Glossary

An Account is an isolated single tenant on a Fluent environment. It can manage one or more retailers.

An Action represents an outcome of a Rule. Actions include:

• Sending events
• Sending webhooks
• Creating or updating an entity
• Creating log events

An Aggregate Virtual Position record represents the total sum of inventory available across a network, category, or another grouping.

An article represents the physical container (parcel, crate, envelope etc.) that contains some or all of the items for an order.

Attributes are the way to extend most entities in the Fluent platform for use-cases beyond the default fields.

For example, you may have additional attributes on your Product records, such as Size, Color, or an image URL. 

Attribute values can be typed as string, boolean, integer, and JSON.

Audit Events provide detailed information on the execution flow of an Orchestration Event. Most of these are produced automatically by the workflow engine during execution, but can also be created directly for traceability. 

Audit Events can be distinguished by their category, each providing different information on what was executed. The following audit event categories are available:

• snapshot - the state of an entity before executing an orchestration event
• ruleSet - the name and runtime of a ruleset execution
• rule - the name, props, and runtime of a rule execution
• ACTION - the name, value, and runtime of an action execution
• CUSTOM - see “Log Event”
• exception - the name, description, and stack trace of an exception that occurred during orchestration event execution

"Available to Promise (ATP)" is the quantity of a product that a company can promise to deliver to customers by a specific date based on the current inventory levels, incoming inventory, production schedules, and outstanding orders. 

Available to Sell (ATS) is the quantity of inventory that is immediately available in stock and can be sold to customers. It is usually calculated based on the stock on hand and safety stock buffers.

The average total value of every order placed over a defined period of time. Calculated by dividing total revenue from all orders by the number of orders.

Quantity of inventory that is Available to Promise for a SKU at a specific location after all inventory controls (safety stock buffers and exclusions) have been applied.

Processing multiple items in an order at the same time.

Branch location of a distributor where business to business (B2B) buyers can make purchases or pickup will call orders.

Sale of goods or services between businesses via an online sales portal.

Sale of goods directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen.

Buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) is a shopping method where customers purchase online and then pick up their order at a physical store location. This service combines the convenience of online shopping with the immediacy of in-store pickup, allowing customers to avoid shipping fees and wait times. BOPIS is an increasingly popular option for retailers and shoppers, offering a flexible and efficient way to shop.

"Buy online return in store" (BORIS) is a retail policy that allows customers to purchase items online and then return them at a physical store location. This practice provides convenience and flexibility for customers who prefer the ease of online shopping but want the option to return items in person, potentially avoiding shipping fees or delays associated with online returns.

End customer of a distributor, wholesaler, manufacturer (aka B2B buyer)

A collective grouping of products or items. For example, T-Shirts represents all T-Shirt products. Mens Shoes represents all mens shoe products.

Click and Collect Pickup is an effective retail fulfilment strategy that allows consumers to buy online and pick up their orders from a physical store nearest to their location.

Location where a customer will pick up their order

A set of Event Interface Contracts describing a recommended flow between a connector (or any external service) and one or more workflows.

Represents a shipping order with a carrier.

A central point for organizations to manage all customer interactions across channels and provide customers with efficient and effective customer service.

The parent entity of controls, where you can group controls into a Control Group. For example, you can use a "Base Control Group," where a general control could be housed, or an "ATS Home Delivery Control Group," where you have controls for products that are only available for Home Delivery

A Control is a generic mechanism for applying a rule to a calculation or decision. Controls can be used to represent a buffer, safety stock, exclusion, segmentation, allocation, sourcing attribute, lead-time, or other values that may influence orchestration logic or calculated values.

The core model approach is typically used within multi-retailer / multi-brand organizations. In this approach, the first implementation is used as a core for the next, which speeds up future implementations, reduces costs, and increases quality, resulting in greater Return on Investment (ROI).

The Core Reference Module is a foundational Reference Module. It provides a base set of general-purpose Rules that other Modules are built upon or that can be included in your own Workflows. Extensible by design, use this Module as a base to build a solution for your customers' needs.

Correction Stock is an adjustment quantity for a stock item, typically used to correct an on hand quantity in a location. The correction may be due to various reasons, such as damaged goods, missing or incorrectly recorded sales, etc.

