Glossary

This glossary provides terms and definitions for the WebSphere Commerce Version 8 software and products. The following cross-references are used in this glossary:

• See refers you from a nonpreferred term to the preferred term or from an abbreviation to the spelled-out form.

• See also refers you to a related or contrasting term.

For other terms and definitions, see the IBM Terminology website (opens in new window).

• A
  

• B
  

• C
  

• D
  

• E
  

• F
  

• G
  

• H
  

• I
  

• J
  

• K
  

• L
  

• M
  

• N
  

• O
  

• P
  

• Q
  

• R
  

• S
  

• T
  

• U
  

• V
  

• W
  

• X
  

A

A/B testing

See marketing experiment.

access control

In computer security, the process of ensuring that users can access only those resources of a computer system for which they are authorized.

access group

A type of member group used to define access control. See also site administrator.

accessory

A type of merchandising association in which a suggested product is chosen as an addition to the currently displayed or selected product. See also cross-sell,
merchandising association, up-sell.

account representative

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce responsible for creating contracts for accounts, and monitoring account activity. Account representatives are part of the sales organization, and can be involved in the creation of targeted sales promotions such as discounts and coupons.

Activity Builder

A feature in the Management Center that presents a graphical interface where users can create Web and Dialog activities.

ad copy

The information, images and other media used to support a marketing activity. Also referred to as sales collateral.

address book

A collection of shipping and billing addresses owned by a customer. These are useful for a customer who wants to purchase gifts and ship them to different addresses.

ad hoc inventory receipt

A record of physical inventory that arrived at a specific fulfillment center at a specific time, and was not expected inventory. See also inventory receipt.

application partitioning

In the scheduler, the grouping of frequent jobs, to avoid overloading the scheduler's default application pool.

application server

A server program in a distributed network that provides the execution environment for an application program.

approvable action

A command or group of commands invoked by a user that cannot be executed without prior approval from an approver within the organization. See also approval flow, approver, approver group.

approval flow

The series of steps initiated when a user attempts to execute a task involving an approvable action. See also approvable action.

approver

The individual authorized to approve or reject an approvable action. See also approvable action.

approver group

The designated users within a specific organization to whom an approval request is directed when an approvable action is invoked. Requests are directed to the entire unit, rather than a single individual. See also approvable action.

Assets tool

A Management Center feature used to upload and manage store assets, such as marketing image files, catalog image files, PDF documents, and multimedia files.

asset store

A store that contains a collection of sharable resources (business artifacts, business processes, and storefront assets) that can be leveraged in other types of stores. An asset store does not perform or record business transactions; it is simply a holder of assets that can be used by other stores. See also catalog asset store, storefront asset store.

ATP inventory

See available to promise inventory.

attachment

In WebSphere Commerce, a collection of one or more files associated to a catalog or marketing asset. See also attachment asset, attachment target.

attachment asset

A file or URL associated with an attachment. See also attachment, attachment target.

attachment target

A collection of attachment assets distinguished by differentiators such as language. See also
attachment, attachment asset.

attribute dictionary

A feature in Management Center used to manage a set of attributes and values. These attributes and values can then be reused by multiple catalog entries. If an attribute is changed in the attribute dictionary, all catalog entries that share that attribute are updated.

authoring environment

An instance of a WebSphere Commerce staging server that has workspaces enabled. See also
commit, production server, production-ready data, quick publish, staging server,
workspace, workspace task group approver.

authorization

The process of granting a user, system, or process either complete or restricted access to an object, resource, or function.

authorization code

A numeric code given when a transaction is authorized.

available to promise inventory (ATP inventory)

The inventory that is available in stock (on hand) plus the inventory that is on order, not including inventory that is currently being processed, reserved or allocated to backorders.

B

back-office business logic

The implementation of business logic, using commands and customized code, allowing a customer to complete an action in the store front. See also storefront asset.

backorder

The status of an ordered product when inventory allocation has determined that the product is not available.

batch

A group of records or data processing jobs brought together for processing or transmission.

BOD

See Business Object Document.

broadcast job

A job that runs on all clones at once. Like any other job, it is handled by the scheduler. See also scheduler.

bundle

Catalog merchandise that provides single-click function for referring to multiple items. More formally, a bundle is a composite catalog entry consisting of at least one code. See also dynamic kit, kit, package, prebuilt kit.

business model

A sample commerce solution that includes an organization structure, default user roles and access control policies, one or more starter stores, administration tools, and business processes that demonstrate best practices.

Business Object Document (BOD)

A representation of a standard business process that flows within an organization or between organizations. BODs are defined by the Open Applications Group using XML.

business policy

A set of rules that define business processes, industry practices, or the scope and characteristics of business offerings.

business question

A question that is answered in a business report regarding specific information about the success of different campaigns, activities, and the customers who are using the store.

business user

In WebSphere Commerce, someone who uses IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce or WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.

buyer

1. On the buy-side, a defined role in WebSphere Commerce that makes purchases from the seller's website on behalf of a customer account. Typically, purchases are made under one or more agreements negotiated with the Seller.

2. On the sell-side, a defined role in WebSphere Commerce that handles negotiations and ordering, keeps track of inventory, makes purchase order decisions, tracks reasons for returns, and tracks expected inventory records and receipts.

buyer administrator

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages the information for the buying organization. The buyer administrator creates and administers the suborganizations within the buying organization and manages the various users, including approving users as buyers (buy-side).

buyer approver

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that approves orders made by the buyer (buy-side) before the order is submitted for purchase with the seller.

