Terminology

Here's a summary of some of the terminology which is used in NEON and which you will come across all over the documentation:

Term	Description
activities	An Activity is a user initiated interaction, such as logging in, clicking an email, voting for a product, entering a code etc etc. Activities don't just have to be linked to NEON functionality. It's possible to log any type of activities from other systems, to enable NEON to provide a single view of all user interactions.
automation	Automation is not an API / NEON function in itself. It's an umbrella term for the functionality that enables NEON to carry out automated, personalised tasks, usually in response to a member activity. The components used to achieve automation are: Journeys, Triggers, Jobs and Scripting
cms	Short for Content Management System. Whilst NEON is not a CMS platform per say, it supports configuring web pages and attaching rich content to any item, such as product descriptions etc. The NEON cms functionality differs from standalone CMS systems in that it can present highly personalised content based on scripting and dimensions.
codes, code banks, code sets	NEON has extensive support for managing, generating and validating unique codes. Examples of usage includes digital vouchers, coupons or refer-a-friend codes. Codes are physically stored in dedicated code banks, and they can be grouped and decorated with expiry dates, quantities and other meta data through code sets
custom	A Custom Entity doesn't have any functionality and can't return any data, but can have triggers attached. They are handy where the functionality lives in an external website, but where NEON is used for its ability to log activities and fire triggers.
dimensions	All data and activities submitted to NEON are tagged with one or more dimensions. The platform supports configuring any number of dimensions based on your business' and reporting needs. Typical examples of common dimensions are: Country, Market, Language, Source, Campaign, Channel, Business unit
entities	The core building blocks which defines and configures all the NEON functionality. Before the NEON Loyalty API can be used, you first have to configure the Entities to use. All Lists, Competitions, Games, Messages etc etc are types of Entities.
forms	A powerful way of combining Lists and Triggers to enable a convenient way to query, add and update Members
funnels	A Marketing feature for tracking Member' progress through a set of steps
games	Games and Game Plays is the NEON functionality for tracking game plays and automate highscore lists.
jobs	Jobs are part of Automation, and they carry out tasks in the background, such as doing SQL updates, aggregating
journeys	Journeys are part of Automation and lets you define automated and conditional activities to be carried out at certain times, for example to send a Welcome email two days after a Member signed up
lists	Lists are member data extensions. NEON allows you to track and store any data about members, and the way of doing so is through lists. You can add as many lists as you like, and there are several different types of lists for different purposes, but what they all have in common is that they relate to and hold information about Members.
members	Some platforms call them subscribers, some call them customers, consumers or users. In NEON we call them Members. These are the actual individuals we engage with and track in NEON
messages, message servers	A message is an email, text message, chat or any other form of message that needs to be delivered to a member. Messages can be fully scripted to make them personalised. Before configuring a message you'd need to define an message server, which controls the type of message and any connection parameters etc.
metadata	Read-only system information that NEON holds about an object, for example an Entity or Activity. Metadata typically includes when the object was created or last updated, how many records it contains etc.
offers	Offers, called benefits or rewards in some platforms, are perks made available to a member, perhaps in response to some member activity. Members have to actively choose to accept an offer. See gifts for automatic rewards.
orders, payments	NEON can be used for recording orders, order lines and payment information, either as part of an eCommerce solution or as a data store taking feeds from external eCommerce solutions for further reporting. NEON also support picking and distribution.
Portal	NEON comes with a powerful web application called the Portal or NEON Portal. It contains screens for Marketeers, customer care staff, administrators, and senior management, and it gives you full power of the NEON platform.
products, product catalogues	Neon can hold multiple product catalogues consisting of any number of products. Products can be referenced by orders. Each product can have price, stock quantity, rich cms content etc
Scripts and Scripting	The NOEN functionality can be extended with scripting which gets executed in real-time to create conditional execution and personalisation.
spaces	NEON is a SAAS platform. Each Client is given a unique space which separates their data and functionality from all other clients. Your given space therefore needs to be passed as part of the URL in every API call.
SQL	SQL is a powerful database query language which can be used to select, filter, group and sort data, as well as to insert, update and remove large amounts of data. Some of the more advanced configurations in NEON depend on basic SQL knowledge
sheets	Sheets essentially translate into database tables. You can create any number of sheets for any information you'd like to track and save. Sheets are similar to Data Lists, but with the difference that they are generic data stores and don't specifically relate to individual members.
surveys	Allows members to submit answers to one or more questions
triggers	Triggers are bits of functionality that can be attached to various member activities and which gets executed automatically when the member carries out the activity, such as answering a survey, placing an order etc. A typical trigger could be to send out an automatic order confirmation email.
votes	Allows members to vote for one of several options and see statistics on what other users voted for
wallets	Wallets are typically used by Loyalty Schemes, to keep track of for example points, stars or other "currencies".