Glossary

Article
11/12/2009

Symbols

.NET Framework

A platform for building, deploying, and running Web Services and applications. It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multilanguage environment for integrating the existing investments of an enterprise with next generation applications and services, as well as the agility to solve the challenges of the deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework consists of three main parts: the common language run time, a hierarchical set of unified class libraries, and a componentized version of ASP called ASP.NET.

See also: ASP.NET, common language runtime

A

action page

A single ASP file that provides a particular aspect of the functionality associated with a module in Commerce Server Business Desk. For example, an action page might define the properties of a particular product. Action pages are typically displayed as a result of clicking a module name in the navigation pane, or as a result of clicking a task button presented by a different action page in the same module.

Active Directory

The directory service for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 Server. Active Directory stores information about objects on the network and makes this information available for authorized system administrators and users. It gives network users access to permitted resources anywhere on the network using a single logon process. It also provides system administrators with an intuitive hierarchical view of the network and a single point of administration for all network objects.

Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI)

A Component Object Model-based (COM-based) directory service model that allows ADSI-compliant client applications to access a wide variety of distinct directory protocols, including Windows Directory Services, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and Novell Directory Services (NDS), while using a single, standard set of interfaces. ADSI shields the client application from the implementation and operational details of the underlying data store or protocol.

Active Server Page Extension (ASPX)

The file extension used for ASP pages written with ASP.NET.

Active Server Pages (ASP)

A server-side scripting environment used to create dynamic Web pages or to build Web applications. ASP pages are files that contain HTML tags, text, and script commands. ASP pages can call Component Object Model (COM) components to perform tasks, such as connecting to a database or performing a business calculation. With ASP, you can add interactive content to Web pages or build entire Web applications that use HTML pages as the interface to your customers.

Active Template Library (ATL)

A library of C++ templates that facilitate the development of small, efficient COM components. ATL was developed by Microsoft and is included as part of Visual C++.

Active User Object (AUO)

A framework that provides a single, unified access mechanism for all user profile information, removing the need for script authors to worry about specifying user identification and profile storage location. A system administrator can configure a computer to define a virtual namespace of profile information, specifying the configuration information needed to access profile data from a variety of sources.

AUO is technically a container of ADSI objects. A system administrator defines the number of objects that the AUO will contain and provides the information for managing these objects. This allows an extensible model for adding new storage providers or alternate profile sources. By writing or reusing ADSI providers, you can access profile information that exists in any store.

ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)

A high-level, language-independent set of object-based data access interfaces optimized for data application. ADO enables client applications to access and manipulate data from a database server through an OLE DB provider.

See also: ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional) (ADO MD)

ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional) (ADO MD)

A high-level, language-independent set of object-based data access interfaces optimized for multidimensional data application. Visual Basic and other automation languages use ADO MD as the data access interface to multidimensional data storage. ADO MD is a part of ADO version 2.0 and later.

ad click

The act of a user clicking on an advertisement or other linked element on a Web page, recorded by the server, that results in the display of a new page or piece of content.

See also: ad click rate, percent click through

ad click rate

The percentage of ad requests that resulted in an ad click.

ad ID

The computer-generated identification number for an ad that is added to Commerce Server using the Campaign Manager module.

ad request

An opportunity to deliver an advertising element to a Web site visitor. Requests are generated by events on the site, such as a request for a particular page or the purchase of a specific item. The ad used to fulfill the request is determined by the Need of Delivery (NOD). When you create a campaign or campaign item using the Campaign Manager module, you can enter how many ad requests or clicks are to be recorded by Commerce Server for that campaign or campaign item.

See also: ad click rate, campaign goaling, Need of Delivery (NOD), paid ad, yield

ad target

The result of a set of expressions that describes a situation or a group of users to which an ad is aimed.

Administration database

The SQL Server database that stores the configuration data for the resources for all computers being run as part of the same (logical) installation of Commerce Server. Commerce Server Setup creates this database.

administrator

See system administrator.

ADO

See ActiveX Data Objects.

ADO MD

See ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional).

ADSI

See Active Directory Service Interfaces.

advertising asset

A piece of content provided by an advertising customer (for example, text, a photograph, or a company logo) that is used in one or more advertisements run on your site, and which is owned and controlled by the originating advertiser. For example, if you download a .GIF image of a company logo, it remains the property of the company and you must display it with the exact resolution in which it was provided. You cannot change it without approval from the advertiser.

advertising campaign goaling

See campaign goaling.

AE

See asymmetric encryption.

affinity list

A user list created from one of three prediction models: transactions, product browsing, and combined transactions and demographics. You create affinity lists in Business Desk and then export them to List Manager. You can then create a direct mail campaign to target users who are likely to buy a specific product.

See also: Campaign Manager module, Affinity Lists module

Affinity Lists module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create a user list from one of the following prediction models: transactions, product browsing, and combined transactions and demographics. You can then export the list to the List Manager module and create a direct mail campaign targeting those users.

AggregateColumn

A column in a dense or sparse table that assigns values to the properties identified in the PivotColumn. For example, if the PivotColumn contains product stock keeping units (SDKs), the AggregateColumn contains the number of times each product was purchased. If the PivotColumn contains PageGroupIDs, the AggregateColumn contains the number of times each page group had been seen. If the PivotColumn contains AdIDs, the AggregateColumn contains the number of times each ad has been clicked. The AggregateColumn is identified in the PredictorDataTables table.

See also: page group, CaseColumn, sparse table, dense table, PivotColumn

aggregated catalog

A virtual catalog that displays content from two or more catalogs. For example, if you are selling content from multiple suppliers, each of which sends you one or more catalogs, you can combine the content into one aggregated catalog. To the user visiting your site, an aggregated catalog appears as though it is one catalog. An aggregated catalog is different from a catalog set in that you specify which users or organizations view a catalog set; an aggregated catalog is available to all users. It is recommended that you materialize all aggregated virtual catalogs for improved performance.

See also: materialize, virtual catalog, catalog set

aggregation

A table or structure containing pre-calculated data for an online analytical processing (OLAP) cube. Aggregations support the rapid and efficient querying of a multidimensional database.

Alt text

The text string that appears in place of an image when a Web page is loading, when graphics are not being displayed, or when users pause on the image itself with their mouse. Users who either do not have a graphical browser or who have chosen not to download graphics can use the Alt text string to identify the graphic that is not displayed.

alternate currency

The currency unit used on a site to convert and format a second currency for dual display. This property is typically used on European sites that use the EuroDisplay object to display prices in both the base currency and Euro formats.

ancestor category

A category that is closer to the root category through one or more parent-child relationships. A parent category is an ancestor category, as is the parent of the parent, and so forth.

See also: parent category, root category, child category, descendant category

anonymous access

See anonymous authentication.

anonymous authentication

One of the authentication methods that you can set at the Web Site or Application levels in IIS. Anonymous authentication is used to establish an anonymous Web (HTTP) connection without providing a user name or password. It is commonly used in the public areas of an Internet site. If you enable anonymous authentication for a site, an anonymous connection will be made even if authenticated access has also been enabled, unless more restrictive NTFS permissions exist on the individual file being requested. Also called anonymous access.

anonymous user

A user who accesses content on a Web site without providing a user login name and password. Sometimes called a guest user.

apartment-threaded components

COM components that reside on a single thread of execution. Apartment-threaded components rely on COM to synchronize calls to them. All COM objects created with Visual Basic are apartment threaded.

App Default Config resource

A Commerce Server resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use App Default Config to set properties that determine site functionality in areas such as currency options, billing options, and BizTalk Server integration.

application

From a Commerce Server 2002 administration standpoint, an application is an ASP application accessible through a single Uniform Resource Locator (URL). An application appears in both the Commerce Server and IIS console trees. The application that appears in the Commerce Server Manager console tree is a logical representation of the application in IIS.

Application Center 2000

A Microsoft deployment and management tool for high-availability Web applications built on Windows 2000.

arc

A graphical representation of a statistical relationship, as displayed in a dependency network. An arc from node A to node B, for example, means that attribute A helps to predict attribute B, but it does not mean that attribute B helps to predict attribute A.

area

A grouping for custom module security entities that can be secured within Business Desk. Business Desk includes two default areas: Catalogs and Profiles. Your system administrator can add more areas to Business Desk if you want other customized groups.

See also: Permissions module, entity, element

ASP

See Active Server Pages.

ASP.NET

The framework for building server-based Web applications. An evolution of Active Server Pagers (ASP) into the managed code space.

See also: managed code, .NET Framework, Active Server Page Extension (ASPX)

ASPX

See Active Server Page Extension.

assembly

A collection of functionalities built, versioned, and deployed as a single implementation unit (in one or multiple files). An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET application. All managed types and resources are marked either as accessible only within their implementation unit or as exported for use by code outside that unit. In the run time, the assembly establishes the name scope for resolving requests and the visibility boundaries are enforced. The run time can determine and locate the assembly for any running object because every type is loaded in the context of an assembly.

See also: namespace, Primary Interop Assembly (PIA)

asset

See advertising asset.

asymmetric encryption (AE)

A method of encryption that uses two encryption keys that are mathematically related. One key is called the private key and is kept confidential. The other is called the public key and is freely given out to all potential correspondents. The complexity of the relationship between the public key and the private key means that, provided the keys are long enough, it is computationally infeasible to determine one from the other.

ATL

See Active Template Library.

ATL Pipeline Component Wizard

A Visual C++ wizard that uses ATL and additional templates to facilitate the development of pipeline components.

attribute

A characteristic that describes a property, object, or person. Attributes can include information such as the data type of the property (for example, number, text, or decimal), whether the property is exported to the Commerce Server Data Warehouse, whether the property is shown to users, or whether the property is full-text indexed. It can refer to a set of values such as hair color or age. Depending on the property or object being described, an attribute could also be called a variable, column, or dimension.

auditing

Tracking the activities of users by recording selected types of events in the security log of a server or workstation.

AUO

See Active User Object.

authenticated access

A user access option that you can set at the Default Web Site or Application levels in IIS. As opposed to anonymous access, authenticated access requires a user to have a valid account and password to access the site. The three types of authenticated access are Basic authentication, Digest authentication, and Integrated Windows authentication.

Authentication Service

See CS Authentication resource.

authentication ticket

A ticket Commerce Server creates for registered users. Also called an MSCSAuth ticket.

authorization

A process that verifies that a user has the correct permissions to access a resource such as a Web page or database, or has the correct privileges to perform a task such as performing backups. Authorization is typically set up by a system administrator, or site developer, and checked and cleared by the computer. The user provides some type of identification, such as a code number or a password, which the computer verifies against its internal records.

availability

A measure of fault tolerance for a computer, server cluster, or system and its programs. A highly available computer or system is one that is up and operating at an acceptable service level at least 99.9 percent of the time.

B

base catalog

A source catalog from which a virtual catalog is derived.

See also: catalog, catalog set, virtual catalog, materialize

Base Class Library (BCL)

A collection of classes, interfaces, and value types that are included in the Commerce Server .NET Application Framework. This library provides access to run-time Commerce Server functionality and is designed to be the foundation on which .NET-based Commerce Server applications, components, and controls are built.

base currency

The currency a business uses to record all transactions in their ledgers, or the primary currency in which they transact with their bank. The base currency is also commonly referred to as the billing currency, functional currency, or booking currency of a business. The Order Processing pipeline always processes orders using the base currency of the Web site. The base currency can be different than the buyer currency and the supplier currency. The base currency is stored in the billing_currency field in the orderform header.

See also: buyer currency, multicurrency order, multicurrency transaction, supplier currency

basket

The list of items a user selects to purchase from a commerce Web site. The list is usually compiled into a file.

Basket Manager module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to manage the shopping baskets of users who visit your Web site. Users can save a shopping basket so that they can return to the site and purchase the items at a later date. Use Basket Manager to find and delete abandoned baskets (saved baskets that have been left inactive for a lengthy period).

BCL

See Base Class Library.

BCP

See Bulk Copy Program.

Biz Data Service

The name of the Profiles resource as it appears in the pup.log file.

BizTalk Server 2000

A Microsoft product that provides the tools and infrastructure that companies need to exchange business documents among various platforms and operating systems regardless of the application being used to process a business document.

Bulk Copy Program (BCP)

A command prompt bulk copy utility that copies SQL Server data to or from an operating system file in a user-specified format.

Business Desk

See Commerce Server Business Desk.

Business Desk framework

The set of HTML components (HTCs), utility routines, include files, configuration files, navigation mechanisms, and conventions that allow easier and more standardized implementation of Business Desk modules.

Business Desk module

A choice you can select from the navigation pane in Commerce Server Business Desk. For example, you can choose the Campaign Manager, Catalog Definition Designer, or Reports module. Each Business Desk module is a set of ASP files that provides a particular type of related functionality and is organized with one or more entry points from the navigation pane.

Business Desk Permissions resource

A Commerce Server resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use the Business Desk Permissions resource to configure the connection string to the database containing Business Desk permissions data.

business logic tier

One or more applications that communicate with the user interface tier and the database tier. In a Commerce Server installation, the business logic tier includes the following Commerce Server components: the Business Analytics System, the Product Catalog System, the Profiling System, the Targeting System, List Manager, Predictor client, and Pipeline components.

business manager

The primary user of Commerce Server Business Desk. The business manager typically has knowledge of business goals, strategies, and processes for creating and running a successful e-commerce Web site.

business-to-business site

A commerce Web site designed for the creation and transmission of purchase orders between businesses that have an established relationship. Also known as a supplier site or a B2B site.

business-to-consumer site

A commerce Web site that provides retail shopping directly to the public. Also known as a retail site or a B2C site.

