merchandising easier by delivering the key performance metrics that you need to make business decisions about your e-commerce store. You can quickly assemble interactive graphical displays to monitor the performance of your stores, categories, and products at a glance. Track how your campaigns and product placement decisions are affecting conversion rates, sales, and other KPIs. Then, when your insights lead to action, save time by initiating improvements to your store in IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce directly from Commerce Insights.

In other words Commerce Insights will provide merchandisers with business data and analytics in a single view, embedded with their store pages, products, and categories. Merchandisers will be able to take direct and immediate action based on those insights without having to switch context across different tools and systems.

6. Enhancements For Developers

WCS v8 - 

• Search 

You can work with customized files to extend the default Solr configuration files that were previously not extendable. For example, the schema.xml, solrconfig.xml, or wc-data-config.xml files.

The Apache Solr software stack has been updated to version 4.10.3 in WebSphere Commerce Version 8.

• WebSphere Commerce REST API

The Aurora starter store uses REST services throughout the checkout process. The actions for each page map to a REST service. 

In addition to viewing the WebSphere Commerce REST API in the Swagger UI, you can also view the REST API resources on the search server. 

• Support/Upgrade version

1. IBM Rational Application Developer (RAD) V9.5
2. IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V8.5.5
3. IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition 10.5