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O/PUS® Update Notes

Always check here for important information you may need to know prior to loading he quarterly OPdb® catalog update. This page provides late-breaking information, including any corrections after releasing OPUSInstall, OPdb, and FYI² Notes for the current quarter.

For answers to frequently asked questions at any stage in your quarterly procedures, see O/PUS Quarter-End Procedure FAQs & Doc.

4th Quarter 2008

4th Quarter 2008 News

11/24/2008: United Stationers Releases December 1st Update

Monday, Nov. 24, 2008 — United Stationers has issued a new mid-quarter item update file, UNI-DEC, containing price and cost changes for many United price plans, effective Dec. 1, 2008. When you load a Mid-Quarter update file, the U_UNI loading program looks for each plan in your DDMS inventory, and update the prices if the plan is found. As this method indicates, this is an UPDATE ONLY. New records will not be added to your database.

To update your DDMS inventory database, you may use either the graphical UpdateUNI program or the text-based O/PUS Toolbox option (+IFP) to process the UNI-DEC file. Instructions for each method are below.

If you use the graphical UpdateUNI program:

Double-click the UpdateUNI icon on your Desktop.
Click the Start button.
When the Price Plan window appears, add the UNI-DEC filename to your list of files.
Check the box in the Select column to load the UNI-DEC mid-quarter update file.
(Optional if you wish to update consumer pricing) For price plans where the Only column has a checkmark, check the Select box.
Click NEXT to continue to the Catalog screen and click Next again to move to the Matrix screen.
If you previously loaded Matrix files in the UpdateUni program, you can update the consumer pricing with the mid-quarter files by simply changing the existing Matrix filenames to reflect the mid-quarter filenames and UNCHECKING the option to delete the existing contract. (For each Matrix filename that you change, you can leave all its parameter boxes the same, EXCEPT for the “Delete Existing (Contract)” box, which should be UNCHECKED for this changes-only update.)
- For MATRIXX1 or X1 change to X1-DEC
- For MATRIXX2 or X2 change to X2-DEC
- For MATRIXX3 or X3 change to X3-DEC
- For MATRIXX4 or X4 change to X4-DEC
- For MATRIXX5 or X5 change to X5-DEC.
Click Next to enter up to 18 more Matrix catalog options or to go to the final page.
In the Printer field, enter the Printer ID (P1, P2, etc.) where you wish to print the Exception file.
Click Download Selected Files to launch PSNControl and automatically download all the plans you selected in the previous screens. The loading program U_UNI will also be included in the download list.
Verify all files say “ Download complete” in the PSNControl file transfer list.
Make sure no one else is using the system. The following steps are dedicated.
When you are ready for the update to execute, click Start Update. To indicate progress, the Start Update button will display which files are being updated and when complete.
When the update is complete, click OK and Exit.
For detailed steps, see Load Multiple United Stationers Price Files At Once
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiUNIupdate.pdf).

Note: In anticipation of possible mid-quarter loads in upcoming quarters, OPUS will be adding an enhancement to the 2009 version of the UpdateUni program that will simplify the loading of the updated file. Beginning with the 1st quarter’s load of 2009, all United Matrix file names will follow the naming convention X1, X2, X3, X4 and X5. Look for the announcement of the new features in future OPUS quarterly communications.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox. For detailed instructions, see O/PUS Toolbox
(www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/OPUSToolbox.pdf).

If you use the Text-Based (+IF) screen:

Use PsnControl to download:
- the UNI-DEC data file.
- the latest U_UNI loading program.
- Any United price plans where you loaded consumer price plans into Contracts Only (and did not load into MultiVendor record)
- Your mid-quarter Matrix update file(s):
  - X1-DEC for MATRIXX1
  - X2-DEC for MATRIXX2
  - X3-DEC for MATRIXX3
  - X2-DEC for MATRIXX2
  - X3-DEC for MATRIXX3
Make sure no one else is using the system. The following steps are dedicated.

Go to the (+IFP) screen to run the U_UNI loading program. In any order, load the UNI-DEC file, any Matrix files, and any other price plans you downloaded in step 1. For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf). Keep the following steps in mind:

When prompted for United Consumer Pricing Column for Matrix files, pick 1, 2, or 3.
At the "Only update United Stationers Items?" prompt:
- Type Y iIf you would like to only update items that have "United" in the item’s wholesaler record.
- Type N to update your consumer contract with all item changes in the file.
Enter the same DDMS contract number that you used to create the current quarter's full Matrix file.
Since the mid-quarter X#-DEC files only contain updates to the quarterly Matrix files, DO NOT delete the existing contract. At the prompt to delete the existing contract, type N.

(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox. For detailed instructions, see O/PUS Toolbox (www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/OPUSToolbox.pdf).

For information about what products are involved in this Mid-Quarter update, please contact your United Stationers representative.

10/30/2008: United Stationers Releases Mid-Quarter Update

O/PUS Update Notes United Stationers Releases Mid-4Q Update

10/10/2008: Quarterly Dealer Station Catalog Updates

ECi DDMS will update your Dealer Station servers with new quarterly catalog images and content THIS WEEKEND between 9 PM Central Time tonight (Friday, Oct. 10), and 6 AM CDT Monday, Oct. 13. The new timeframes may require changes to your site maintenance schedule. For detailed instructions on scheduling site maintenance in Dealer Station, see Chapter 1 of your Admin Manual.

10/3/2008: Updated! Quarterly Web Storefront Catalog Updates

ECinteractive Maintenance, Content Load THIS WEEKEND

During the same timeframe, ECi will update images and content on servers for the ECinteractive, Dealer Station, is.D-Force, is.D-Force2, 123Web!, and Dealer Station Xtended Web storefronts. This maintenance will take place all weekend, between 9 PM Central Time Friday, Oct. 3, and 6 AM CDT Monday, Oct. 6.

For detailed instructions on scheduling site maintenance in Dealer Station or is.D-Force, see Chapter 1 of your Admin Manual.

For detailed instructions on scheduling site maintenance in ECinteractive and is.D-Force2, see the ECinteractive FAQs for Specific Features under the topic, "How do I set up my Offline for Maintenance Page?"

Other products do not offer scheduled site maintenance. Please notify affected users as you see fit.

10/2/2008: O/PUS Releases New OPUS Data Files for Synnex, S.P. Richards Corrections

In response to two wholesaler catalog load issues we reported yesteray (see below), O/PUS has revised the OPUS, OPUSISG, and OPUSTPA files and made them available on the O/PUS PSN as of 3:30 pm Central Time.

These new OPUS, OPUSISG, and OPUSTPA files now include the complete corrected file from Synnex as well as corrected pricing from S.P. Richards. In the files these wholesalers originally provided to O/PUS for the fourth quarter, the Synnex database was missing several thousand items, and the S.P. Richards database had consumer prices that were slightly higher than they should be.