Also known as COGS (typically in a manufacturing or traditional retail firm selling physical units of inventory)

A document issued by the seller of goods or services to the buyer, reducing the amount that the buyer owes to the seller under the terms of an earlier invoice.

Orchestration Events sent from one workflow to another are called Cross Workflow Events. Like other external events, they create a new execution context in the target workflow.

The number of days customers have to collect their Click and Collect order. This time limit will be communicated in customer notifications to encourage on-time pick-up. After this time, the order will be shown as ‘Uncollected’  so that store associates can initiate the refund process.

Direct to Customer (DTC) is a business approach where companies sell their products directly to consumers, cutting out middlemen like retailers. It's about brands connecting with customers directly through online platforms or physical stores, offering more control over the entire customer experience. This model is gaining traction in various industries, allowing brands to offer better prices, faster delivery, and more personalized interactions.

Dispatch is the act of sending off goods, resources, or instructions to their destinations. It's about organizing and coordinating shipments or tasks, whether in logistics, emergency services, or other contexts, to ensure timely delivery or completion.

Distributed Inventory Management involves strategically distributing stock across multiple locations to optimize availability and reduce shipping times.

The orchestration of fulfilling orders across multiple locations.

A specialized warehouse designed to store finished goods, streamline the picking and packing process, and ship goods out to another location or final destination.

A user who interacts with Fluent web apps (Fluent Order Management, Fluent Store, Fluent Big Inventory)

A structured object representing a concept in the order management domain that can be created, updated, and viewed on the Fluent platform.

Is the context object passed to rules to give them access to information about the current workflow execution and Rule actions and provide access to the API clients and rule actions. This includes details of the originating event, configuration properties of the rule, and methods to produce new actions.

A definition of the Event structure (including attributes) that should be produced and the Trigger information for a specific Ruleset.

The set of Rulesets that run using a single Event Context. See Inline Events.

External Events are generated outside of a Workflow, intended to begin the execution of a Ruleset in a Workflow. They create an Execution Context and may produce subsequent inline events.

The Fluent Commerce support department.  

A fulfillment represents one or more items in an order that need to be picked and packed for the customer. A fulfillment is assigned to a location based on the retailer's fulfillment rules and available inventory. If more than one location is used to fulfill an order, multiple fulfillments will be created against the order.

Fulfillment options refer to the various methods available for delivering products or services to customers after they've placed an order. These options can include shipping, pick-up, or digital delivery, depending on the nature of the product or service and the preferences of both the customer and the seller.

It is a fulfillment type used to determine which fulfillment rulesets need to trigger in the order workflow. For example: 

• click and collect pick from collection point PFCP = Pick from Collection Point
• click and collect pick from store PFS = Pick from Store

The total value of merchandise sold by a business over a period of time (usually per annum)

An entity for recording multi-item products, such as bundles and kits.

A "Hubstore" typically refers to a physical location, often in urban areas, where online retailers or e-commerce companies set up small fulfillment centers or distribution hubs. These facilities serve as convenient pickup points for customers to collect their online orders, offering an alternative to traditional home delivery. Hubstores streamline the delivery process, allowing customers to retrieve their purchases at their convenience while also reducing shipping costs and environmental impact. They're part of the evolving landscape of retail and e-commerce, bridging the gap between online shopping and the physical retail experience.

An identity provider (abbreviated IdP or IDP) is an entity that creates, maintains, and manages identity information for principals and also provides authentication services to relying applications within a federation or distributed network. An identity provider is a trusted provider that lets you use single sign-on (SSO) to access other websites. SSO enhances usability by reducing password fatigue. It also provides better security by decreasing the potential attack surface.

An Independent Software Vendor (ISV) is a company that develops and sells software products independently of larger software manufacturers. These companies create software solutions tailored to specific industries, needs, or niche markets. ISVs typically focus on designing, developing, and distributing software applications, often specializing in particular domains such as healthcare, finance, or education. They operate independently from platform providers and may offer their products through various channels, including direct sales, online marketplaces, or partnerships with other technology companies.

When an Internal Event can be processed immediately, the Workflow engine can “inline” it - that is, process it in the same execution context as the originating external event. This is better for performance, and data consistency and reliability (transactionality).