C

calculation code

A code associated with order items, catalog entries, or catalog groups to specify how discounts, shipping charges, sales or use taxes, and shipping taxes should be calculated.

calculation framework

A flexible, generic framework provided by the WebSphere Commerce order subsystem, used to implement calculations and apply them to the applicable business objects.

calculation method

A reference task command that implement parts of calculation framework.

calculation rule

A rule that defines how a calculation will be done.

calculation scale

A set of ranges that can be used by a calculation rule. For example, for shipping charges, there can be a set of weight ranges that each correspond to a particular cost. That is, a product that weighs between 0 to 5 kg might cost $10.00 to ship, while a product weighing 5 to 10 kg might cost $15.00 to ship.

calculation usage

A type of calculation that the calculation framework performs.

calling command ID

A numeric identifier for a command that calls an API function.

campaign

A planned series of operations including advertisements and suggestive selling techniques, that are pursued to achieve a defined set of business objectives. In the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, campaigns are used to coordinate and aggregate groups of campaign initiatives.

capture

The process by which an acquirer receives payment from the customer's financial institution and remits the payment. A "capture" is the guarantee that the funds are available and that the transfer will take place.

cascade delete

A process by which the DB2 database manager enforces referential constraints by deleting all descendent rows of a deleted parent row.

catalog asset store

A collection of catalog artifacts that creates a virtual catalog. See also asset store, storefront asset store.

catalog entry

An object in an online catalog. An entry has a name, description, list price, and other details. The entry can be as simple as a SKU; it may also be a product that is automatically broken down into its component items such as a bundle or package. See also list price.

catalog filter

A filter that controls product entitlement by dividing catalogs into subsets as defined by the business owner. Catalog filters can also be used as one of the price rules conditions when determining the prices for the set of catalog entries that a set of customers are entitled to.

Catalog Filter and Pricing tool

A Management Center feature used to create and manage catalog filters, price lists, and price rules.

catalog group

A collection of one or more catalog entries or catalog groups which create a navigational hierarchy for an online catalog.

Catalogs tool

A Management Center feature that can be used to manage catalogs, categories, catalog entries, merchandising associations, product attributes and attachments in the store.

category

A group within a system of classification whose contents share similar properties. See also
category page.

category manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages the category hierarchy by creating, modifying, and deleting categories. The category hierarchy organizes products or services offered by the store. The category manager also manages products, expected inventory records, vendor information, inventory, and return reasons.

category page

A web page in an online store that displays product categories. Category pages connect customers to child category pages or to products that belong to the selected category. See also category, child category.

CCF

See Common Connector Framework.

cell

In a WebSphere Application Server distributed network, an arbitrary, logical grouping of one or more nodes that are managed together.

channel

The means of distribution of a company's products. Examples are e-commerce and physical stores.

channel manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages the channel hub, as well as the distributors and resellers associated with that hub, including creating and importing distributor and reseller contracts.

child category

A category that is subordinate to another category in a hierarchy. See also category page, parent category.

child order

For subscriptions or recurring orders, the subordinate to the parent order. For example, a parent order is the subscription to the magazine itself, while the child order is one of the monthly issues. See also parent order.

child organizational entity

One or more further levels of organizational entities that exist beneath the parent organizational entity.

code

A number that uniquely identifies a catalog entry in the WebSphere Commerce system. A product code is used as the prefix for creating individual SKU codes.

Commerce Composer tool

A Management Center feature that business users can use to create pages and build page layouts for an e-commerce store without involving IT. The Commerce Composer tool provides a library of prebuilt layout templates and widgets to give business users greater control over page design.

Commerce Composer widget

A small application that retrieves and displays a specific type of content on a page of an e-commerce store. Examples of content are ads, product recommendations, and navigational links. In the Commerce Composer tool in Management Center, business users can design store pages by adding widgets to page layouts.

commit

1. To move managed assets from a task group in a workspace to the production-ready data on the authoring environment. See also authoring environment, production-ready data, quick publish, task group, workspace, workspace task group approver.

2. To end a unit of work by releasing locks so that the database changes made by that unit of work can be perceived by other processes. This operation makes the data changes permanent.

commitment boundary

A point at which there are no changes to a database file pending within a job. See also roll back.

commitment control

A way of grouping file operations that allows the processing of a group of database changes as a unit or the removal of a group of database changes as a unit. See also roll back.

Common Connector Framework (CCF)

A product offering interface and class definitions that provide a consistent means of interacting with enterprise resources (for example, CICS and Encina transactions) from any Java execution environment.

component store archive

A starter store archive for a component of a composite store archive. Component store archives are available for each business model. See also composite store archive.

composite catalog entry

A collection of catalog entries that breaks down to its separate components when ordered. See also dynamic kit.

composite store archive

A compressed file containing the organization structure, predefined user roles, and necessary access control policies to create the appropriate store environment, plus a working starter store or site. Each of the parts that make up the composite store archive are also available as separate store archives. See also component store archive, store archive.

Composition Services

The component of the WebSphere Commerce messaging system that provides a formatted output for messages using JSP templates.

compound key

In a relational database, a key that consists of two or more attributes in a relation.

compress

To reduce the size of a set of data, such as a file, to save space or transmission time.

configurator

Software that provides a dynamic rules-based kit (bundling) capability to determine a group of items that may be sold together. The configurator may also supply a price for the configuration. This grouping is based on pre-defined rules in addition to user interaction with the configurator. See also dynamic kit.

content spot

A class file that is added to a JSP file to designate display of personalized data or content. Each content spot has a name and will accept a specific type of data from a rule.

contract

In WebSphere Commerce, an agreement representing the terms and conditions that apply to a transaction.

controller command

A command that interacts with a web controller directly. On completion, a controller command returns the name of a view task to be executed. The web controller determines the correct implementation class of the view command and then invokes it. See also task command.

conversion rate

The rate at which customers respond to cues provided by a website towards a specific desired action.

counter value

A displayed monetary amount converted from the shopping currency into a different currency.

cross-sell

A product recommendation that is related or complementary to the currently displayed or selected product. See also accessory, up-sell.

cross-selling

Encouraging customers to buy products from other departments or categories, beyond the initial offering.