Buy Now

A content template used in Commerce Server to facilitate impulse shopping: a user can purchase goods from any Web page on the Internet. When a user clicks a product image, a dialog box appears prompting the user for shipping address and credit card information.

buyer currency

The currency in which the user chooses to view the prices displayed on the site. The buyer currency (when different than the base currency) is used for display purposes only. The Order Processing pipeline always processes orders in the base currency of the site. The buyer_currency field is stored in the orderform header.

See also: base currency, supplier currency, multicurrency order

C

cache

A memory subsystem in which frequently used data values are duplicated for quick access. A cache stores the contents of frequently accessed RAM locations and the addresses where these data items are stored. When the processor references an address in memory, the cache checks to see whether it holds that address. If it does, the data is returned to the processor; if it does not, a regular memory access occurs.

A cache is useful when RAM accesses are slow compared with the microprocessor speed, because cached memory is faster than main RAM memory. Using Commerce Server Business Desk, you can empty the caches that store profile data, catalog data, transactions data, and campaign data for your site. The next time Commerce Server receives a request for this data, the updated data is loaded in the caches.

See also: Publish Campaigns module, Publish Profiles module, Publish Order Codes module

Cache Loader

A component used by the CacheManager object to load data into a cache Dictionary object. Although this component is implemented as a pipeline component, it is not run in the context of a pipeline.

Cache Writer

A component used by the CacheManager object to write activity data from a cache Dictionary object. Although this component is implemented as a pipeline component, it is not run in the context of a pipeline.

caching

Storing frequently used documents, images, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or ASP scripts, or Internet Server API (ISAPI) extension dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) in memory to improve performance. For more information, see the topic "Caching Applications" in IIS Help. Also called file caching or document caching.

campaign

A marketing program that uses many communication vehicles (for example, ads and direct mail) to accomplish a specific result, such as increasing marketing share, introducing new products, or retaining customers.

Campaign Expressions module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create and manage expressions.

campaign goaling

Determining the number of ads to deliver in a specified amount of time. You can goal by any event, such as clicks or amount sold. Commerce Server supports goaling for ads, but not for discounts. Using Commerce Server Business Desk, you can goal campaigns at the campaign level or the ad level.

For example, you perform goaling at the campaign level and your customer orders 25,000 ad requests. At the campaign item level, one ad is set up to display 60 percent of the ad requests, and the other ad is set up to display 40 percent of the ad requests. If the customer changes the number of ad requests, for example, to 40,000, you do not have to manually change the number of times the ads appear; they will still appear 60 percent and 40 percent. If you goal at the campaign item level, you set the ad request goals for each individual ad.

campaign item

A communication vehicle that contributes to the specified result of a campaign. You can create three types of campaign items in Commerce Server: ads, direct mail, or discounts. You can use third-party products to create additional types of campaign items.

campaign item ID

The computer-generated identification number for a campaign item.

Campaign Manager module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create customer accounts, and then create and manage advertising campaigns, discount campaigns, and direct mail campaigns.

Campaigns resource

A Commerce resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use it to configure the connection string to the database containing campaign data.

canonical path

The definitive path for navigating to a category or product that is a member of more than one category. The primary parent category determines the canonical path to a category or product; a category or product can have only one primary parent category. You can display the canonical path to the category or product being viewed by users visiting your Web site, for example, at the top of a page, to show them the organization of the catalog.

capacity planning

Planning for application, hardware, and network requirements to support expected site traffic and to achieve site performance goals.

case

The set of all the information known about a specific user, such as user profile data and transaction history. Individual cases are constructed from data in the Commerce Server Data Warehouse. The cases are the input from which Commerce Server builds a Prediction model.

See also: measured accuracy sample fraction, sample size, sparse table, CaseColumn, dense table

case extractor

A component that reads data from the Commerce Server Data Warehouse and produces cases for model building.

case identifier

An ID that is unique for each user.

CaseColumn

A column in a dense or sparse table that uniquely identifies a case. For example, in a case that contains information about a user, the column that contains the UserID is the CaseColumn. The CaseColumn is identified in the PredictorDataTables table.

See also: case, sparse table, PivotColumn, dense table, AggregateColumn

catalog

A collection of categories and products. Each catalog has a unique name. Commerce Server supports two types of catalogs: base catalogs and virtual catalogs.

catalog data

The content of a catalog, including data about the individual product items and their organized categories.

catalog definition

A description of a catalog that specifies its category definitions, product definitions, and property definitions. Several catalogs can share one definition. Use the Catalog Definition Designer module to manage catalog definitions.

Catalog Definition Designer module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create and manage catalog definitions. Catalog definitions consist of category definitions, product definitions, and property definitions. These components are the foundation of the categories, products, and properties in catalogs.

Catalog Editor module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to edit and manage catalogs. The Catalog Editor module supports adding, editing, and deleting products and categories, as well as, importing and exporting catalogs and refreshing full-text indexing.

catalog expression

An expression that specifies which products in a catalog a discount may be applied to.

catalog properties

The basic properties that describe a catalog, such as name, start date, end date, currency, unit of weight measure, and product unique ID. Use the Catalog Editor module to manage catalog properties.

catalog set

A group of one or more catalogs that you make available to different users or organizations. For example, you may create two catalogs that you display to members of a specific organization, and then create two other catalogs that you make available to a different organization. This gives you four catalogs that have been grouped into two catalog sets. Base catalogs, virtual catalogs, and aggregated catalogs may be members of a catalog set.

See also: aggregated catalog, base catalog, virtual catalog

Catalog Sets module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create and manage catalog sets.

category (Commerce Server Business Desk)

An organizational construct used within the navigation pane that allows the grouping of related Commerce Server Business Desk modules.

category definition

The properties that are available in a particular type of category. One category definition may be used for many categories. For example, the Department category definition could contain Description and Manager properties. Use the Catalog Definition Designer module to manage category definitions.

category hierarchy

A hierarchy within a category where one category is specified as a parent and one (or more) category is a child. A category cannot be both a parent and a child (descendent) of the same category.

category properties

The properties that form a category definition. For example, the Department category definition may have the following properties: Description and Manager. Use the Catalog Definition Designer module to manage category properties.

category relationship

A way of associating one product with another product or category. Category relationships have names, a description, and a target. A category can be related to another category (for example, a relationship from the Jeans category to the Belts category). A category can also be related to an individual product (for example, to a featured item within the category). A category can have multiple relationships with other categories and/or products.

CCW

See COM-callable wrapper.

channel

A named set of properties that identifies the source of documents and defines specific processing steps that BizTalk Server performs before a document is delivered to the destination designated by the messaging port with which the channel is associated.

checkout

The process of finalizing a purchase on a Web site. For example, when customers shop on your Web site, they may select several items and save them in their shopping basket. When they have finished shopping, they click on a checkout link or graphical button that takes them to an online form where they enter their name, billing address, payment type, and shipping information.

child category

An entity used in catalogs to group a set of products together in a hierarchy. A child category is a subordinate of a parent category. For example, Music is a parent category, and Rock, Jazz, and Classical are child categories. You create parent and child categories to organize the products displayed on your site.

See also: ancestor category, descendant category, parent category, root category

class

A logical collection of related data members. Classes typically model physical objects (user, product) or conceptual entities (visit, Web hit). An instance of a class represents user data imported into the Commerce Server Data Warehouse. A class maps to a table definition in the underlying relational database.

class key

The subset of data members of a class whose values uniquely identify an instance of the class.

class key member

One of the members of a multi-valued class key.

class member relation

An association between specific data members of the two classes in a class relation.

class meta-data

A conceptual model that describes the attributes that must be specified to create a class in the Commerce Server Data Warehouse logical schema.

class relation

A connection between two classes in a parent-child relationship. The relation defines the number of instances of each class. In the Commerce Server Data Warehouse, nearly all class relations are many-to-one. This means that a parent may not have any children, or may have one or more children.

click frequency

The number of clicks divided by the reach of clicks.

click URL

The URL that users see when they click a piece of content on your Web site or in a direct mail message.

client

The program or user that makes a request in a client/server relationship. For example, someone who uses Commerce Server Business Desk makes client requests for information from the Business Desk server.

closed visit

A visit completed before a log file stops collecting data.

CLS

See Common Language Specification.

cluster

In the Commerce Server Predictor feature, a group of users who share certain profile characteristics. Clusters are identified by the Predictor resource, and can be viewed using the Segment Viewer module.

code value

An abbreviation used to represent textual information for properties such as country/region, state/province, and order status. For example, WA is the code value for Washington.

column dimension

A dimension in a dynamic report that defines data in a column heading. You can select any dimension to be a column dimension or a row dimension.

See also: dimension, filter dimension, row dimension

COM

See Component Object Model.

COM-callable wrapper (CCW)

A proxy object generated at run time so that existing COM applications can use managed classes, including .NET Framework classes, transparently.

comma-delimited file

See comma-separated value file.

comma-separated value file (.csv)

A text file that uses the comma character to separate, or delimit, columns or database fields. Most databases and other programs can export and import a CSV file, so that database files can be created in one program and used by another program.

Commerce application

See application.

Commerce Module

An extension to the ASP.NET HTTP module framework. Commerce Modules are responsible for initializing run-time services specific to .NET-based Commerce Server applications. Commerce Modules are derived from the Microsoft.CommerceServer.Runtime.CommerceModule base class. A commerce module is an HTTP module.

Commerce Server Business Desk

A Web-based site management tool available in Commerce Server 2002 that hosts business management modules you use to manage and analyze your commerce sites. For example, you can update pricing information in your catalog, target new ads to specific users, and then run reports to measure how these changes affect site productivity. Commerce Server Business Desk is accessible from any computer running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and because it is Web based, it can be accessed either locally or remotely.

By default, every Commerce Server Web site has a distinct instance of Business Desk associated with it. The framework is implemented primarily as Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML). It is designed so that site developers can modify or extend the management functionality provided with Business Desk.

Commerce Server Business Desk Framework

A set of services provided for use by Business Desk modules. These services include navigation, security, and user interface controls. In addition, the Framework provides a set of standardized mechanisms that define how to integrate Commerce Server Business Desk modules.

Commerce Server Direct Mailer

A global resource that is also a Windows 2000 service. Direct Mailer runs direct mail campaigns. It processes lists of recipients, constructs personalized message bodies from either Web pages or static files, and sends the mail message to the recipients. Use Commerce Server Manager to configure and manage Direct Mailer, and to specify the database connection string to the Direct Mailer database. Commerce Server Setup installs Direct Mailer and the Direct Mailer database as part of the Web Server or Complete installation, or when you select Direct Mailer during a Custom installation.

See also: personalization, Direct Mailer database

Commerce Server Manager

A system administration tool that you use to manage and configure Commerce Server resources, sites, applications, and Web servers. Commerce Server Setup installs it automatically when you perform a Web Server or Complete installation, or when you select the Administration Tools feature during a Custom installation. The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) hosts Commerce Server Manager.

Commerce Server Site Packager

A deployment tool that you use to package your site, applications, and resources into a single file (that has a .pup extension), and then move that file to another computer. Using Site Packager, you can deploy your site across multiple computers in a distributed environment. Commerce Server Setup installs it automatically when you perform a Web Server or Complete installation, or when you select the Runtime Objects feature during a Custom installation.

common language runtime

The engine at the core of managed code execution. The run time supplies managed code with services such as cross-language integration, code access security, object lifetime management, and debugging and profiling support.

Common Language Specification (CLS)

A set of programmatically verifiable rules that govern the interoperation of types authored in different programming languages. CLS-compliant components and tools are guaranteed to interoperate with other CLS-compliant components and tools.

Completed Reports module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to view both the status of static reports that have been executed and the reports once they have been completed.

Component Object Model (COM)

The object-oriented programming model that defines how objects interact within a single application or between applications. In COM, client software accesses an object through a pointer to an interface, which is a related set of properties and methods.

Component Object Model (COM) component

A binary file containing code for one or more class factories, COM classes, registry-entry mechanisms, loading code, and so on.

confidence interval

A number indicating the probability that a predicted value will fall between a set of given bounds.

Configuration Section Handler

A class that implements the IConfigurationSectionHandler interface. Configuration section handlers contain information that Commerce Server .NET-based applications read at run time to configure application settings.

connection string

A series of semicolon-delimited arguments that define the location of a database and how to connect to it.

console tree

The left pane in a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) interface that displays the items contained in the console. By default it is the left pane of a console window, but it can be hidden. The items in the console tree and their hierarchical organization determine the capabilities of the console.

content pane

In Commerce Server Business Desk, the window in which action pages are rendered.

content replication

A method of copying Web site content from one server node to another. You can copy files manually, or use replication software to copy content automatically. Replication is a necessary function of clustering to ensure fault tolerance.

Content Selection Framework (CSF)

A development framework for the targeted delivery of content. The Content Selection Framework (CSF) provides the components you use to build a business-specific messaging system. CSF provides a platform for making high-speed decisions to target content to users.

