LS Recommend Setup

All setup and manipulation of the recommendation models is done in LS Central Back Office, regardless of where recommendation results are displayed. A general setup for LS Recommend is needed for models that are responsible for loading item and usage data to LS Recommend in the cloud and for those who are just consuming recommendations, for example via the stationary POS or Commerce products.

General setup

Display setup

Before setting up LS Recommend you must subscribe to the LS Recommend service via your Partner or LS Retail Partner Operation. When the subscription has been activated, you will receive setup information to enter into LS Central.

The LS Central Demo Data Company contains subscription information for partners to demonstrate LS Recommend. If you are not in the LS Central Demo Data Company, you must start your setup by inserting default data for the LS Recommend module.

  1. Click the icon, enter Retail Setup, and select the relevant link.
  2. Click the  Insert Default Data action, and select the LS Recommend check box to insert POS commands and default data used by the LS Recommend module.

The LS Recommend Setup topic is divided into two parts:

  • General setup: Describes the setup needed to for all use of LS Recommend.

  • Display setup: Describes the setup needed to display LS Recommend on LS Central POS or in Commerce.

Open LS Recommend Setup. Here you enter the LS Recommend subscription information that will let you start creating models and getting recommendations, to select where to display the recommendation, and to enter the location of data files used in the recommendation models.

General setup

The general setup is necessary for clients using any functionality of the LS Recommend module.

When you subscribe to LS Recommend you will get a set of subscription account keys. All clients using LS Recommend will need these keys to access the service in the cloud.

Account Info FastTab

After creating a LS Recommend subscription you must enter the subscription account information on the Account Info FastTab in LS Recommend Setup. The subscription account information consists of four key values:

  1. An admin key that gives full admin rights to create models, manipulate models, and get recommendations.
  2. A recommendation key that only allows the client to get recommendations. You will only need to enter one of these keys.
  3. URI key that points to the LS Recommend solution.
  4. Storage connection that points to the storage integrated in the solution.

The fields on the Account Info FastTab are: 

  • LS Account Key: The LS Recommend subscription keys. These keys have two different roles: a) an admin key allowing a client to manipulate models in Back Office and get recommendations, and b) a recommendation key that only allows the client to get recommendations.
  • Only Recommendation: If selected, this check box indicates if the LS Account Key is a recommendation key. If clear, the check box indicates that the LS Account Key is an admin key.
  • End Point URI: URI that points to the LS Recommend SaaS solution in the Azure cloud.
  • Storage Account Connection: Connection to the Azure storage used in the solution.

This setup can be validated by clicking the Validate Key action.

Usage FastTab

When data is loaded into LS Recommend, the data is written to text files that are stored in the cloud at the server location. This is needed for clients that have administrative rights to create and control models, see the previous section on account information.

  • Usage File Location: When data is loaded to the model container, the data is written to files that are then loaded to the Azure cloud. This is a temporary location for the data files. If the Scheduler Jobs is used to automate the LS Recommend model maintenance, then old files are deleted from this location regularly. The default path C:\\TEMP\\ is not created automatically. Note: The path format requires that you use use \\ for \.

Display setup

Display on POS FastTab

If the goal is to display LS Recommend recommendation on a stationary POS or a web POS in LS Central you need to do the following:

  1. Select the Use LS Recommend on POS check box.

  2. Select how to display the recommendation:

    • Manual Display on POS: This check box indicates if recommendation results are displayed on the POS on demand by pressing a button that triggers the relevant POS command (see LS Recommend POS Command).
    • Print Recommendation on Slip: Indicates if recommendation results are printed on the slip for all transactions that include items that LS Recommend can give recommendation for.
      If recommendation results have been displayed in the transaction then those results are used to print the slip. This is done to minimize the number of calls to Azure.
    • Show Recommendation on Total: Indicates if recommendation results are always displayed when Total is pressed in all transactions that include items for which LS Recommend can give recommendations.
  3. Select what to display in the recommendation panel on the POS. The panel has one row for each recommended item and the options are basically to select which columns to show in the panel.

    Note: You must select at least one of the Display in POS Panel options if recommendations are to be shown on the POS. The options are:

    • Show Item Image: This check box indicates if the image of the recommended item should be displayed in the recommendation panel on the POS.
    • Show Item Description: Indicates if the description of the recommended item should be displayed in the recommendation panel on the POS.
    • Show Item Price: Indicates if the price of the recommended item should be displayed in the recommendation panel on the POS.
    • Show Item Stock: Indicates if the stock level of the recommended item should be displayed in the recommendation panel on the POS.

Display on Omni FastTab

If the goal is to display LS Recommend recommendation in Commerce you need to do the following:

  1. Select the Use LS Recommend in Omni check box.

  2. Select the functionality profile that has the relevant setup information for LS Commerce Service. This profile can be used by other modules in LS Central that interact with LS Commerce Service.

    • Omni Func. Profile ID: The functionality profile that has the relevant setup information for LS Commerce Service. This profile can be used by other modules in LS Central that interact with LS Commerce Service.
  3. Push the setup information to Commerce by clicking Send Setup to Omni Server on the Actions menu. This action sends setup information to LS Commerce Service.

Note: It only makes sense to send the setup to Commerce when a model, which is ready to provide recommendation, exists in the cloud .