CSR

See customer service representative.

current charge

In an advanced order, the set of charges a customer incurs for order items that can be shipped at once. See also total charge.

customer

A user of an online store.

customer base

The primary market for a product or store.

customer-facing store

An online site where users may obtain information regarding products and conduct business transactions regarding these products. WebSphere Commerce supports the following customer-facing stores: hub store, direct sales store, and extended site store.

customer group

A type of member group consisting of a collection of customers who have been grouped by a site administrator because they share similar shopping patterns or characteristics. See also site administrator.

customer profile

A collection of attributes that collectively describe a typical customer.

customer segment

All information about the customer that is held by the seller. This can include basic demographics, order history, or operational data such as the user ID and shipping address. Customer segments are dynamic; marketing managers define the criteria for including a customer in a customer segment. Customer segments can be the targets of campaigns.

customer service representative (CSR)

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages customer inquiries. The customer service representative also processes customer registration, orders, and returns. See also customer service supervisor.

customer service supervisor

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that has access to all customer service tasks. The customer service supervisor manages customer inquiries (such as customer registration, orders, and returns) and has authority to complete tasks that cannot be accessed by a customer service representative, such as approving system-denied returns records, and contacting customers regarding payment exceptions (such as credit card authorization failures). See also customer service representative.

customer session data

Information gathered from customers during the time they visit an online store.

D

database-managed space table space (DMS table space)

A table space whose storage space is managed by the database manager.

default contract

In WebSphere Commerce, an agreement representing the terms and conditions that apply to all transactions. A default contract is required for all stores.

default organization

The organizational entity used when a user registers and does not identify an organizational entity. In addition, guest users are created under the default organization.

defining attribute

A property of an item in an online store such as its color or size. Defining attributes are used for SKU resolution. See also descriptive attribute, item.

delete rule

A rule associated with a referential constraint that either restricts the deletion of a parent row or specifies the effect of such a deletion on the dependent rows.

deployment

1. The process of making WebSphere Commerce application code available for use. This process includes packaging customized commands, data beans, and enterprise beans into JAR files. The JAR files must then be installed and configured within a container.

2. The act of packaging enterprise beans into a JAR file for distribution to a container on an enterprise bean server.

deployment descriptor

An XML file that describes how to deploy a module or application by specifying configuration and container options. For example, an EJB deployment descriptor passes information to an EJB container about how to manage and control an enterprise bean.

descriptive attribute

An additional description for an item. Descriptive attributes are not used for SKU resolution. See also defining attribute.

dialog activity

An interactive dialog with a customer created in the Management Center.

display format

A set of display preferences that a customer at a multicultural store can select, depending on their language and locale. For example, a multicultural commerce site may have different formats for United States English and Japanese. These display formats would differ in the language of the text as well as such features as currency, units of measure, and data formats.

display page

1. A page in an online store that is generated in response to a command.

2. A page in a catalog that displays category and product information.

disposition

In WebSphere Commerce, disposing of or transferring inventory that has been returned to the Seller's fulfillment center by a customer. See also fulfillment center.

distinguished name (DN)

A set of name-value pairs (such as CN=person name and C=country or region) that uniquely identifies an entity in a digital certificate.

DMS table space

See database-managed space table space.

DN

See distinguished name.

document type definition (DTD)

The rules that specify the structure for a particular class of SGML or XML documents. The DTD defines the structure with elements, attributes, and notations, and it establishes constraints for how each element, attribute, and notation can be used within the particular class of documents.

domain name

In Internet communications, a name of a host system. A domain name consists of a sequence of subnames that are separated by a delimiter character, for example, www.ibm.com.

DTD

See document type definition.

DTD document definition

A description or layout of an XML document based on an XML DTD.

dual display

The simultaneous display of a monetary amount in the shopping currency, and one or more counter value amounts in a different currency.

dynamic

Pertaining to an operation that occurs at the time it is needed rather than at a predetermined or fixed time. See also static.

dynamic kit

1. A group of products that are ordered as a unit and must be fulfilled together. The information about the products contained in a dynamic kit is controlled by an external configurator and supplied at order entry time. See also bundle, composite catalog entry, configurator.

2. With Sterling Configurator dynamic kit integration, a group of SKUs that are ordered as a unit. The information about the SKUs contained in a dynamic kit is controlled by a model. The component selection is supplied by the shopper supplied at order entry time.

E

email activity

A method of delivering merchandising and marketing content to customers. Email activities deliver customized email messages, based on JSP templates, which can include advertisements, suggestive selling initiatives, and promotions, among other merchandising and marketing content.

email template

An email outline that serves as the basis for email content issued via an email activity. The email template is a model by which the business user defines email message content and optional placeholders for personalized content.

e-Marketing Spot

In WebSphere Commerce, space that is reserved on a store page for displaying marketing information to customers.

e-Marketing Spot remote widget

A Flash-based, portable version of an e-Marketing Spot. Remote widgets can be used to syndicate marketing information on websites outside of WebSphere Commerce.

encryption

In computer security, the process of transforming data into an unintelligible form in such a way that the original data either cannot be obtained or can be obtained only by using a decryption process.

entity

In object-oriented design, an item that can be treated as a unit and, often, as a member of a particular category or type. An entity can be a concrete thing or an abstract idea.

exception condition

An abnormal condition that may arise during execution of a program.

execution agenda

A class that acts as a table that plots the relationship between promotions and promotion policies. The execution agenda contains a list of promotions which are potentially applicable to an order, and all of the policies that are applicable to each individual promotion in the list.

expected inventory

Inventory that has been ordered from a vendor and that is expected to be received by the Seller. This information is contained in an expected inventory record. See also expected inventory record, seller.

expected inventory record

Lists the inventory that has been ordered from a vendor and that is expected to be received by the Seller. An expected inventory record may contain information for multiple items, fulfillment centers, and dates. See also expected inventory, inventory receipt, seller.

expedited order

A release of an advanced order for which a user has requested expedited handling and shipping for particular order items.

extended site business model

A business model that supports one seller with many sites aimed at different audiences.

extended site store

A customer-facing store that is created by the site operator for the owner of the store.

extraction

The process of moving data from temporary tables on the WebSphere Commerce Analyzer server to the WebSphere Commerce Analyzer data mart. The data in the temporary tables was replicated from the WebSphere Commerce database.

