Inventory Pipeline Components

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Commerce Server integrates the Inventory System into the ordering process through two pipeline components: CheckInventory and UpdateInventory. These components provide the current inventory state for products in the Inventory System and run-time depletions of on-hand quantities in response to purchases made by customers. This section describes these components.

CheckInventory

The CheckInventory pipeline component is part of the Basket pipeline. It checks the inventory status for items in the customer's basket. You must run the QueryCatalogInfo component before using the CheckInventory component. The following table lists and defines the keys that the CheckInventory component reads from the order form.

The CheckInventory component checks the inventory and writes key values to the order form. The following table lists and defines these key values.

Each line item in the order form receives one of these values.

If an item is out of stock, the CheckInventory component writes a warning to the basket errors collection and returns a warning.

UpdateInventory

The UpdateInventory component is part of the Checkout pipeline. This component checks the inventory status for an array of stock-keeping units (SKUs) and updates the SKU quantities in the Inventory System. If the component cannot update an item because of a database error or an out-of-stock error, the basket process stops, the transaction rolls back, the UpdateInventory component writes an error to the purchase errors collection, and returns an error.

The following table lists and defines the values that the UpdateInventory component reads from the order form.

The UpdateInventory component writes key values to the order form. The following table lists and defines these key values.

The UpdateInventory component writes these values for each line item in the order form unless an out-of-stock condition occurs. If there are multiple line items and one is out of stock, the other items are not processed. If an out-of-stock condition occurs, the UpdateInventory component writes an error to the purchase errors collection and the return value is a warning.

This component updates the inventory values.

Inventory Computations

The quantity a customer requests may be available in full or in part, and can be fulfilled through back-ordering (if back-ordering is allowed) or preordering (if preordering is allowed).

If an item is both preorderable and back-orderable, Commerce Server uses the Pre-Order limit first, and then uses the Back-Order limit. If the _inventory_pre_order_for_request value can fulfill the request, the _inventory_back_order_for_request key is zero.

The preorder and back-order quantities are not stored. The pipeline component evaluates these quantities with each request. If the Preorder Quantity and the OnHand Quantity are less than zero, the Preorder Quantity is equal to the lesser of the OnHand Quantity or the Preorder Limit.

To determine whether it can fill a request, the pipeline component compares the requested amount with the OnHand Quantity minus the Stock-out Threshold. If the request is smaller, the component can fill request without back-ordering. The component writes the following values to the order form:

• _inventory_in_stock_for_request = request

• _inventory_pre_order_for_request = 0

• _inventory_back_order_for_request = 0

• _inventory_condition = InStock

If the requested amount is greater than or equal to the OnHand Quantity minus the Effective Stock-out Threshold, the request requires a back-order. To determine the back-order amount, the following computation occurs:

In_Stock_For_Request = max((OnHand Quantity – Effective Stock-out Threshold), 0); 
// If the OnHand Quantity is more than the Effective Stock-out
// threshold, the _inventory_in_stock_for_request is a positive number.
// Otherwise it is 0.
// Determine _inventory_pre_Order_For_Request.
if (Pre-Orderable) and (Stock Handling ==1) and (Pre-Ordered Quantity < Pre-Order Limit)
{
    Pre-Order_For_Request = Max (0, Min((Request- In_Stock_For_Request),  (OnHand Quantity –Pre-Order Limit)))
}
Else Pre-Order_For_Request = 0
Pre-Ordered_Quantity = Pre-Ordered_Quantity + Pre-Order_For_Request
If (Pre-Order_For_Request +In_Stock_For_Request ==Request) 
   Inventory_Condition = Pre-Ordered
// Now determine Back_Order_For_Request.
If (Back-Orderable) And (Stock Handling ==1) and (OnHand Quantity > Back-Order Limit +Pre-Order Limit*Pre-Orderable)
{
    // The Pre-order limit is used first if the SKU is preorderable.
    // Otherwise it is not considered.
    Back-Order_For_Request = Max (0, Min ((Request-   In_Stock_For_Request- Pre-Order_For_Request), (OnHand Quantity – Pre-Order Limit*Pre –Orderable - Back-Order Limit))) 
    If Pre-Order_For_Request+ Back-Order_For_Request+ In_Stock_For_Request ==Request
        Inventory_Condition = Back-Ordered
}
Else
{
    Back-Order_For_Request= 0
    Inventory_Condition = Out-Of-Stock
}

Example for the CheckInventory Component

The following table illustrates how the CheckInventory component computes the inventory values. For all items, Floor_Is_Stock-Out_Threshold is true, Back-Order Limit is -50, and Pre-Order Limit is -50.

Example for the UpdateInventory Component

The following table illustrates how the UpdateInventory component computes the inventory values. For all items, Floor_Is_Stock-Out_Threshold is true, Back-Order Limit is -50, and Pre-Order Limit is -50.

See Also

Other Resources

Managing Inventory Catalogs