Commerce Server Blog

Out of box, Commerce server provides 34 reports and you need SQL server reporting services to view them. After installing commerce server, we can find these reports in RDLs folder in commerce server installed directory (eg. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Commerce Server 2007\RDLs). They are seven types of reports available.

1. Advertising reports: These reports helps us to analyze advertising data such as Ad reach and frequency by advertiser/date, Campaign event/item summary.
2. Diagnostic reports: These reports helps us to analyze application diagnostic data such as bandwidth trends/summary, HTTP & win32 problems.
3. Product sales: These reports helps us to analyze product sales data such as Buyer browse to purchase, customer sales, order events, product sales and shopping basket events.
4. Query string: These reports helps us to analyze single value and multiple value send through url query string.
5. User reports: These reports helps us to analyze entire user data. Reports include distinct users by time, new registered users, registered user properties, registered users by date registered, user days to register, use registration rate, user trends.
6. Visit reports: These reports helps us to analyze visits data such as exit pages, user visit trends and general activity statistics.
7. Web usage reports : These reports helps us to analyze site usage (similar but not same as web trends / Google analytics). Reports include activity by browser, directories, entry path analysis, top referring domains by request, top requested pages, usage summary by hour/day and usage trends.

By installing commerce server you will not able to see reports. For viewing them you have to following below steps.

1. Adding data warehouse application to your commerce site – you can achieve this by importing DW.PUB file.
2. Defining DTS import packages using Data warehouse import wizard.
3. Manually/schedule a DTS import package.
4. Install and running the analytical reports (you can ReportInstaller.exe tool from SQL Server command prompt).

I will blog in detail steps in coming days on how to achieve this?