F

facet

A faceted classification system allows the assignment of multiple classifications to an object, enabling the classifications to be ordered in multiple ways, rather than in a single, predetermined, taxonomic order. Each facet typically corresponds to the possible values of a property common to a set of objects. Catalog entries must contain multiple facets to be effective in a storefront.

facetable

Pertaining to a navigation technique for accessing product information represented using a faceted classification. This technique allows customers to explore by filtering information.

faceted browsing

A process of browsing information by filtering a set of topics by progressively selecting from only valid values of a faceted classification system, which is a predefined collection of facets.

faceted navigation

A process of browsing information by filtering a set of topics by progressively selecting from only valid values of a faceted classification system, which is a predefined collection of facets.

factory

In object-oriented programming, a class used to create instances of another class. A factory is used to isolate the creation of objects of a particular class into one place so that new functions can be provided without widespread code changes.

feature attribute

An attribute that specifies how the information about products is to be displayed to customers. For example, features with numerical descriptions can be displayed to a customer in either ascending or descending order.

federated system

A distributed database management system (DBMS) that consists of a DB2 instance that operates as a server, a database that serves as the federated database, one or more data sources, and clients (users and applications) who access the database and data sources. A federated system can be used to query and manipulate data located on other data servers.

framework

A set of object classes that provide a collection of related functions for a user or piece of software.

fulfillment center

A storage warehouse where products are packaged and shipped to customers. Fulfillment centers, stores, and shipping carriers are treated as separate entities. See also disposition, shipping carrier.

future order

A release of an advanced order for which the user has requested that the shipment be delayed until a specified future date.

future order offset

A setting in an online store that indicates how much time in advance of the specified ship date of a future order when order items should be allocated in inventory.

G

gateway

A device or program used to connect networks or systems with different network architectures.

geo-code

In WebSphere Commerce, an application-specific code representing a geographical region. See also jurisdiction.

H

host

A computer that is connected to a network and that provides an access point to that network. The host can be a client, a server, or both a client and server simultaneously.

host name

In Internet communication, the name given to a computer. The host name might be a fully qualified domain name such as mycomputer.city.company.com, or it might be a specific subname such as mycomputer.

hub

A customer-facing store that enables partners or clients.

I

IDE

See integrated development environment.

ID resolution

The generation of reference numbers prior to loading XML elements into a database. ID resolution is used to uniquely identify data within the database system.

impression

In web advertising, an ad's appearance on an accessed page. For example, if a web page displays three ads, each ad would have one impression. Online publishers often sell ad space according to impressions.

inbound message

A message that WebSphere Commerce receives from an external or back-end application. Inbound messages are used to integrate WebSphere Commerce with other systems.

input method

A component that converts key strokes into text input that could not otherwise be typed directly, such as characters that are not native to your operating system. For example, the input method component can be used to type Japanese text on an English keyboard.

installment rule

A rule that specifies different installment payment options that a customer can select.

integrated development environment (IDE)

A set of software development tools, such as source editors, compilers, and debuggers, that are accessible from a single user interface.

interest item

An item that a customer has indicated for recurring or potential purchase. An interest item is stored with quantity information, but not price information. See also shopping cart.

inventory allocation

The process of designating inventory for an order against inventory that actually exists in a fulfillment center. Allocation is not the same as inventory reservation, which is a more stringent policy, and does not typically apply to orders. See also inventory allocation against expected inventory, inventory reservation, inventory sharing arrangement.

inventory allocation against expected inventory

The process of designating inventory for an order against inventory that is expected to be received at a fulfillment center. This information is typically found in an expected inventory record. See also inventory allocation.

inventory on hand

Inventory that is physically available to fulfill orders.

inventory receipt

The receipt of products at a fulfillment center. Products are either expected and recorded in expected inventory records, or received ad hoc. Ad hoc inventory receipts are not recorded in expected inventory records. See also ad hoc inventory receipt,
expected inventory record.

inventory reservation

The process of designating inventory for a particular purpose and that is not available to allocate to orders. See also inventory allocation.

inventory sharing arrangement

An arrangement whereby a store makes its inventory receipts available to another store for inventory allocation. See also inventory allocation.

issuer

In e-commerce, a financial institution that issues payment cards to individuals. An issuer can act as its own certificate authority (CA) or can contract with a third party for the service.

item

An entity that has a part number or SKU. See also defining attribute.

J

job

A separately executable unit of work.

jurisdiction

A geographical region for tax or shipping purposes representing a country or region, province or territory, zip or postal code range, or an application-specific geo-code. See also geo-code.

K

kit

A collection of catalog entries that are ordered as a single SKU. See also bundle, prebuilt kit.

L

landed-cost price

The quoted or invoiced price of a commodity, plus any inbound transportation charges.

line item set

A set of order items (or portions of order items when the quantity of order items is greater than one). It is a temporary grouping of order items used by the promotion engine during promotion evaluation.

list price

A price intended for catalog display purposes only; not typically used as the actual price that the customer must pay. See also catalog entry, offer price.

load balancing

The monitoring of application servers and management of the workload on servers. If one server exceeds its workload, requests are forwarded to another server with more capacity.

logistics manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages fulfillment. The logistics manager has access to all operational tasks, including the duties of the pick packer, receiver, and returns administrator. See also pick packer, receiver, returns administrator.

M

managed asset

A component or resource that is enabled for workspaces and allows content to be written to separate workspace database schemas. See also quick publish.

Management Center

In WebSphere Commerce, a suite of tools that support store management, merchandising and marketing tasks for business users.

manifest

A shipment confirmation that may contain tracking identification information.

marketing event

In WebSphere Commerce, any event within the system that is considered to be significant for the purposes of marketing. Examples include catalog browsing, navigation, and shopping cart activity.

marketing experiment

A type of experiment that enables Marketing Managers to run alternative paths within existing web activities to determine whether small changes might improve the effectiveness of a web activity.

marketing manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that monitors, analyzes, and understands customer behavior. The marketing manager also creates and modifies customer segments for targeted selling and creates and manages campaigns.