If you have not yet loaded your OPUS database file via SIMPLE this quarter, you should download the revised OPUS, OPUSISG or OPUSTPA file prior to running SIMPLE. This will ensure getting the corrected S.Pichards pricing as well as the additional Synnex items.

For S.P. Richards dealers who do not load Synnex, instead of downloading the revised OPUS,OPUSISG and OPUSTPA files and doing your OPUS process again, you may simply load the SPR-OCT file and other individual S.P. Richards price files, which were posted on the O/PUS PSN as of 4:30 pm CDT Monday, Sept. 29.

If you are a Synnex dealer and have already completed your O/PUS quarter-end procedures, you may wish to consider what extent the missing Synnex items affect your margins and volume before deciding to do your OPUS process again.

Note: As a reminder, O/PUS posts monthly SP Richards pricing files to the O/PUS PSN. These files contain updates to the catalog data that you normally load at quarter-end. SP Richards makes these monthly update files available to O/PUS by the 1st of each month. O/PUS will then post all files to the O/PUS PSN within 2 business days. The date display in the PsnControl Transfer List will indicate when any vendor pricing file was last updated. In addition to the price files, O/PUS will post a file that contains the changes to the base item information which will be named SPR-OCT, SPR-NOV, and so on. All files can be processed using the U_SPR loading program. SP Richards recommends that dealers download all their SP Richards price files every month to keep their computers updated with the latest prices.

Please call your SP Richards rep to find out which of your files contain changed information.

10/1/2008: O/PUS to Release New OPUS Data Files for Sparco's Corrections, Synnex's Missing Items

Many Synnex dealers reported that thousands of item records were not loaded or updated as expected during their O/PUS update. The file Synnex provided to O/PUS for fourth quarter was much smaller than they normally submit, and was missing several thousand items.

O/PUS has received the complete corrected file from Synnex, and will release new OPUS, OPUSISG, and OPUSTPA database files late tomorrow after processing and testing. Since O/PUS is re-processing all these data files for Synnex, O/PUS is also taking this opportunity to include corrected pricing from S.P. Richards, who reported that the files they provided to O/PUS for the fourth quarter had consumer prices slightly higher than they should be.

If you are a Synnex or S.P. Richards dealer, you may wish to postpone your O/PUS load - or plan to re-load O/PUS - for after we announce a new OPUS, OPUSISG, and OPUSTPA files late tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008).

If you have already completed your O/PUS quarter-end procedures, you may wish to consider what extent the missing Synnex items and previous S.P.

Richards consumer prices (for HP and ACCO) affect your margins and volume.

For S.P. Richards dealers, you may instead simply load the SPR-OCT file and other individual S.P. Richards price files, which were posted on the O/PUS PSN as of 4:30 pm CDT Monday, Sept. 29.

Please stay tuned for tomorrow's upcoming announcement and additional instructions.

9/29/2008: S.P. Richards Corrects Consumer Pricing in October Monthly Update

Situation. In the files that S.P. Richards provided to O/PUS for the fourth quarter load, some of the consumer prices are slightly higher than they should be.

Solution. For DDMS system users, we recommend that you download and process the S.P. Richards monthly update files for October.

As of 4:30 pm CDT Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, all individual price files are updated with the October pricing and posted on the O/PUS PSN, along with the monthly base file, SPR-OCT. The date display in the PSNControl Transfer List will indicate when the pricing file was last updated. All files can be processed using the U_SPR loading program. For loading instructions, see:

Load Multiple S.P. Richards Price Files At Once
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiSPRupdate.pdf)
or
S.P. Richards Update - text-based
(www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/pfspr.pdf)

If you have questions on which particular files have been affected, call your S.P. Richards representative or tech support line (888-763-2615) to find out which of your assigned pricing files contain changed information.

Prepare to Remove Vendors At Quarter End

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 — Since Action Wholesale has been acquired by S.P. Richards, and EMCO has been acquired by United Stationers we recommend removing unique items that the acquired vendors previously carried, but which your current vendors no longer support. If you do NOT remove their unique items from your database, it can affect your short-buy process — and possibly your pricing. To determine which items to remove from your database, you’ll simply adjust your O/PUS SIMPLE parameters to resequence your vendor call priorities, and make sure O/PUS is set to flag the “deleted” status.
See Preparing to Remove Vendors at Quarter End (www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/opRemoveVendor.pdf).
To complete the removal during post-load procedures,
you will complete Inventory Housekeeping
(www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/inventory/opus-del.pdf).

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4th Quarter 2008 Dates

Canadian FYI² Notes, Update Files

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 — O/PUS published FYI² Notes for O/PUS Canadian Customers for the fourth quarter of 2008 and announced the release the O/PUS Canadian Update files effective Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 at 1:00 PM CDT.

Super Store Data Update

Tuesday, July 1, we announced Super Store Data Update Files Ready to Load.

O/PUS has completed processing and testing the Super Store item cross-reference (SSDitems) and pricing-enhanced (SSDpricing) files from Trade Service, and made them available to download from the Private Supply Network (PSN).

The standard edition (filename SSDitems) includes super store name and SKU -- FREE as part of your O/PUS subscription.

The premium SSDpricing update is offered by Trade Service for an additional fee and requires a new authorization code each quarter. Dealers who signed up for an annual subscription to SSDpricing updates should have received their authorization codes for four quarters if you have called Trade Service at least one time. If you haven't called them or have misplaced your codes please contact Trade Service at 866-561-5940, Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm PST.

NOTE: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data. In addition to item cross-references, Trade Service obtains "Single National Pricing" data for Office Depot and Office Max, and "Regional Pricing" (West, Midwest, and East) for Staples.

See Super Store Data Update (pdf).

ASP Update

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, we announced to ASP customers that their update is ready for U.S. Customers to begin loading after 3:45 am Saturday, during the recommended loading times. The ASP O/PUS Web page covers the loading process for ASP customers.

O/PUS Ready to Load

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: 4Q2008 Ready to Load to all O/PUS customers.

Unix FTP Instructions

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, we sent special FTP instructions (with our new IP address) for UNIX O/PUS Customers who do not meet PSN requirements.

OPUSInstall Released

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, O/PUS released OPUSInstall for download from this site. It installs the software updates required to run SIMPLE, PSNControl, Super Store Data Update, and Instant Contract Eraser this quarter.

FYI² Notes

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for the 4th Quarter 2008. In this issue:

O/PUS Introduces Printer Essentials. For compatible imaging supplies and power products, Printer Essentials (PrinterEssentials.com) is a new addition to your O/PUS supplemental vendors. In business since 2000, Printer Essentials has grown to be one of the most trusted suppliers in the industry. The company mission is to be "The Reseller's Choice." By offering top notch customer service, the widest selection of products, and attractive pricing, Printer Essentials goes the extra mile so that you can succeed in today's competitive business environment. Call Nancy Loye at 800-965-1180 x1026 or by email nloye@printeressentials.com. For detailed instructions on loading this supplemental vendor catalog into your ECi™ DDMS® item catalog, see Printer Essentials Item Catalog Update
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/pfprtess.pdf).

