Activating the Integration with Adobe
- Panagiotis Papanastasiou
The first step to employ Adobe solutions to an interworks.cloud instance is to activate the Adobe Service Manager as well as deploy the RabbitMQ server on your infrastructure. This action will enable the necessary components in interworks.cloud platform so that you can then import the available Adobe SKU's manually and configure the presentation layer in your Storefront. You can see how, by reading the following instructions.
Getting the Adobe API Credentials
It is assumed that there is a standing agreement with Adobe and that Adobe has provided you with the following guide on creating the necessary credentials for the Adobe API.
In the first tab, as a new and existing partner, you can find the latest guide for creating and retrieving your Adobe credentials. These credentials are necessary for connecting the Adobe Service Manager instance to Adobe's systems via API. In the second tab, you can find the old guide for creating and retrieving your Adobe credentials. Although this guide is deprecated, it is kept only for the reference of existing partners.
Please continue to the following section for more information.
Configuring Adobe API Access on BSS
To configure the Adobe integration instance, please proceed with the following steps:
Navigate to BSS Setup > Administration > System Options > Applications Setup > Adobe Services > Settings.
There are some simple attributes, that define the connection to the Adobe API. The below field values are created by the distributor by following this New Adobe guide at the beginning of this page, under the first tab. Please note that only the “Distributor ID” value is provided by Adobe. Every other field value must be created by you.
Depending on whether you are a new or an existing partner, different fields of each Adobe instance need to be filled in or left empty, depending on the authentication method you have credentials for.
For the New authentication method, the required fields for the instance authentication are: Client ID, and Client Secret, along with the checkbox called “Enable Server to Server Credentials” to be enabled.
For the Existing authentication method, the required fields for the instance authentication are: Client ID, Client Secret, Organization ID, Technical Account ID, Distributor ID (provided by default by Adobe), Certificate Password, and Certificate. Also, in this case, the checkbox called “Enable Server to Server Credentials” must be disabled.
The fields are explained as follows:
System Name: In this field, you define how the instance is named, for example: "Adobe Services". This field needs to be filled in always irrespective of the new or the old authentication mechanism.
Client ID: In this field, you fill in the Client ID value. Its form is numeric. This field needs to be filled in always irrespective of the new or the old authentication mechanism.
Client Secret: In this field, you fill in the Client Secret value. This field needs to be filled in always irrespective of the new or the old authentication mechanism.
Organization ID: In this field, you fill in the Organization ID value. Its form is <alphanumericText@AdobeOrg>. This field needs to be filled in only for the old authentication mechanism. The new authentication mechanism does not require this field.
Technical Account ID: In this field, you fill in the Technical Account ID value. Its form is <alphanumericText@”organization”.adobe.com>. This field needs to be filled in only for the old authentication mechanism. The new authentication mechanism does not require this field.
Distributor ID: In this field, you fill in your Distributor ID value. Its form is numeric.
Certificate Password: In this field, you fill in the “pfx“ certificate password. This field needs to be filled in only for the old authentication mechanism. The new authentication mechanism does not require this field.
Certificate: In this field, you need to browse, select, and upload the “pfx“ certificate that you have created, from the previous section “Getting the Adobe API Credentials“. This field needs to be filled in only for the old authentication mechanism. The new authentication mechanism does not require this field.
Pricing Files (COM, EDU, GOV, and their 3YC counterparts): In these fields, you need to browse, select, and upload the Excel file that corresponds to the products you wish to sell, be that Commercial, Education, and Governmental (with a 1-year or a 3-years commitment). Also, these price lists are the ones that you have created and edited, based on the Adobe VIP MP Volume Discount | Importing the Discount Pricing Excel File with the Final Prices guide.
Products Selling Currencies: In this field, you need to provide the currencies with which you wish to offer Adobe services (COM, EDU, and GOV) to your customers. These currencies, when added in the instance, will:
• Be automatically enabled in the Adobe EDU & GOV products.
• Not be automatically enabled in the Adobe COM products (except the “Adobe Stock Credit Packs”). This is a manual process that will take place via the Products Importer tool. For more information please continue to the Adobe VIP MP Volume Discount | Enabling Pricing Currency page.
Adobe Agreement Currency*: In this field, you need to provide the currency with which you have agreed with Adobe to sell Adobe services. This currency is used for the provisioning of Adobe services.
*The Distributor should create new instances for each Adobe Agreement Currency he wants to be charged by Adobe and upload the corresponding Excel for this currency from the Portal of Adobe.
Update Product Names: You have two options in this drop-down menu field. You can choose “Continuously update names“ so that the product name descriptions are updated with each run of the Get Services Definition service or “Set default names only on create“ to keep the same product name descriptions that were provided during their first creation.
