A method of performing computer-based on-line commerce in which a client
computer issues a group of interrelated commercial requests and each one
of a plurality of server computers is available to service at least one of
said requests, said method, performed by an intelligent agent, comprising
steps of: receiving the group of interrelated commercial requests from
said client computer; and finding servers which will satisfy said group of
requests using client preference levels indicating for each request at
least one preferred value which the client would like the agent to use in
finding a server to satisfy that request; characterized in that said
finding step also uses a client significance level indicating for a
corresponding request the relative significance of this request in
comparison to the other requests in the group.