Inferences

  • Article

Commerce Server 2000 uses the concept of user visits to understand Web site traffic. A visit can be defined as a set of requests from the same user within a specified time span. However, the identification of users is not completely accurate because the Web client computers send only a limited amount of data to the Web server computer. Commerce Server attempts to identify users based on the properties in the Web log file. Inferences refer to the process of identifying unique users based on the data in the Web log file. You can set user and visit inferences in the Data Warehouse to customize the assumptions made during import about users and visits to best meet the analysis needs of your organization.

Users

Visits

Users

You may want to identify users as individuals whose browsing or buying patterns are of interest.

Commerce Server offers three options for identifying users.

  • Use Commerce Server identification cookies for inferences. You can set Commerce Server to automatically issue encrypted cookies that identify distinct users and associate them with user profiles in the Commerce Server database.

  • Use user names for inferences. If your users register with your site, they can be identified by their chosen user names.

  • Use custom cookie identifiers. You can add a custom cookie identifier.

Ee823887.note(en-US,CS.10).gif Note

  • If you previously used Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition (SSCE), the Site Server cookies that were in use at that time are now treated as custom cookies. They appear in the list of custom cookies on the Inferences tab, in the Advanced Web Log Import Properties dialog box, just beneath the text box labeled Enter new custom cookie identifier.

By default, all three methods are enabled for Commerce Server. Unless you disable one or more of these methods, they will be used in the following order to identify users: Commerce Server identification cookies, custom cookie identifiers, and then user names. If these methods are not enabled or available, users are identified by their IP address and client agent.

To set an inference for users

  1. Expand Microsoft SQL Server, expand SQL Server Group, and then expand the server on which your Data Warehouse is installed.

  2. Right-click Data Transformation Services, and then click New Package.

    Alternatively, if you are changing an existing package, right-click Data Transformation Services, click All Tasks, and then select Open Package. Select the package you want to change, and then click Open.

  3. On the Task menu, click Web server log import (Commerce Server).

  4. In the Import Web Server Logs dialog box, click Advanced.

  5. In the Advanced Web Log Import Properties dialog box, on the Inferences tab, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Use Commerce Server identification cookies for inferences Select this check box if you want to use Commerce Server cookies for user inferences.
    Use user names for inferences Select this check box if you want to use unique user names for inferences.
    Use custom cookie identifiers Select this check box if you want to use custom cookies for inferences.
    Enter new custom cookie identifier Type the identifier for your custom cookie in this box.
    Add Click to add the new custom cookie identifier.
    Remove Click to remove the selected custom cookie identifiers.
    Up Click to move the selected custom cookie identifier up in the list. Cookies are run in the order that they appear in this list.
    Down Click to move the selected custom cookie identifier down in the list. Cookies are run in the order that they appear in this list.

  6. Click Apply, and then click OK.

The user inference is configured for the Web log file import process. You can continue to configure the Web log file import properties, or you can import data into the Data Warehouse. You must synchronize your site configuration with the Data Warehouse before you import data into the Data Warehouse.

Visits

A visit to a Web site is the length of time a unique user spends interacting with that Web site. Typically, a visit begins when a user accesses a site either by clicking a link to the site, or by typing the site URL into the Address box of their browser. Determining when a visit ends is more difficult. If the user closes the browser in the middle of a session, minimizes the browser, or types a new URL into the Address box of the browser, there is no log entry indicating that the visit has ended.

To compensate for the lack of a clear indication that a visit has ended, Commerce Server sets a default visit timeout of 30 minutes of user inactivity to declare that a visit has ended. If you choose, you can change the length of the visit timeout to better meet the needs of your Web site. If the visit timeout elapses, ending the visit, and the user returns to the site a moment later, the report will show two visits.

Ee823887.note(en-US,CS.10).gif Note

  • In some cases, your server may not log user visit activity chronologically, which may cause data for a visit to be imported out of chronological order. The Data Warehouse can adjust for this up to the length of the visit timeout. However, if a visit exceeds the visit timeout, the accuracy of your data will be impacted.

To set an inference for visits

  1. Expand Microsoft SQL Server, expand SQL Server Group, and then expand the server on which your Data Warehouse is installed.

  2. Right-click Data Transformation Services, and then click New Package.

    Alternatively, if you are changing an existing package, right-click Data Transformation Services, click All Tasks, and then select Open Package. Select the package you want to change, and then click Open.

  3. On the Task menu, click Web server log import (Commerce Server).

  4. In the Import Web Server Logs dialog box, click Advanced.

  5. In the Advanced Web Log Import Properties dialog box, on the Inferences tab, type a number in the Visit Inferences box to designate the minutes of user inactivity to allow before a visit ends.

  6. Click Apply, and then click OK.

The visit inference is configured for the Web log file import process. You can continue to configure the Web log file import properties, or you can import data into the Data Warehouse. You must synchronize your site configuration with the Data Warehouse before you import data into the Data Warehouse.

See Also

Data Warehouse Components

Configuring Web Log File Import Properties

Importing Data into the Data Warehouse


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