Content Selection Pipeline

The infrastructure that links together the stages and pipeline components necessary to gather, filter, score, and select content.

See also: pipeline, pipeline component, stage

content selection score

A numerical value that is the basis for selecting targeted content, such as ads or discounts, within the Content Selection Framework (CSF). An initial score is assigned to each item in the Initial Scoring stage, which defaults to one (1) if no value is set, and that score is adjusted based on how completely the item matches the targeting criteria. The SelectWinners component selects the items with the highest adjusted score to show to the Web site user. Items with a score of zero (0) are not selected.

content size

Height and width values (by pixel) for your content. You can define new content sizes using the Reference Tables module. When you create or change a content size, the update appears in the content sizes drop-down list, available in the Campaign Manager module.

conversion rate

The multiplier used for converting the base currency of the Web site to the buyer currency or supplier currency. The conversion rate is stored in the SDK Order Sitelet for illustrative purposes only, and should be tracked by a third party fulfillment or accounting system in production Web sites.

See also: spot rate, conversion time, conversion type, fixed rate

conversion time

The time at which the conversion rate is applied to a transaction. If the conversion type is a fixed rate, the conversion time should always be the time at which the order was accepted for fulfillment. If the conversion type is a spot rate, the conversion time is when the bank performs the conversion.

See also: conversion rate, conversion type, spot rate, fixed rate

conversion type

The type of currency conversion used to convert the buyer currency to the base currency for the Web site, or to convert the supplier currency to the base currency in a multicurrency transaction. The conversion type can be either a fixed (static) rate, or a spot (dynamic) rate.

See also: conversion rate, conversion time, spot rate, fixed rate, multicurrency order

Information about a user, such as an identification number, a password, click history, or number of times the user visited a site, stored in a file. A cookie can also store ticket data. Commerce Server supports both persistent and non-persistent cookies. Persistent cookies are stored on the computers of the users. Non-persistent cookies are used to track the activity of authenticated users who visit your site. When the session ends, the non-persistent cookie is deleted.

country/region code

A three-character data code used in Commerce Server Business Desk to identify the country or region to which you ship products or with which you do business. Country/region codes must be set up in order to use the Tax Rates module of Business Desk.

creative

The content that is to be placed on an advertising schedule. In the advertising industry, creative denotes ownership of the content. You cannot change any aspect of the ad without approval from the company that owns the ad you are running.

cross sell

A specific type of related sell that suggests to users a product related to the product(s) they already have in their baskets. Use the Commerce Server 2002 Software Development Kit (SDK) to add cross-sell functionality to your site.

CryptoAPI

An application programming interface (API) that is provided as part of Microsoft Windows. CryptoAPI provides a set of functions that allow applications to encrypt data in a flexible manner while providing protection for the user's sensitive private key data. Actual cryptographic operations are performed by independent modules known as cryptographic service providers (CSPs).

CS Authentication resource

A Commerce Server resource with global-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use CS Authentication to configure authentication options for a site.

CSF

See Content Selection Framework.

csv

See comma-separated value file.

cube

A structure that contains a subset of the data in the Commerce Server Data Warehouse, defined by shared dimensions and measures. A cube in Commerce Server is created during the unpacking process, and is populated and processed for data retrieval when the Reports preparation DTS task is run. Storing data in cubes increases the speed of data retrieval.

See also: online analytical processing (OLAP)

Currency Locale Identifier (LCID)

Identifies the locale for currency handling. The default value is zero, which uses the default locale ID of the server.

custom catalog

A catalog that contains the same categories and products as a base catalog, but also contains custom pricing rules for the products. Custom catalogs are a feature of Commerce Server 2000. In Commerce Server 2002, virtual catalogs replace custom catalogs.

custom price

The specific pricing rules that apply to products in a virtual catalog. There are three types of custom prices: percentage off, fixed amount off, and explicit price.

customer

The company or individual for whom you run campaigns. A customer can be an agency, advertiser, or your own business.

D

data code

A code value used to represent textual information for properties such as country/region, state/province, and order status. For example, WA is the data code for the state of Washington.

Data Codes module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module is used to add and maintain order status codes, state/province codes, and country/region codes. Country/region codes and state/province codes must be set up before updating your tax tables using the Tax Rates module.

data constraints

The restrictions to the values allowed for a property. Data constraints are specific to the data type. For example, for a number, the constraints may be the minimum value and the maximum value.

data fit score

A value that measures the quality of predictions made by an analysis model when filling in missing data.

data marshalling

A method of unpacking data so that it can be persisted in storage and later retrieved by unpacking. Commerce Server uses data marshalling to persist the contents of Dictionary objects to the database.

data member

A member of a class used to store a piece of data. A data member maps to a column in the underlying relational database in the Data Warehouse.

data store

A SQL Server database or other database containing data used by a commerce site, such as information about registered users, products, or ads. This also refers to the server that contains the data (the data-store server).

Data Transformation Services (DTS)

A SQL Server component used to import, export, and transform data from different data sources. Commerce Server provides a set of DTS tasks that you use to import data into the Commerce Server Data Warehouse.

See also: package, Data Transformation Services (DTS) task

Data Transformation Services (DTS) task

A Data Transformation Services (DTS) object that defines pieces of work to be performed as part of the data transformation process.

See also: Data Transformation Services (DTS), package

data type

A definition of a set of data that specifies the possible range of values for the set. Examples of data types are: number, decimal, and text.

Data Warehouse

In Commerce Server, a combination of a SQL Server database, an online analytical processing (OLAP) database, and a set of processes that a system administrator uses to import and maintain large amounts of data from multiple data sources.

Data Warehouse Configurator (DWC)

A configuration wizard, available from Commerce Server Setup, which you use to configure a distributed installation of the Data Warehouse and your non-Commerce applications and Web servers.

Data Warehouse logical schema

See logical schema.

Data Warehouse Meta-model

A conceptual model that describes how to create the classes, data members, relations, and keys of the Data Warehouse logical schema.

Data Warehouse resource

A Commerce Server resource with global-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use the Data Warehouse resource to specify the database connection string to the Data Warehouse database.

database tier

One or more databases that communicate with the business logic tier. In a Commerce Server installation, the database tier includes the Administration and Direct Mailer databases, the database for the Commerce Server components (for example, catalogs and profiles), and the Data Warehouse.

DataBinding Expression Builder

A tool available through Microsoft Visual Studio .NET when it is installed with Commerce Server 2002. The DataBinding Expression Builder generates data-binding expressions from three Commerce Server systems: Product Catalog System, Order System, and Profiling System.

decision tree

A graphical representation of a collection of prediction rules showing the probability of one event predicting a second event based on historical data. The decision tree for attribute X encodes the probability distribution p( X | attributes that predict X ).

default component

A Component Object Model (COM) server object that ensures that critical values for the stage exist. Default components usually appear near the beginning of the stage.

default confidence

A value that represents probability of purchase. Only items that have a probability of purchase exceeding this number are returned.

dense table

A database table that contains dense information. For example, a table that contains user information with one user per row, and a column for each user property, such as occupation, age, and gender. When a case is built from a dense table, columns in the dense table are identified in the PredictorDataTables table as the CaseColumn, PivotColumn, and AggregateColumn. A model configuration can reference only one dense table at a time.

See also: AggregateColumn, case, CaseColumn, PivotColumn, sparse table

dependency network

A graphical summary of the predictive relationships (dependencies) contained in a Predictor model. Use the Prediction Model Viewer to view a dependency network.

descendant category

A category subordinate to another category through one or more parent-child relationships. A child category is a descendant category, as is a child of a child.

See also: ancestor category, descendant products, root category, parent category, child category

descendant products

Products associated with a category or any of its descendant categories.

design-time control (DTC)

A special type of ActiveX control used for generating text in an editing environment. Typically, a user is presented with several choices in the control; the choices a user makes will alter the details of a section of scripting code or HTML that is placed on the page being edited.

Dictionary object

An object used to support the creation, storage, and retrieval of name/value pairs in memory. Because every element in a Dictionary object is a Variant, you can create a Dictionary object that consists of almost any kind of value (including other Dictionary objects), and you can store any combination of Variant types in the same Dictionary object.

Digest authentication

One of the authentication methods that you can set at the Default Web Site or Application level in IIS. In Digest authentication, a hash value is sent across the network, rather than a clear password. This method works across proxy servers and firewalls, and is a high-security form of authenticated access.

dimension

A descriptive attribute of a measure, usually textual and usually discrete. For example, a dimension might describe the number of purchases. The numeric amount would be the measure.

See also: online analytical processing (OLAP), measure, grouped reports, column dimension, filter dimension, row dimension

direct mail

A mail message that is directed to a specific user and that meets the specific requirements of a direct mail campaign.

direct mail campaign

A campaign to distribute e-mail message ads to a targeted group of users. The objective is to achieve a high response rate from the mailings.

Direct Mailer

See Commerce Server Direct Mailer.

Direct Mailer database

A SQL Server database that contains e-mail message bodies, event data, and job data. Commerce Server Setup installs the Direct Mailer database when you install Commerce Server Direct Mailer. The database is installed on the same computer as Direct Mailer. Use Commerce Server Manager to specify the connection string from Direct Mailer to the Direct Mailer database.

Direct Mailer job file

A text file that specifies information about the Direct Mailer job, such as whether it delivers personalized message bodies, the format of mail message headers, and the location of the list of recipients. A direct mailer job file is used only for the stand-alone mode of Direct Mailer.

Direct Mailer Pipeline

The infrastructure that links together the stages and pipeline components necessary to process direct mail.

See also: direct mail, pipeline component, pipeline, stage

direct price

A price that is associated with a specific product in a catalog rather than with a pricing category.

discount

A specific type of promotion in which shoppers are invited to save money on specific products or product groups if they meet certain specified conditions. In Commerce Server, discounts have a targeting component and a display component.

distinct user

See unique user.

drillthrough report

A dynamic report in which you can display detailed information about all of the dimensions in the cube that contains the clicked dimension. In Commerce Server the following dynamic reports are drillthrough-enabled: Product Sales report, Shopping Basket Events report. You can programmatically configure the drillthrough limits for a maximum number of records, and you can enable drillthrough for additional reports.

DTC

See design-time control.

DTS

See Data Transformation Services.

dual key

A type of key that is the combination of a primary key and a join key. You can use dual keys when you add profile attributes in Commerce Server Business Desk. See also join key, primary key.

DWC

See Data Warehouse Configurator.

dynamic list

A list of user records that the List Manager service creates at run time, when the list is needed (such as when the list data is being exported). Each time the list is requested, List Manager gathers the most recent data in the Data Warehouse. The information needed to create the list is stored in the List Manager database. (This differs from a static list where the entire list of user records is stored in the List Manager database.) Use dynamic lists for direct mail campaigns that you will run frequently, or if the list of recipients is updated frequently.

dynamic report

A report that is created at run time. Each time the report is run, it gathers the most recent data in the Data Warehouse. Only the report definition, which remains the same over time, is stored. (This differs from a static report, where the report is stored, with the data, in the Data Warehouse.) You can view dynamic reports in a PivotTable or a PivotChart. Use the Reports module to run dynamic reports.

DynamicTable HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used for editing the columns displayed in tabular data.

E

e-commerce

The process of buying and selling products and services over the Internet.

EDI

See Electronic Data Interchange.

edit page

One of two main types of action pages in Commerce Server Business Desk. Edit pages provide mechanisms for altering data in Business Desk. Edit pages do not share the Business Desk workspace with the navigation pane. The latter is hidden when edit pages are rendered, thereby preventing navigation to a different module until the edit page is dismissed and the user returns to a list page.

EditField HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used for editing individual items of data of various types. EditField HTCs are often embedded within other HTCs, such as the DynamicTable, the EditSheet, and the ListEditor.

EditSheet HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used to bundle together controls that are used to edit data.

Electronic Commerce

See e-commerce.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

The transfer of data between different companies using networks, such as the Internet. As more and more companies connect to the Internet, EDI is becoming increasingly important as an easy mechanism for companies to use when they buy, sell, and trade information.

element

In the Business Desk Permissions module, an instance of an entity that can be secured. An element is a subset of an entity, which can be either a Business Desk task or an item describing the entity for Catalogs and Profiles. For example, Save is an element for the entity, Tax Rates, and List Price is an element for the entity, Catalog Properties. AddressLine1 is an element that describes the Address entity. Each of these elements can be secured.

See also: area, entity, Permissions module

entity

The highest level item in the Business Desk that can be secured. An entity can be either a Business Desk module or a property of catalogs and profiles. Examples of entities that can be secured are: user profile properties, organization profile properties, and Reports. An entity may contain several elements.

