USERS in WebSphere Commerce

USERS in WebSphere Commerce

If you are working in WCS, you might have heard about registered users, guest users and generic users. Do you the difference between these users’ types?

Generic User:

When a customer accesses the website to browse the home pages and other product pages without signing in, the user will be assigned as a generic user. Normally in WCS, the user id -1002 refers to the generic user. This user id will be shared across the entire application. This approach minimizes the resource usage in WCS as the same context can be used for multiple users.

Guest User:

When the user adds an item to cart or do some activity which requires a unique identity the user will be converted to a guest user. A guest user will be assigned with a unique member id. Based on the business model and the access policies defined, a guest user will have more privileges in the site rather than a generic user.

The registrationType present in USERS table for both guest and generic user will be “G”. But in WCS by default, a generic user cannot purchase an item through the website. He should register with the site to place an order in the system. A guest user can place order in the site, if guest checkout is enabled in the system.

Registered User:

If the guest user registers to the site, the user will get converted to a registered user, and any assets that the guest user owned will be migrated to the registered user. As part of registration process, the user has to provide a unique user name and password. This will create a profile for the user and will create an entry in USERS table with profile type ‘R’. This username will be always tied up with the member id which is created during registration. Based on the customization implemented, user can store his personal, address and payment details in his profile. Also it will provide additional functionality to the user such as order history, checkout later, personalization, reminder emails etc.

The term “registered user” not only refers the customers who signin to purchase the items, but includes the site administrators, customer care representatives etc. But the registration type present in USERS table will be different for these users.  For eg. The user type of a site administrator will be ‘A’ where as for an administrator, it will be ‘S’. Based on the configuration and customization, the functionalities provided to each of these users may differ. 

How to identify different users from USERS table:

Member Id	Registration Type	Description
-1002	G	The user is a generic user
<any member id>	G	The user is a guest user
<any member id>	R	Registered customer
<any member id>	S	Site Administrator
<any member id>	A	Administrator