Configure a Dynamics 365 Commerce sandbox environment

Article
07/25/2024

This article explains how to configure a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce sandbox environment after it's provisioned.

Complete the procedures in this article only after your Commerce sandbox environment has been provisioned. For information about how to provision your Commerce sandbox environment, see Provision a Commerce sandbox environment.

After your Commerce sandbox environment has been provisioned end to end, additional post-provisioning configuration steps must be completed before you can start to use the environment. To complete these steps, you must use Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) and Dynamics 365 Commerce.

Before you start

Sign in to the LCS portal.
Go to your project.
Select your environment in the list.
In the environment information on the right, select Log on to environment. You will be sent to Commerce headquarters.
Make sure that the USRT legal entity is selected in the upper-right corner. This legal entity has been preconfigured in the demo data.
Go to Commerce parameters > Configuration parameters and ensure that there's an entry for ProductSearch.UseAzureSearch and that the value is set to true. If this entry is missing, add it and set the value to true.
Go to Retail and Commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce scheduler > Initialize Commerce scheduler. On the Initialize commerce scheduler flyout menu, set the Delete existing configuration option to Yes, and then select OK.
For the store and e-commerce channels to work properly, they must be added to the Commerce Scale Unit. Go to Retail and Commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce scheduler > Channel database, and then in the left pane select the Commerce Scale Unit. On the Retail channel FastTab, add the AW online store, AW Business online store, and Fabrikam extended online store channels if you plan to use those e-commerce channels. Optionally, you can also add retail stores if you will be using point of sale (POS) (for example, Seattle, San Francisco, and/or San Jose).
To ensure that all changes are synchronized with the channel database, select Channel Database > Full data sync for the Commerce Scale Unit.

During post-provisioning activities in Commerce headquarters, make sure that the USRT legal entity is always selected.

Configure the point of sale

Associate a worker with your identity

To associate a worker with your identity, follow these steps in Commerce headquarters.

Use the menu on the left to go to Modules > Retail and commerce > Employees > Workers.
In the list, find and select the following record: 000713 - Andrew Collette. This example user is associated with the San Francisco store that will be used in the next section.
On the Action Pane, select Commerce.
Select Associate existing identity.
In the Email field to the right of Search using email, enter your email address.
Select Search.
Select the record that has your name.
Select OK.
Select Save.

Activate Store Commerce for web

To activate Store Commerce for web, follow these steps in LCS.

On the top menu, select Cloud-hosted environments.
Select your environment in the list.
In the environment information on the right, select Log on to Cloud Point of Sale.
Select Next to open the Before you start dialog box.
Leave the Server URL field as it is. Select Next.
Sign in by using your Microsoft Microsoft Entra account.
Under Store name, select San Francisco, and then select Next.
Under Register and device, select SANFRAN-1.
Select Activate. You're signed out and taken to the POS sign-in page.
You can now sign in to Store Commerce for web by using operator ID 000713 and password 123.

Set up your e-commerce sites

There are three available e-commerce demo sites: Fabrikam, Adventure Works, and Adventure Works Business. Follow the steps below to configure each demo site.

Sign in to site builder by using the URL that you made a note of when you initialized e-Commerce during provisioning (see Initialize e-Commerce).
Select the site (Fabrikam, Adventure Works, or Adventure Works Business), to open the site setup dialog box.
Select the domain that you entered when you initialized Commerce.
In headquarters, select the preconfigured online store channel (Fabrikam extended online store, AW online store, or AW Business online store) that corresponds to the default channel.
Select en-us as the default language.
Configure the path fields. This can be left blank for a single site but will need to be configured if using the same domain name for multiple sites. For example, if the domain name is https://www.constoso.com, you can use a blank path for Fabrikam (https://contoso.com), and then use "aw" for Adventure Works (https://contoso.com/aw) and "awbusiness" for the Adventure Works business site (https://contoso.com/awbusiness).
Select OK. The list of pages on the site appears.
Optionally, repeat steps 2-7 to configure the other demo sites as needed.

Enable jobs

To enable jobs in Commerce, follow these steps.

Sign in to the headquarters environment.
Use the menu on the left to go to Retail and commerce > Inquiries and reports > Batch jobs.

The remaining steps of this procedure must be completed for each of the following jobs:
- Process retail order email notification
- Product availability
- P-0001
- Synchronize orders job
Use the Quick Filter to search for the job by name.
If the status of the job is Executing, follow these steps:
1. Select the record.
2. On the Action Pane, on Batch job tab, select Change status.
3. Select Canceling, and then select OK.
If the status of the job is Withheld, follow these steps:
1. Select the record.
2. On the Action Pane, on Batch job tab, select Change status.
3. Select Waiting, and then select OK.

Optionally, you can also set the recurrence interval to one (1) minute for the following jobs:

Process retail order email notification job
P-0001 job
Synchronize orders job

Run full data synchronization

To run full data synchronization in Commerce, follow these steps in Commerce headquarters.

Use the menu on the left to go to Modules > Retail and commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce scheduler > Channel database.
Select the channel that is named scXXXXXXXXX.
On the Action Pane, select Full data sync.
Enter 9999 as the distribution schedule.
Select OK.
Select OK.

Test credit card information to do test purchases

To perform test transactions on the site, you can use the following test credit card information:

Card number: 4111-1111-1111-1111
Expiration date: 10/30
Card verification value (CVV) code: 737

Important

Never, under any circumstances, try to use actual credit card information on the test site.

Next steps

After the provisioning and configuration steps are completed, you can start to use your sandbox environment. Use the Commerce site builder URL to go to the authoring experience. Use the Commerce site URL to go to the retail customer site experience.

To configure optional features for your Commerce sandbox environment, see Configure optional features for a Commerce sandbox environment.

To enable e-commerce users to sign into the e-commerce site, additional configuration is required to enable site authentication via Microsoft Entra business-to-consumer (B2C). For instructions, see Set up a B2C tenant in Commerce.

Troubleshooting

Site builder channel list is empty when configuring site

If site builder does not show any online store channels, in headquarters ensure that the channels have been added to the Commerce Scale Unit as described in the Before you start section above. Also, run Initialize commerce scheduler with the Delete existing configuration value set to Yes. Once these are steps are completed, on the Channel database page (Retail and Commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce scheduler > Channel database), run the 9999 job on the Commerce Scale Unit.

Color swatches are not rendering on the category page, but are rendering on the product details page (PDP) page

Follow these steps to ensure that the color and size swatches are set to be refinable.

In headquarters, go to Retail and Commerce > Channel setup > Channel categories and product attributes.
In the left pane, select the online store channel, and then select Set attribute metadata.
Set the Show attribute on channel option to Yes, set the Can be refined option to Yes, and then select Save.
Return to the online store channel page, and then select Publish channel updates.
Go to Retail and Commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce scheduler > Channel database and run the 9999 job on the Commerce Scale Unit.

Business features don't appear to be turned on for the AdventureWorks business site

In headquarters, ensure that the online store channel is configured with the Customer type set to B2B. If the Customer type is set to B2C, a new channel must be created since the existing channel can't be edited.

Demo data shipped in Commerce version 10.0.26 and earlier had a bug where the AW Business online store channel was misconfigured. The workaround is to create a new channel with the same settings and configurations except for Customer type, which should be set to B2B.