Glossary

This glossary provides terms that are related to Sterling Intelligent Promising and their definitions.

The following cross-references are used in this glossary:

See refers to a non-preferred term to the preferred term or from an abbreviation to the spelled-out form.
See also refers to a related or contrasting term.

A C D E F I L N O P S T Z

A

API action

API action is the number of individual item-node lines in the API Call. API action is defined as each item-node provided in the request input. These API actions may include, but are not limited to, inquiries or updates invoked through inventory lookup, promising, availability, reservations, supply or demand adjustments, or events that publish to external systems. For example, if there are 3 item-node lines in supply sync, that counts as 3 inventory action. However, even if the item-node are the same, each line counts as one action.

API call

API Call is the number of request made to Sterling Intelligent Promising. A request can consist one or more API actions.

Available quantity

The quantity of an item that is available for purchase. The available quantity is calculated by subtracting the reserved quantity from the on-hand quantity.

Attribute

Attributes are characteristics or specifications that define the corresponding product. For example, a shirt can have attributes, such as brand, fabric, or gender.

Each attribute can be associated with a data type, an attribute group path, and a set of allowed values. You can define whether the value is mandatory and whether multiple values are allowed. The attribute group path is used to group attributes that have a common purpose.

The attribute group path must use the following format:
/AttributeDomainId/AttributeParentGroupId1/AttributeChildGroupId1

An attribute domain is a set of attribute groups. For example, fabric attribute can be defined with the following attribute group path /ItemAttribute/ApparelGroup along with the allowed values of silk and cotton. The attribute group path can contain apparel related attributes for different types of items. The ItemAttribute domain can contain attribute groups that are used for items.

C

Catalog

A catalog is hierarchy of items where items can be grouped into categories.

Capacity

The amount of work that can be done to meet a fulfillment request.

CapacityConsumed

CapacityConsumed provides utilization of capacity at ship node which includes backlog (in units) and consumption on ship date of an assignment. This capacity does not discuss into the methodology of its calculation within the Order Management System. Currently, the Capacity value is provided to the Optimization service as per the customer's implementation.

Carrier

A transportation service provider that provides delivery and shipping services between sellers and shoppers.

Carrier aggregation service

See carrier management provider.

Carrier management provider

A provider with responsibility to integrate with multiple carrier providers and evaluate the transit rate card and time information.

Carrier pickup schedule

One or more cutoff times when a carrier service arrives at a ship node to pick up outbound shipment packages.

Carrier service

A service provided by a carrier service provider that defines delivery details such as shipping speed and cost from source to destination address.

Cart

A container that holds items that a user intends to order.

Cart abandonment

A cart is considered to be abandoned by a shopper when an item was added to the cart and then is inactive after a predefined (by the seller) time.

Cart line

See order line.

Cart page

A summary page in an online shopping experience that displays all the items and item quantities that the shopper selected from product detail pages. See also checkout page.

Checkout page

A page in an online shopping experience that is displayed when the shopper commits to the request order in the cart page. The checkout page shows all the final fulfillment estimates and details of the order, including the delivery date and the number of packages to be delivered to the shopper. See also cart page and shipment page.

Configuration APIs

Sterling Intelligent Promising provides APIs to manage configurations. You can use the configuration APIs to create, update, or configure the following objects:

Node type: You use the Node Type APIs to define, retrieve, delete, or list node types.
Node: You use the Node APIs to define, retrieve, delete, or list nodes.
Distribution Group: You use the Distribution Group APIs to define, retrieve, delete, or list distribution groups.
Attribute API: You use the Attribute APIs to retrieve, create, update, delete, or list custom attributes.

Cumulative capacity utilization

The cumulative capacity utilization is a calculated value on fly at time of Optimization.

For more information, see Cumulative Capacity Utilization (CCU) for a node example 2.