See also: area, Permissions module, element

envelope

A named set of properties that represents a specific business document. Envelope properties include an envelope format and may include a pointer to an envelope specification. Or, the header and footer information, or header information only, that encapsulates electronic business data for transport.

event

The occurrence of a specific action performed by a user. Typical events include pressing a keyboard key or clicking a mouse to choose a button. Events are recorded with the time at which they occur. Programmers write code to respond to these actions.

explicit price

A custom price that specifies a precise amount. An explicit price overrides the price specified in the base catalog.

explicit profiling

An information collecting process in which users visiting a Web site supply profile data about themselves. For example, users may fill in an online form with their names, addresses, phone numbers, and so forth.

explicit targeting

Delivering targeted content by using existing data about the users who browse your site.

exposure limit

The number of times a piece of content can be shown to a user within a session. By default the exposure limit is set to no exposure limit. It is recommended that the upper exposure limit is not set to more than 10 exposures per user per session.

expression

A condition that is evaluated against profiles to determine whether to deliver content or perform another action. For example, an expression might be "user.totalvisit > 100". If this expression evaluates to "True," then a specific piece of content is displayed to a user. Use the Campaign Expressions module to create expressions, and then combine the expressions with the action you want to perform after the expressions are evaluated.

Expression Builder

A tool you use to create an expression. The Expression Builder includes a list of common expressions that you can select from to define the properties you want to target. You access the Expression Builder when creating a new target expression or catalog expression from the Campaign Expressions module.

expression store

The tables in a Commerce Server database that store expression information.

ExpressionBuilder HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used to create named expressions, which in turn can be used for targeting. The ExpressionBuilder HTC makes use of an embedded version of the QueryBuilder HTC.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

A data format for structured document interchange on the Web. It is called the Extensible Markup Language because it is not a fixed format like HTML. XML is designed to enable the use of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) on the World Wide Web. XML is not a single markup language. It is a metalanguage that allows an author to design a markup language. A regular markup language defines a way to describe information in a certain class of documents (for example, HTML). With XML, authors can define their own customized markup language for many classes of documents.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) data-island

XML data contained in, or accessible from, an ASP page. One of the two elements, xml and script, is used to define an XML data-island, and a particular XML data-island is referenced using the ID attribute of these elements. The data itself often exists within these elements, but can exist elsewhere when a source attribute is used to provide the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of an alternate location.

Extensible Markup Language/ Hypertext Transfer Protocol (XMLHTTP) operations

The mechanism used by the ListSheet HTML Component (HTC) and the TreeView HTC to fetch XML data from the server, allowing new data to be displayed without the need to re-render the entire page displaying that data.

extent

The unit of space allocated to a SQL Server object, such as a table or index, whenever the object needs more space. In SQL Server 2000, an extent is eight contiguous pages.

extranet

An extension of a corporate intranet using World Wide Web technology to facilitate communication with the suppliers and customers of a corporation. An extranet allows customers and suppliers to gain limited access to the intranet of a company in order to enhance the speed of communications and the efficiency of business relationships.

F

failover

The process of taking resources, either individually or in a group, offline on one server cluster node and bringing them back online on another node. The offline and online transitions occur in a predefined order, with resources that are dependent on other resources taken offline before and brought back online after the resources upon which they depend.

fetch page

A type of Active Server Pages (ASP) page designed to return Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents containing data in the standard XML data format. Only XML data is present on the page being returned. The ListSheet and TreeView HTCs expect this data format when they are engaged in XMLHTTP operations.

file

In SQL Server databases, a basic unit of storage for a database. One database can be stored in several files. SQL Server uses three types of files: data files (which store data), log files (which store transaction logs), and backup files (which store backups of a database).

file caching

See caching.

filegroup

In SQL Server, a named collection of one or more files that forms a single unit of allocation or for administration of a database.

filter dimension

A dimension in a dynamic report used to filter report results. For example, if you want only specific sites to appear in a report, you can use the filter dimension to show only sites A, B, and C. Sites D, E, and F are filtered out of the report.

See also: dimension, row dimension, column dimension

Find pane

In Commerce Server Business Desk, an area in the upper portion of the module content pane in a list page. Find criteria are entered in the Find pane. Criteria are then used in a Find task. Most commonly, the lower portion of the module content pane consists of a ListSheet HTC in which the results of the Find task are displayed.

firewall

A security checkpoint that separates an intranet from the Internet (or Internet groups). Only specific data may pass through a firewall.

fixed amount off

The exact amount subtracted from the list price to arrive at a custom price.

fixed markup

The exact amount added to the list price to arrive at a custom price.

fixed rate

A static conversion rate that allows each party (buyer, Web site, or supplier) to know exactly how much they will pay or be paid for items because the conversion rate is already set.

See also: conversion rate, conversion time, conversion type, spot rate

foreign key

The column or combination of columns whose values match the primary key or unique key in the same or another table.

See also: primary key, unique key, referential integrity

free-text searchable

A Yes/No flag in a property definition that indicates whether the property can be found through a free-text search. To set this flag to Yes, the property type must be string or enumerated. A free-text search locates exact matches and words that are inflectionally generated from the one(s) you specified. For example, the word "drive" would return matches for drives, drove, driving, and driven.

free-threaded components

COM components that can reside on multiple threads of execution. The components support access by multiple clients and do not rely on COM to synchronize calls to them.

frequency

The number of events divided by the reach of the events.

FrontPage server extensions

A set of programs you can use to administer, author, and browse a FrontPage-extended Web site.

full-text catalog

A SQL Server object that stores the full-text index of a database.

full-text index

The portion of a full-text catalog that stores all of the full-text words and their locations for a given table. When changes are made to a catalog (such as adding or removing products, or changing the values of free-text searchable fields), the full-text index must be updated to reflect the changes.

full-text search

A search for one or more documents, records, or strings based on all of the actual text data rather than on an index containing a limited set of keywords.

G

generic profile

Any profile that is not using the User Object profile definition or the Organizations profile definition. For example, Address is a generic profile; it is based on the Address profile definition.

global resource

A resource that is available for use by all sites. Global resources expose an object at the global level in Commerce Server Manager, and at the site level of those sites that are using the global resource. Properties for a global resource are configured at the global level.

The following global resources are included with Commerce Server: Commerce Server Direct Mailer and Predictor (which are also Windows 2000 services), CS Authentication, Profiles, and Data Warehouse. Third parties can develop custom global resources to work with Commerce Server. Use Commerce Server Manager to manage global resources.

global resource pointer

A resource object exposed at the site level that serves to reference a global resource being used by that site. Such global resources might also be referenced and used by other sites.

globally unique identifier (GUID)

A 128-bit number that is guaranteed to be globally unique. Traditionally, GUIDs are created by running the Guidgen.exe command line program. The Guidgen.exe program never produces the same number twice, no matter how many times it is run or how many different computers it runs on. In Commerce Server, the GenID object can be used to generate GUIDs.

goaling

See campaign goaling.

group

The area within a Commerce Server Business Desk screen that has a collapsible heading, allowing the information in that section to be displayed or hidden as the user prefers. Also referred to as section.

grouped reports

A set of individual reports created simultaneously with each report showing data unique to that report. The data view shown in each report is based on one or more dimensions. For example, a Sales by User report with a view of the user dimension would produce a sales report for each user. A Sales by Year by User report with a view of the user and year would produce an annual sales report for each user for every year in which there were sales. Grouped reports serve to limit the data shown in any one report to the data view specific to a user. For example, if a site hosts multiple advertisers it would make sense to provide advertising campaign results only to the advertisement sponsor rather than showing all advertising results to all advertisers.

GUID

See globally unique identifier.

H

hashing key

A unique key, often a column or group of columns in a database, that is used to increase lookup speed when searching for an item in a large list.

high precision currency value

A currency value represented as a 64-bit integer and scaled by 10000, as opposed to the 32-bit integers used in Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition. In the Commerce Server 2002 representation, $1.99 is shown as 19900. Keys that have a high precision currency value assigned to them have a prefix of cy_. For example, the high precision currency version of the key _oadjust_adjustedprice is _cy_oadjust_adjustedprice.

hit

A single action (for example, a click on an advertisement) taken by a user at a Web site that results in one line of data being added to the Web server log file.

horizontal scaling

Increasing Web site capacity by adding more servers to the server cluster. Also called scaling out.

host header

A piece of information that enables IIS to resolve a request based on the domain name specified by the browser, rather than one based only on the IP address and port number. For example, the host header name for the URL https://www.microsoft.com is www.microsoft.com. By using host headers, you can use the same IP address and port for multiple IIS Web sites.

house ad

An ad that is served when paid ads are ahead of their Need of Delivery schedule. For example, a customer orders 1000 paid ads to be delivered over four months, but in the first two months the order has been served 850 times. To balance the Need of Delivery schedule, house ads would be served. House ads are also served when there are no paid ads eligible for the request.

For example, a house ad would be served because all paid ads missed a required target or hit an exclusion. A house ad is used to sell leftover inventory at discounted prices. They are also used if the ads on the site don't have specific delivery goals, but you want to have the ads run at specified weights.

HTA

See HTML Application.

HTC

See HTML Component.

HTML Application (HTA)

An Internet Explorer mechanism for displaying HTML as a standalone application. The primary difference between a regular IE page and an HTA is the removal of the security constraints normally associated with Internet Explorer. This allows you to use pop-up dialog boxes, conduct file access, and perform other actions that are normally not possible from within IE. Commerce Server Business Desk is implemented as an HTA, and has code that prevents it from being run within a normal browser instance.

HTML Component (HTC)

A control implemented using Internet Explorer DHTML behaviors. HTCs are used in Commerce Server Business Desk modules for data display and manipulation.

HTTP

See Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

HTTP module

A module responsible for initializing run-time services and providing access to run-time services throughout the life of the application. HTTP modules encapsulate component initialization and extend the core run-time services provided by ASP .NET. Commerce modules are HTTP modules, and modules that implement the System.Web.IhttpModule interface.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

The client/server protocol used to transmit and receive all data over the World Wide Web. When you type a URL into your browser, you are actually sending an HTTP request to a Web server for a page of information.

I

identification

The process of mapping an object onto the supported identification schemas or getting the unique user identifier (UID). The operating system, IIS, or Commerce Server usually provides this identification.

IIS

See Internet Information Services.

IIS application

See application.

image

A visual element used on a Web page, such as an illustration, photograph, or background texture. Web-based images are typically .gif or .jpg formats.

IME

See Input Method Editor.

implicit profiling

An information collection process in which the actions and behaviors of a user visiting a Web site are recorded as the user moves around in and interacts with the Web site.

See also: explicit profiling, Predictor resource

implicit targeting

Delivering targeted content by using your existing user data to extrapolate unknown information about users who browse your site. In Commerce Server, the Predictor resource enables you to segment users to support implicit targeting.

impression

See ad request.

Independent Software Vendor (ISV)

A third-party vendor who develops software, such as tax, shipping, or inventory software, that integrates with Commerce Server and extends its functionality. You can compare an ISV to a Solution Provider, who customizes Commerce Server for specific customers or vertical markets, and designs and deploys systems.

indirect price

A price that is associated with a pricing category. The price field in the product record is ignored.

industry code

An identifier for a specific industry, for example, Automotive, Aviation, Beverage. You create industry codes using the Reference Tables module. The industry codes enable you to identify the associated industry for an ad, thus preventing two ads from competing advertisers in the same industry from appearing on the same page. Industry codes are associated with campaigns at the customer level; the industry code is used as the default for all the advertising campaigns for the customer. If you do not associate the industry code at the customer level, you must associate it at the advertising level.

inheritance

The ability of a newly created object to automatically have the properties of an existing object. For example, a newly created child directory can inherit the access-control settings of the parent directory.

input fraction

The fraction of the properties used when an analysis model is built to predict the properties returned by the model. For example, if an analysis model uses product stock keeping units (SKUs) to predict demographic properties, and the input property fraction is set to 0.5, then only the top half of the most significant SKUs will be used for the prediction. See also: output fraction

Input Method Editor (IME)

Programs used to enter the thousands of different characters in written Asian languages with a standard 101-key keyboard. An IME consists of both an engine that converts keystrokes into phonetic and ideographic characters and a dictionary of commonly used ideographic words. As the user enters keystrokes, the IME engine attempts to identify which character or characters the keystrokes should be converted into.

Integrated Windows authentication

One of the authentication methods that you can set at the Web Site or Application level in IIS. This method employs the Windows logon user name and password for authentication, but does not prompt the user for this information unless the authentication of the current log on fails. It does not work over proxy connections, and is used for private areas of intranets.

intelligent cross-sell

A way to dynamically adapt the product recommendations displayed to users based on past purchase behavior and the products users are viewing or have added to their baskets. Use the Predictor resource to add intelligent cross-sell capabilities to your Web site.

Internet

A set of distinct computer networks joined together with gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving networks. These networks and gateways use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols.

Internet address

See Internet domain name.

Internet domain name

The name used for hosting a site on the Internet. An Internet domain name is a combination of a second-level domain name (such as "Microsoft") and a top-level domain name (such as "com" or "net"), separated by a period. Before establishing a commerce site on the Internet, a business must first apply for and register a second-level domain name with an authorized Domain Name System (DNS) registration authority. This name must meet the requirements for external DNS naming, and must not already be registered or in use. To register the name, a business must obtain (or have an Internet Service Provider (ISP) obtain on its behalf) at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address valid for use on the Internet and the IP addresses of at least two currently active DNS servers on the Internet. Also called an Internet address, domain name, and URL.