Integration Events are External Orchestration events that are sent from an external system into the Fluent platform.

Inventory, or stock, is the total amount of goods a company holds for sale or use. Managing inventory involves tracking and controlling these items to meet customer demand efficiently while minimizing excess.

Inventory catalogs consist of inventory positions that can be aggregated from multiple sources. Inventory catalogs hold on-hand inventory of products, variants, and groups.

It is a specific sku/product at a location. The position of inventory is the amount at a location. For example: for a product Green broccoli, and a location of Fluent HQ (Sydney). The current active position is 42. (we love broccoli)

The number of changed on-hand positions after batch pre-processing.

"Last On Hand" (LOH) is an inventory management term referring to the most recent quantity of a specific item available in stock at a given time. It is essentially a snapshot of the inventory count for a particular product just before a new transaction (such as a sale, purchase, or transfer) is recorded.

A physical place where items you are selling can be shipped to or from.

An audit event of category “CUSTOM” that can be produced directly from a rule to log important information that resulted from workflow execution. These are commonly used for exceptional cases, e.g. recording the reason that a rule did not perform its standard action.

Long Object Value JSON, often referred to simply as "LOV JSON," is a format used to structure data in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) where the values within the JSON objects are particularly lengthy. This can occur when the values contain large amounts of text, extensive arrays, or nested objects with considerable depth.

Has 2 meanings in Fluent. A Manifest is the name of the JSON document that describes the UI configuration for a Fluent Web App. A Manifest is also a document describing the shipping details (items, parcels, etc.) for a carrier.

Component of a connector built with connect sdk

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to a resource such as an application, online account or other app requiring sign-in. MFA is a core component of a strong identity and access management (IAM) policy. Rather than just asking for a username and password, MFA requires one or more additional verification factors, which decreases the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.

A multi-tenant environment refers to a software architecture where a single instance of a software application serves multiple customers, known as tenants. Each tenant operates in a virtually isolated environment, yet they all share the same application and infrastructure. This model is common in cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.

Code name for the UX Framework.

A network is a group of locations for the purpose of separating them into logical or geographic categories.

The coordination of logical decisions to facilitate a desired outcome. For example, Order Orchestration is the coordination of logical decisions to facilitate the best, most efficient way to fulfill an order for a customer. Orchestration in Fluent is implemented using Workflows that contain business logic stored in the Workflow as rules and rulesets. 

An entity that can be assigned a Workflow to manage its lifecycle.

An event of type ORCHESTRATION intended to execute a Ruleset in a Workflow when processed by the Workflow Engine.

Orchestration Events contain a name matching a ruleset name, information about the target Entity, and optional custom attributes for any extra information needed to process.

The user interface of the Orchestration Engine which provides visualization and management of all configured workflows, including rule sets, rules, and user actions.

Created after a shopper completes the checkout and contains one or more products from a retailer. One or more fulfillments are created against the order to be services by locations.

Order Management Experience is the ability to be consistently and constantly flexible and agile in optimising order management processes within a business, for competitive advantage, economic adaptability, and market expansion.

The OMX Frameworks are the three software frameworks provided by Fluent, including the Workflow Framework, UX Framework, and Connector Framework.

The OMX Platform is the Developer platform, frameworks, and tooling provided to developers to build and deliver complex and unique implementations of Fluent solutions for our customers to realize order management experience quickly and easily. It includes a rich domain model, APIs, Workflow Framework, UX Framework, Connector Framework, SDKs, CLI, and best practice assets and documentation for developers.

Showing and selling stock to customers you don't have.

The process of collecting and then packing products which are part of one fulfillment at one location.

The amount of time allocated to a store to complete the pick and pack process for an order. Once a fulfillment has expired, it will either be reassigned or canceled. Pick and Pack Time Limits exclude non-trading hours.

Pick by item refers to a method of order fulfillment where individual items are selected from inventory to assemble a customer's order, typically used in warehouse management and logistics.

Fulfilling from the same location as the customer will pick up from.

"Pick from Store" refers to the process where customer orders placed online are fulfilled directly from the inventory available at a retail store, rather than from a centralized warehouse. This approach helps in faster delivery and leverages local store stock, often used for services like curbside pickup or same-day delivery.