D

Deliver together: A fulfillment estimate that ensures that all items on the cart or order are shipped from the same shipping location on the same day so they are delivered together.
Dimension factor: The carrier-defined weight calculation based on the size of a package instead of its actual weight.
Distribution center (DC): A physical location where goods are stored for distribution to buyers.
Distribution groups: A distribution group is a network of fulfillment centers (or nodes), typically governed by geographical regions, which can contain one or more distribution centers and stores. For more information, see Distribution groups.
Delivery method: A delivery method is the mode for delivering products that a shopper selects at checkout. It can be ship or pickup.

E

Earliest delivery: A fulfillment estimate that accounts for items that can be shipped at the earliest possible date. In this scenario, the shipment might be broken up when all items are not available on the same date.

F

Fulfillment estimate: Estimated information for a fulfillment request that might include the delivery estimated date and order by date.
Fulfillment network: A collection of ship nodes that make up a network in which orders can be shipped and fulfilled.

I

Inventory

Products that are stored and available for further action. Might be reported as the quantity of a specific SKU in one location. Also, might be reported as the total quantity of a specific SKU in all locations that contain the SKU or a grand total of all material in storage. The latter total is typical reported in currency.

Inventory availability

Identifies the amount of in-stock and future inventory that is available at a ship node with an availability start and end date.

Item

An item is a physical unit that can be ordered, shipped, and returned. An item is uniquely defined by its item ID and unit of measure.

It is a unique inventory product that can be fulfilled for an order line. An item has at least one characteristic that is different from all other products and which requires a unique identifier such as a stock keeping unit (SKU).

Item attribute

A characteristic or trait that describes the item.

Item with variation

A non-salable parent item that consists of one or more models or sizes. Each child item is a non-salable unit with its own inventory. The parent item makes it easier for the seller to track a collection of SKUs with the same design or model.

L

Lead time: An upfront static buffer to account for time before your personnel can start processing the order at a node.

N

Node: See ship node.
Node balancing values: The node balancing values defines three values at ship node. For more information, see Node-balancing values.
Note: The values of node balancing values are set by business user and the stores can have different values for each small or large stores. The smaller stores might have higher tie-breaker cost or higher penalty cost that diverts demand to bigger stores depending on how these demands need to be distributed within the network.
Node calendar: The node calendar defines which days are considered as non-business days for the node.
Node type: Identifies common node configurations that can be used to group nodes during sourcing. For more information, see Node and node types.

O

Order: A request for goods placed by a shopper that consists of a collection of order lines.
Order line: A request for an item with a unique SKU and an associated request quantity.

P

Product list page: A list page in an online shopping experience that displays one or more items with availability estimates. A shopper can select an item to view its details on the product details page.
Product detail page: A detail page for a product in an online shopping experience that shows a description of the selected item and its availability. Additionally, it shows a date by which the product must be ordered to be delivered by an estimated delivery date, which is also shown.

R

S

Ship earliest: See earliest delivery.
Ship node: A location where inventory is stored and is used to fulfill orders.
Ship together: See deliver together.
Shipment page: An alternative view to the checkout page that can be used by e-commerce sites to show the number of packages that are expected to be delivered to the shopper. The shipment page also displays the items that are included in each shipment. See also cart page and checkout page.
Shipping group: A shipping option that is available to shoppers and provides an estimated delivery date. A seller can configure one or more shipping groups that can be provided as options on an e-commerce website.
Shipping notification time: The shipping notification time represents the minimum time required for the delivery service to initiate the delivery or pickup process.
Split shipment: For a particular cart or order line, the quantity is split to be fulfilled by multiple ship nodes.
Stock keeping unit (SKU): An alphanumeric identifier for each item of merchandise. The smallest unit available for keeping inventory control.

T

Transit time: The estimated time for a carrier service to deliver, based on the service level agreement.

Z

Zone: A shipping zone is a group of geographical areas that share similar transit durations and transit rates.
Zone component (or zone route): An individual origin-and-destination postal code combination within a zone is called zone component or zone route.