STEP Terminology

Action

Type of business rule that can be executed to manipulate data or perform an action. Actions can be executed by various processes and events within the system. For example, at approval of an object, within a workflow (on entry to a state, exit from a state, on the transition between tasks, or when a deadline has been met), as part of an import process, or from a bulk update process.

API

Refer to Public API.

Approval

The process of pushing data from the Maintenance workspace to the Approved workspace in STEP. Approval can be associated with business logic that may prevent approval or may perform automated data updates during approval. Approvals are often the triggers for sending data to downstream systems.

Asset

Any type of digital media, such as an image, Word document, PDF, Excel file, PowerPoint, JPG, GIF, etc.

Asset Push

A process that exports assets from STEP to a file system. Conversion templates can be applied to transform images, for example from high res to low res, resizing, applying color scales, etc., though assets can also be sent as-is to make them available on the file system.

Assignee

The user or group to which a task is assigned for work to be performed within a workflow. User states can be assigned directly to a named user or to a user group. When a state is assigned to a user group the task is "offered" to all members of that group. To perform the task associated with the state, a member of the group has to claim the task. Once a task is claimed it is no longer visible in the group task list; only the person who claimed the task is able to view it. A user may subsequently release a task back to the group.

Attribute

A characteristic or detailed piece of information related to a particular object. Attributes can be one of two types, description or specification. Description attributes are available on most object types in STEP, while specification attributes are only available on objects in the Primary Product Hierarchy.

Attribute Group

Groups attributes, reference types, and/or link types. Attribute groups can have sub-groups.

Bookmark

A user-created shortcut that provides quick access to a previously viewed location.

Calculated Attribute

An attribute where the value is calculated according to a specific formula defined for this attribute. The formula may include static text, other attribute values, information from references on the object, and a number of other options.

Category Profile

View in STEP that helps product managers and data analysts to get an overview of an entire section of the Product Hierarchy through various metrics that are displayed in dashboard format.

Character Tag

An entry that begins with “<” and ends with “/>” such as <check/>. These tags represent characters that may not be found in the special character map in Unicode, or may be used instead of the Unicode character.

Claim

The action that a user performs to take a task in a workflow out of a group queue and assign to himself / herself.

Classification

A particular type of hierarchy that organizes groups of objects or assets. Objects are linked to classifications via references, and may have references to multiple classifications. Also referred to as "yellow folders."

Collection

An object that holds a static set of objects, or a dynamic search criteria that can be refreshed as needed to find the latest matching objects. Using collections, the resulting data can be displayed, bulk actions can be performed, or the objects can be exported.

Completeness Score

A measurement within STEP, expressed as a percentage, to indicate the proportion of key data that has been completed for a particular object. This key data is configurable, as is the weighting of importance.

Condition

A condition is a type of business rule that evaluates to either true or false, and does not change data. In relation with approval, a condition can act as validation for whether an approval action can be carried out. In relation to workflows, conditions can be used to prevent a transition from being taken if certain conditions are not met.

Data Container

An object type for modeling complex entity or product data structures with a single record. Data containers make use of composite attributes which are composed of other data structures, and they are intended to ensure that all create, read, update, and delete operations can be performed as a whole.

Data Model

Basic system configuration defining the allowable structures and make up of data within STEP. Consists of system setup data, including: dimensions, contexts, object types, reference types, keys, component models, attribute groups, attributes, lists of values, units, and tags.

Entity

A group of master data that has a specific business meaning. Entities typically store product-neutral data in STEP according to client-specific groupings of information, such as customers, employees, suppliers, and addresses. Entities are also often used to store reference data that is utilized within the system. Entities can be grouped into a hierarchy using reference types that are only valid from an entity object to an entity object. A source object can be displayed as a child of the target object or the target as a child of the source.

Golden Record

Collection of data from a variety of sources, based on matching, linking, and survivorship rules. The Golden Record is considered the trusted data record, compiled from the various source objects.

Hierarchy

A data structure composed of parents and children.

ID

The unique identifier for all objects within STEP. It cannot be translated or edited once created, and cannot contain special characters.

Image Conversion

A series of parameters defining the way in which an image is transformed from the standard high resolution asset that exists in STEP to the required downstream format. Several conversion options are available by default, and additional conversions can be added via configuration and/or extensions. Note that conversions change assets as they are pushed from STEP, leaving the originating file unchanged in STEP.

Inbound Integration Endpoint (IIEP)

Communication channel defining how data is received by STEP. Each endpoint defines how data is received from an external system, specifying location, transport protocol, data to be exchanged and other configuration parameters.

Integration Endpoint (IEP)

Communication channel between STEP and external systems. Refer to Inbound Integration Endpoint and Outbound Integration Endpoint.