Internet Information Services (IIS)

The Windows 2000 services that support Web site creation, configuration, and management, along with other Internet functions. You must install IIS on a server before you install Commerce Server.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A public provider of remote connections to the Internet. An ISP is a company that enables remote users to access the Internet by providing dial-up connections or installing leased lines. An ISP may host commerce sites for client companies, hosting several sites on a single server or server cluster. The ISP may provide the infrastructure and perform administration tasks common to all sites, while allowing clients to perform some site administration tasks from their remote computers.

intranet

A network designed for information processing within a company or organization. Its uses include such services as document distribution, software distribution, access to databases, and training. An intranet is so called because it usually employs applications associated with the Internet, such as Web pages, Web browsers, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites, e-mail, newsgroups, and mailing lists, in this case accessible only to those within the company or organization.

ISAPI filter

A program that responds when the Web server receives an HTTP request. ISAPI filters are different from applications in that they are driven primarily by Web server events rather than by a client request. Those events, however, may be the result of client requests. You can associate an ISAPI filter with a particular Web server event; the filter is notified each time the associated event occurs.

ISP

See Internet Service Provider.

ISV

See Independent Software Vendor.

J

join key

An association between a field in one table or a query and a field of the same data type in another table or query. Commerce Server uses a join key to relate data in one data store used by the Profiles resource to data in another data store also used by the Profiles resource. For example, a join key may exist on the User Name property, relating the User Name field stored with data in Active Directory to the User Name field stored with data in a SQL Server table. Commerce Server supports the use of a join key to relate Product Catalog data to data in a data store that is external to Commerce Server. For example, you can use the CatalogManager.SetJoinTable method to add external data to catalog searches, or you can limit search results to products that are in stock by creating a join key to a table in an external inventory system.

K

key

An identifier for a record or group of records in a datafile. A key indicates a special property of a field or set of fields within a record. Possible key types include dual, join, primary, and unique.

L

LCID

See Currency Locale Identifier.

List Manager database

A database that stores lists of user records. You create lists of user records by using the List Manager module in Commerce Server Business Desk. The lists are available for use by the Direct Mailer to run a direct mail campaign, and in the Users module in Business Desk.

List Manager module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create, import, export, copy, delete, and merge lists of user records. For example, you can create a list of recipients for a direct mail campaign.

List Manager service

A Windows 2000 service that performs the tasks you specify using the List Manager module in Commerce Server Business Desk. For example, you can create, delete, import, export, copy, and merge lists of user records. To create a list you can import data from flat files, a SQL Server database, the Data Warehouse, and Predictor resource segments. You can export lists to a flat file and to a SQL Server database.

list page

One of two main types of action pages in Commerce Server Business Desk. List pages provide a read-only view of some type of data, and typically allow that data to be filtered, sorted, selected, and otherwise acted upon. List pages typically consist of a ListSheet HTC, and sometimes a find pane above the ListSheet HTC. List pages share the Business Desk workspace with the navigation pane.

ListBox HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used for list-to-list copy and move operations.

ListEditor HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used for editing tabular data where the editing of individual records occurs in a separate table below the table containing the list.

ListSheet HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used to display a list of records, and to select one or more of those records for editing. The ListSheet HTC is read-only.

load balancing

Scaling the performance of a server-based program (such as a Web server) by distributing its client requests across multiple servers within the server cluster. Each host can specify the load percentage that it will handle, or the load can be equally distributed across all the hosts. If a host fails, the load is dynamically redistributed among the remaining hosts. Network Load Balancing is the load balancing solution Windows Clustering uses, available on Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

load testing

See stress testing.

log file

A record of the transactions or the activities that take place on a computer system. The file can be either a text file or a database file. In Commerce Server, log files are imported into the Data Warehouse so you can analyze the activity on your site by using the Analysis modules in Commerce Server Business Desk.

See also: open visit, closed visit, log file mask

log file mask

A user-configured property that specifies Web server log file names as they are rotated over time, or based on file size. For example, a daily IIS log file rotation is specified as exyymmdd.log: the log file name will have a prefix of ex, followed by a two-digit year, a two-digit month, and a two-digit day. You set the log file mask when you configure a Web server using Commerce Server Manager.

logical schema

In the Data Warehouse, a conceptual model that maps to the data in the physical store, and provides an understandable view of the data. When a developer creates code to access or change data in the Data Warehouse, the developer interacts with the logical schema. Commerce Server processes access data in the Data Warehouse through the logical schema.

M

mailable list

A list with an rcp_email column that contains user e-mail addresses.

mailing list

A list for use with the Direct Mailer. A mailing list contains five standard fields: rcp_email, rcp_guid, rcp_fmt, rcp_locale, and rcp_url.

managed code

Code that runs under a "contract of cooperation" with the run time. Managed code must supply the metadata necessary for the runtime to provide services such as memory management, cross-language integration, code access security, and automatic lifetime control of objects. All code based on Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) executes as managed code.

See also: Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), ASP.NET

master configuration file

The XML configuration file that defines the categories and modules available within a particular instance of Commerce Server Business Desk. Each module entry identifies a module configuration file that contains the configuration information for that module.

materialize

To convert a snapshot of a virtual catalog to a base catalog. A materialized virtual catalog has the performance of a base catalog for all search and browse operations, but is edited as a virtual catalog. It is recommended that you materialize all aggregated virtual catalogs for improved performance. To materialize a virtual catalog, the system administrator can run the materialize.vbs script, which can be run as part of the site publication process. Alternatively, the system administrator can use the Product Catalog System API to set the CatalogFlags attribute of the virtual catalog to 1. The virtual catalog is then materialized each time it is rebuilt.

See also: virtual catalog, base catalog, aggregated catalog

MD5 Hashing Algorithm

An industry-standard one-way, 128-bit hashing scheme, developed by RSA Data Security, Inc., and used for encrypted authentication. A hashing scheme is a method for transforming data (for example, a password) in such a way that the result is unique and cannot be changed back to its original form.

MDX

See multidimensional expression.

measure

Data, generally numeric, that measures a business event. For example, the number of purchases a user made is a measure.

measured accuracy sample fraction

The percent of the sample data used to score an analysis model.

message body

The content that is delivered in an e-mail message.

message header

The first part of an e-mail message that specifies the address of the recipient, the message format, the language, and optionally, the globally unique identifier (GUID).

messaging port

A set of rules configured by using BizTalk Messaging Manager with which you can direct how documents are enveloped, secured, and transported to a designated destination organization.

meta-data

Data used to describe other data. For example, data type is a piece of meta-data that further describes a property.

MHTML

See MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML Documents.

Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL)

A language used as the output of a number of compilers and as the input to a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. The run time includes several JIT compilers for converting MSIL to native code.

Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

A framework for hosting administrative tools called consoles. A console may contain tools, folders, other containers, Web pages, and other administrative items. These items are displayed in the left pane of the console, called a console tree. A console has one or more windows that can provide views of the console tree. The main MMC window provides commands and tools for authoring consoles.

MIME

See Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.

MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML Documents (MHTML)

A message format that is supported by Direct Mailer. When you choose MHTML to format a Direct Mailer message, you can send portions of a Web page or an entire Web page as a message. The message can include all or portions of the HTML formatting, graphics, and other elements contained in the original Web page.

See also: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

MMC

See Microsoft Management Console.

module configuration file

An XML configuration file that defines the actions, tasks, and entry points for a Commerce Server Business Desk module (or set of modules). Module entry points identify the category with which they are associated.

MSCSAuth ticket

See authentication ticket.

MSCSProfile ticket

See profile ticket.

MSIL

See Microsoft intermediate language.

multicurrency order

An online purchase of items that are priced in different currencies. For example, a company may order parts from a vendor that is offering some of the parts priced in US dollars and others in Swiss franks. To support multicurrency orders on your site, a developer must customize the Order Processing Pipeline.

See also: buyer currency, conversion type, base currency, supplier currency

multicurrency transaction

An exchange of money for goods or services between a buyer and a business, made over a Web site owned by the business, or between a supplier and a business using a Web site, in which the preferred currency of the buyer or supplier is different than the base currency specified for the site.

See also: supplier currency, base currency

multidimensional expression (MDX)

An expression used for querying and manipulating the multidimensional data stored in OLAP server cubes.

multilingual catalog property

A catalog property that has a unique value for each language of the catalog it is used in. Commerce Server 2002 supports the following multilingual property types: multilingual text, multilingual long text, multilingual filename, and multilingual multiple choice.

multiple-choice property

A property that contains a set of predefined values. For example, you could create a multiple-choice property named Shirt_Size, and define the following possible values: S, M, and L.

multiple-instance pattern

A design pattern that allows the creation of multiple instances for a single resource.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

A standard that extends the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to permit data, such as video, sound, and binary files to be transmitted by Internet e-mail without having to be translated into ASCII format first.

See also: MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML Documents (MHTML)

mutual authentication

An authentication method in which both the client and the server must prove their identities. Mutual authentication can be achieved using the certificate authentication process, in which a client computer presents its certificate to the server, and the server presents its certificate to the client computer.

N

namespace

A logical naming scheme for grouping related types. For example, the .NET Framework uses a hierarchical naming scheme for grouping types into logical categories of related functionality, such as ASP .NET application framework, or remoting functionality. Design tools can use namespaces to make it easier for developers to browse and reference types in their code. The concept of a namespace is orthogonal to that of an assembly: a single assembly can contain types whose hierarchical names have different namespace roots, and a logical namespace root can span multiple assemblies. In the .NET Framework, a namespace is a logical design-time naming convenience, whereas an assembly establishes the name scope for types at run time.

Need of Delivery (NOD)

The formula that Commerce Server uses to determine the time and frequency with which it delivers a piece of content. This formula takes into account the total quantity of content to be delivered, and the length of time over which the quantity must be delivered. Need of Delivery is calculated for each ad request by the Content Selection Framework, after it has processed the ad request. Need of Delivery is applied to paid ads; it is not applied to house ads.

NOD

See Need of Delivery.

node

A graphical representation of an attribute, as displayed by the Predictor Model Viewer.

non-Commerce application

A container of non-Commerce Web servers with the common properties for the application. It is analogous to a Commerce application and its Commerce Web server members.

non-Commerce Web server

A Web server that Commerce Server has not been installed on. It produces W3C format log files that can be imported to the Data Warehouse and used for analysis. A non-Commerce Web server may or may not be running Internet Information Services (IIS).

non-transacted pipeline

A pipeline that does not support COM+ transactions. MtsPipeline and PooledPipeline are the only objects that support non-transacted pipelines.

See also: pipeline, pipeline object, transacted pipeline

O

OLAP

See online analytical processing.

one-way hashing

An algorithm used to produce a hash value for some piece of data. The algorithm is termed one-way because subsequent decryption of the data is not a requirement.

online analytical processing (OLAP)

A class of technologies that are designed for live, ad-hoc data access and analysis. OLAP data is stored in a multidimensional database, which considers each data attribute (such as product, geographic sales region, and time period) as a separate dimension. OLAP data is grouped and organized, by shared dimensions, in cubes. The Data Warehouse uses OLAP cubes to store imported data, which accelerates report and query processing.

open visit

In Business Desk reports, a visit still in progress when a log file stops collecting data. For example, you set up daily log file rotation so that site activity is logged to a new log file every day starting at 12:00:01 AM. The report shows the users who have open visits in the log file for Monday if those users start browsing your site Monday night and are still browsing your site after 12:00:01 AM, Tuesday morning.

operational data

Data that is collected, typically in log files, on a daily or other periodic basis. After it is collected, operational data is often imported into the Data Warehouse.

opt in

An action a user takes to subscribe to a mailing list.

opt out

An action a user takes to unsubscribe from a mailing list. The user is added to the opt-out list.

opt-out list

A list of users who have chosen to unsubscribe to a mailing list.

order

An online purchase submitted by a user to your Web site. An order typically includes one or more items, the name and address of the user, and the form of payment for the purchase.

order form object

The object that stores state data about the current, and possibly historical, purchases of a particular user.

Order Processing pipeline

The software infrastructure that links several components and runs them in sequence. Commerce Server 2002 includes three Order Processing pipelines: product, plan, and purchase.

order status code

A numerical data code used in Commerce Server Business Desk to identify the types of order status used on your Web site. For example, you may create order status codes to define saved orders, deleted orders, or unprocessed orders.

Order Status module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to view order status information and display all the details associated with an order including the order header and line-item information.

Orderform header

The logical grouping of fields at the root of the OrderForm that map to the OrderFormHeader table in the Commerce Server Data Warehouse.

organization

A company, division, department, or other business unit within a company that is designated within Commerce Server Business Desk as a source or destination for the exchange of business documents. The set of properties that represent the key characteristics of the organization related to the electronic exchange of documents is referred to as an organization profile. Also, an organization is a grouping of users.

organization profile

A set of properties that describe a company, division, department, or other business unit within a company. For example, name, account number, spending limits, company discount, and so forth, are all properties that can constitute an organization profile. In Commerce Server Business Desk, you can set up an organization profile for companies with which you have a business relationship.

Organizations module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to add, modify, or delete organization profiles.

output fraction

The fraction of properties that will be predicted by an analysis model. For example, if an analysis model uses demographic properties to predict product purchases, and the output property fraction is set to 0.5, then only the top half of the most significant purchased products will be predicted.

