PXM Products Hierarchy in Commerce Manager

A hierarchy is a tree structure with a root node and descendant nodes. A product can belong to multiple nodes in multiple hierarchies. When you create a catalog, you specify one or more hierarchies. Any products associated with those hierarchies are included in the catalog. If your store supports multiple languages, you can localize new and existing hierarchies and nodes.

The following example of Elpa basketball shoe for men shows different hierarchies and nodes that the product might be in:

• Brands > Elpa
• Shoppers > Men
• Shoes > Sports > Basketball

The root of a hierarchy specifies the aspect of the product data that the hierarchy displays. For example, root can be categories, brands, types, or manufacturers of the products. You cannot assign products to a root node.

A node in a hierarchy contains products grouped in a specific theme, such as a products from a specific brand. You can set a relationship between a product and a hierarchy.

For more information about hierarchies in Product Experience Manager (EP PXM), watch a video:

Configuring Hierarchies in Elastic Path Commerce Manager

A catalog configuration includes one or more hierarchies of products. Any products associated with those hierarchies are included in the catalog. When you publish the target catalog, the active products in the hierarchies appear in the catalog release. If you update a hierarchy to add, move, or delete nodes, you must republish the catalog for the changes to appear in the storefront. You can configure your hierarhies and nodes when configuring your products.

• See the nodes that products belong to.

• Create nodes and assign products to nodes.

Create a hierarchy and then create the nodes. Each node can have one parent and multiple children. By default, if you do not specify a parent node for a node, root node is set as the parent of the node by default.

1. On the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page, click the Hierarchy tab.

2. On the Hierarchy tab, click Add Hierarchy.

3. Enter the following information for the hierarchy:

   • Name
   • Description
   • Slug

4. Click Save.

• Create nodes in the hierarchy.

You can create child nodes only after creating a parent node. Each node can have one parent and multiple children. However, you can have more than one parent node in a hierarchy.

1. To create nodes in a hierarchy, click the hierarchy.

2. In the All Nodes section, click Create Parent node.

3. In the Create Node window, enter the following details for the node:

   • Name
   • Description
   • Slug

4. Click Create.

5. To create a child node within a parent node, click the ... icon next to the name of the parent node.

6. Click Create Child Node.

7. Repeat step 3.

8. Click Create.

9. Click and drag your nodes to a different hierarchy at any time to reorder your nodes, depending on your requirements.

10. Click Save.

• Assign products to the nodes.

You can duplicate an existing hierarchy. This is useful because it enables you to quickly and easily create multiple hierarchies with the same node structure.

When you duplicate a hierarchy, you can specify a new name and/or a new description for the duplicated hierarchy. All other attributes, such as slug and locales, stay the same.

Any nodes in the existing hierarchy are also created in the duplicated hierarchy. However, any products associated with the nodes in an existing hierarchy are not associated with the nodes in the duplicated hierarchy. Once a duplicate hierarchy is created, you must add your products to the nodes in the duplicated hierarchy.

1. On the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page, click the Hierarchy tab.
2. On the Hierarchy tab, click the hierarchy you want to duplicate.
3. Click Duplicate.
4. From Duplicate confirmation, click Confirm to duplicate the selected hierarchy. The hierarchy is created with a name of (Copy) name where name is the name of the hierarchy you selected to duplicate.
5. Click the duplicate hierarchy to display the hierarchy details. You can amend the details, depending on your requirements.

• Assign products to the nodes.

You can assign products to hierarchies and their child nodes. This determines how the products are displayed in the shopping catalog of your storefront. For example, a Nike basketball shoe for men can be assigned to the following hierarchies and nodes:

• Brands > Nike
• Shoppers > Men
• Footwear > Sports > Basketball

You can assign products to nodes in the following ways:

• In the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page: Through this method, you can assign multiple products to a hierarchy and its child nodes.
• In the Product Experience Manager > Products page: Through this method, you can assign products to multiple hierarchies and their child nodes.

1. To add products to a node in a hierarchy, click the hierarchy.
2. In the All Nodes window, click a node.
3. In the Add SKUs field, enter a SKU number to search for a product. The product corresponding to the SKU number is displayed.
4. To add the product to the node, click the + icon next to the product image. The product gets added to the node and is displayed in the list of products associated with the node.

1. On the Products page, select appropriate products or apply a filter to select appropriate products. See Filtering Products.

2. Click the arrow next to the checkbox on the header row and then click Assign to Nodes.

   

   The Assign to Nodes option is available only when you select appropriate products either by selecting the checkboxes next to the specific products or by applying a filter.

   The Assign your Products to Nodes window appears.

3. Click the arrow next to the hierarchy and the child nodes that you want to assign to your products.

   

4. Select the checkboxes next to the nodes that you want to assign to the products.

5. Click Next.

6. Click Confirm.

You can dissociate products from multiple hierarchies and their nodes.

1. On the Products page, select appropriate products or apply a filter to select appropriate products. See Filtering Products.

2. Click the arrow next to the checkbox on the header row and then click Unassign from Node.

   

   The Confirm your Unassignment window appears.

3. Click Confirm.

1. In the All Nodes section, click the node that you want to edit.

2. Update the following information as required:

   • Name

   • Parent Node

   • (Optional) Description

   • Slug

   • Products

     You can change the parent node by selecting a node from the node list.

3. Click Save.

Ensure that you republish the catalog release after editing hierarchies to reflect the changes in the storefront.

1. On the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page, click Hierarchy tab.
2. Click the hierarchy that you want to edit.
3. Update the details as required.
4. Click Save.

For the changes to appear in the storefront, you must republish the affected catalogs.

When you delete a hierarchy, the hierarchy and all its descendant nodes are deleted from the database. The products that were associated with the hierarchy remain in the database and can be used with other hierarchies.

1. On the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page, click Hierarchy tab.
2. Select the checkboxes of the hierarchies that you want to delete.
3. In the Action drop-down menu, click Delete.

You can also click the ... icon in a hierarchy listing and click Delete to delete that hierarchy.

• Create a hierarchy
• Assign Multiple Nodes
• Dissociate Products from Multiple Nodes