Feature Comparison of Commerce Server Versions
For the latest version of Commerce Server 2007 Help, see the Microsoft Web site.
This topic provides a comparison of features for Commerce Server systems, applications, and tools for the following versions of Commerce Server:
Commerce Server 2007
Commerce Server 2002 Enterprise Edition, Feature Pack 1
Commerce Server 2002 Enterprise Edition
Commerce Server 2000
For a comparison of features supported in the various editions of Commerce Server 2007, see Commerce Server 2007 Editions.
Feature comparisons are grouped under these broad categories:
High Availability Features
Commerce Server Systems Features
Business Management Applications Features
Business Analytics Features
Administration and Operations Tools Features
Development Platform and Integration Features
High Availability Features
The following table summarizes the high availability and system integration features available in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Commerce Server Staging System to support scheduled deployments and upgrades of business data and Web site content. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Microsoft Application Center 2000 to support scheduled deployments and upgrades of Web site content. |
No (replaced with the Commerce Server Staging System) |
Yes |
No |
No |
Scale-out architectures. Full support for load-balanced server farms that enable maximum scalability and reliability. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Superior recoverability. Enable quick failure recovery by making sure that all long-running tasks, such as Direct Mailer and Data Warehouse Data Transformation Services (DTS) tasks, can be restarted. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Run-time components survive failover of dependent Windows services, application server, or underlying data stores. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
32-bit server support. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
64-bit server support. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Event logging support with Microsoft Windows NT Event Log reporting. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Performance monitoring using Commerce Server Health Monitoring Service and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM). |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Commerce Server Systems Features
The following table summarizes the Commerce Server systems available in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server. The table also includes links to sections and topics that provide the details of feature changes and additions to the Commerce Server systems in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server.
System |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Catalog System |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Marketing System |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Orders System |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Profiles System |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Business Processing Pipeline |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Catalog System Features
Commerce Server 2007 introduces many new features to the Catalog System. The following table compares support for Catalog System features in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full, native .NET Framework access to design-time and run-time APIs through a Web Service–Agent model. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Catalog .NET Framework APIs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Catalog Component Object Model (COM) objects. |
No (.NET Framework APIs are not visible in COM) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Service-oriented architecture that supports distributed management of Catalog and Inventory Systems and client connectivity. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Windows Forms-based management UI (see Catalog Manager Features Comparison). |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Business Desk-based management UI. |
No (replaced with Windows Forms-based management UI) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Granular security applied through Windows Authorization Manager scopes, roles, tasks, and operations. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create, update, delete, retrieve, and manage catalog data, such as catalogs, catalog sets, categories, products, product variants, and properties. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create, edit, retrieve, and delete definitions for products and categories and metadata for properties. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Define and manage catalog sets, which are catalogs targeted to particular user profiles at run time. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Hierarchically structured catalogs that enable products to be classified into categories. Each product can belong to multiple categories with a primary parent. Supports canonical and ancestral categories. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Products can have variants based on small differences, such as color or packaging. Product families can contain variants. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create relationships between products and hierarchies across catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
User-defined catalog attributes and property attributes. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Multicurrency pricing support. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Multilingual catalogs support. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Convert data between time zones at client/server. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Virtual catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Custom catalogs. |
No (replaced by virtual catalogs) |
No (replaced by virtual catalogs) |
No (replaced by virtual catalogs) |
Yes |
Virtual properties support for virtual catalogs and virtual catalog nesting. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Virtual catalogs property support and nesting. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Virtual catalog performance improvements to provide virtual catalog property support, enhanced rebuild and run-time performance, and nesting of virtual catalogs. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Catalog edit filter (Catalog Manager). |
No (replaced with alternative feature) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Catalog ranking (sort order on the site). Rank products, categories, product variants, relationships, and enumerated values in base and virtual catalogs. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Set rank (sort order) for the enumerated values of a property. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Set rank (sort order) for relationships of a product. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Search by specification or property. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Search in a category. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Full-text search for inflectional, weighted, and proximity searches. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
SQL text data types for products (not subject to the 8 KB/row limit). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Can perform queries joined to external tables. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Bulk updates and deletions of catalog data by specifying an expression or by specifying a dataset with values. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Run-time and design-time data caching support. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Time-based caching for catalog objects. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Aggregate content from multiple catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Validate the content of an XML catalog file without importing it. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import and export catalog item deletions. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Export changes to a catalog since a certain date. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Stage catalogs, virtual catalogs, schema changes, and properties in the catalog data. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Incremental refresh of full-text index, and improved design for regenerating full-text indexes. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Import/export catalog data with XSD schema validation. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Import/export catalog data with XDR. |
No (replaced with XSD format) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Property-centric import/export of catalog data to XML. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Element-centric import/export XML of Commerce Server 2000 XML schema. |
