Choose the Best Time for Commerce Server

No one solution fits every situation. As you try to decide if CommerceServer 2002 is the right fit for your Web application development needs, consider these factors:

Authentication
Commerce Server authentication might not be the best option if:

  • You need extensive Access Control List (ACL) control over files your application accesses.
  • Your long-term plans don't require the additional features Commerce Server supports.
  • The user load for your site is in the thousands or lower.
  • You've already invested in a single sign on infrastructure (such as Passport).
  • Your Web site is for internal use only and you have the requisite number of Windows licenses required to leverage your investment in the Windows platform.

Commerce Server authentication is a good option if:

  • Your site will support thousands to millions of visitors.
  • Your long-term requirements could benefit from other Commerce Server functionality, such as user profiling or content selection.
  • Your site is accessible both internally and externally.

Profiling
Commerce Server profiling might not be the best option if:

  • You own a customer relationship management (CRM) system or other system that supports your needs. Of course, you'll need to take into account any licensing or client access fees that might be applicable if the package is extended to the Internet.
  • Your profiling needs are extremely limited, and the development, testing, and management costs are less than the cost of using Commerce Server.
  • The number of users on your site is limited (most CRM packages aren't designed to support millions of clients). Commerce Server profiling is a good option if:
  • You're aggregating user-profile information from more than one source.
  • You need to support large numbers of users.
  • You want to support complex profile structures with large numbers of profile attributes.
  • You want to leverage the Commerce Server content-selection infrastructure.

Content Selection
Commerce Server content selection might not be the best option if:

  • Your content filtering needs are limited to matching user credentials to a single content source.
  • You have an investment in a content management system that provides targeting services.
  • You aren't using Commerce Server profiling features.
  • You want to tie content selection to ACLs of content sources.
  • The numbers of visitor on your site is limited.

Commerce Server content selection is a good option if:

  • You have content filtering rules that are more complex than a single grouping option.
  • You're already using Commerce Server profiling features.
  • The majority of your targeted content can be stored in a database.
  • The number of visitors on your site ranges from thousands to millions.
  • You want to use other advanced features of Commerce Server, such as predictive targeting based on anonymous user behavior.