SNCustom Lets You Import Dealer-Specific Supplies Network Pricing File. As part of its netMARKETING member services for real-time catalog downloads, Supplies Network (suppliesnetwork.com), a DMI company, provides a downloadable Price List file. This dealer-specific price list file contains item pricing and product information that is distinctly more timely than the more general eContract SN data you receive in your O/PUS® quarterly multi-vendor database. Now, to import this dealer-specific pricing and item information into your ECi™ DDMS® Item database, ECi Content Services has released SNcustom, a convenient new Windows program. For detailed instructions, see Installing & Using SNcustom Price List
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/pfSNcustom.pdf).

LagaCustom Imports LagasseSweet Pricing Files. LagasseSweet pricing on janitorial, sanitation, paper and foodservice products may not be updated on the same quarterly schedule as other vendors. LagasseSweet provides an I-LAGASSE pricing file update for download via the O/PUS® PSN. You can also download an Excel spreadsheet of your dealer-specific price list from the Tools & Reports section of LagasseSweet's web site, http://prod.lagassesweet.com. For detailed instructions on importing this supplemental vendor's pricing into your system, see Installing & Using LagaCustom
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/pfLagaCustom.pdf).

Enhanced MultiLoaders Do More Pricing Files At Once. MultiLoader software for United Stationers and S.P. Richards act as streamlined alternatives to the text-based O/PUS Toolbox option, (+IFP) Process a File. Process all your wholesaler price plan, catalog, and Matrix files at once. Now it has dozens more rows, enhanced tabbing from field to field, "select all" checkbox, and the ability to mass change contract dates.
See: Load Multiple S.P. Richards Price Files At Once
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiSPRupdate.pdf) and
Load Multiple United Stationers Price Files At Once
(www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiUNIupdate.pdf).

ECi Data Center Move Requires New PSNControl Connection. O/PUS has revised its PSNControl software to connect to the server in ECi's new Tier 1 data center in Texas. The first time you initiate a download in the updated PSNControl software after this data center migration, you may receive a time out or connection error. This condition is expected, as your server is negotiating the new location of the O/PUS PSN server. Try again, as some of our dealer test sites reported to us that they attempted a file download about three times, while others connected on the first attempt. Once you receive a "Download Complete" message in the File Transfer List window, your PSNControl has completed learning the new location, and you can continue downloading your files.

Prepare to Remove Vendors At Quarter End. Since Action Wholesale has been acquired by S.P. Richards, and EMCO has been acquired by United Stationers we recommend removing unique items that the acquired vendors previously carried, but which your current vendors no longer support. If you do NOT remove their unique items from your database, it can affect your short-buy process — and possibly your pricing. To determine which items to remove from your database, you’ll simply adjust your O/PUS SIMPLE parameters to resequence your vendor call priorities, and make sure O/PUS is set to flag the “deleted” status.
See Preparing to Remove Vendors at Quarter End (www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/opRemoveVendor.pdf).
To complete the removal during post-load procedures,
you will complete Inventory Housekeeping
(www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/inventory/opus-del.pdf).

Free O/PUS Refresher Training via Virtual Classroom. ECi DDMS scheduled free two-hour Web training on O/PUS quarter-end procedures Monday, Sept. 29, 2:00 pm CDT. There's no need to register, and no charge to attend. Each Web session welcomes up to 50 concurrent connections on a first-come, first-served basis. For more details and connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free.

Other reminders in this issue:

Pre-Load Packing Inventory, CONTRACTS Files Avoids Hang-Ups.
REMINDER: SIMPLE Wizard Option Automates Make-Buys.
Reminder: Load Trade Service Standard Descriptions.
O/PUS Continues Changes in Manufacturer Codes (MAC).
Point-Of-Sale UPC Scanning Post-Load Procedure.
Super Store Data Update Pricing/Cross-Reference Exceptions: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data.
REMINDER: Re-Import Ensite EBS Data After “Housekeeping”.

Anticipated Releases and Announcements

O/PUS anticipates releasing and announcing the following updates:

U.S. OPUSInstall, OPdb Multi-Vendor Catalog Update files, and the FYI² Notes newsletter by the END of the week of Sept. 22-26.
UNIX FTP instructions by the END of the week of Sept. 22-26.
ASP SIMPLE software update & OPdb update file by the END of the week of Sept. 22-26.
ECi DDMS will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on Sept. 27 from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.
Super Store Data Files sometime BETWEEN the release of the OPdb(R) Multi-Vendor Catalog Update and Oct. 1. Note: Trade Services is expected to announce when ASP-specific SSD program and files will be available, and we will provide additional instructions then.
Web Storefront Catalog Item & Image Updates (for Dealer Station, is.D-Force, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended) after Oct. 1.
Canadian update files & FYI² Canada by the end of the week of Sept. 8-12. ECi will offer complimentary Saturday support via phone from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time that weekend. Calls outside the scheduled hours, and any calls unrelated to the Canadian quarterly update, are billable. Faxes and emails for Canadian updates sent over the weekend will not be processed until regular business hours resume the following Monday.

Free Training

ECi offers free Web-Based training on quarter-end Thursday, Sept. 25 at 10:00 AM CDT and Monday, Sept. 29 at 2:00 PM CDT, on a first-come, first-served basis. For connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free

Planning

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: Planning for 4Q 2008 to all O/PUS customers.

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3rd Quarter 2008

3rd Quarter 2008 News

S.P. Richards Reports Mid-Quarter List Price Errors in SPR-SEP

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 — Among the Hewlett-Packard price updates released in SPR-SEP, S.P. Richards has discovered that approximately 100 item numbers had an incorrect list price. They anticipate that the process of updating their internal Order Management System and other systems will be complete this weekend.

S.P. Richards has no plans to provide a new file to O/PUS. Instead, affected dealers may obtain a spreadsheet listing the affected skus with the correct list price highlighted, by logging in to the S.P. Richards Dealer Services Internet Portal. Dealers are advised to consider manually correcting affected list prices as needed.

We extend apologies from S.P. Richards for any inconvenience this may cause. The S.P. Richards tech support line for dealers is 888-763-2615.

O/PUS Releases New OPUSInstall To Handle September Price Increases

Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 — Major wholesalers are publishing new price files with base item information changes to reflect increased pricing from Hewlett Packard and other manufacturers. On Aug. 18, United Stationers released its mid-quarter pricing update, 9W-SEPT, with pricing effective Sept. 1. Last week, S.P. Richards also released the new pricing as part of its monthly file for September, SPR-SEP.

