Scaling for E-Business

2.2. Why Model Customer Behavior?

Figure 2.1 shows the relationship between the customer model, the workload model, and the resource model. This chapter concentrates on the customer model. The other models will be discussed in detail in other chapters of the book.

Figure 2.1. Customer, Workload, and Resource Models.

The customer model captures elements of user behavior in terms of navigational patterns, e-commerce functions used, frequency of access to the various e-commerce functions, and times between access to the various services offered by the site. A customer model can be useful for navigational and workload prediction.

• Model User Navigational ...