I have a scenario where customers in my database can be categorized as NO (0 orders), LOW (> 0 orders), MEDIUM (> 3 orders), or HEAVY (> 10 orders) buyers based on their order history within the last year. The challenge is that customers can move between these categories based on their purchasing behavior over time. I'm wondering if I should implement a state machine to manage these transitions- essentially to prevent skipping states- or if it's enough to just update their category based on their orders, regardless of their current assigned state. What do you think?
4 Answers
It’s a bit of overhead to maintain a state machine for something like this, especially if there's no immediate action tied to state changes. If you only need to track when a customer changes from one tier to another, a scheduled query might be all you need. Just run it monthly or whenever orders are placed, then send out promotions as necessary.
Honestly, a state machine isn't the best fit for this situation. It's all about dynamically calculating the customer's buying status based on their order history and current date. Rather than throwing everything into a state machine, it might be more effective to create a query that calculates the status on the fly whenever there’s a change in orders. That way, you won't be stuck maintaining a bunch of states.
I agree! Plus, using events to trigger updates means you're not holding unnecessary state data. It simplifies things and keeps your logic clean.
Yeah, consider edge cases too. Like if a sudden marketing campaign causes a rush in orders, can you have customers jumping states instantly? You’d need careful planning if you go for a state machine approach.
Right! It seems far simpler to just process orders sequentially, updating states after each order rather than trying to pre-emptively manage states.
I’d go with an SQL solution. It’s easy to pull the necessary data directly when needed rather than complicating it with a state machine. Just pull the status on demand when you need it, and remove the maintenance burden.
Totally! Using a view to show current and past statuses is a straightforward and efficient way to handle it.