In light of both these price increases and the migration of the O/PUS PSN server to the new ECi Data Center in Texas, O/PUS has released a new OPUSInstall. In order for your PSNControl software to connect to the new server, you must run the new OPUSInstall. The new OPUSInstall also installs new MultiLoader software for both United Stationers and S.P. Richards.

Download and run OPUSInstall to update your PSNControl software.
For detailed instructions, see O/PUS® OPUSInstall Software Update
(www.ddms.com/support/download/opusinstall.htm).
NOTE: You do NOT have to do your quarterly pre-load preparations or run SIMPLE. Just do the "3rd Step: Download and Run OPUSInstall."
Use the updated PSNControl to download and process the loading programs and mid-quarter files that contain the increases.
1. The first time you initiate a download in the updated PSNControl software after this data center migration, you may receive a time out or connection error. This condition is expected, as your server is negotiating the new location of the O/PUS PSN server. Try again, as some of our dealer test sites reported to us that they attempted a file download about three times, while others connected on the first attempt.Once you receive a "Download Complete" message in the File Transfer List window, your PSNControl has completed learning the new location, and you can continue downloading your Sept. 1 price increase files from United Stationers and/or S.P. Richards as outlined below.
2. In addition to the September-specific files, other wholesaler price files may be affected by the mid-quarter price increases. To determine which of your assigned flyers, catalogs, promotions, and contracts are affected, simply use PSNControl. Download all the United and/or SPR price files you normally do each quarter, and compare the Last Updated Date in the PSNControl window to the date you last processed the file to determine which additional files you may need to process. If you have questions about affected files, please contact your wholesaler.
3. For United Stationers, download U_UNI and 9W-SEPT for base item changes, and see Load Multiple United Stationers Price Files At Once
  (www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiUNIupdate.pdf) or
  United Stationers Update (text-based)
  (www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/pfunited.pdf).
4. For S.P. Richards, download U_SPR and SPR-SEP for base item changes, and see Load Multiple S.P. Richards Price Files At Once
  (www.ddms.com/resources/support/faq/opus/MultiSPRupdate.pdf) or
  S.P. Richards Update (text-based)
  (www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/pfspr.pdf)
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T). For details on resetting the Purchasing Vendor, see O/PUS Toolbox
(www.ddms.com/Resources/Support/faq/opus/OPUSToolbox.pdf).

United Stationers Releases Sept. 1 Mid-Quarter Update

Monday, August 18, 2008 — United Stationers has issued a new FULL Unitape file with pricing that will be effective September 1st, 2008. To update your DDMS inventory database, follow these steps:

If you use the UpdateUNI program:

Run the UpdateUNI program the same as you did at the beginning of Q3. All Price Plans should already be set up in the program’s parameters. You will need to add the file 9W-SEPT to the Catalog screen if you wish to update United’s standard pricing.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox . For detailed instructions on resetting the Purchasing Vendor, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf) .

If you use the +IF screen:

Use PsnControl to download all the United Stationers price plans that you are assigned to and the latest U_UNI loading program. Also download the price file 9W-SEPT if you wish to update United’s standard pricing.
Make sure no one else is using the system. The following steps are dedicated.
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program. For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf)
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox . For detailed instructions on resetting the Purchasing Vendor, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf) .

For information about what products are involved in the Mid-Quarter update, please contact your United Stationers representative.

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3rd Quarter 2008 Dates

Reminder: S.P. Richards Monthly Updates Available

As a reminder, O/PUS posts monthly SP Richards pricing files to the O/PUS PSN. These files contain updates to the catalog data that you normally load at quarter-end. SP Richards makes these monthly update files available to O/PUS by the 1st of each month. O/PUS will then post all files to the O/PUS PSN within 2 business days. The date display in the PsnControl Transfer List will indicate when any vendor pricing file was last updated. In addition to the price files, O/PUS will post a file that contains the changes to the base item information which will be named SPR-JAN, SPR-FEB, and so on. All files can be processed using the U_SPR loading program. SP Richards recommends that dealers download all their SP Richards price files every month to keep their computers updated with the latest prices.

Please call your SP Richards rep to find out which of your files contain changed information.

Note: You may be billed $50.00 by the vendor for each Matrix Data File that you download.

Please contact S.P. Richards Customer Service at 1-888-763-2615 for any questions on the above information.

Canadian FYI² Notes, Update Files

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 — O/PUS published FYI² Notes for O/PUS Canadian Customers for the third quarter of 2008 and announced the release the O/PUS Canadian Update files effective Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 1:30 PM CDT.

Super Store Data Update

Tuesday, July 1, we announced "Super Store Data Update Files Ready to Load."

See Super Store Data Update (pdf).

ASP Update

Friday, June 27, 2008, we announced to ASP customers that their update is ready for U.S. Customers to begin loading after 3:45 am Saturday, during the recommended loading times. The ASP O/PUS Web page covers the loading process for ASP customers.

O/PUS Ready to Load

Thursday, June 26, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: 3Q2008 Ready to Load to all O/PUS customers.

Unix FTP Instructions

Thursday, June 26, 2008, we sent special FTP instructions for UNIX O/PUS Customers who do not meet PSN requirements.

OPUSInstall Released

Thursday, June 26, 2008, O/PUS released OPUSInstall for download from this site. It installs the software updates required to run SIMPLE, PSNControl, Super Store Data Update, and Instant Contract Eraser this quarter.

FYI² Notes

Thursday, June 26, 2008, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for the 3rd Quarter 2008. In this issue:

MultiLoaders Process Multiple Pricing Files At Once. Introducing a Windows software alternative to the text-based O/PUS Toolbox option (+IFP) Process a File. Now you can process all your major wholesaler price plan, catalog, and Matrix files at once. After beta testing last quarter, we are now ready to release new MultiLoader software for not only United Stationers and S.P. Richards, but also for ActionEmco.
Buying Group Members. A common error among buying group members is to download standard O/PUS files instead of OPUSISG or OPUSTPA.For loading instructions and passwords, members can log on to www.isgroup.org (and click File Load Instructions under the DDMS tab) or www.trimega.org (and find the PSNControl instructions and the O/PUS User Direct-Buy Information Password in the member center, on the TriMega Catalogs page).
United Stationers Consumer Column. To eliminate confusion concerning the terms “Consumer Level” and “Consumer Column”, O/PUS has enhanced the United Stationers loading program by revising the terms used when loading price plans. Instead of prompting for the "Consumer Level", U_UNI now prompts for the "United Consumer Pricing Column." To view United Stationers’ quarterly Price Plan Code Chart, log into the Classified Zone on www.ussco.com, and select the “Item File/Unitape” page.