P

package

A file created by the Commerce Server Site Packager deployment tool that contains all the data necessary to deploy a site onto a different computer. This includes applications and resources, including the resource property settings stored in the Administration database. A package does not contain those property settings that are specific to a computer (such as connection strings). Package files have a .pup extension. <p>Also, a specific configuration of DTS tasks.</p>

See also: Data Transformation Services (DTS), Data Transformation Services (DTS) task

page group

A set of associated Web pages that you create using the Reference Tables module in Business Desk. For example, if you are running a newspaper site, you might create a page group for Sports, one for the Top Story, and another for Local News. You can set advertising rates by page group, run reports to see the total number of hits for a page group, and target ads to run on specific page groups. A site developer must ad-enable a Web page before it can be assigned to a page group.

paid ad

An advertisement that is served with specific delivery goals. The determination to serve an ad at a given time is based on a Need of Delivery calculation, which takes into account the total quantity of content (number of ads) to be delivered, and the length of the time period during which the ad must be served. You specify the criteria used to serve paid ads; that is you "goal" them at either the campaign level or at the advertising item level. For paid ads goaled at the campaign level, you specify a weight for each ad. For paid ads goaled at the advertising item level, you specify a quantity of ad requests or clicks to be delivered for each ad in the campaign.

See also: ad request, campaign goaling, Need of Delivery (NOD), weight

parent category

An entity used in catalogs to group a set of products in a hierarchy. For example, Music is a parent category, and Rock, Jazz, and Classical are child categories. You create parent and child categories to organize the products displayed on your site.

See also: ancestor category, descendant category, root category, child category, primary parent category

password

See strong password.

PE file

See portable executable file.

percent click through

The number of click an ads receives, divided by the number of ads served, as shown in the Campaign Item Summary report. For example, if an ad is shown 100 times on your site and users click on 25 of them, when you run the Campaign Item Summary report, it calculates the percent click through as 25 percent.

percentage markup

The percentage amount that the list price is increased to arrive at a custom price. For example, a 20 percent increase means that the price is 120 percent of the list price.

percentage off

The percentage amount that the list price is decreased to arrive at a custom price. For example, a 20 percent discount means that the price is 80 percent of the list price.

Permissions module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to set security permissions for all Business Desk modules.

See also: area, entity, element, Windows account

Permissions resource

See Business Desk Permissions resource.

personalization

A feature with which you can direct Web-based content or e-mail messages to users based on their user profile data and their previous requests for content.

See also: target group, Campaign Expressions module, Commerce Server Direct Mailer, Predictor resource, target expression

physical store

The physical databases that comprise the Data Warehouse.

PIA

See Primary Interop Assembly.

pipeline

A software infrastructure that defines and links together one or more stages of a business process, running them in sequence to complete a specific task. Each stage of a pipeline contains one or more pipeline components (COM objects) that can be configured to work with the unique requirements of the site.

See also: non-transacted pipeline, pipeline object, transacted pipeline, Direct Mailer Pipeline, Content Selection Pipeline

pipeline component

The Component Object Model (COM) server object that implements the required pipeline component interfaces. Each component performs operations on some part of an OrderForm object or Dictionary object before sending it to the next component or stage in the pipeline.

See also: Direct Mailer Pipeline, Content Selection Pipeline

pipeline configuration file

A file containing the configuration data for a pipeline. The pipeline specified in the file is created and run by a pipeline object. The file contains stages and components that can be customized using the Pipeline Editor.

pipeline configuration template

The template file used to create new pipelines. The pipelines created using a pipeline configuration template are saved as pipeline configuration (.pct) files. The templates serve as the basis for creating custom pipelines. Stages and components can be added, deleted, or renamed in any template.

Pipeline Editor

An application used to create and edit Commerce Server pipeline configuration (.pcf) files. The Pipeline Editor displays a pipeline as a pipe graphic, showing the stages of the pipeline as segments of the pipe. The components used in a stage appear as valves.

pipeline object

An object that uses pipeline configuration files to execute a series of components. Commerce Server 2002 provides six objects to execute pipelines: MtsPipeline, MtsTxPipeline, PooledPipeline, PooledTxPipeline, OrderGroup, and OrderPipeline. The MtsPipeline and PooledPipeline objects do not support COM+ transactions.

See also: non-transacted pipeline, pipeline, transacted pipeline

PivotChart report

A report that is displayed in an interactive chart. You can use the chart to view and rearrange data graphically, in a similar manner to a PivotTable report. In Commerce Server, you can view dynamic reports as PivotChart reports. To view PivotChart reports, use the Reports module in Commerce Server Business Desk.

PivotColumn

A column in a dense or sparse table that contains the identification of the properties that are used for prediction. For example, the PivotColumn contains stock keeping units (SKUs) when predicting products, PageGroupIDs when predicting page groups, or AdIDs when predicting ads. The PivotColumn is identified in the PredictorDataTables table.

See also: AggregateColumn, CaseColumn, dense table, sparse table

PivotTable report

A report that is displayed in an interactive table. You can rotate the rows and columns of the table to see different summaries of the source data, filter the data, or display detail data for different areas of interest. In Commerce Server, you can view dynamic reports as PivotTable reports. To view PivotTable reports, use the Reports module in Commerce Server Business Desk.

pooled pipeline

The pipeline object that is registered with COM+ to take advantage of object pooling.

popularity penalty

A penalty applied to a prediction that reduces the probability that a popular (well known) item will be recommended.

port

See messaging port.

portable executable (PE) file

The file format used for executable programs as well as for files that are linked together to form executable programs.

Prediction model

A summary of the data that is used by the algorithm for prediction. Use the Prediction Model Viewer in Commerce Server Manager to view Prediction models.

prediction model configuration

A user-defined description of the data used for a Prediction or Segment model.

Prediction Model Viewer

A browsing tool used to view both the dependency network and the individual decision trees of a Prediction model.

Predictor resource

A global resource that is also a Windows 2000 service. The Predictor resource is managed through Commerce Server Manager, and consists of a powerful data-mining engine that enables you to provide predictive capabilities for your Web site based on the aggregate properties of the entire user population that visits your site. Use the Predictor resource to build analysis models that you then deploy to your Web site in order to analyze user information.

See also: implicit profiling, personalization

pricing category

A category in which every product gets the price from the category. That is, the category overrules the price assigned at the product level.

Primary Interop Assembly (PIA)

An assembly containing metadata that describes existing COM types that are already described in a COM type library. When you use the types defined in a type library, always refer to the Primary Interop Assembly for that type library, instead of reimporting or redefining the types themselves. Avoid using interop assemblies that are not Primary Interop Assemblies.

See also: runtime callable wrapper, assembly

primary key

One or more fields (for example, in a column) whose value or values uniquely identify each record in a table. A primary key cannot allow Null values and must always have a unique index. A primary key is used to relate a table to foreign keys in other tables.

See also: unique key, dual key, referential integrity, foreign key

primary parent category

The parent category of a product or category that is used to determine the canonical path to that product or category, or to apply category level pricing rules to the category or product. You specify the primary parent category when you assign a category or product to a parent category. A category or product can have only one primary parent category. When a product belongs to more than one category, the primary parent category determines the canonical path to the product.

See also: canonical path, parent category

private key

The secret half of a cryptographic key pair that is used with a public key algorithm. Private keys are typically used to decrypt data that has been encrypted with the corresponding public key.

probability distribution

For a discrete attribute, a set of probabilities, one for each possible value of the attribute.

For a continuous attribute, x, a function that when integrated from a to b yields the probability that the value of x lies between a and b. Also known as a probability density for x.

product

An item for sale in a catalog. Each product is an individual instance of a product definition. For example, a product based on the Book product definition (which has the properties "Author," "Title," and "List Price") may have the properties "Bill Gates," "The Road Ahead," and "$15.00." Use the Catalog Editor module in Business Desk to manage products.

Product Catalog resource

A Commerce Server resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use the Product Catalog resource to configure the connection string to the database containing catalog data.

product definition

The properties that are available in a particular product type. Each product is associated with a product definition. For example, the Book product definition could contain the following properties: "Author," "Title," and "List Price." A product definition must have one product identifier, such as a stock-keeping unit (SKU), and always has a List Price property. Use the Catalog Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage product definitions.

product family

A product that has product variants. For example, the product family "Women's Thermal Shirts" may include the following product variants: red shirt, blue shirt, and green shirt. A product family always has a unique identifier, such as the name of the product.

product identifier

A required property that uniquely identifies products within a catalog, such as a stock-keeping unit (SKU). A product identifier cannot be removed from the product definition.

product pricing

Determining how much to charge a particular user for a particular product.

product properties

The properties that form a product definition. For example, the Book product definition may have the following product properties: "Author," "Title," and "List Price." Use the Catalog Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage product properties.

product relationship

A way of associating one product in a catalog with another product or category. For example, printers may be related to printer ribbons or ink cartridges, but these products would be in different categories. A product relationship has a name, indicating the type of relationship (for example, "Accessory"), and it has a source product or category and a target product or category. Use the Catalog Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage product relationships.

product variant

A specific item that is grouped with related variants that together form a product. Variants usually vary from each other in one or more properties. For example, a medium-sized, green shirt with a stock-keeping unit (SKU) of 14678 is one product variant of the Shirt product; together size, color, and SKU form one variant. A product variant always includes a unique identifier, such as an SKU, and a price. Each product variant is based on the same product definition.

product variant properties

The properties that vary among product variants. For example, the product variant medium-sized, green shirt, has two product variant properties: size and color.

profile

A set of characteristics that define any business-related item, such as a user, a company, or a business process. Each profile is an individual instance of a profile definition. For example, a profile based on the New User profile definition may have the properties Terry Eminhizer, 52, Female. You can specify the profile data that the Users module collects about users who visit your site. This information may include name, age, gender, address, and so forth.

profile definition

The properties that are available in a particular profile type. Each profile is associated with a profile definition. For example, the New User profile definition could contain the following properties: name, age, gender, address, and so forth. Use the Profile Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage profile definitions.

Profile Definition Designer module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to add and change profile definitions.

profile property

A characteristic that specifies which profile data is to be collected when a user visits your Web site. For example, the First Name property specifies that the first name of the user should be collected. Use the Profile Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage profile properties.

profile property attribute

A characteristic that describes a profile property. Profile property attributes include information such as the data type of the profile property (for example, number, text, and decimal), whether the property is single-valued (for example, only one First Name is allowed) or multi-valued, and whether the data is imported into the Data Warehouse.

profile ticket

A ticket created by Commerce Server for anonymous (guest) users. Also called MSCSProfile ticket.

ProfileDesigner HTML Component (HTC)

The HTC used to edit profiles, such as a user profile.

Profiles resource

A Commerce Server resource with global-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. You use the Profiles resource to specify the database connection string to the database containing user profile data. You also use the Profiles resource to create, edit, and delete profile properties and profiles. You can add and remove data sources, such as SQL Server databases or Active Directory data sources.

ProgID

See Programmatic Identifier.

Programmatic Identifier (ProgID)

A unique name that identifies a program or Component Object Model (COM) object. Unlike a globally unique identifier (GUID), a ProgID is usually an intelligible alphanumeric string, for example, "Commerce.Dictionary."

property

A characteristic of a product, category, or profile. All properties have a name and a data type (for example, Description text).

property definition

A specification of a property that is available for use in profile definitions, category definitions, or product definitions. For example, you might create a property definition named Description that is type "string." Or you might create a property definition named Gender that is type "enumerated" and it accepts only two values: "Male" or "Female." Use the Catalog Definition Designer module and the Profile Definition Designer module in Business Desk to manage property definitions.

property-based search

A search method in which you can search a catalog for products that have properties with specific values (such as price > $20 and color = blue).

proxy server

A firewall component that manages Internet traffic to and from a local area network (LAN) and can provide other features, such as document caching and access control. A proxy server can improve performance by caching and directly supplying frequently requested data, such as a popular Web page, and can filter and discard requests that the owner does not consider appropriate, such as requests for unauthorized access to proprietary files.

public key

The nonsecret half of a cryptographic key pair that is used with a public key algorithm. Public keys are typically used when encrypting data that can be decrypted with the corresponding private key.

Publish Campaigns module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to update your site with new campaign information. The Publish Campaigns module empties the caches that store campaign information for your site. The next time Commerce Server receives a request for campaign data, the updated data is loaded in the caches.

Publish Order Codes module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to update your site with new transaction information such as new tax rates and shipping methods. The Publish Order Codes module empties the caches that store transaction information for your site. The next time Commerce Server receives a request for order codes data, the updated data is loaded in the caches.

Publish Profiles module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to update your site with new profile information. The Publish Profiles module empties the caches that store profile information for your site. The next time Commerce Server receives a request for profile data, the updated data is loaded in the caches.

PUP

See Commerce Server Site Packager.

Q

query

A specific request to retrieve, change, or delete data.

QueryBuilder HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used to build a simple query.

R

reach

The number of unique users who performed a specific action, such as clicking on a specific ad.

recommendation score

A value that measures the quality of analysis models when used to recommend products for cross selling. The score measures the quality of a ranked list of recommendations returned from the models.

Reference Tables module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to create and manage content sizes, industry codes, and page groups.

referential integrity

A state in which all foreign key values in a database are valid. To be valid, a foreign key must contain either the value NULL, or an existing key value from the primary or unique key columns referenced by the foreign key.

See also: primary key, unique key, foreign key

registered user

Someone who visits a Web site and purposefully supplies personal information, such as name, address, and phone number. This information is transmitted back to the server and can be used to tell how many of your customers are male and female, how many purchased specific items, which customers consistently order the same products, and other details.