Marketing tool

A feature in Management Center to manage activities that support a site's marketing campaigns. Marketing Managers can use the tool's extensive features to deliver targeted marketing messages to customers on store pages, or using email or mobile text messages.

master catalog

The main catalog containing all products, SKUs, descriptions, and standard pricing for each product. See also online catalog, sales catalog.

member

A person, group, or organization known to the system. A member can be a user, an organization, an organization unit, or a member group.

member group

A group used to implement role-based control in WebSphere Commerce. A customer group is for general use, while an access group is for access control purposes.

merchandising association

An association between two catalog items for the purpose of a sales activity. For example, a camera might have a "requires" merchandising association with a set of batteries, and a dictionary might have a "goes with" merchandising association with a thesaurus. See also accessory.

N

nonregistered customer

A customer who is not registered with a store. Nonregistered customers are created when a customer adds something to the shopping cart, but has not yet registered.

O

offer

The price of a product, in one or more currencies, along with a set of conditions such as an effective time range or an acceptable quantity range, which must be satisfied in order to use the price.

offer price

A price at which items are offered by a store. The offer price is the final price paid, before taxes, discounts, and shipping. See also list price.

online catalog

A collection of catalog groups or catalog entries available for display and purchase at an online store. See also master catalog.

operational report

A report based on data from the WebSphere Commerce database that is created in real time.

operations manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages order processing, ensuring that orders are properly fulfilled, payment is received, and orders are shipped. The operations manager can search for customer orders, view details, manage order information, and create and edit returns. See also
sales manager.

order block

An indicator added to an order that indicates if the items in an order can be released to fulfillment.

organization

A hierarchical arrangement of organizational units, such that each user is included once and only once.

organization administrator

In WebSphere Commerce, the representative of a member organization who establishes organizational approval flows, and assigns roles to the users within the organization.

outbound message

A message that is sent to a back-end system.

output queue

A mechanism that can direct sequence information about ordered products to a printer or a file.

owner

One who has access and permission to operate on an entity.

P

package

1. A shipping unit that may be tracked by a shipping carrier.

2. A collection of catalog entries that has a SKU and may be ordered as a single item. See also
   bundle, stock keeping unit.

packing slip

A printed document containing a list of all the products in a given release. Typically, this document also contains the ship-to address, shipping carrier information, and sometimes pricing information. See also release.

Page Layout tool

A Management Center feature used to manage layouts for store pages. A layout can be assigned to a page, such as the home page or a category page, and scheduled for a specific time period.

parallel sharding

The process of sharding data by splitting it vertically to preprocess certain common XML files, and horizontally to preprocess smaller chunks of rows.

parent category

A category that contains other categories in a hierarchy. See also child category.

parent order

For subscriptions or recurring orders a parent order contains one or more child orders. For example, a parent order is the subscription to the magazine itself, while the child order is one of the monthly issues. See also child order.

payment action

In WebSphere Commerce, a financial operation associated with a payment instruction. For example, approve (authorize), reverse approval, deposit (capture), reverse deposit, refund, and validate are payment actions.

payment action rule

See payment rule.

payment back-end system

The payment service provider, payment processor, or proxy for an external payment system.

payment instruction

In WebSphere Commerce, the instance of a payment method with the details necessary to perform payment actions. For example, if a payment method name is CardBrandX, then the payment instruction consists of CardBrandX, plus the cardholder name, billing address, account number, and expiration date.

payment method

The means by which payments are made for an order. For example, payment methods may include various brands of credit cards, electronic checks, lines of credit, and gift certificates.

payment plug-in

A self-contained software component that serves as a proxy for a payment back-end system. Payment plug-ins are responsible for payment protocol and protocol data validation.

payment rule

In WebSphere Commerce, a set of configurable parameters that define payment actions to be executed by the event-driven payments subcomponent during business events.

payment server

In e-commerce, the electronic equivalent of a cash register that organizes and accepts payment for the goods and services selected for purchase. A payment server uses other components, such as a payment gateway and a payment management system, to complete the financial transactions.

payment subsystem

In WebSphere Commerce, the software that handles payment processing.

persistence

A characteristic of data that is maintained across session boundaries, or of an object that continues to exist after the execution of the program or process that created it, typically in nonvolatile storage such as a database system.

personalization

The process of enabling information to be targeted to specific users based on business rules and user profile information.

personalization engine

An application that can generate product recommendations and special offers to customers based on information collected during visits to e-commerce sites.

personalized attributes

In the RFQ trading mechanism, a list of attributes created by a selling organization that a buyer must use when sending an RFQ to that organization. In addition to the predefined attributes provided by the seller, buyers can specify unique attributes in designated attribute fields.

pick batch

A group of releases that are managed as a unit in a fulfillment center.

pick packer

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that picks products from fulfillment centers and packs the products for shipping to customers. The pick packer also manages pick tickets and packing slips which are used to confirm shipment of products during order fulfillment. See also logistics manager.

pick ticket

A printed document containing a list of all the products required to fulfill the releases in a given pick batch. This document is used by pickers to gather the products that must be packaged and shipped for all of the releases included in the pick batch.

prebuilt kit

A collection of catalog entries that has a code and is ordered as a single item. See also bundle, kit.

prebuilt kit component

An item that is sold as part of a prebuilt kit.

predefined dynamic kit

A preconfigured dynamic kit that shoppers can add directly to the shopping cart without additional configuration. For example, if a dynamic kit consists of multiple computers, monitors, and keyboards, the associated predefined dynamic kit is the configured computer system. Dynamic kits support multiple predefined dynamic kits.

preferred currency

The currency indicated by a customer as the one in which he or she would prefer to see prices. The preferred currency is indicated in the customer profile. See also shopping currency, supported currency.

preferred language

The language indicated by a customer as being the one in which he or she would like to conduct transactions. The preferred language is indicated either in the customer profile or by use of the langId parameter, which is available from the URL-based controller commands. See also shopping language.