Other reminders in this issue:

Pre-Load Packing Inventory, CONTRACTS Files Avoids Hang-Ups.
REMINDER: SIMPLE Wizard Option Automates Make-Buys.
Reminder: Load Trade Service Standard Descriptions.
O/PUS Continues Changes in Manufacturer Codes (MAC).
Point-Of-Sale UPC Scanning Post-Load Procedure.
Super Store Data Update Pricing/Cross-Reference Exceptions: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data.
REMINDER: Re-Import Ensite EBS Data After “Housekeeping”.

Anticipated Releases and Announcements

O/PUS anticipates releasing and announcing the following updates:

U.S. OPUSInstall, OPdb Multi-Vendor Catalog Update files, and the FYI² Notes newsletter by the END of the week of June 23-27.
UNIX FTP instructions by the END of the week of June 23-27.
ASP SIMPLE software update & OPdb update file by the END of the week of June 23-27.
ECi DDMS will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on June 28 from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.
Super Store Data Files sometime BETWEEN the release of the OPdb(R) Multi-Vendor Catalog Update and July 1. Note: Trade Services is expected to announce when ASP-specific SSD program and files will be available, and we will provide additional instructions then.
Web Storefront Catalog Item & Image Updates (for Dealer Station, is.D-Force, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended) after July 1.
Canadian update files & FYI² Canada the week of July 7-11. ECi will offer complimentary Saturday support via phone from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time that weekend. Calls outside the scheduled hours, and any calls unrelated to the Canadian quarterly update, are billable. Faxes and emails for Canadian updates sent over the weekend will not be processed until regular business hours resume the following Monday.

Free Training

ECi offers free Web-Based training on quarter-end Friday, June 20, 10:00 am CDT, and Thursday, June 26, 2:00 pm CDT, on a first-come, first-served basis. For connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free

Planning

Wednesday, June 18, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: Planning for 3Q 2008 to all O/PUS customers.

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2nd Quarter 2008

2nd Quarter 2008 News

Load United Stationers Mid-Quarter Paper Update

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 — United Stationers has issued a mid-quarter item update file, containing many paper-category price and cost changes effective May 1st. To update your DDMS inventory database, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download the UNI-PAP data file and the latest U_UNI loading program.
Make sure no one else is using the system. The following steps are dedicated.
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox .

The UNI-PAP file includes many United price plans. The new U_UNI will look for each plan in your DDMS inventory, and update the prices if the plan is found. As this method indicates, this is an UPDATE ONLY. New records will not be added to your database.

For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf) . For detailed instructions on using the (+I) screens, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf).

Load United Stationers JanSan Update

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 — United Stationers has issued updated pricing for Georgia Pacific and Solo items. O/PUS posted updated price plans, both standard and JanSan-specific files, Wednesday, April 2, at 5:00 PM CDT.

If you have not yet loaded United Stationers price plans as of that time, simply download the current plans from the OPUS PSN as usual.
If you already loaded your standard United price plans prior to that time, you can update your Georgia Pacific and Solo item prices by loading the United Stationers JanSan item update file.

To update just your Georgia Pacific and Solo items, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download the UNI-JANSAN data file and the latest U_UNI loading program.
In the (+IFP) screen, run the U_UNI program to load UNI-JANSAN.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox .

The UNI-JANSAN file includes many United price plans. U_UNI will look for each plan in your DDMS inventory, and update the prices if the plan is found. As this method indicates, this is an UPDATE ONLY. New records will not be added to your database.

NOTE: Matrix plans are affected but are NOT included in the UNI- JANSAN file. To update Matrix plans, you can either download the current Matrix plan, or download the changes-only Matrix plan:

Use PsnControl to download:
- X1-JANSAN for MATRIXX1
- X2-JANSAN for MATRIXX2
- X3-JANSAN for MATRIXX3
- X4-JANSAN for MATRIXX4
- X5-JANSAN for MATRIXX5
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.

For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf) . For detailed instructions on using the (+I) screens, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf).

Trade Service Releases O/PUS update for TriMega Purchasing Association (TPA)

Monday, March 31, 2008 — Trade Service Corp. announced the release of TriMega Direct Buy data for the 2nd quarter. The OPUSTPA file is available from PSNControl as of 1:30 pm CDT today.

S.P. Richards Adds Three New Consumer Levels to Matrix Price Plans

Friday, March 28, 2008 — S.P. Richards added 3 new levels for a total of six Matrix files (VER1, VER2, VER3, VER4, VER5, VER6), just released today. When you load a Matrix file, the +IF-P screen, you receive the following prompt for consumer price level:

Consumer Pricing Level (1, 2, or 3)

If you downloaded the 2nd quarter U_SPR program prior to (CORRECTED) 5 pm CDT Friday, March 28, you may not see th Monday, November 24, 2008 11:19 AM

To load Super Aggressive, enter 1
To load Market Penetration, enter 2
To load Full, enter 3
To load Smart Choice-Super Aggressive, enter 4
To load Smart Choice Market Penetration, enter 5
To load Smart Choice Ultra Impact, enter 6

Note: Matrix files are not associated with ANY Sparco printed Consumer Catalogs. These are just available for the dealers to load into a contract if they choose to use as a base-line pricing for their customers.

For detailed instructions, see S.P. Richards Item Update Instructions.

New OPUSInstall Enhances PSNControl to create desktop icon for beta software

Friday, March 28, 2008 — At 4:30 pm, O/PUS released a new OPUSInstall file. If you have already downloaded and run your OPUSInstall software update, it is not necessary to do so again in most cases.

The new OPUSInstall includes Version 1.1.165 of PSNControl, which has been enhanced so that when transferring the beta UpdateSPR or UpdateUNI program files, the icon will be created on your desktop.

O Henry Ends Support for Electronic Ordering After S.P. Richards Acquisition

Thursday, March 27, 2008 — O Henry recently announced that they were ending support for their EDI services, including price files, purchase order transmissions, acknowledgements, and stock and price checks via the ECi Private Supply Network.

S.P. Richards has acquired O Henry's business. Any price information displayed on the O Henry system will be incorrect, since pricing will be determined by the S.P.Richards systems and not updated on the O Henry systems. Orders on and after April 1st will be shipped only via UPS or common-carrier and will be invoiced by S.P. Richards.

If you wish to remove O Henry from your DDMS inventory database, the procedures are best done when loading O/PUS. If you don't remove an inactive vendor, it may affect your short-buy process or possibly your pricing. For detailed instructions, see Removing a Vendor (pdf). When executing the (+IK) procedure to kill O Henry records, the 4-character Vendor ID is OHEN; for other procedures, the name of the vendor is OHENRY.