A class of promotions that help display additional merchandise to users by creating a relationship between the products that they are viewing or have in their basket, and other related products. Use the Commerce Server 2002 Software Development Kit to provide up-sell and cross-sell functionality to your site. Use the Predictor resource to add intelligent cross-sell functionality.

See also: cross sell, intelligent cross-sell

relation

See class relation and class member relation.

reliability

A measure of the time between failures (mean time between failures), where failure is defined as a departure from acceptable service for an application, a computer system, or the network system. In contrast, availability involves reliability as well as the time required to bring a system back to normal operations after it goes down (or is taken down for planned maintenance or upgrade). When you plan for a Commerce Server installation, you plan your hardware, network, and operational procedures to obtain the level of reliability you require.

replication

The process of copying content and/or configuration settings from one server node to another. You can copy files manually or use replication software to copy them automatically. Replication is a necessary function of server clustering to ensure fault tolerance.

report definition

The fields and queries that are populated with data when a report is run. Each report has its own report definition. When you customize a report, you customize the report definition, not the report that contains the data.

Reports module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to select and run a report.

request

Any connection to an Internet site that requests content to be retrieved from a URL. Unlike hits, requests are related to content and user behavior. For example, if a user requests an HTML page that has three graphics files, the Web server might make a log entry for the three graphics files, the HTML page, and perhaps add some lines for overhead. However, for the reports run in the Analysis modules in Business Desk, only one request is counted. Also known as a Web request or an HTTP request.

request duration

The time between two consecutive requests in the same visit.

required component

The Component Object Model (COM) server object that ensures the integrity of data leaving the stage. Required components also perform currency and integer conversions so that stages containing all Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition components will perform properly with stages containing all Commerce Server 2002 components.

resource

An entity that provides functionality to the applications in a Commerce Server site. A resource has one or more COM objects. These are used on the Web pages of an application to access the functionality of the resource. A resource may have global properties or site-level properties, but not both. Resource properties are stored in the Administration database. A set of resources ships with Commerce Server; some of these resources are also Windows 2000 services. Third parties can develop custom resources to work with Commerce Server. You use Commerce Server Manager to manage resources.

See also: global resource, service, site resource

root category

A category that is not a child of any other category. A root category may or may not have children, but it does not have a parent.

See also: parent category, ancestor category, child category, descendant category

root product

A product contained in a catalog that is not associated with any category.

row dimension

A dimension in a dynamic report that defines data in the report rows. You can select any dimensions to be a row dimensions or a column dimensions.

See also: dimension, filter dimension, column dimension

runtime callable wrapper

A wrapper class that allows a .NET-based application to interact with a COM component. The run-time callable wrapper is responsible for instantiating the COM object, managing references to the object, making interface method calls, and returning values.

See also: Primary Interop Assembly (PIA)

S

salt

A 32-bit random number that is prefixed to the user data before a hash is performed. This increases the security of hashed encryption schemes.

sample size

The number of cases used to build an analysis model.

See also: case, measured accuracy sample fraction

scaling

Expanding the capacity of a Web server or server cluster to accommodate increased site traffic and improve site performance.

scaling out

See horizontal scaling.

scaling up

See vertical scaling.

score

A measurement of how accurately an analysis model predicts new data. You use these scores to measure the effectiveness of analysis models as you adjust the values used for the Sample size and Input and output attribute fraction parameters in the Build Model dialog box.

See also: data fit score, recommendation score, measured accuracy sample fraction

security identifier (SID)

A unique number that identifies each user, group, and computer account. Every account on your network is issued a unique SID when the account is first created. Internal processes in Windows 2000 refer to an account SID rather than the account user or group name. In the Business Desk Permissions module, the SID can refer to a user or a group, and can be built in or user defined.

segment

In the Segment Viewer module, a group of users who share similar profile properties.

segment comparison

In the Segment Viewer module, a view showing the differences between the selected segments.

segment group

In the Segment Viewer module, a collection of similar segments.

segment hierarchy

In the Segment Viewer module, a hierarchical arrangement of segments and segment groups in which a parent segment includes all the users that its child segments contain. The top-level segment group represents the entire population.

Segment model

In the Segment Viewer module, a summary of the data that is used by the algorithm for segmentation. Use the Segment Viewer module in Commerce Server Business Desk to view Segment models.

segment summary

In the Segment Viewer module, a sorted list of the most significant properties that characterize a segment.

Segment Viewer module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to identify usage trends and make marketing decisions based upon similarities among users.

segmentation

A data mining technique that identifies groups of cases that are similar to each other. Use the Segment Viewer module to perform segmentation.

server cluster

Two or more computers connected together for the purpose of sharing resources and request load. Each member of a server cluster is called a node. Nodes in a server cluster can have their own storage devices or share a common device. Typically, server clustering involves support for load balancing, fault tolerance, and failover.

server extensions

A set of programs on a Web server that support administering, authoring, and browsing a FrontPage-extended Web site.

server farm

See server cluster, Web farm.

service

A program, routine, or process that performs a specific system function to support other programs, particularly at a low (close to the hardware) level. When services are provided over a network, they can be published in Active Directory, facilitating service-centric administration and usage. Services have a set of common administrative functions. For example, a service can be started, stopped, paused, or resumed; its start parameters can be modified; and it can be administered using command line utilities and scripts. Commerce Server includes the following resources that are also services: Direct Mailer, Predictor, and List Manager.

shared hosting

A service provided by an Application Service Provider (ASP). An ASP serves pages for multiple Web sites, which may or may not have their own Internet domain names, from a single Web server. Shared hosting is a less expensive way for businesses to create and manage a Web application.

Shipping Methods module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to define your shipping method, either by weight, quantity, or subtotal.

SID

See security identifier.

singleton pattern

A design pattern that allows the creation of only one instance of a resource.

site

In Commerce Server Manager, a container for Commerce Server applications and site-level resources. For example, the Retail site contains two applications: the business-to-consumer Web site and the business-to-consumer Commerce Server Business Desk, and both share the same site-level resources.

Site Configuration Store

The Administrative database containing configuration settings for the site, including the base currency, alternate currency, and SMTP server name.

site developer

The person who writes the HTML/ASP code for your Web site to customize it for your business. This person might also customize reports and add or modify Business Desk modules to extend the functionality for your unique business needs.

Site Packager

See Commerce Server Site Packager.

site provisioning

The process of deploying a new site in a hosting environment. Site provisioning includes tasks such as unpacking the application, creating the databases to be used by the site, and assigning the appropriate permissions that enable business managers to manage the site.

site resource

A resource that is available for use by a specific site. All resources used by a site expose an object at the site level in Commerce Server Manager. For example, a global resource can also be a site resource: a global resource used by a site exposes an object at the site level; the only property that the object exposes is a pointer to the associated global resource at the global level.

A site resource can have all of its properties at the site level, or all of its properties at the global level, but it cannot have both. You configure the properties of a site resource at the site level. A set of site resources is included with Commerce Server, and third parties can develop custom site resources. You use Commerce Server Manager to manage site resources.

site terms

A list of specific values that are pertinent to your site. You use a site term to assign this list of values, called terms, to a profile property as the property type. For example, you can create a site term named Gender, and define the following possible terms: "Female" and "Male." When you create a profile property named Gender, and assign the gender site term as the type reference, users will be able to select "Female" or "Male" from the drop-down list that is displayed for the gender property on your Web site. Users can select only one of the possible values for the property.

By applying site terms to profile properties, you establish common words that can be used throughout Commerce Server, for example, to target advertising content to users.

See also: Site Terms Editor module, Site Vocabulary

Site Terms Editor module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to add and edit site terms.

Site Vocabulary

A hierarchically arranged set of possible values for user and content attributes in Site Server 3.0. In Commerce Server 2002, Site Vocabulary becomes site terms.

SKU

Stock keeping unit. In Commerce Server, the SKU is a unique identifier, usually alphanumeric, for a product. The SKU allows a product to be tracked for inventory purposes. A SKU can be associated with any item that can be purchased. For example, a shirt in style number 3726, size 8 might have a SKU of 3726-8.

snap-in

A type of tool you can add to a console supported by Microsoft Management Console (MMC). A stand-alone snap-in can be added by itself; an extension snap-in can only be added to extend the function of another snap-in.

See also: Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

Solution Site

A set of Commerce Server features that are pre-configured for a specific site scenario and bundled into a package file. Commerce Server includes the Blank Solution Site in the box. The other two sites, Retail and Supplier, are available online at: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=6491. Each Solution Site is designed to be unpacked and then customized to meet the needs of your site.

sparse table

A database table that contains sparse information. An example would be a transaction history table that contains the following columns: CustomerID, ProductID, Quantity. In this table, there is one row for each purchase. If a user purchased three products, or a product is purchased by three users, that information is stored in three rows. When a case is built from a sparse table, columns in the sparse table are identified in the PredictorDataTables table as the CaseColumn, PivotColumn, and AggregateColumn. A model configuration can reference multiple sparse tables and can reference the same sparse table multiple times, each time using different columns as the CaseColumn, PivotColumn, and AggregateColumn.

See also: AggregateColumn, case, CaseColumn, dense table, PivotColumn

specification search

A search method in which you can perform a progressive drill-down search of products by specifying parameter constraints, such as a category, product, or property. To perform a specification search, you search for properties by progressively reducing the number of products that match your search criteria. Specification searches are useful when you do not want to search all of your products for a property, but you need to identify a group of products instead.

specification searchable

A Yes/No flag in a property definition that indicates whether the property can be found through a specification search.

An advertising customer who pays to run ads on specific sections or pages of a site, to the exclusion of all other ads. These ads are given priority over all other ads, even targeted ads. Often these ads are messages that are integrated with your content on an exclusive basis, for example, transition ads with "brought to you by" messages. Both pages and targets can have sponsors. To set up this type of ad, use the Target Groups module in Business Desk and specify the sponsor action in a target expression.

spot rate

A dynamic conversion rate that is not set until the conversion time. Market changes can affect the spot rate between the time the customer purchases items on the site and the conversion time. For this reason, it is suggested that all item prices not displayed in the base currency of the Web site be marked as approximate.

See also: conversion rate, conversion time, conversion type, fixed rate

stage

A subdivision of a pipeline that serves as a logical grouping of components. For example, the Tax stage groups together pipeline components related to calculating the tax that should be applied to a particular order.

See also: default component, Direct Mailer Pipeline, Content Selection Pipeline, stage affinity

stage affinity

A quality of components that can function within a given stage. To identify the stage or stages with which a component has an affinity, you write the class ID of the new component to the \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\component_classid\implemented categories\stage_catid key within the Microsoft Windows NT Registry, where stage_cat_id is the globally unique identifier (GUID) of the stage with which the component will have an affinity, and where component_class_id is the class ID of the component itself.

state/province code

A three-character data code used in Commerce Server Business Desk to identify the state or province to which products will be shipped. State/province codes must be set up in order to use the Tax module of Commerce Server Business Desk.

static list

A list of user records that is created immediately upon request, and then stored in the List Manager database. (This differs from a dynamic list, where only the information needed to create the list is stored in the List Manager database.) Use static lists for direct mail campaigns that you run infrequently, or if the list of recipients does not change frequently.

static report

A report that is run immediately upon request and then stored, with the data, in the Data Warehouse. (This differs from a dynamic report, where only the information needed to create the report is stored in the Data Warehouse.) You can post static reports to your Web site, and you can export the data in a static report to the List Manager module in Business Desk. Use the Reports module to run static reports, and use the Complete Reports module to view them.

status bar

The short, wide display area at the bottom of the Commerce Server Business Desk content pane. It is used to display current task status, such as a loading message, and a key of symbols used in the HTML components (HTCs) in the action page.

store

A specific set of tables in a database.

stress testing

Testing performed on a Commerce Server application to ensure that it can support the expected number of concurrent users and handle peak user loads while maintaining the required level of performance. Stress testing is performed with a stress tool that generates loads defined by the system administrator to approximate the expected use patterns of the site. Also called load testing.

striping

The process of storing data in stripes on two or more physical disks. Data in a striped volume is allocated alternately and evenly (in stripes) to striped disks. Striped volumes offer the best performance of all volumes available in Windows 2000, but they do not provide fault tolerance. If a disk in a striped volume fails, the data in the entire volume is lost. You can create striped volumes only on dynamic disks. Striped volumes cannot be mirrored or extended. In Windows NT 4.0, a striped volume was known as a stripe set.

strong password

A password with the following characteristics: contains at least six characters, contains at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions, is significantly different from passwords previously used, does not contain your name or user name, is not a common word or name, and contains characters from each of the following three groups. (1) Uppercase and lowercase letters (A, a, B, b, C, c, and so on), (2) Numbers, and (3) Symbols (such as !, @, #, and so on).

The process in which users add their e-mail addresses to a List Manager list to receive content, or supply registration information so they can retrieve content or access a service or site.

supplier

A trading partner in a business-to-business site. Use Microsoft BizTalk Server to add suppliers to a site. Also known as a vendor.

supplier currency

The base currency of the business supplying the goods to the Web site. The supplier currency can be different than the buyer currency and the base currency of the site. The supplier_currency field is stored in the orderform line item.

