Dsctionary - The Dsco Glossary – CommerceHub Support

Dsco often uses common industry terms in unique ways. The following is a list of the most important of these, with links to related articles on the support site.

Term	Definition
Account	An instance of access a client receives under a specific user name for managing their trading partner connections and using Dsco platform features, data, information, and services. It’s possible for a single user to have multiple accounts on the Dsco platform, with each account having its own individual set of connections.
Assortment	A feature within the Inventory area of a retailer account. Assortments allow the user to separate SKUs into various groups. The most common use case for creating an assortment is to make sure that only approved items or SKUs are exported to the user’s system.
Brand	Synonym for supplier. Brand as a term does not include wholesalers.
Cancelled (order status)	This is a final status in the Dsco order lifecycle. At any time before Shipped, an order can be cancelled through the portal or through the import of an order cancel file, resulting in the order's status being advanced to Cancelled.
Client	Synonym for customer.
Connection	As it relates to the Dsco Platform, a connection is a back-end link between two Dsco accounts. That link allows the accounts to share information with each other.
Created (order status)	When a retailer creates an order inside Dsco, whether manually, via bulk upload, or via automation, the order is in Created status.
Customer	Preferred term for anyone who is a paying customer of Dsco.
Data Mapper	A tool in the Dsco account which allows the user to map their data to the Dsco specifications, preventing the need to build a custom file on the user’s end.
Data Object	A particular set of information related to item and order data. The Dsco platform has five main data objects: Item - Inventory, Orders, Shipment, Cancel, and Invoice.
Dealer	Synonym for retailer.
Flat Files	A flat file is a file that has no internal hierarchy. The types of flat files that Dsco supports include: csv, tab, pipe, or xls.
Gandalf	The Dsco Onboarding Guide. Gandalf runs within each individual Dsco account. He guides users through account setup and testing in a series of standardized steps.
Inventory vs Product vs Catalog	These terms relate to uploading or downloading items. A Catalog upload/download involves a file that contains a field for every supported item attribute. An Inventory upload/download involves a file that contains only a few of the supported item attribute fields (often used for inventory updates rather than new-item setup). A Product upload/download is the middle ground; it involves a file that contains more attribute fields than an Inventory file, but fewer attributes than a Catalog file. See also Inventory Options for Suppliers.
Invited User (Invitation)	Non-paying trading partners that are invited by a paying customer to use the platform.
Job	Jobs are user initiated platform processes for importing or exporting data related to an object. A job can import or export files based on the Dsco template, or they can be configured to use a data mapping process to export or read a file in a custom format.
Onboarding	The process of connecting to Dsco. Most trading partners will accomplish this through Gandalf’s automated processes.
Order	An order is a unique purchase request for an item that is sent by the retailer to the supplier to be fulfilled and shipped to the end customer.
Partner ID	The unique identifier that a Dsco user gives to their trading partners. Dsco can include this number on each inventory, order, and invoice update exported from Dsco.
Platform	The entire Dsco system including front and back end processes.
Portal	The website that users log on to in order to access inventory, order, and invoice information/data.
Retailer	A company that sells products to end customers. In drop shipping they are the company that sells the product online and sends the order for suppliers to pick, pack, and ship.
Schema	The combined set of accepted data fields that Dsco supports.
Shipment Pending	A status in the Dsco order lifecycle that shows an order as been downloaded manually or exported through an automated job by the supplier.
Shipped	his is a final status in the Dsco order lifecycle. As tracking numbers are entered in the portal, uploaded through the upload wizard, imported via an automated shipment import job, or sent in with an invoice file, the orders are advanced to the Shipped status, indicating that the order has been completed.
SKU	A supplier-provided value that acts as the unique identifier for an item in the Dsco Inventory area of an account. Every item is required to have a SKU value.
Supplier	A company that sells products to a retailer for resale to end customers. In drop shipping they are the company that actually holds the physical product that the retailer sells through their digital storefront. Supplier as a term can also include wholesalers.
Status	Mutually exclusive stages of the Dsco workflow that an order can be in.
Trading Partner	Can be used interchangeably with retailer, supplier, or brand for describing companies on the other side of a data connection or drop ship partnership.
User	Anyone who uses the Dsco platform, paying or non-paying.
Vendor	Dsco generally does not use this term but it is often used by retailers when referring to suppliers, brands, and wholesalers. We prefer to call them trading partners, brands, and/or suppliers.

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