Adobe Commerce Business Practitioner Expert key terms
Adobe Commerce Business Practitioner Expert · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Scope
- Related: Website, Store, Store View Hierarchy, Configuration Override
A setting that determines how broadly a configuration value or product attribute applies, such as global, website, store, or store view. Scope controls where an override takes effect across a multi-store installation.
- Website, Store, Store View Hierarchy
- Related: Scope, Multi-Store Setup
The three-level structure Adobe Commerce uses to organize a single installation into separate sales channels. A website holds stores, and each store holds one or more store views that serve different languages or presentations.
- Multi-Store Setup
- Related: Website, Store, Store View Hierarchy, Scope
A single Adobe Commerce installation configured to serve several websites, stores, or languages from shared code and catalog data. It reduces duplication but requires careful planning of scope, pricing, and currency.
- Configuration Override
- Related: Scope, Website, Store, Store View Hierarchy
A value set at a narrower scope, such as a store view, that replaces the inherited value from a broader scope like global or website. Administrators use overrides to vary behavior per channel without duplicating settings.
- Magento Open Source versus Adobe Commerce
- Related: Commerce Cloud, B2B Company Account
Two editions of the same platform. Open Source provides core commerce features, while Adobe Commerce adds cloud hosting options, advanced marketing tools, B2B functionality, and enterprise support. Feature availability often depends on edition.
- Commerce Cloud
- Related: Magento Open Source versus Adobe Commerce, Deployment
Adobe's managed hosting offering for Adobe Commerce, providing infrastructure, deployment tooling, and environment management. It includes starter and professional plans with differing infrastructure and support levels.
- Indexing
- Related: Cache Management, Cron
The process of flattening catalog and pricing data into optimized tables so storefront queries and layered navigation run quickly. Indexers can update on save or on schedule, and stale indexes cause missing or incorrect storefront data.
- Cache Management
- Related: Indexing, Full Page Cache
Controls that store rendered pages, blocks, and configuration data to reduce server load and speed responses. Different cache types can be enabled or flushed independently, and incorrect flushing often explains stale content.
- Full Page Cache
- Related: Cache Management, Customer Segment
A caching layer that stores complete rendered HTML responses for anonymous visitors. It relies on cache tags and invalidation rules, and personalized or dynamic blocks are handled separately to avoid serving incorrect content.
- Cron
- Related: Indexing, Message Queue
A scheduled task mechanism the platform uses for background jobs such as index updates, email sending, sitemap generation, and abandoned cart notices. Missing or misconfigured cron causes many automated features to fail silently.
- Message Queue
- Related: Cron, Integration
An asynchronous communication mechanism that lets the platform hand off work, such as exports or integrations, to background consumers. It improves responsiveness and reliability for long-running or external operations.
- Business Requirements Document
- Related: User Story, Acceptance Criteria
A written statement of what a business needs a solution to accomplish, including goals, scope, assumptions, and success criteria. It guides design decisions and provides a baseline for validating delivered functionality.
- User Story
- Related: Acceptance Criteria, Business Requirements Document
A short description of a feature from the perspective of the person who needs it, usually phrased as a role, a goal, and a reason. Stories are broken into tasks and validated against acceptance criteria.
- Acceptance Criteria
- Related: User Story, Gap Analysis
Specific, testable conditions that a feature must satisfy to be considered complete. They remove ambiguity from requirements and form the basis for quality assurance and sign-off.
- Gap Analysis
- Related: Acceptance Criteria, Extension
A comparison of desired business capabilities against what native platform features already deliver. The result identifies where configuration suffices and where custom development or an extension is required.
- Product Type
- Related: Configurable Product, Bundle Product
A classification that determines how a product behaves in pricing, inventory, and cart logic. Common types include simple, configurable, virtual, downloadable, bundle, and grouped, each with distinct rules.
- Configurable Product
- Related: Product Type, Attribute Set
A parent product that lets shoppers choose among variations such as size and color. Each variation is a simple product with its own SKU, price, and stock, and the parent presents them as selectable options.
- Bundle Product
- Related: Product Type, Grouped Product
A build-your-own product assembled from several child items, offered at a fixed or dynamically calculated price. Shoppers select options, and the cart contains the parent bundle with its chosen components.
- Grouped Product
- Related: Bundle Product, Product Type
A parent product that displays a set of related simple products on one page so shoppers can add quantities of several items at once. Each child is ordered and priced independently.
- Attribute Set
- Related: Configurable Product, Source Model
A named collection of attributes assigned to products, defining which fields appear on the product form. Different sets let categories of goods capture different information without cluttering unrelated products.
- Source Model
- Related: Attribute Set, Scope
The input control used for an attribute, such as text, dropdown, multiselect, or price. The source model determines how values are captured, validated, and stored for a product field.
- Inventory Sources and Stock
- Related: Product Type, Order Fulfillment
Multi-source inventory lets a merchant define physical locations as sources and assign them to sales channels through stocks. This enables accurate per-location quantities and source selection during order fulfillment.
- Category Hierarchy
- Related: Layered Navigation, Catalog Price Rule
The tree structure used to organize products for browsing and navigation. Categories affect storefront menus, URL paths, layered navigation, and can drive promotional rules and pricing.
- Customer Group
- Related: Customer Segment, Shared Catalog
A classification of shoppers used to vary pricing, promotions, tax classes, and catalog visibility. Groups are often aligned to segments such as retail, wholesale, or VIP tiers.
- Customer Segment
- Related: Customer Group, Cart Price Rule
A dynamic or manually defined audience built from shopper attributes such as orders, cart value, or location. Segments drive targeted promotions, content, and cart price rules for specific audiences.