price equation

A mathematical statement used in a price rule to calculate and output a price.

price rule

A set of instructions that WebSphere Commerce follows to determine prices for catalog entries.

pricing manager

A user, assigned to the Seller, Sales Manager, or Account Representative role, who uses the Management Center Pricing tool.

product

A catalog entity that can be viewed as a group of items that share attributes. All items related to a particular product exhibit the same set of attributes and are distinguished by their attribute values.

production-ready data

Data that is ready to be published from a staging server or an authoring environment to a production server. See also authoring environment, commit, production server,
quick publish, staging server, task group, workspace task group approver.

production server

A Transaction Server containing the set of data and files accessed by customers. See also authoring environment, production-ready data, quick publish, staging server.

product manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that is responsible for determining the best way to display, price, and sell products in the online store. The product manager role is equivalent to a merchandising manager.

product page

A web page that displays detailed information about a product in an online store.

product recommendation

A sales and marketing technique in which catalog inventory is suggested to customers based on their profile or on independent criteria.

project

In Eclipse, a unit of organization used to group folders or packages. Projects are used for building, version management, sharing, and organizing resources.

promotion

Business logic that offers incentives to customers when certain conditions have been satisfied.

promotion context

A transient object that only exists when the promotion engine is called to evaluate whether promotions are applicable to an order. It captures the state of the promotion engine during the process.

promotion engine

A promotion architecture that uses XML-based promotion definitions and enables customer-specific extension.

promotion group

A logical container that holds promotions of similar natures.

promotion policy

Business logic that governs how multiple promotions should be applied to a single order.

Promotions tool

A Management Center feature that creates and manages promotions for marketing campaigns.

publish

To make a website public, for example by putting files in a path known to the HTTP server.

Q

quick publish

To copy managed assets from a task group to the production server after the commit of the managed assets from the task group to the production-ready data on the authoring environment is successful. See also authoring environment, commit, managed asset, production server, production-ready data, task group, workspace.

R

receiver

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that receives inventory at the fulfillment center, tracks expected inventory records and ad hoc receipts for ordered products, and receives returned products as a result of customer returns. See also logistics manager.

recurring order

An order that repeats on a frequency chosen by the customer. For example, a buyer might want to purchase and have delivered two bottles of milk every week for a year.

reference price

The price that buyers use to compare the offered price of a product or service. The reference price might be a price in a buyer's memory, or the price of a similar, alternative product.

referral

A record that shows number of times a third-party business or website has referred customers to the website. Referrals can be measured for recognition purposes through various techniques including clickstream analysis, clickthrough rates, affiliate marketing services, and surveys.

refund

The credit amount in the currency used to place the order.

registered customer

1. In WebSphere Commerce, a defined role that allows the reseller to shop in the marketplace. Resellers must first register in the marketplace and be approved by the seller administrator in order to attain the registered customer role.

2. A customer who is registered with a store. To register, a customer provides personal information to the WebSphere Commerce system, such as an email address.

release

In a WebSphere Commerce store, a set of products in a given order that have the same ship-to address, ship time, shipping method, fulfillment center, and shipping carrier. See also packing slip.

repeat sale

The subsequent sale of a product after the initial purchase. The level of repeat sales for a product is often used as a measure of customer satisfaction--the higher the level of repeat sales, the more satisfied customers are.

replication

The process of maintaining a defined set of data in more than one location. Replication involves copying designated changes for one location (a source) to another (a target) and synchronizing the data in both locations.

report context

The basis for a displayed report. The context changes depending on which function we are using in the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. Available report contexts include campaigns, initiatives, and a combined context.

request for quote (RFQ)

The trading mechanism used when a buyer solicits quotes for a specific set of goods or services. It can be used if a buyer does not find a particular item in the catalog, finds an item without a price, or wants to establish a long-term supply arrangement for a fixed-price item.

reseller

In WebSphere Commerce, in the context of the demand chain business model, a business that sells products to businesses (such as end users or other resellers), after having obtained the goods from manufacturers, distributors, or other resellers. A reseller can provide its own value-add services of modifications to the product, and can also choose to package or bundle products differently from its suppliers.

reserved inventory

Inventory that has been designated for a particular purpose, and is not available to allocate to orders.

resource bundle

A class containing the text for the store pages. Bundle files are created and accessed according to the Java PropertyResourceBundle API.

resource group

A group of resources that can include business objects such as contracts or a set of related commands. In access control policies, resource groups specify the resources to which the policy authorizes access.

return

One or more products, their prices, and the quantity specified, that a customer has selected for a refund from the store in which the product was originally purchased.

return merchandise authorization (RMA)

Authorization from the seller for a customer to return products ordered from a store and receive a credit, refund, or replacement product. At the seller's discretion, a product does not need to be returned in order to receive a credit, refund, or replacement product.

returns administrator

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages the disposition of returned products. See also logistics manager.

RFQ

See request for quote.

RFQ response

When using the RFQ trading mechanism, the reply that a seller sends to a buyer who has sent them an RFQ. The RFQ response indicates the terms and conditions under which the Seller will sell the products or services to that buyer.

RMA

See return merchandise authorization.

role

A job function that identifies the tasks that a user can perform and the resources to which a user has access. A user can be assigned one or more roles.

rollback

The process of restoring data that was changed by an application program or user.

roll back

1. To return to a previous stable condition.

2. To remove changes that were made to database files under commitment control since the last commitment boundary. See also commitment boundary, commitment control.

root organization

The top level of an organization, which owns site-level access-control policies, and is automatically assigned all roles included in the product.

S

sales catalog

A section of the master catalog that contains a flexible structure for customer display purposes. Users can have only one master catalog per store, but can have as many sales catalogs as they want. See also master catalog.

sales manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that manages order processing, ensuring that orders are properly fulfilled, payment is received, and orders are shipped. The sales manager can search for customer orders, view details, manage order information, and create and edit returns. See also operations manager.

