Get Started with the Technical Project Documentation

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Explain the difference between functional and nonfunctional requirements.
• List the nonfunctional requirements.
• List the settings you need to document.
• List what’s in a technical specification.
• Explain why it’s important to document the merchant’s services.

Get Started

B2C Commerce merchants—companies that sell products online—hire technical architects as consultants or through a partner organization to help implement a storefront. As a B2C Commerce technical architect, you’re a key member of the storefront implementation team that takes a site from sign-on to live. While your team includes various other roles, your focus is on the technical aspects of the implementation. For more about the Commerce Cloud architect role, see the Resources section in this unit. 

In this module, you learn how to document the technical requirements for a B2C Commerce implementation. 

To get started, it helps to understand the general project workflow for an implementation.

• Discovery: Collect merchant data.
• Design: Document requirements, design, settings, and so on.
• Build: Build the application.
• Integrate and customize: Bring in the third parties.
• Test: Test, monitor, and troubleshoot the application.
• Launch: Go live

Discover and Design

Documentation is important at all project phases, but the bulk of requirements identification happens during discovery and design. You use a discovery approach to identify and document the merchant’s requirements so that you can create a solid design. See the Salesforce B2C Commerce Client Analysis module for details on the discovery phase.

In the design phase, you design both functional and nonfunctional requirements.

Functional and Nonfunctional Requirements

Functional requirements describe site behavior, while nonfunctional requirements describe general and technical characteristics. 

This module focuses on documenting the non-functional requirements. See the Project Documentation for Salesforce B2C Commerce Functional Architects module for more details on functional requirements. 

Main Specification Documents

These are the main specification documents you help create and work with.

Intro to the Technical Specification

The technical specification contains the precise technical details that are critical for implementing a B2C Commerce storefront. Your job as a B2C Commerce technical architect is to include as much detail as possible to help the implementation team know exactly what they are supposed to do.

You take a deeper look at this document in the next unit. For now, let’s look at some of the settings and configurations you need to include in this document. The attention you pay to details such as configuring data retention in Business Manager and adding services to the B2C Commerce Web Services framework will keep systems and processes running smoothly.

Project Requirements

Let’s get started by looking at example project requirements for a B2C Commerce storefront implementation. 

Settings and Configurations

Here are some of the settings and configurations you need to document.

Site Configuration

Each B2C Commerce instance contains code and data, and both can be used in one or more sites. Because the code and data is logically divided, it’s easy to create multiple sites, each able to support a different locale. Additionally you can surface each site on one or more URL hosts/domains. Use a table like this to document the site configurations.

Data Retention

Document data retention settings.

For details, take a look at the Holiday Season Readiness with Salesforce B2C Commerce Trailhead module, the “Cleanup Storefront Data” unit.

Hostname Aliases and Redirects

Configure hostname aliases and redirects per best practice standards. List host name aliases and provide a sample redirect setup.

API Quota

Document potential quota issues, for example, too many HTTPClient calls during an order submit call.

The Web Services Framework: Configured Services

Managing all the merchant’s web services in one place via the Web Services framework is important because it lets merchants manage calls to unavailable web services, cap the number of calls to a web service, and analyze web service performance, and more.

Document each service in a table like this to make sure all services are covered. You’ll provide more details for each service in the Interface Specification Document (ISD), a separate document that we explore in unit 4 of this module.

For details on using the Web Services framework, see the Holiday Season Readiness with Salesforce B2C Commerce Trailhead module. 

WebDAV and SFTP

Document the transfer server interfaces like SFTP and WebDav folder structure. These are used for asynchronous integrations between B2C Commerce and various vendors and systems. Use a naming convention to distinguish between sites, and between production and test environments.

Next Steps

In this unit, you learned about functional and non-functional project requirements and the documents you need to create. One of those documents is the technical specification. You explored some of the settings and configurations you need to document for a successful implementation. Next, take a deeper dive into the technical specification.

Resources

• Trailhead: Salesforce Commerce Cloud Architect Roles: Quick Look
• Trailhead: Build Your Career as a Salesforce B2C Commerce Functional Architect
• Trailhead: Project Documentation for Salesforce B2C Commerce Functional Architects
• Trailhead: Holiday Season Readiness with Salesforce B2C Commerce
• Trailhead: Salesforce B2C Commerce Hostname Aliases
• Trailhead: Salesforce B2C Commerce SEO URLs
• Trailhead: Prepare Your Salesforce B2C Commerce Storefront for Holiday Shopping