No (replaced with property-centric format) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Catalog syndication and catalog exchange. Catalog data can be transformed to industry catalog formats, such as xCBL 3.0 and cXML. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Line-of-business (LOB) integration with legacy catalogs through BizTalk Server integration, Web services, and Message Queuing integration. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
BizTalk Server 2006 interoperability. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Exchange catalog data with vendors by using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 or later versions. |
No (upgrade to BizTalk Server 2006 is required) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Export catalog data to Data Warehouse for reporting. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Performance counters for each instance of Commerce Server installed for catalog pipeline. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Profiles System Features
The following table compares support for Profiles System features in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full, native .NET Framework access to design-time and runtime APIs through a Web Service–Agent model. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Aggregate data across Active Directory directory service and SQL data stores. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
ASP.NET 2.0 Profiles System and user authentication work with Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS). |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
AuthFilter user authentication. |
Deprecated (replaced with ASP.NET 2.0) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Encryption of passwords and arbitrary properties. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Granular security applied through Windows Authorization Manager scopes, roles, tasks, and operations. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Active Directory group management using Business Desk. |
No (replaced with Windows Authorization Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Profile definition design interface. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Profile editing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (limited to users and organizations) |
Site term editing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Multivalued profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Multivalued site terms. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Embedded profile editing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Generic profile editing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import and export profile schema. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Staging support for site terms. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
LOB integration through BizTalk Server 2006 interoperability. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Export data to the Data Warehouse for reporting. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Performance counters for user profile management. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Marketing System Features
The following table compares support for Marketing System features in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full, native .NET Framework access to design-time and run-time APIs by a Web Service–Agent model. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Service-oriented architecture that supports distributed management of Catalog and Inventory Systems and client connectivity. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Run-time integration for content targeting delivery through the Content Selection Framework (CSF). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
APIs to programmatically manage ads, discounts, and direct mail items. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically manage campaign customers. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically manage lists of users for direct mailings. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically manage reference tables. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically search campaign items. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Windows Forms-based management UI (see Marketing Manager Features). |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Business Desk-based management UI. |
No (replaced with Windows Forms-based UI) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Granular security applied through Windows Authorization Manager scopes, roles, tasks, and operations. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Perform expression-based targeting by creating expressions that define the customers or context you want to target and the type of content you want to deliver. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Build target expressions based on a user’s organization profile and support targeting to any number of arbitrary profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Specify discount interaction policies to define combination, prioritization, and exclusion for campaign items. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Define complex target expressions that depend on other expressions. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Apply multiple discounts to an item or order and control the order in which discounts are applied. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Apply dollar-discount and percentage discounts to an item or an order and control the order in which the discounts are applied. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Flag whether an item can be discounted. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Run-time discount filtering. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Integration with Inventory System. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Coupon-enabled discounts. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Import, export, and generate coupons. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Direct Mailer can be deployed on a server that does not have SQL Server installed. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Direct Mailer can be deployed as a highly available clustered resource that takes advantage of Windows clustering. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Direct Mailer survives transient failures. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Integrated authentication for Direct Mailer in SQL Server. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Direct Mail based on target expressions. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Multilingual ads and discounts. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Multilingual Direct Mail subject lines. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Multilingual basket display string for discounts. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to handle date/time zone conversions between client and server. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Clear inactive or expired campaign items from the database. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Staging support for marketing data and coupons/promotional codes. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Full or incremental updates of coupons/promotional codes during staging. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Refresh marketing data cache during staging. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Export data to Data Warehouse for reporting. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Performance counters for marketing campaigns and direct mail. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Orders System Features
The following table compares support for Orders System features in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full, native .NET Framework access to design-time and run-time APIs through a Web Service–Agent model. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Extensible Orders System that enables extension of object and data models based on custom properties. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically search, retrieve, and delete baskets. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
APIs to programmatically search, retrieve, and delete basket orders. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Service-oriented architecture that supports distributed management of the Catalog and Inventory Systems and client connectivity. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Mapped storage. The Orders System maps purchase orders to SQL tables so that you can mine purchase order data. XML mapping file maps logical properties to physical storage. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
User-definable and strongly typed object model. Objects in the Orders System can be inherited, and completely new objects can be added. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