SAR

See store archive.

SAR file format

In WebSphere Commerce, SAR (store archive) is a platform-independent file format that aggregates many files into one. See also store archive.

scalable

Pertaining to the capability of a system to adapt readily to a greater or lesser intensity of use, volume, or demand. For example, a scalable system can efficiently adapt to work with larger or smaller networks performing tasks of varying complexity.

scheduler

A multithread, multiprocess background server designed to handle the scheduling and launching of jobs, based on a simple timing scheme. See also broadcast job.

schema

A collection of database objects such as tables, views, indexes, or triggers that define a database. A schema provides a logical classification of database objects.

script

An exact text for the Customer Service Representative (CSR) to read to a customer regarding transactions. Scripts can be short-hand or prompts to remind a representative to say certain things to a customer at certain points during a call.

search rules

A set of rules that control how search results are displayed. For example, which products should be searched or how many hits should show up as "top search results."

search term association

A preset relationship between terms that lead to additional, different, or replacement product suggestions in search results. Search term associations are used as a product recommendation strategy to increase store sales when customers search for products. Search submissions are modified to increase or target search results.

secure server

A server that encrypts files that it is sending and decrypts files that it has received to facilitate secure communication with a client.

segment

In data mining, a group of input data records within a data set that have similar characteristics. Each group is called a segment. Within a segment, each piece of data is evaluated (or scored) for the degree to which it fits the segment to which it belongs. This statistical conformance is represented by a number, called the score, which ranges between 0.0 and 1.0. In DB2 Intelligent Miner, this concept is known as a cluster.

seller

1. The role that supervises the overall store objectives and management, in addition to tracking the store sales. The seller role is equivalent to a merchant.

2. A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that has access to all WebSphere Commerce Accelerator capabilities. See also expected inventory, expected inventory record.

seller administrator

The seller administrator manages the information for the selling organization. The seller administrator creates and administers the suborganizations within the selling organization and the various users in the selling organization, including the assignment of appropriate business roles.

service agreement

An agreement between a provider and supplier, or a host and recipient, to define store setup and business relationship terms and conditions.

service requester

The application that initiates an interaction with a web service. The service requester binds to the service using the published information and calls the service.

session ID

See session identifier.

session identifier (session ID)

A unique string of data provided by the web server used in network communications to identify a session, and is stored within a cookie or URL.

ship as complete

A shipping option that requires all items in an order to be shipped together.

shipping carrier

A company that provides shipping services from a fulfillment center to a customer. See also
fulfillment center.

ship together

An advanced order shipping option that allows items in an order to be marked for multiple group shipping instructions in the order item list.

shopper

See customer.

shopping cart

A container that holds items that a user intends to order. See also interest item.

shopping currency

The currency used by a store in its transactions with a particular customer. See also
preferred currency, supported currency.

shopping flow URL

A controller command that has a URL interface and is run from a store interface.

shopping language

The language used when displaying pages to a particular customer. See also preferred language.

site administrator

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce that installs, configures, and maintains WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. See also access group, customer group.

SKU

See stock keeping unit.

source catalog entry

A product or SKU that contains one or more merchandising associations. When a source catalog entry is displayed, the user can view the defined merchandising associations. See also target catalog entry.

stageable

Pertaining to a database table in which the content can be propagated to the production environment.

staging server

An instance of a Transaction Server used for testing purposes before new functions or data are deployed to the production server. See also authoring environment, production server, production-ready data.

starter store

A fully functional online store, provided in store archive format with WebSphere Commerce. Starter stores are designed to be used as a base on which an online store can be created.

starter store archive

A store archive for the WebSphere Commerce starter store.

stateless session bean

A session bean that is a collection of operations. The server can optimize resources by reusing bean instances on every method call.

static

Pertaining to an operation that occurs at a predetermined or fixed time. See also dynamic.

static kit

An unmodifiable group of products that are ordered as a unit.

stock keeping unit (SKU)

An alphanumeric identifier for each item of merchandise, or catalog entry. The smallest unit available for keeping inventory control. It can include variables for department, class, vendor, style, color, size, and location. See also package.

store

In WebSphere Commerce, the place where all transactions for an online business occur. Store types include customer-facing store, asset store, and proxy store.

store archive (SAR)

A compressed file that contains all the assets (including file assets and database information) necessary to create a store. Publishing the store archive to a Transaction Server creates an operational store. See also composite store archive, SAR file format.

store developer

An application developer who creates or customizes a WebSphere Commerce storefront.

store entity

An abstract super class that can represent either a store or a store group.

storefront asset

Any part of an online store that customers see while shopping. Storefront assets include HTML pages, JSP files, style sheets, images, graphics, and other multimedia file types. See also back-office business logic.

storefront asset store

A type of asset store that is a collection of JSP files, commands, business processes (for example, order processing), business policies and access control policies that create a virtual storefront. See also asset store, catalog asset store.

Store Management tool

A Management Center tool that sellers and site administrators can use to manage general store information, change store layout and color, select store functions, select and view a store, open or close a store, and find stores. The Store Management tool in Management Center replaces all of the store management features in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, except for the store creation and the ability to suspend and resume stores.

store owner

In WebSphere Commerce, the position that controls and owns the database and the file assets related to the online store. A store owner can be an organization.

store preview

A feature, available in Management Center and WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, that enables a business user to ensure that content changes show up in the storefront as expected.

suborder

The part of an order that is being shipped to a specific address.

subscription

An order that allows continuous access to a service or a product for a specified period of time. For example, a monthly magazine can be ordered for one year for $20, or two years for $35.

supported currency

A currency that an online store is capable of displaying and handling. See also preferred currency, shopping currency.