Pick an item into a box when accumulating all items shipped from a specific location (e.g., store) to fulfill an order.

A collection of rules for a retailer.

"Point of Sale" (POS) is the location and system where a retail transaction is completed. This is where customers pay for their purchases, either physically at a store counter or online, and the POS system typically includes hardware (like cash registers and card readers) and software to process sales, manage inventory, and handle payments.

A "Preorder" is when customers can place orders for a product before it is officially released or available in stock. This allows retailers to gauge demand and secure sales in advance, often providing customers with incentives like early access or guaranteed availability upon release.

A segment of workflow that represents a business outcome. This typically involves several rulesets contributing to the same stage of an entity's lifecycle.

Example:

• Cancel Order (Process)
  • Cancel Fulfilments (Sub-Process of Cancel Order)
    • Release Inventory (sub-Process of Cancel Fulfilments)
• Order Sourcing (Process)
  • Assign Fulfilment (Sub-Process of Order Sourcing)
    • Reserve Inventory  (sub-Process of Assign Fulfilment)

A container for storing product and category records.

"Product Information Management" (PIM) refers to the processes and systems used to manage and centralize all the details about a company's products. This includes descriptions, specifications, pricing, images, and other essential data. A PIM system ensures that accurate, consistent, and up-to-date product information is available across all sales channels and customer touchpoints, improving data quality and streamlining operations.

A report to determine if your implementation of Fluent is following recommended practices.

Reconciliation in the context of payments refers to the process of matching and verifying that the payments collected align with the authorizations and shipments. For instance, when you capture an 'authorization' at the time an order is placed and then initiate charges as each shipment is dispatched, you need to ensure that these charges are accurately accounted for and correspond with the initial order and authorization. This ensures financial records are correct and no discrepancies exist between what was authorized and what was actually charged.

An attribute used to extend Fluent entities. 

A Reference Module is a Module provided by Fluent Commerce that is designed to provide reference Artifacts that you can use to create your own solutions. While an Extension contains an entire solution within itself, Reference Modules provide Domain Artifacts that can be used to speed up building your own solutions. Structurally, Reference Modules are identical to Modules as are Extensions.

The amount of inventory reserved (virtually held aside) until an action occurs on a fulfillment (i.e., it is fulfilled, is canceled, or expires).

Return on Investment (ROI) is a financial metric commonly used to measure the likelihood of gaining a return from an investment. It is a ratio that compares the gain or loss from an investment relative to its cost. The formula to calculate ROI is:

ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100

Essentially, ROI allows investors and business owners to assess an investment's efficiency or compare the efficiencies of several different investments. A higher ROI indicates that the investment gains compare favorably to the investment cost.

The process of a shopper receiving their order and wishing to return it. (Change of mind, displeasure with an item's quality, etc).

The base type of a domain. A root entity is assigned a workflow and all child entities operate within it. e.g. Order is a root entity and Fulfilment and Article are children as they operate in the Order workflow.

The main Orchestration Entity in a domain. Workflows are assigned to the Root Entity, and any dependent entities inherit the same Workflow and version.

Rubix is a business process automation tool and workflow engine that interprets a JSON-based workflow document. It simplifies the automation of complex business processes, allowing for efficient and effortless implementation of workflows.

Separately built artifacts (both Fluent and 3rd Party) containing one or more rules that can be uploaded and installed into Rubix for use in workflows.

A collection of rules for a retailer

A Ruleset defines a specific business logic task or operation within a workflow. It is a set of Rules that are composed and configured in a Ruleset to perform a specific task. One or many Rulesets can be composed within a workflow to deliver a Process or sub-Process.

Orchestration events can be produced with a single-use workflow attached - the Workflow engine will use this instead of the matching workflow for that entity. This is especially useful to manually execute particular rules on an entity and is mostly used for operational purposes such as to repair discrepancies.

Safety stock (or buffer stock) is the stock level that is protected (not made Available to Promise online) to reduce the risk of stock-outs caused by inaccurate inventory data, or shifts in supply or demand. This prevents overselling, cancelled orders, and a poor customer experience.

Internal Events can be marked to execute some time in the future, in which case they are added to the event queue and processed in a new execution context at a later time.