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2nd Quarter 2008 Dates

Canadian FYI² Notes, Update Files

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 — O/PUS published FYI² Notes for O/PUS Canadian Customers for the second quarter of 2008 and announced the release the O/PUS Canadian Update files effective Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 8:00 AM CDT.

Updated! Quarterly Web Storefront Catalog Updates

On April 7, we announced that Dealer Station catalog content updates are scheduled to continue Monday evening between 9 PM and 6 AM Eastern Time.

ECi updated Web Storefront servers with new quarterly catalog images and content this Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, 2008, during nighttime hours between 9 PM and 6 AM Eastern Time.The weekend update included ECinteractive, Dealer Station, is.D-Force and is.D-Force 2, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended Web storefronts.

For detailed instructions on scheduling site maintenance in Dealer Station or is.D-Force, see Chapter 1 of your Admin Manual.

Other products do not offer scheduled site maintenance. Please notify affected users as you see fit.

Super Store Data Update

Friday, April 4, 2008, we announced Super Store Data Update Files Ready to Load.

See Super Store Data Update (pdf).

O/PUS Ready to Load

Friday, March 28, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: 2Q2008 Ready to Load to all O/PUS customers.

ASP Update

Friday, March 28, 2008, we announced to ASP customers that their update is ready for U.S. Customers to begin loading after 3:45 am Saturday, during the recommended loading times. The ASP O/PUS Web page covers the loading process for ASP customers.

Unix FTP Instructions

Friday, March 28, 2008, we sent special FTP instructions for UNIX O/PUS Customers who do not meet PSN requirements.

OPUSInstall Released

Friday, March 28, 2008, O/PUS released OPUSInstall for download from this site. It installs the software updates required to run SIMPLE, PSNControl, Super Store Data Update, and Instant Contract Eraser this quarter.

FYI² Notes

Friday, March 28, 2008, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for the 2nd Quarter 2008. In this issue:

Diversified Computer Supplies joins the O/PUS Supplemental Vendor program. You can download their consummable imaging item and pricing files via the O/PUS PSN.
See also DCS Pricing File Update Instructions (pdf).
Beta Software Processes Multiple Pricing Files At Once.
O/PUS introduces — for interested beta testers — a Windows software alternative to the text-based O/PUS Toolbox option (+IFP) Process a File for S.P. Richards and United Stationers item and pricing files.
The remaining free two-hour Web training on O/PUS procedures is Friday, March 28th at 9:00 AM CDT. See connection instructions (www.ddms.com/training/free).
Pre-Load Packing Inventory and CONTRACTS Files Avoids Hang-Ups: In recent quarters, your ECi Technical Support teams have noted a number of calls related to hangups during the ;SPC:CHGIT or (+IY) processes. We therefore recommend a new pre-load procedure of compressing your Inventory and CONTRACTS files. This procedure may be done up to two weeks prior to your O/PUS load. For detailed instructions, see Compressing Files on the Windows Platform (pdf).
REMINDER: SIMPLE Wizard Option Automates Make-Buys. Before you load, contact your vendors for a list of items where the unit of measure has changed. If your vendor has changed item Units of Measure (UOM) this quarter, you can use the option in the SIMPLE Wizard to automate the necessary calculations. See Handling Vendor Unit of Measure (UOM) Changes (pdf).
Reminder: Load Trade Service Standard Descriptions. The SIMPLE Wizard gives you the option to load standardized short product descriptions. The result is more reliable product searches. There is NO additional charge to dealers who subscribe to O/PUS, as well as is.ezTrade and TPA editions.
O/PUS Continues Changes in Manufacturer Codes (MAC). Uniformity is crucial to standardizing product IDs, but many wholesalers often carry the same product under different company prefixes. O/PUS continues taking steps to resolve differences between vendors. This quarter, you may see some instances where the MAC has changed to represent the vendor’s prefix. These changes are likely to increase the time it takes to run SIMPLE.
Point-Of-Sale UPC Scanning Post-Load Procedure: The O/PUS update loads the UPC code into the customer UPC field within the I-ALIAS file. For point-of-sale scanners to have access to the UPC codes, one of your post-load procedures should be to use the (+ET) Special program to copy them from customer UPC to customer Common. It is the same as copying customer UPC to Common in the (ES) Alias screen. Each quarter, you may delete the records from customer UPC (I-Alias) as the UPCs are being updated in customer Common.
Super Store Data Update Pricing/Cross-Reference Exceptions: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data. In addition to item cross-references, Trade Service obtains “Single National Pricing” data for Office Depot and Office Max, and “Regional Pricing” (West, Midwest, and East) for Staples. For more information, see Post-Load FAQs and Super Store Data Update (pdf). Trade Services anticipates that the SSD Update files will be available for download via PSN after the OPUSInstall/OPdb release but before January 1; we will announce the release via email when it is ready.
REMINDER: Re-Import Ensite EBS Data After “Housekeeping”. Changes made during the O/PUS load will NOT automatically synchronize with the SQL database in DDMS 8.11 or higher. If you previously validated and imported your SQL data, re-import your updated inventory data in EnsiteEBS. See Using the EnsiteEBS Utility (pdf).

Anticipated Releases and Announcements

O/PUS anticipates releasing and announcing the following updates:

U.S. OPUSInstall, OPdb Multi-Vendor Catalog Update files, and the FYI² Notes newsletter by the END of the week of March 24-28.
UNIX FTP instructions by the END of the week of March 24-28.
ASP SIMPLE software update & OPdb update file by the END of the week of March 24-28.
ECi DDMS will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on March 29 from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.
Super Store Data Files sometime BETWEEN the release of the OPdb(R) Multi-Vendor Catalog Update and April 1. Note: Trade Services is expected to announce when ASP-specific SSD program and files will be available, and we will provide additional instructions then.
Web Storefront Catalog Item & Image Updates (for Dealer Station, is.D-Force, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended) after April 1.
Canadian update files & FYI² Canada the week of April 7-11. ECi will offer complimentary Saturday support via phone from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time that weekend. Calls outside the scheduled hours, and any calls unrelated to the Canadian quarterly update, are billable. Faxes and emails for Canadian updates sent over the weekend will not be processed until regular business hours resume the following Monday.

Free Training

ECi offers free Web-Based training on quarter-end Tuesday, March 25th at 1 PM CDT, and Friday, March 28th at 9 AM CDT, on a first-come, first-served basis. For connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free

Planning

Thursday, March 20, 2008, we sent O/PUS Update Notes: Planning for 2Q 2008 to all O/PUS customers.

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1st Quarter 2008

1st Quarter 2008 News

Load United Stationers Mid-Quarter Paper Update

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 — United Stationers has issued a mid-quarter item update file, containing many paper-category price and cost changes effective Feb. 18th. To update your DDMS inventory database, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download:
1. the UNI-PAP data file
  and
2. the latest U_UNI loading program
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox .

The UNI-FEB file includes many United price plans. The new U_UNI will look for each plan in your DDMS inventory, and update the prices if the plan is found. As this method indicates, this is an UPDATE ONLY. New records will not be added to your database.

NOTE: Matrix plans are NOT included in the UNI-PAP file. To reflect Matrix plan mid-quarter updates in your DDMS Contracts, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download:
- X1-PAP for MATRIXX1
- X2-PAP for MATRIXX2
- X3-PAP for MATRIXX3
- X4-PAP for MATRIXX4
- X5-PAP for MATRIXX5
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.

For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf) . For detailed instructions on using the (+I) screens, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf).

Load United Stationers Mid-Quarter Update

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 — United Stationers has issued a mid-quarter item update file, containing many price and cost changes effective Feb. 1st. To handle the mid-quarter changes, O/PUS revamped the U_UNI loading program.

To update your DDMS inventory database, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download:
1. the UNI-FEB data file
  and
2. the newly revamped U_UNI loading program
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.
(Optional) If you wish to use the updated prices to determine your Purchasing Vendor, use (+I-1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T) in the O/PUS Toolbox.

NOTE: Matrix plans are NOT included in the UNI-FEB file. To reflect Matrix plan mid-quarter updates in your DDMS Contracts, follow these steps:

Use PsnControl to download:
- X1-FEB for MATRIXX1
- X2-FEB for MATRIXX2
- X3-FEB for MATRIXX3
- X4-FEB for MATRIXX4
- X5-FEB for MATRIXX5
Process the price plan(s) in the (+IFP) screen using the new U_UNI loading program.

For detailed instructions on using the U_UNI loading program, see United Stationers Item Update Instructions (pdf). For detailed instructions on using the (+I) screens, see O/PUS Toolbox (pdf).

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1st Quarter 2008 Dates

Quarterly Web Storefront Catalog Updates

Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, we announced that ECi is updating Web Storefront servers with new quarterly catalog images and content this Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 12-13, 2008, during nighttime hours between 9 PM and 7 AM Eastern Time.

This update affects is.D-Force, is.D-Force 2, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended Web storefronts. (Dealer Station servers are being loaded with a software update, not content, this weekend.)

For detailed instructions on scheduling site maintenance in Dealer Station or is.D-Force, see Chapter 1 of your Admin Manual.

Other products do not offer scheduled site maintenance. Please notify affected users as you see fit.

ECi updated Dealer Station and ECinteractive Web Storefront servers with new quarterly catalog images and content on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Jan. 4-6, 2008. The process was completed Wednesday, Jan. 9.

Canadian FYI² Notes, Update Files

Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for O/PUS Canadian Customers for the first quarter of 2008 and announced the release the O/PUS Canadian Update files effective 2:00 PM CDT.

Super Store Data Update

Friday, Dec. 28, 2008, we announced Super Store Data Update Files Ready to Load.

See Super Store Data Update (pdf).

ASP Update

Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, we announced to ASP customers that their update is ready to load in the evening, as of 10:35 pm CST Friday, Dec. 21, 2007. The ASP O/PUS Web page covers the loading process for ASP customers.

O/PUS Ready to Load

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, we sent O/PUS MultiVendor Update Ready to Download Via PSN to all O/PUS customers.

Unix FTP Instructions

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, we sent special FTP instructions for UNIX O/PUS Customers who do not meet PSN requirements.

OPUSInstall Released

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, O/PUS released OPUSInstall for download from this site. It installs the software updates required to run SIMPLE, PSNControl, Super Store Data Update, and Instant Contract Eraser this quarter.

FYI² Notes

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for the 1st Quarter 2008. In this issue:

Reminder: New Option Loads Trade Service Standard Descriptions. Beginning last quarter, the SIMPLE Wizard gives you the option to load standardized short product descriptions. The result is more reliable product searches. There is NO additional charge to dealers who subscribe to O/PUS, as well as is.ezTrade and TPA editions.
The remaining free two-hour Web training on O/PUS procedures is Thursday, Dec. 27th, at 12:30 pm PM CST. See connection instructions (www.ddms.com/training/free).
O/PUS Continues Changes in Manufacturer Codes (MAC). Uniformity is crucial to standardizing product IDs, but many wholesalers often carry the same product under different company prefixes. O/PUS continues taking steps to resolve differences between vendors. This quarter, you may see some instances where the MAC has changed to represent the vendor’s prefix. These changes are likely to increase the time it takes to run SIMPLE.
REMINDER: SIMPLE Wizard Option Automates Make-Buys. Before you load, contact your vendors for a list of items where the unit of measure has changed. If your vendor has changed item Units of Measure (UOM) this quarter, you can use the option in the SIMPLE Wizard to automate the necessary calculations. See Handling Vendor Unit of Measure (UOM) Changes (pdf).
Pre-Load Packing Inventory and CONTRACTS Files Avoids Hang-Ups: In recent quarters, your ECi Technical Support teams have noted a number of calls related to hangups during the ;SPC:CHGIT or (+IY) processes. We therefore recommend a new pre-load procedure of compressing your Inventory and CONTRACTS files. This procedure may be done up to two weeks prior to your O/PUS load. For detailed instructions, see Compressing Files on the Windows Platform (pdf).
Point-Of-Sale UPC Scanning Post-Load Procedure: The O/PUS update loads the UPC code into the customer UPC field within the I-ALIAS file. For point-of-sale scanners to have access to the UPC codes, one of your post-load procedures should be to use the (+ET) Special program to copy them from customer UPC to customer Common. It is the same as copying customer UPC to Common in the (ES) Alias screen. Each quarter, you may delete the records from customer UPC (I-Alias) as the UPCs are being updated in customer Common.
Super Store Data Update Pricing/Cross-Reference Exceptions: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data. In addition to item cross-references, Trade Service obtains “Single National Pricing” data for Office Depot and Office Max, and “Regional Pricing” (West, Midwest, and East) for Staples. For more information, see Post-Load FAQs and Super Store Data Update (pdf). Trade Services anticipates that the SSD Update files will be available for download via PSN after the OPUSInstall/OPdb release but before January 1; we will announce the release via email when it is ready.
REMINDER: Re-Import Ensite EBS Data After “Housekeeping”. Changes made during the O/PUS load will NOT automatically synchronize with the SQL database in DDMS® 8.11 or higher. If you previously validated and imported your SQL data, re-import your updated inventory data in EnsiteEBS. See Using the EnsiteEBS Utility (pdf).