New entities can be stored in the Orders database with appropriate extensions to the mapping file. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Orders System binary storage. |
No (replaced with mapped storage) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Forms-based management UI (see Customer and Orders Manager Features). |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Business Desk-based management UI. |
No (replaced with Windows Forms-based UI) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Granular security applied through Windows Authorization Manager scopes, roles, tasks, and operations. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Capture orders in baskets in preparation for order processing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Order persistence and calculation. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Multiple baskets per user and named baskets to support gift cards, wish lists, repeating orders, and gift registry scenarios. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Enhanced data management with support for advanced searches and post-order capture processing to support customer service or order status inquiries. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Payment method and shipping method definition. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Customizable payment methods. UI to create new payment methods. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Process split-tender purchases (multiple payment methods for a single order) out of the box. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Process split shipments (multiple shipment addresses for a single order) out of the box. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Lookup by user ID and basket name. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Lookup by user ID. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Post-capture updates. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Marketing discount processing during checkout. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Support for shipping, tax, authorization, payment, fraud detection, and so on by using third-party components. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Business Processing Pipeline Features
The following table compares support for Business Processing Pipeline System features in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pipeline component development for supported .NET Framework development platforms. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Extensible, flexible, customizable order processing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Customize order, targeting, and merchandising processes. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Define and link the stages of a business process. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
High-precision currency conversion. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Multiple shipment handling. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Complex discount handling. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Pooled pipelines to increase performance. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Order processing pipelines to process either business-to-consumer (retail) orders or business-to-business (supplier) orders. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Content selection pipelines to select content to display to shoppers based on targeting expressions. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Event processing pipelines to record events related to the displayed content. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Direct mail pipelines to construct and deliver personalized e-mail or static content messages for direct mail campaigns. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Inventory pipelines for basket/checkout to evaluate stock-on-hand, updating inventory, and to calculate quantity that is in stock, back-ordered, or pre-ordered based on configurations. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Inventory pipeline to update quantity as part of a purchase operation. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Pipeline Editor. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Pipeline Component Registration tool. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Site Server 3.0 pipeline components and migration objects. |
No (removed) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Business Management Applications Features
The following table summarizes the Business Management applications available in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server. The table also includes links to sections that contain the details of feature changes and additions to the Business Management applications in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server.
Application |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Catalog Manager (replaces Business Desk Catalogs module). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Customer and Orders Manager (replaces Business Desk Orders, Profiles, and Users modules). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Marketing Manager (replaces Business Desk Campaigns module). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Business Management Application Language Settings tool (lets you select the language to use when you are using the Commerce Server Business Management applications without affecting the language settings for the servers or Web sites). |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Windows Authorization Manager. Provides extensible, granular security for each Business Management application UI element. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Business Desk Security. |
No (replaced with Windows Authorization Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Comparison of Features Shared Across Business Management Applications
The following table compares support for features that are shared across Commerce Server 2007 Business Management applications with shared features provided with Business Desk modules in earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Extensible user interface. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Enhanced role-based, fine-grained security through Windows Authorization Manager. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Business Desk Permissions security. |
No (replaced with Windows Authorization Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Security based on Windows Access Control Lists (ACLs). |
No (replaced with Windows Authorization Manager) |
No (replaced with Business Desk Security) |
No (replaced with Business Desk Security) |
Yes |
Access control for individual Business Management applications. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Access control for individual Business Desk modules. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
List views. View search results or data objects. Sort objects based on a selected property. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Preview pane. View the properties of an object selected in the List View. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Select fields for sorting list views. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Task views to view and select tasks available for the selected object or view. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Status view that provides summary of task completion. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Simple search based on selected filters and full or partial name or property to find data objects. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Advanced search using Boolean expressions to find data objects. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Style sheets for different themes, including high contrast for accessibility. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Catalog Manager Features
The following table compares support for features provided by Commerce Server 2007 Catalog Manager with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Create multicurrency catalogs. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create multilingual catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create and manage product definitions, property definitions, and catalog definitions. |
No (replaced with Catalog and Inventory Schema Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Tree grid view support to explore the catalog hierarchy and display objects alphabetically or sequentially. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Set catalog name and size restrictions. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create, edit, and delete catalog data, catalog sets, categories, and products. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Copy a product. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Define and modify base catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Define and modify virtual (or custom) catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Construct virtual catalogs by specifying include and exclude rules. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Catalog creation wizards:
|
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Create catalogs and catalog sets, add items to a catalog, and price products in a catalog. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Set product prices. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Define product variants. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Apply discount product prices. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create category hierarchies. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create and manage products, categories, catalogs, catalog sets, and product relationships. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Manage category and product relationships. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Sequence data by defining the hierarchy of base and virtual catalogs, catalog sets, categories, and products. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Select fields for sequencing. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Designate the display order of products and product categories. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Import and export catalogs. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Full or incremental catalog import. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Import/export wizards:
|
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Define and modify inventory catalogs. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Inventory catalog wizards:
|
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Refresh catalog cache. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Refresh and publish catalogs to the Web site. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
List views. View search results or data objects. Sort objects based on a selected property. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Select fields for sorting. Select the fields to use for sorting a list view. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Preview pane. View the properties of an object selected in the List View. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Status. View a summary of information for the selected object. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Task view. View and select tasks available for the selected object. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Tree view. View and explore the catalog hierarchy. Display objects alphabetically or sequentially. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Simple search based on selected filters and full or partial name or property to find catalog data objects. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Advanced search using Boolean expressions to find products, catalog definitions, and other catalog data objects. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Refine a search request until the product is found. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Customer and Orders Manager Features
Feature comparisons are provided for the following two functional areas supported by the Commerce Server 2007 Customer and Orders Manager:
Site Terms and User Management
Order and Basket Management
Site Terms and User Management Features
The following table compares support for Site Terms and User Management features in Commerce Server 2007 with the Business Desk Profiles and Users modules available in earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Create new user objects. Add users to the Profiles database. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create new address objects. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create new site terms and site term groups. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Edit, organize, and delete site terms and site term groups. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Add a term or value to a site term. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Add a property that maps to a site term. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create new user and organizational profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create payment and address profiles. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create generic profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create new profile definitions. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Add properties or a property group to a profile definition. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Add encrypted properties to a profile definition. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Embed a profile definition. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Publish profile definition changes to a Web site. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Find, copy, and edit profile definitions, and delete profile properties. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create, copy, find, edit, and delete a user or organizational profile. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create, copy, find, edit, and delete generic profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import a list of user profiles. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Reset a user password. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Order and Basket Management Features
The following table compares support for Order and Basket Management features in Commerce Server 2007 with the Business Desk Orders module available in earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Create, modify, enable/disable, and delete payment methods. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create, modify, enable/disable, and delete shipping methods. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Add and edit location codes. |
Yes (defined as site terms using Customers and Orders Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Add and edit order status codes, country codes, or state/province codes. |
Yes (defined as site terms using Customers and Orders Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Customize shipping methods. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Add and edit tax rates. |
Yes (defined in reference tables using Marketing Manager) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Review properties on an individual line item, order form in a purchase order, payment method, or payment collection. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Review and edit properties on a purchase order. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Find and delete baskets. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Find, sort, view, and delete orders. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Clear deleted baskets and orders from the Orders database. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Publish new or updated orders data on your Web site. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Marketing Manager Features
The following table compares support for the features provided in Commerce Server 2007 Marketing Manager with earlier versions of the Business Desk Campaigns and Discount Manager modules in Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Add coupons to discounts. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Export coupons. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Approve campaigns and discounts. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Schedule coupon/promotion code reservation tasks. |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Define discount application policies. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Define reference tables to manage content sizes, industry codes, and page groups for your business model. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create, delete, and restore campaigns. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create ad and discount campaigns. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Marketing wizards:
|
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Create target expressions and target groups. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create direct mail campaigns. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create and manage user lists for direct mail campaigns. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Start campaign changes on your Web site. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Generate campaign reports and export to List Manager. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Business Analytics Features
This section summarizes Commerce Server support for the following business intelligence features:
Analytics Reporting Features
Data Warehouse Features
Commerce Server 2007 does not support the Predictor and Segment Viewer functions of earlier releases of Commerce Server.