A "Short Pick" occurs when the quantity of items picked from inventory for an order is less than the amount ordered by the customer. This often happens due to stock shortages, inventory errors, or other fulfillment issues, requiring either partial shipment or alternative arrangements to complete the order.

A situation where a customer has ordered and paid for a certain quantity of goods or products, but the seller has shipped less than the requested quantity.

Single-tenant in SaaS refers to a software architecture where each customer (tenant) has their own dedicated instance of the software, including its database and resources. This model offers higher security, customization, and performance but often at a higher cost compared to multi-tenant architectures, where multiple customers share a single instance. Single-tenant setups are ideal for businesses needing stringent data isolation and tailored functionality.

A site reliability engineer is an IT expert who uses automation tools to monitor and observe software reliability in the production environment. They are also experienced in finding software problems and writing code to fix them. Site reliability engineers sit at the crossroads of traditional IT and software development. Basically, SRE teams are made up of engineers who build and implement software to improve the reliability of systems/software/platforms.

Sourcing is the process of where to fulfill an order from. This involves evaluating various factors such as inventory levels, shipping costs, delivery times, and customer location to determine the most efficient and cost-effective way to fulfill the order.

Defines the maximum number of shipments allowed to fulfill an order.

Represents the part of the lifecycle that an entity is currently in. Status is used when matching rulesets, and for displaying all entities in a given state (e.g.: Orders that have been ESCALATED).

Unit of measure in which the number of available products for sale are managed. Refer to individually identifiable stock items by for eg size, colour, shape, etc

Stock on Hand refers to the physical quantity of stock minus any allocations, reservations, or other adjustments.

Trigger (noun, with regard to a Ruleset)

A Trigger is the definition of criteria for matching an Event to a Ruleset. The Workflow Engine compares Triggers against information from the Event and the associated Entity at runtime to identify which Rulesets to execute as part of the Execution Context.

Trigger (verb)

To begin the execution of a workflow by sending an orchestration event.

Distinguishes between different variants of the same entity. The type field of a Root Entity determines which workflow is used to process it (e.g., Orders of type Home Delivery (HD) and Click&Collect (CC) follow different workflows).

Additionally, when triggering workflow, the entity type is matched against the ruleset subtype.

Not showing stock you have and thus not selling it to your customers.

Order capture is the process of receiving and recording customer orders from various sales channels, like websites, mobile apps, or retail stores. It consolidates all these orders into a single system, ensuring that each order's details, such as product, quantity, and customer information, are accurately documented.

Internal Events are generated inside of a Workflow intended to execute another Ruleset in the same Workflow. These are primarily used to produce conditional logic in the workflow.

A Ruleset that has been configured to allow direct user interaction. User Actions can be displayed as buttons and/or forms in the webapps and are natively supported by the UX Framework.

User Action Events are External events that are produced by clicking a button on the UI.

A Virtual Catalog is a subset of intersections between a product catalog, an inventory catalog and a set of location networks. Virtual catalogs are intended to represent fast-moving dynamic data such as buffered inventory and can also represent multiple dynamic inventory counters.

Inventory Position concept - base and aggregate versions, where base is location-specific & aggregate sums across all locations in a network.

A centralized location used as a source of inventory for fulfilling orders but generally not an option for customer collections.

A Warehouse Management System (WMS) consists of software and processes that allow organizations to control and administer warehouse operations from the time goods or materials enter a warehouse until they move out.

The supply chain can operate only as quickly, accurately, and efficiently as warehouse processes permit. A WMS plays a vital role in supply chain management by managing order fulfillment processes, from receiving raw materials to shipping finished goods.

The process of grouping orders which helps to meet the customer requirements at a cost-effective and efficient manner which in turn helps retailers to effectively manage their labor and increase efficiencies.

Pickup of an order placed by a B2B buyer at a distributor's branch or warehouse.

A workflow defines the lifecycle of an entity and its dependents. It consists of a collection of rulesets that describe what business logic should be run at each stage of the entity lifecycle.

A unique pathway definition stemming from a logical gate defined in the workflow.

The set of Event Interface Contracts describing intended interactions with a workflow.

The unique pathway an entity took through its workflow, revealing the processes and sub-processes that were executed.