See also: buyer currency, multicurrency order, base currency, multicurrency transaction

system administrator

The primary user of Commerce Server Manager. This person is responsible for installing, configuring, and managing Commerce Server.

T

target

One or more expressions that identify where, when, and to whom content should be displayed. You can target demographics, sections of a Web site, or both.

See also: target expression, target group

target action

An option that specifies that a piece of content is to be shown when the target is met more often than when the target is not met. Use target action when it is difficult to deliver against the targeting goals of the campaign item (for example, there is not enough of the target available to require the content be shown). For example, if you are to deliver 1000 ad requests to users who live in Alaska, and you only have 15 users in Alaska, you need to deliver that ad to users who do not live in Alaska. Use the Target Groups module in Business Desk to specify the target action for an expression.

target expression

For Commerce Server campaigns, an expression that identifies where, when, and to whom content should be displayed. For example, you can target content to users who have specific profile properties. You can also target content to specific sections of a Web site. For example, you can create a target expression that will display certain ads only on Sports pages.

target group

A collection of targets that content is to be shown to. When you form a target group, you combine two or more expressions. By combining expressions in a target group, you can create expressions that use OR statements, effectively targeting a wider audience.

Target Group module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to manage target groups.

targeting

Delivering specific content to specific users.

task

In Commerce Server Business Desk, an operation performed from an action page, often leading to the display of a different action page where the details of the task are performed. Tasks are initiated by pressing a task button. Some tasks, such as Edit and Remove, are context-sensitive; they apply to whatever is selected in the current action page.

taskpad

A view of the details and tasks that relate to specific nodes in the Commerce Server Manager tree. For example, the taskpad view for the Commerce Sites node displays the sites and site tasks you can perform. Use taskpad to perform tasks such as packing a site, deleting a site, or adding resources to a site.

Tax Rates module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to update tax tables and rates for your Web site.

text file

A file composed of text characters. A text file can be a word-processing file or a plain ASCII file encoded in a format that can be read by nearly all computers. For the Campaigns Manager module, text is one of the types of display available for ads and discounts. An ad of this type displays as lines of text on the page.

three-tier architecture

An architecture that divides a networked application into three logical areas: the user interface tier (also called the top tier), the business logic tier (also called the middle tier), and the database tier (also called the bottom tier). Tiers may have one or more components. For example, there can be one or more user interfaces in the user interface tier. Also, each user interface may communicate with more than one application in the business logic tier, and the applications in the business logic tier may use more than one database at a time. Components in a tier may run on a computer that is separate from the other tiers, communicating with the other components over a network.

ticket

A string of property/value pairs used to store authentication and other information about a user. For example, "userID/joeuser" is a property/value pair. Ticket data can be stored in a cookie or a URL query string.

See also: authentication ticket, cookie, profile ticket

The horizontal row of buttons located at the top of a Commerce Server Business Desk screen when the content pane is displayed. You use these buttons to access the functionality available from that Business Desk screen.

tracing

A form of debugging, using the Trace class, that tracks and presents execution details of a running application. Tracing is available to any ASP.NET class that implements a Trace property.

trading partner

An external organization with which your organization exchanges electronic data. The exchange of data among trading partners is governed by the agreements, pipelines, and distribution lists that are created between your organization and the trading partners. The exchange of data among trading partners is handled by Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000.

transacted pipeline

A pipeline that supports COM+ transactions. MtsTxPipeline and PooledTxPipeline are the only objects that support transactions. If any component in a transacted pipeline fails, the work of the preceding components in the pipeline is undone, and the object ends the transaction.

See also: non-transacted pipeline, pipeline, pipeline object

transaction

A group of operations that are logged so that, if necessary, the operations can be undone in case of an error. Commerce Server 2002 provides pipeline objects that support transactions.

Transaction Config resource

A Commerce Server resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use the Transaction Config resource to configure the connection string to the database containing transaction meta-data.

transaction data

The data that is generated when users purchase products from your site. Transaction data can include any user activity recorded from a product page, a basket page, or a checkout page. For example, it might include the name, shipping address, date and time, product purchased, and total order value.

Transactions resource

A Commerce Server resource with site-level properties, managed through Commerce Server Manager. Use the Transactions resource to configure the connection string to the database containing transaction meta-data.

TreeView HTML Component (HTC)

The HTML Component (HTC) used to display an Extensible Markup Language (XML) structure in an expandable tree format.

TRUSTe

An independent, non-profit initiative whose mission is to build the trust and confidence of users on the Internet by promoting the TRUSTe principles of fair information practices. Microsoft is a premier sponsor of TRUSTe and a member of the TRUSTe privacy program.

U

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)

Identifies points of content on the Internet. The content can be a page of text, a video or sound clip, an image, or a program. The most common form of URI is the Web page address, also known as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URI usually includes the file name for the resource, the name of the computer the resource resides on, and the protocol used to access it. For example, https://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/security/password.htm.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The address of a file (resource) accessible on the Internet. The type of resource depends on the Internet application protocol. For example, for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) used on the World Wide Web, the resource can be an HTML page, an image file, a program such as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application or Java applet, or any other file supported by HTTP. The URL contains the name of the protocol required to access the resource, a domain name that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, and a hierarchical description of a file location on the computer.

unique key

A field that contains a unique identifier for each record in a table. For example, the social security number field is a unique key for employee records.

See also: primary key, referential integrity, foreign key

unique user

A user distinguished as unique within a specified period of time. For example, a user may visit your site 130 times within a one-month period. Commerce Server counts the user as a unique user only once. However, Commerce Server counts the user as a (non-unique) user 130 times during the same one-month period.

Universal Character Set Transformation Code (UTF-8)

A protocol used to transform extended multibyte Unicode characters to variable-length sequences of single-byte values to provide compatibility with legacy file systems, parsers, and other software that rely on single-byte ASCII values but are transparent to other values. Commerce Server Enterprise Edition enables you to import UTF-8 log files.

unmanaged code

Code that is created without regard for the conventions and requirements of the run time. Unmanaged code executes in the common language run-time environment with minimal services (for example, no garbage collection, limited debugging, and so on).

unregistered user

Someone who visits a Web site and purposefully does not provide the personal or identifying information required to register.

up sell

A specific type of related sell that suggests to users that they replace a product they are looking at or have in their basket with a better product. Use the Software Development Kit to add up-sell functionality to your site.

update

To rebuild the full-text index. Used only in the Catalog Editor module of Commerce Server Business Desk.

URI

See Uniform Resource Identifier.

URL

See Uniform Resource Locator.

usage profile

A set of properties that describe the traffic patterns on a site. For example, a usage profile shows how many people browse a certain page, the browse-to-buy ratio, and how many users add an item to their basket and then remove it. System administrators use the usage profile to determine how many Web servers are needed and to configure a site.

user

A person who visits a commerce site at least once. User refers to any person who clicks on the site, whether or not the user has registered.

user interface tier

One or more programs with which users interact. In a Commerce Server installation, the user interface tier includes your e-commerce Web application and the Business Desk application.

user list

A list with an rcp_guid column that contains user IDs.

user profile

A set of predefined properties that describe a user. For example, name, address, and gender properties can constitute a user profile.

Users module

The Commerce Server Business Desk module used to modify user records and add and delete user information.

UTF-8

See Universal Character Set Transformation Format.

V

value

The actual data assigned to a profile property. For example, the profile property "First Name" might have the value "John."

variant

A single combination of the attributes that are available for a product. For a given type of shirt, for example, each combination of color, size, and unique stock-keeping unit (SKU) is a variant. Each product variant always includes a unique identifier, such as a stock-keeping unit (SKU), and a price. Each product variant is based on the same product definition.

vendor

See supplier.

vertical scaling

Increasing Web site capacity by upgrading hardware (for example adding RAM or processors), while maintaining the physical footprint and number of servers in the server cluster. Also called scaling up.

vignette ad

An ad composed of text that is displayed adjacent to the image where the ad is displayed. The text can be to the left, right, or top of the ad image.

virtual catalog

A catalog that references the product data in one or more base catalogs. If you add a product to a base catalog, the product may also appear in the associated virtual catalog, depending on the inclusion rules. Products are represented once in the database regardless of how many virtual catalogs they appear in. A virtual catalog inherits all the languages of the base catalogs. There are three primary uses for virtual catalogs: to aggregate multiple catalogs so they appear as one catalog to users; to price products in multiple currencies; and to provide special pricing, or subsets of products, for specified groups of users.

See also: base catalog, catalog, catalog set, custom price, materialize, aggregated catalog, custom catalog

virtual directory

A directory name, used in a Web address, that corresponds to a physical directory on the server; sometimes called URL mapping. In Internet Information Services (IIS0 5.0) a virtual directory is the next item in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) hierarchy under a Web site (virtual server), and inherits properties from the Web site. Some of these properties can be overridden at the virtual directory level; others cannot. Applications, including Commerce Server applications, are at the virtual directory level in IIS, and have the same parent-child relationship with the Web site.

virtual server

Also called a Web site (such as the default Web site). A virtual computer that resides on an HTTP server but appears to users as a separate HTTP server. Several virtual servers can reside on one computer, each one capable of running its own programs and each one with individualized access to input and peripheral devices.

Each virtual server has its own Internet domain name and Internet Protocol (IP) address and appears to users as an individual Web site. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use virtual servers for those clients who want to use their own domain names. An ISP may want to create multiple Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 Web sites and unpack Commerce applications for different clients into separate IIS Web sites. Commerce applications under different IIS Web sites can share global resources.

visit

A series of requests by a user. Visits begin in one of two ways: users can be referred to the site through a link, or they can type the site URL into their browser. A visit ends when a specified period of time (the default is 30 minutes) has passed without any additional requests to the site.

visit duration

The time between the first and last request of a visit. This time does not include the time a user spends viewing the last request of a visit.

W

Web application

See application.

Web farm

Two or more Web servers connected together for the purpose of sharing resources and request load. Typically, a Web farm will involve support for load balancing, fault tolerance, and failover, and will appear to the user as a single server with a single Internet Protocol (IP) address. Also called a server farm or server cluster.

Web form

The ASP.NET page framework that supports the server-side controls that render an HTML user interface on Web browsers. Also known as an ASP.NET page.

Web server

In general use, a computer equipped with the server software that uses Internet protocols such as HTTP to respond to Web client requests on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network.

In Commerce Server, a Web server is a physical server computer running Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0; it inherits properties from the IIS Web Site. A Web server appears under an application in the Commerce Server Manager console. One commerce application can use multiple Web servers that serve different types of content for the application.

Web server control

An element that can be dropped into an ASP.NET page or Web form. Web server controls are hierarchical, programmable, reusable server-side objects (with or without a user interface).

Web site

In general use, a collection of files and applications accessed through a Web address, covering a specific theme or subject, and managed by a particular person or organization. A Web site resides on servers connected to the Web network and provides content that is available to worldwide users 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Web sites typically use HTML to format and present information and to provide navigational facilities that enable users to move within the site and around the Web. From an Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 administration standpoint, Web site specifically means a virtual server (such as the Default Web Site). A virtual server is a virtual computer that resides on an HTTP server but appears to the user as a separate HTTP server. Several virtual servers can reside on one computer, each one capable of running its own programs and each one with individualized access to input and peripheral devices. Each virtual server has its own Internet domain name and Internet Protocol (IP) address.

weight

A means of determining when a campaign item is displayed, relative to all of the campaign items for a given customer. In a campaign, weight only applies to ads that are goaled at the campaign-level. For house ads the weight is relative to all other house ads for all customers and all campaigns. For paid ads, the weight is relative to other paid ads in the same campaign. To determine when discount campaign items are displayed you use priority, not weight.

Windows account

A record that consists of all the information that defines a user to Windows 2000. The Windows account for each user or SQL Server login is mapped to a user account in a database. The system administrator creates Windows accounts and sets permissions for user or group accounts within the Business Desk Permissions module.

Windows Media Services ad

An ad that displays high quality audio and video advertisements.

Windows Script Host (WSH)

A language-independent scripting environment for 32-bit Windows platforms, installed by default with Windows 2000 and IIS. WSH can be used to automate administrative tasks on a server, using any scripting language.

WSH

See Windows Script Host.

X

XDR

See definition for: XML Data Reduced

XML

See Extensible Markup Language.

XML Data Reduced

A standard for defining an XML Schema.

XML data-island

See Extensible Markup Language (XML) data-island.

XML Web services

Units of application logic providing data and services to other applications. Applications access XML Web services via standard Web protocols and data formats such as HTTP, XML, and SOAP, independent of how each XML Web service is implemented. XML Web services are a cornerstone of the Microsoft .NET programming model.

XMLHTTP operations

See Extensible Markup Language/Hypertext Transfer Protocol (XMLHTTP) operations.

Y

yield

In Business Desk reports, the number of actual ad requests divided by the number of ad requests that were specified in campaign goaling in the Campaign Manager module. Commerce Server determines the number of times to display a piece of content, such as an ad on your site, by analyzing the number of ad requests recorded on your site and the need of delivery (NOD) for the ad. After the ads runs for a period of time, you run the Campaign Item Summary report, which calculates the yield percent, showing the effectiveness of that ad campaign on your site.

See also: ad request, Need of Delivery (NOD), campaign goaling