T

table

In a relational database, a database object that consists of a specific number of columns and is used to store an unordered set of rows. See also view.

targetable command

A command that can be executed on a different target container. A targetable command invocation incurs some overhead; making the task command not targetable can improve the performance of the overall command framework.

target catalog entry

A promotional product or SKU that is defined as a merchandising association. See also source catalog entry.

targeted email

A means of communicating a campaign through email to specific recipients based on customer profiling.

task

The smallest unit of work in a workspace that can be assigned to one Content Contributor. See also task group, workspace, workspace content contributor.

task command

A command that implements a specific application logic. In general, a controller command and a set of task commands together implement the application logic for a URL request. See also controller command.

task group

The smallest unit of work in a workspace that can be committed to production-ready data. See also commit, production-ready data, quick publish, task, workspace, workspace manager, workspace task group approver.

Tasks tool

A Management Center feature used to select tasks, manage content within a task, add comments, and approve or reject tasks.

tax category

Indicates the different categories of tax a store may be required to collect, such as federal, state or provincial, and municipal tax. Each tax category must be assigned one of the tax types; either sales or shipping.

tax type

In WebSphere Commerce, the type of tax applied to an order. Tax types include sales tax or shipping tax. Each tax type has its own unique set of tax categories.

template

1. An XML representation of the instructions that call the promotions engine.

2. In WebSphere Commerce, a predefined skeleton or pattern that determines how information displays on a web page. The template defines characteristics such as the location and type of text and images, and background color.

top category

In an online catalog, a category of items that has no parent.

total charge

In an advanced order, the cost of all order items, along with additional fees and taxes. See also current charge.

trading mechanism

In WebSphere Commerce, a method by which buyers and sellers carry out business transactions. Depending on the edition of WebSphere Commerce, these methods may include: fixed price, contract, and RFQ.

trading position

See offer.

trading position container

A price list that contains offers, also known as trading positions. The trading positions in a trading position container are made available to customers by associating the trading position container with the terms and conditions of one or more contracts.

trading up

A sales technique that involves getting a customer interested in a better grade of goods than the customer had originally intended on buying.

trigger

In database technology, a program that is automatically called whenever a specified action is performed on a specific table or view.

U

up-sell

The recommendation of a related yet pricier product in the same product line as the currently displayed or selected product. See also accessory, cross-sell.

use case

A technique for identifying user requirement by providing scenarios that illustrate how users and systems interact. In WebSphere Commerce, a use case shows the flow of each user interaction in the starter store and acts as a template for creating a store.

user

Any individual, organization, process, device, program, protocol, or system that uses the services of a computing system.

user group

See customer group.

user registration properties file

A file on the Transaction Server that contains information needed to support the correct language and country or region for a store.

V

view

A logical table that is based on data stored in an underlying set of tables. The data returned by a view is determined by a SELECT statement that is run on the underlying tables. See also table.

view command

A command used to compose a view as a response to a client request.

W

WCIM

See WebSphere Commerce Instance Migration.

web activity

The widget that controls the content of a predefined e-Marketing Spot on a store page. Web activities can display advertising content, merchandising associations, and recommendations from the store catalog.

web application document root

The location within the file system where an application's web assets are stored (such as static HTML, JSP files, and GIFs).

web application web path

The portion of a URL associated with a web application.

web controller

An adapter to the WebSphere Commerce commands. There can be different types of web controllers, one for each client invocation protocol, such as the HTTP request or IBM MQ request.

web server

A software program that is capable of servicing Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests.

web service

A self-contained, self-describing modular application that can be published, discovered, and invoked over a network using standard network protocols. Typically, XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available, and UDDI is used for listing what services are available.

WebSphere Commerce Accelerator

In WebSphere Commerce, a workbench of online tools used to maintain online stores through various store operations.

WebSphere Commerce database

The database containing the operational data for online stores.

WebSphere Commerce instance

A unique configuration of WebSphere Commerce to support an e-commerce website, which may contain one or multiple stores.

WebSphere Commerce Instance Migration (WCIM)

The WebSphere Commerce Instance Migration utility is a command line alternative to the Migration wizard.

WebSphere Commerce search administration logger

A logger that keeps track of WebSphere Commerce search utilities. It creates log files called admin.log when running the search utilities.

Transaction Server

The server that handles the store- and commerce-related functions of an e-commerce solution. The Transaction Server provides all of the WebSphere Commerce functionality in a web container and an EJB container.

IBM MQ classes for Java Message Service (IBM MQ classes for JMS)

The Java Message Service (JMS) provider that is supplied with IBM MQ. As well as implementing the interfaces defined in the javax.jms package, IBM MQ classes for JMS provides two sets of extensions to the JMS API.

IBM MQ classes for JMS

See IBM MQ classes for Java Message Service.

widget

A reusable user interface component such as a button, scroll bar, control area, or text edit area, that can receive input from the keyboard or mouse and can communicate with an application or with another widget.

workspace

An isolated, access-controlled area on an authoring environment used to make changes to managed assets without affecting assets and users outside the area. See also authoring environment, commit,
quick publish, task,
task group, workspace content contributor, workspace manager, workspace task group approver.

workspace content contributor

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce responsible for completing workspace tasks assigned to them by the workspace manager. See also task, workspace, workspace manager.

workspace manager

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce responsible for the creation and administration of workspaces, task groups, and tasks. The workspace manager also assigns users the roles of content contributor and task groups approver. See also task group,
workspace, workspace content contributor, workspace task group approver.

workspace task group approver

A defined role in WebSphere Commerce responsible for approving the content created in a task group in a workspace after all tasks in the task group are completed. Approved task groups are committed to the production-ready data on the authoring environment. See also authoring environment, commit,
production-ready data, task group, workspace, workspace manager.

wrapper

An object that encapsulates and delegates to another object to alter its interface or behavior in some way. (Sun)

X

XML mapping template

This template processes inbound XML messages and translate them to WebSphere Commerce command parameters. The mapping template file defines how to map the elements of an incoming XML message into the target command parameters.

XML message mapper

A mechanism that converts the incoming XML message into a Java object that the target command expects. A message mapper can be registered with the instance_name.xml configuration file and is uniquely by a message mapper ID. The XML message mapper uses the mappings defined in the mapping template file to convert the XML message into the corresponding Java command parameter.