Library

Set of functions that can be reused in multiple business rules or other libraries. Libraries cannot be called independently and must be referenced from other actions, conditions, or functions.

Link

A parent/child relationship between objects within the STEP system.

List of Values (LOV)

A validation base type for an attribute that only allows a value to be considered valid if it belongs to a respective list of pre-configured values assigned to the attribute. Also refers to the value list itself. LOVs are also referred to as 'Domains' at times.

Mandatory Attribute

Indicates that the product and all its sub-products must have a value for the specified attribute in order for the object to be approved.

Object

An element within the system, for example, a product, image, classification, attribute, workflow, business rule, etc.

Object Type

A specific label for levels within a taxonomy, given to different elements within the system. Nearly every object in STEP is labeled with an object type to help identify what it is (i.e., a product or entity rather than an image, a TIF rather than a PDF, etc.). This includes entities, products, product categories, alternate hierarchies, images and other assets, attributes, and LOVs. Through the use of object types, system administrators can control how rigid or loosely defined the database will be in terms of object creation and where objects are allowed to ‘live’ and/or be used. This labeling also becomes very important when working with exported data so that each type of object in STEP can be identified for special handling in web applications or other uses outside of STEP.

Orphan Attribute

A specification attribute that has a value, which has been deleted from / not linked to a product node or classification and is denoted by italics.

Post-processor

A plugin component within the IEP framework that allows STEP to act on the result of the import / export such as starting workflows, sending notifications, etc.

Pre-processor

A plugin component within the integration endpoint framework that allows STEP to modify the message prior to import / export. It can be used for various functionality such as pre-validation, format conversion, filtering, etc.

Primary Product Classification (PPC)

Hierarchy that allows for different types of objects to be stored once in the database; each object within this hierarchy has a unique ID / identifier and may have only one location within the hierarchy. Also referred to as the 'blue hierarchy'.

Product

One of the object super types, referring to any object within the Primary Product Classification (blue hierarchy).

Product Template

InDesign templates that determine what type of data will appear on a printed page, including the positioning and styling.

Product Variant

Data type used to model multiple variants of a similar object. For example, T-shirts in various sizes and colors could all be variants of a single product.

Print Proof View

A tab in the workbench or Web UI that displays a product template view ('proof') of a selected node (typically a Product but can also be an Entity or Classification) without the user needing to access InDesign.

Publication

One of the super types, referring to objects in the publication (green) hierarchy.

Public API

The set of server-side functions that have been exposed to be used in the business logic. This includes many functions to create, get, and set data, such as values and references. It also includes various methods for logging as well as sending emails.

Setup Entity

A configuration object that is based on a generic type of object which has been expanded for the specific need. For example: Completeness Metric, Elasticsearch Configuration, Asset Importer Configuration Type.

Setup entities are identified in the URL with 'step://SetupEntity', in STEPXML within the <SetupEntities> tag, and in user privileges via the Maintain Setup Entity action set. Setup Entities can be exported using both the STEPXML and Advanced STEPXML formats.

Special Character

A character that cannot be found on a standard keyboard but can usually be found in the Windows character map. Example: Trademark Symbol - ™

State

A step within a workflow to which a specific user, user group, or system can be assigned to complete the task(s) associated with the state.

STEP

Stibo Enterprise Platform master data software application that provides business managers a single source database to store, manage, and re-purpose product information for publication or syndication.

STEP’n’design

STEP’s plugins for InDesign that allow data from the STEP database to be pulled onto pages. This is an outdated term and has been replaced with 'Print Publisher.'

STEPXML

The native XML language for STEP, which can be used for importing / exporting STEP data, as well as transferring configurations between STEP systems.

Super type

A major category of data within STEP including: Asset, Classification, Entity, Product, and Publication.

Super User

A user that is given administrative privileges within the STEP system.

Task

The work and/or action that must be completed within a specific workflow state (whether by a user or via automation).

Unique Key

A unique key is a system entity that represents a specific object in the STEP system. The entity is composed of one or more data points, whether utilized as-is or in a combined and/or transformed format using a specified formula. There can be exactly one record for each object for each defined key. No two objects with the same unique key for an active key can exist.

Web UI

A web-based interface to access the STEP database in order to read, edit, or download data and assets. Multiple Web UIs can be configured for each STEP installation.

Workbench

An interface for managing data in STEP, as well as carrying out administrative functions.

Workers

A unit in SaaS to define how a process is run, one process runs on one or multiple workers. One CPU can run on multiple workers.

Workflow

Business process(es) modeled as a series of states and tasks that can be executed by users and/or automatic processes within the STEP system. Workflows prompt the next step of a process to be started, by either creating a task for a user, or sending an alert. Workflows may contain a number of process steps or tasks, as well as business logic.