A profile is a set of characteristics that define any business-related item, such as a user, a company, or a context (date and time). For example, a user profile may include characteristics such as first name, last name, city, gender, age, and e-mail address. A company profile may include different characteristics, such as the company name, contact, city, and e-mail address. A context profile may include characteristics such as the date and time when a page is displayed, and the path the user takes to get to that page.
The following figure shows different types of profiles.
Company Profile
Anonymous User Profile
Registered User Profile
In the Commerce Server, you use profiles to store information about business-related items. For example, you use profiles to collect data from users on your Web site. You can also enter data directly into user and organization profiles by using Business Desk.
Using Profiles in Web Site Management
Collecting and Storing Profiles
Profiles are essential to Web site management because they provide information about the users who visit your site and how they use it. You use profiles to analyze user data, and you use them to target content to users.
Using Commerce Server Business Desk, you can:
For example, assume you have a site that sells sporting goods. The following workflow provides an example of how you can use Business Desk to analyze user activity and target content to users.
A Commerce Server profile consists of three main parts:
The following table shows a sample User profile definition, and then a single instance of the sample User profile definition with data for Sean Chai.
| Profile definition: User | Profile: Sean Chai |
| First name | Sean |
| Last name | Chai |
| City | Seattle |
| Gender | M |
| Age | 52 |
| E-mail address | seanchai@microsoft.com |
Work with your system administrator to create profile definitions for your site. The system administrator determines where the profile data will be stored in the database. This process is known as mapping the profile definition to the database. For example, assume you request a new profile definition named "Music," and you want to store the following profile properties: First Concert, Last Concert, Favorite CD, and two more properties that are not yet determined.
The system administrator creates the new profile definition, Music, including the three known properties and two placeholders for the properties you will add in the future, and then maps it to the database where it will be stored. After the system administrator creates the profile definition and the new properties, you can then use the Profile Designer to add all three properties to the definition. (The system administrator can also do this for you using Commerce Server Manager.) At a later date, when you determine other information you want to collect using the Music profile definition, you can use Profile Designer to create two new properties and map them to the placeholders created by your system administrator.
The Commerce Server Solution Sites include the following sample profile definitions: Addresses, BlanketPOs (purchase orders), Organization, User Object, and Targeting Context. In the User Object, five unnamed properties are included so you can add properties to the User profile definition without contacting your system administrator to extend your database. For a list of properties included with each profile definition, see Sample Profile Definitions.
After the system administrator creates the profile definition, you can add profile properties to it by using the Business Desk Profile Designer module. Profile properties determine what information is collected in a profile. For example, the User profile definition could contain the following properties: first name, last name, city, gender, age, and e-mail address.
The following figure shows the parts of a sample User profile definition.
Each profile property has attributes. Attributes provide information about the property such as the data type of the property (for example, number, string, decimal, and site term), whether the property is single-valued (for example, only one First Name is allowed) or multi-valued, and whether the profile property is indexed, that is, whether a user visiting the Web site can perform a search using this property.
A site term is a data type that you create. It is a list of specific values that are pertinent to your site. You use a site term to assign this list of values to a property as an attribute. For example, you could create a site term named Gender, and define the following possible values: Female, Male, and Unknown. When you create a profile property named Gender and assign it the data type "site term," only one of the possible values can be assigned to the profile. You create Site Terms by using the Business Desk Site Terms Editor module, and then you assign them to the profile definition by using the Profile Designer module.
You apply site terms to profile properties, establishing common words that you can use throughout Commerce Server, for example, to match the user preferences to content. For more information about how profiles are used to deliver content, see Targeting and Personalization.
Profile data is collected from a Commerce site in two ways. Users visiting your site provide profile data about themselves; this is called explicit profiling. For example, when users purchase products from your site, they typically provide their name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address. This information is used to populate their user profile.
You can also collect data through implicit profiling. In implicit profiling, the actions of all users (anonymous and registered) are recorded in Web log files as the users interact with your Web site. For example, Web log files record the links that guest users click, what products they search for, the length of their sessions, and how long they visit a given Web page. Even though the users are anonymous — you do not know their names, e-mail addresses, or other information — how they use your site is still important information. For example, a click history provides a path through the Web pages visited; you can use this information to determine a particular set of interests.
Another form of implicit profiling is performed by the Commerce Server Predictor resource. If some information about a user is missing — for example, the Music Preference for a user — this information may be guessed by the Predictor resource based on the aggregate properties of the user population who visits your site and the CDs they purchase. For information about the prediction feature, see Prediction and Data Mining.
All the information that is collected during a specific user session is collected in a single profile, that is, one instance of a profile definition.