Update Minimum Purchase Quantity: You have the below two options in this drop-down menu field.
• “Continuously update the minimum purchase quantity” (default option): This option allows you to automatically adjust the minimum purchase quantity to align with the values in the pricing file in the latest GSD instance.
• “Do not automatically update the minimum purchase quantity”: This option allows you to manually set the minimum purchase quantity, regardless of whether Adobe has provided a default requirement. This manual value will only be updated by the BSS user and will override any default minimum quantity requirements set by Adobe.
If there is no value in the “Update Minimum Purchase Quantity“ field, it will not appear in the product details section of the product view page.
Important Clarifications Relating to the “Minimum Purchase Quantity” Functionality:
To automatically update your Minimum Purchase Quantity, you must initiate a new GSD process & save the instance.
Every single order must independently meet the minimum quantity requirement; prior orders do not count toward this total. For example, if a platform user wants to increase the quantity of "Adobe Express for Enterprise, For Students (100+) (EDU)," the new order must still meet the minimum quantity requirement of 100 or more seats.
When placing an add-on order for a product with a minimum purchase quantity, a precheck ensures the correct provisioning to Adobe. If the order quantity does not meet the required minimum, the following error message will appear:
The “[add-on name]” has a minimum purchase quantity of [X].
Default Market Segment: This drop-down menu mandatory field simplifies the management of all Adobe organizations (COM / EDU / GOV) by eliminating the need for manual adjustments. Specifically, it allows you to specify the desired market segment(s) for new resellers. When a reseller is synchronized from BSS or registered through Storefront, the selected default market segment is used to create the corresponding Adobe account.
Important Clarifications Relating to the “Default Market Segment” Functionality:
To ensure smooth operation, it's crucial to review and save your Adobe instance after upgrading to the latest Service Manager version. This step verifies that the correct default market segment is set.
It's important to note that this field does not affect existing customer accounts or the synchronization process of products. Instead, customer market segment selection is determined by a combination of the product's segment and the reseller's authorized segment.
Additionally, if you encounter errors during reseller synchronization, double-checking and saving your instance settings can resolve the issue. By leveraging the Default Market Segment field, you can streamline reseller synchronization and efficiently manage non-commercial organizations.
Finally, if a reseller account is mistakenly synced to the wrong market segment, partners should change the reseller's market segment using the Adobe administration tool instead of unsynchronizing the reseller.
• Enable Server to Server Credentials: This checkbox field needs to be enabled (checked) only if the instance authentication method is the OAuth server-to-server authentication. Otherwise, it needs to be deactivated (unchecked).
Adobe EDU & GOV Support Multiple Currencies Inside the “Products Selling Currencies“ Field Inside the Adobe Instance(s).
When the Pricing Files are Uploaded to the Adobe Service Manager Instance, Product Prices are Updated Automatically via the Get Services Definition (GSD) process
Each time the Get Services Definition (GSD) process is run, the product prices are updated based on the prices uploaded to the respective pricing-file fields (COM, EDU, and GOV) of the Adobe Service Manager Instance.
Error While Uploading (COM, EDU, GOV) Pricing Files to the Instance With Invalid Characters
When the uploaded pricing files (COM, EDU, GOV) contain invalid characters, an error message will be displayed. This message helps users quickly identify which file has the issue by specifying the relevant columns and fields that need correction. An example is provided below to illustrate this.
"Pricing file error in column <column_name> for <pricing_file_field_name>. Reason: <system_error>. Review and correct your data before attempting to save again."
Where:
<column_name>: The name of the column where the issue occurred.<pricing_file_field_name>: The name of the field with the issue.<system_error>: The technical error message generated by the system.
Example: "Pricing file error in column Metric for COM Pricing File. Reason: Unable to cast object of type 'System.Double' to type 'System.String'. Review and correct your data before attempting to save again."
Before saving the instance with all the aforementioned credentials and information, you must also upload at least one Official Adobe price list Excel file.
Please check the following two guides on how to upload price lists to the Adobe VIP MP Service Manager instance.
Updating the Adobe VIP MP Product PricesThis guide is a general guide for the Adobe Commercial price list, but the logic remains the same for the Educational and Government price lists, which are found here: Adobe Education & Government | Product Pricing.Once you fill in the above fields, click on the "Save" button.
Now, you can click on the Get Services Definition button to import the Adobe Product Type, named Adobe Services, automatically to the BSS.
If you wish to check the results and/or logs of the Get Services Definition process, please check the 'Get Services Definition' Action page.
You are done with creating the required Adobe Product Type along with its product container and Adobe products automatically and/or updating the Service Manager with the latest functionality.