- Shared Catalog
- Related: B2B Company Account, Customer Group
An Adobe Commerce B2B feature that assigns a curated set of products with custom pricing to specific companies. It controls which items each business customer can see and buy.
- B2B Company Account
- Related: Shared Catalog, Purchase Order Workflow
An organizational account structure where multiple buyers belong to one company with roles, permissions, and approval rules. It supports purchasing workflows typical of business buyers rather than individual consumers.
- Cart Price Rule
- Related: Catalog Price Rule, Coupon Code
A promotional rule applied to items in the shopping cart based on conditions such as subtotal, customer group, or coupon code. It defines discounts and can restrict usage by date, quantity, or audience.
- Catalog Price Rule
- Related: Cart Price Rule, Category Hierarchy
A scheduled discount applied to products before they reach the cart, based on attributes, category, or website. Because the price changes in the catalog, it affects listings and product pages directly.
- Coupon Code
- Related: Cart Price Rule, Promotion
A code a shopper enters to unlock a promotion defined by a cart price rule. Rules can generate batches of unique codes and limit how often each code or customer may redeem them.
- Related Products, Up-Sells, and Cross-Sells
- Related: Layered Navigation, Category Hierarchy
Merchandising relationships that surface additional items to shoppers. Related products suggest complements, up-sells promote higher-value alternatives, and cross-sells appear in the cart to increase order size.
- Layered Navigation
- Related: Category Hierarchy, Indexing
Filterable attribute facets on category and search pages that let shoppers narrow results by price, brand, size, or other attributes. It depends on properly configured filterable attributes and current index data.
- Checkout Flow
- Related: Payment Method, Order Fulfillment
The sequence of steps a shopper completes to convert a cart into an order, covering address, shipping method, payment, and review. Customizations must preserve totals accuracy and guest or registered options.
- Payment Method
- Related: Checkout Flow, Invoice and Credit Memo
The mechanism used to collect funds during checkout, such as an integrated gateway, offline method, or stored payment token. Each method has its own capture timing, authorization rules, and refund behavior.
- Order Fulfillment
- Related: Inventory Sources and Stock, Invoice and Credit Memo
The operational process of picking, packing, and shipping ordered items, including partial shipments and backorders. It links inventory sources, shipment records, and customer notifications.
- Invoice and Credit Memo
- Related: Payment Method, Order Fulfillment
Documents that record money owed and money returned. An invoice captures payment for shipped or ordered items, while a credit memo records a refund and can restock returned products.
- Purchase Order Workflow
- Related: B2B Company Account, Checkout Flow
A B2B approval process where a company buyer submits an order for authorization before it is placed. It enforces spending controls through company roles and configurable approval rules.
- Content Staging
- Related: Page Builder, Promotion
A scheduling feature that lets teams prepare and preview changes to content, promotions, and catalog data, then publish them automatically at a set time. It supports campaigns without manual switching.
- Page Builder
- Related: Content Staging, Widget
A drag-and-drop editing tool for building storefront pages and blocks without code. It provides content types such as rows, banners, and product carousels that merchandisers can arrange visually.
- Widget
- Related: Page Builder, Content Staging
A reusable content component that can be placed into pages or blocks to display dynamic information, such as recently viewed items or promotional lists. Widgets are configured by placement and parameters.
- Conversion Rate
- Related: Average Order Value, Abandoned Cart
The share of storefront sessions that result in a completed order. It is a core commerce health metric and is influenced by traffic quality, pricing, checkout friction, and site performance.
- Average Order Value
- Related: Conversion Rate, Customer Segment
Total revenue divided by the number of orders in a period. Merchants track it to evaluate merchandising and promotion effectiveness and to compare performance across segments or channels.
- Abandoned Cart
- Related: Conversion Rate, Cart Price Rule
A cart that a shopper leaves without completing checkout. Merchants monitor abandonment and may trigger reminder emails or incentives to recover the potential sale.
- Integration
- Related: API, Message Queue
A configured connection between the platform and an external system, such as an ERP or payment provider. Integrations define access credentials and permissions for data exchange through APIs.
- API
- Related: Integration, Webhook
A defined interface that lets external systems read and write platform data programmatically. REST and GraphQL endpoints support operations for products, orders, customers, and other entities.
- Webhook
- Related: API, Integration
An automated HTTP notification sent to an external endpoint when a specified event occurs. Webhooks let systems react to changes in near real time without polling the platform continuously.
- Extension
- Related: Gap Analysis, Module
A packaged add-on that adds or changes platform functionality. Extensions may be vendor-supplied or custom-built and require compatibility review before upgrades.
- Module
- Related: Extension, Deployment
A self-contained unit of platform code that organizes features, configuration, and dependencies. Modules can be enabled or disabled and are the building blocks for both native and custom functionality.
- Data Migration
- Related: Deployment, Launch Readiness
The process of moving products, customers, orders, and other records from a legacy system into the platform. It requires mapping, cleansing, validation, and reconciliation to ensure data integrity at launch.
- Deployment
- Related: Launch Readiness, Module
The process of moving code and configuration from a development environment into staging and production. It includes build steps, static content generation, and database changes that must be sequenced correctly.
- Launch Readiness
- Related: Deployment, Data Migration
A structured review confirming that functionality, content, integrations, performance, security, and support processes are prepared for go-live. It typically ends with a documented sign-off and rollback plan.
- User Acceptance Testing
- Related: Acceptance Criteria, Launch Readiness
A final validation phase where business stakeholders confirm that delivered functionality meets requirements in realistic scenarios. It relies on acceptance criteria and produces a go or no-go recommendation.