When profile data is initially collected, it is first stored in the Commerce Server databases and the Web server logs. Your system administrator imports the profile data into the Data Warehouse on a regular basis. After the profiles are imported into the Data Warehouse, you can use Business Desk to analyze user data, and then use the results of your analysis to update your Web site or apply values to user profile properties.
You can analyze user data in reports, or in segment models. For information about analyzing segment models, see Analyzing Population Segments.
The following table lists the reports included with Commerce Server that you use to analyze user data.
| Report | Description |
| Distinct Users and Visits by Week | Determine whether a few people are visiting your site many times, or if many people are visiting your site at the same time. |
| Distinct Users by Day | Determine how many unique users visit your site on a particular day. |
| New Registered Users | Identify new registered users. This data can be used to create special promotional campaigns. For example, you can export the report to List Manager, and then send these users a direct mail promotion. |
| Registered User Properties | Review information provided by registered users. This data can be used to create special promotional campaigns. For example, you target advertisements or discounts to users who have certain properties. |
| Registered Users by Date Registered | Review the registration behavior of your users. |
| User Days to Register | Track the average number of days it takes guest users to register on your site. |
| User Registration Rate | Determine how successful you have been in convincing guest users to register on your site. |
| User Trends | Determine how successful you have been in attracting repeat users. |
For a list of all Commerce Server reports, see Commerce Server Reports. For information about running reports, see Running Reports.
Commerce Server Solution Sites include sample profile definitions. If your site developer used a Solution Site to build your site, you may have the five profile definitions listed in the following table.
| Profile Definition | Properties (data type) | Description |
| Address | Address ID (string) | Address identifier |
| ID (string) | Organization/User identifier | |
| Last Name (string) | User last name | |
| First Name (string) | User first name | |
| Address Name (string) | Name for this address | |
| Address Type (number) | Address/Ship to address/Bill to address | |
| Description (string) | Description for this address | |
| Address Line 1 (string) | First line of address | |
| Address Line 2 (string) | Second line of address | |
| City (string) | City name | |
| Region Code (string) | State, region, or province code | |
| State Name (string) | State, region, or province name | |
| Postal Code (string) | Postal code | |
| Country Code (string) | Country International Standards Organization (ISO) code | |
| Country Name (string) | Country name | |
| Telephone Number (string) | Telephone number at this address | |
| Telephone Extension (string) | Telephone number extension at this address | |
| Locale ID (number) | Locale in which to render the address form | |
| Changed by (string) | Name of person who last changed this profile | |
| Date last changed (date/time) | Date this profile was last changed | |
| Date created (date/time) | Date this profile was created | |
| BlanketPOs | Purchase Order ID (string) | Globally unique identifier (GUID) referring to the Blanket Purchase Order |
| Organization ID (string) | Organization ID | |
| PO Number (string) | Blanket purchase order number | |
| Description (string) | Description of purchase order | |
| Changed by (string) | Name of person who last changed this profile | |
| Date last changed (date/time) | Date this profile was last changed | |
| Date created (date/time) | Date this profile was created | |
| Organization | Organization ID (string) | Organization ID |
| Name (string) | Name of the organization | |
| Trading partner number (string) | Trading partner number | |
| Administrative contact (string) | GUID for the administrative contact | |
| Receiver (string) | User ID of the person to receive products shipped from the supplier | |
| Organization catalog set (string) | Organization catalog set | |
| Changed by (string) | Name of person who last changed this profile | |
| Purchasing manager (string) | User ID of the purchasing manager of the buying organization | |
| Date last changed (date/time) | Date this profile was last changed | |
| Date created (date/time) | Date this profile was created | |
| User Object | User ID (string) | User ID |
| Logon name (string) | Logon name | |
| User password (password) | User password | |
| E-mail (string) | User e-mail address | |
| User type (number) | User type | |
| User title (string) | User title | |
| Last name (string) | Last name of user | |
| First name (string) | First name of user | |
| Telephone number (string) | Telephone number for user | |
| Telephone extension (string) | Telephone number extension for user | |
| Fax number (string) | Fax number for user | |
| Fax extension (string) | Fax number extension for user | |
| Changed by (string) | Name of person who last changed this profile | |
| Organization ID (string) | Organization ID | |
| Account status (number) | Account status | |
| User catalog set (string) | User catalog set | |
| Date registered (date/time) | Date the user registered | |
| Campaign History (string) | Campaign history | |
| Partner desk role flags (number) | Partner desk role | |
| Date last changed (date/time) | Date this profile was last changed | |
| Date created (date/time) | Date this profile was created | |
| Targeting Context | Page Group (string) | Name of the page group (for example, Sports pages) |