Analytics Reporting Features
The following table compares support for analytics reporting features provided in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of the Business Desk Reports modules in Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Analytics based on SQL Reporting Services. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Business Desk-based analytics. |
No (replaced with SQL Reporting Services) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Office Web Controls and Pivot charts. |
No (replaced with SQL Reporting Services) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Reporting Life Cycle Management. Full life cycle management for all Commerce Server reports—including authoring, scheduling, versioning, snapshotting, access controls, and rendering—are provided using Microsoft SQL Reporting Services. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Stand-alone business analytics installation. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Remote access to OLAP cubes (requires SQL Server 2000 or 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create a new report from scratch. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Customize a predefined report. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Run user profile reports. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Run marketing campaign reports. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Export reports as lists to the Profiles System or Marketing System. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Group published reports. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Report drill-through capability. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Across-domain reporting. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Create prediction models to analyze usage behavior and display product recommendations to a site user. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Create segmentation models to analyze behavior by population segment. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Affinity lists. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Export segment model as a list. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Data Warehouse Features
The following table compares support for Data Warehouse features provided in Commerce Server 2007 with earlier versions of Commerce Server.
Feature |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Data Warehouse extensibility. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Data Warehouse Import Wizard. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Data Warehouse site package file to create and configure new Commerce Server Data Warehouses. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Data Warehouse Configurator tool to create and configure new Commerce Server Data Warehouses. |
No (replaced with Data Warehouse site package file) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import campaign data. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Import user data. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Set log file restart parameters. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Set connection retry parameters for all DTS tasks. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Delete imported logs on a rotating basis. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Run a DTS task for all sites in a Data Warehouse (for relevant DTS tasks). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Run a DTS task for a single site in a Data Warehouse. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Schedule DTS packages. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Display import progress data. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Use log file masking. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import cookieless user data. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import Unicode characters. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Import UTF-8 log files. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Data Warehouse schema diagram. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
DTS Tasks
The following table compares support for Data Transformation Services (DTS) tasks across versions of Commerce Server.
DTS task |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Configuration synchronization. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Web server log import. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Catalog data import. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Campaign data import. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
IP resolution. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Profile data import. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Transaction data import. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Data deletion. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Report preparation. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Report caching. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Administration and Operations Tools Features
The following table summarizes the administration and operations tools available in Commerce Server 2007 and previous releases of Commerce Server. For more information about these tools, see Administration and Operations Tools.
Tool |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Commerce Server Manager. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Profile Schema Manager. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Commerce Server Staging. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Commerce Server 2007 Configuration Wizard. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Commerce Server 2007 Migration Wizard. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Commerce Server Site Packager. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Data Warehouse Import Wizard. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Commerce Server Data Transformation Services (DTS) Tasks. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Predictor Resource. |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Volume Shadow Copy Service Writer. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
SQL Enterprise Manager. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
SQL Server Management Studio or SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Express. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server Active Directory Users and Computers. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server Event Viewer. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server Performance Monitor. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Development Platform and Integration Features
The following table summarizes the development tools and platform features available in Commerce Server 2007 and earlier releases of Commerce Server.
Tool |
2007 Editions |
2002 EE, Feature Pack 1 |
2002 Enterprise Edition |
2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full integration with Visual Studio 2008. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Full integration with Visual Studio 2005. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Full support for Visual Web Developer Express Edition for Web development and Project Creation Wizard. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Commerce Server Project Wizard. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Visual Basic, including Web Developer Express Edition, pipeline development. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Visual C++, including Web Developer Express Edition, pipeline development. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Visual C#, including Web Developer Express Edition, pipeline development. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Full support for ASP.NET 2.0 Web applications. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Service-oriented architecture to support development and extension of Web services. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Support for ASP.NET Web applications. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
.NET Framework. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
BizTalk Server Adapters to support integration with LOB systems. |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Starter Site. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Solution site packages. |
No (replaced with Starter Site). |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
SDK and tools. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
See Also
Other Resources
Introducing Commerce Server 2007
Development Platform and Commerce Server Systems
Business Management Applications
Administration and Operations Tools
Removed or Deprecated Features