Anticipated Releases and Announcements

O/PUS anticipates releasing and announcing the following updates:

U.S. OPUSInstall, OPdb Multi-Vendor Catalog Update files, and the FYI² Notes newsletter by the END of the week of Dec. 17-21.
UNIX FTP instructions by the END of the week of Dec. 26-28.
ASP SIMPLE software update & OPdb update file by the END of the week of Dec. 26-28.
ECi will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on Dec. 29 from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.
Super Store Data Files sometime BETWEEN the release of the OPdb(R) Multi-Vendor Catalog Update and Jan. 1, 2007. Note: Trade Services is expected to announce when ASP-specific SSD program and files will be available, and we will provide additional instructions then.
Web Storefront Catalog Item & Image Updates (for Dealer Station, is.D-Force, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended) after Jan. 1, 2007.
Canadian update files & FYI² Canada the week of Jan. 9-13. ECi will offer complimentary Saturday support via phone from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time that weekend. Calls outside the scheduled hours, and any calls unrelated to the Canadian quarterly update, are billable. Faxes and emails for Canadian updates sent over the weekend will not be processed until regular business hours resume the following Monday.

Free Training

ECi offers free Web-Based training on quarter-end on 10 am CST on Thursday, Dec. 13th and at 12:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 27th, on a first-come, first-served basis. For connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free

Planning

Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, we sent Planning for the Current Quarterly O/PUS OPdb Catalog Update to all O/PUS customers.

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4th Quarter 2007

News

Load Corrected S.P. Richards Furniture Pricing Files

Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007 — Several pricing files that S.P. Richards provided to OPUS for 4th quarter had incorrect furniture pricing. The S.P. Richards October update files contain the corrected prices, and O/PUS has made these files available for download via the O/PUS PSN.

To determine if you have one of the affected Furniture pricing files assigned to you, contact your S.P. Richards representative.
The S.P. Richards October update files were posted on the O/PUS PSN on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. If you downloaded your price plan file(s) after that date, your pricing is good. Furniture plans loaded from the main O/PUS update contain the incorrect prices and the corrected plans should be downloaded from the O/PUS PSN.

To load these pricing changes, follow these steps:

Using PSNControl, download your assigned Furniture file.
In the (+IFP) screen, process the price plan update(s) using the U_SPR loading program.
If you wish to consider the new cost when setting the Purchasing Vendor, run the (+I1) Reset Purch Vendor to Primary Whl program, and then complete your normal post-load procedures to reset the Purchasing Vendor using (+I-L), (+I-Z) or (+I-T).

As usual, S.P. Richards has released its monthly pricing updates for October, so you may also choose to re-load your other S.P. Richards price plans at this time.

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4th Quarter 2007 Dates

Canadian FYI² Notes, Update Files

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for O/PUS Canadian Customers for the fourth quarter of 2007 and announced the release the O/PUS Canadian Update files effective 2:00 PM CDT.

Quarterly Web Storefront Catalog Updates

Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, we announced two Quarterly Web Storefront Catalog Updates were on schedule. ECi will update Dealer Station® and ECinteractive™ servers with new quarterly catalog images and content beginning Friday, July 6, 2007, and continuing through Sunday, July 8, 2007. These updates will be performed during evening hours between 10 PM and 6 AM Eastern Time. Your Web storefront will be unavailable during these maintenance periods:

Dealer Station can be scheduled to be Offline for Maintenance using the Automatic option in the administrative control panel. Note: All server times are Eastern on a 24-hour clock. For example, to enter 9:30 PM Eastern, add 12 hours for PM and type 21:30.
You can schedule your ECinteractive site to be Offline for Maintenance by using the new Site Maintenance page under Global Settings in the administrative control panel:
1. Log into your ECinteractive site’s Administrative Control Panel.
2. (Optional) Click Site News, and then click Page Editor. Create or edit a Scheduled Maintenance page to include some text that will encourage your customers to log off before your scheduled maintenance period begins, so their work will be cached properly.
3. Click Global Settings, and then click Site Maintenance.
4. In the Time Settings box, check your Time Zone and Daylight Savings settings.
5. In the Automatic Scheduled Maintenance box, enter the appropriate times in the Time Off and Time On boxes, in the format HH:MM AM or PM, for BOTH Weekday and Weekend.
6. (Optional) Select your Scheduled Maintenance page, for BOTH Weekday and Weekend.
7. Click the Auto Maintenance Mode On button. At the Are You Sure message, check your time settings. If they are correct, click OK.
8. Click the Update button. The changes are implemented within one minute.
9. On Monday, return to these settings, and click Auto Maintenance Mode Off.

However, the updates for several other services would be postponed due to delays in receiving vendor content:

For is.D-Force and is.D-Force 2, ECi Content Services is currently processing the new quarterly electronic catalog content (images and descriptions). Pending the time it takes is.group to test and approve it, the update for your Web storefront servers has been postponed until NEXT weekend, Oct. 11-14, 2007. We will send email reminders with additional instructions next week.
Pending final processing and testing, the update for your 123Web, BaseStation, or Dealer Station Xtended Web storefront servers has been postponed until sometime next week. We will send an email reminder with additional instructions next week.

Super Store Data Update

Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, we announced New OPUSInstall, Super Store Data Update Files Ready to Load.

Yesterday at 10:00 AM CDT, O/PUS released a new OPUSInstall that includes enhancements to significantly speed up the Super Store Data Update program. If you downloaded OPUSInstall prior to that time, you will need to download it again to properly update your SSD files.

Today at 10:00 AM CDT, O/PUS completed processing and testing the Super Store item cross-reference (SSDitems) and pricing-enhanced (SSDpricing) files from Trade Service, and made them available to download from the Private Supply Network (PSN).

See Super Store Data Update (pdf).

Saturday Support Sept. 29th 9-4 CDT

ECi will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on Sept. 29th from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.

ASP Update

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, we announced to ASP customers that their update is ready to load in the evening. The ASP O/PUS Web page covers the loading process for ASP customers.

O/PUS Ready to Load

Wednesday, September 26, 2007, we sent O/PUS MultiVendor Update Ready to Download Via PSN to all O/PUS customers.

OPUSInstall Released

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, O/PUS released OPUSInstall for download from this site. It installs the software updates required to run SIMPLE, PSNControl, Super Store Data Update, and Instant Contract Eraser this quarter.

Unix FTP Instructions

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, we sent special FTP instructions for UNIX O/PUS Customers who do not meet PSN requirements.

FYI² Notes

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, O/PUS published FYI² Notes for the 4th Quarter 2007. In this issue:

New Option Loads Trade Service Standard Descriptions. Beginning this quarter, the SIMPLE Wizard gives you the option to load standardized short product descriptions. For 20 years, Trade Service has set new standards for short description data across all wholesalers and buying groups. Each description begins with a full-word noun product name, with no abbreviation. Size and color follow in a consistent, predictable format.All descriptive data conforms to a normalized set of abbreviations. When you use Trade Service’s short descriptions, the result is more reliable product searches. There is NO additional charge to dealers who subscribe to O/PUS, as well as is.ezTrade and TPA editions.
The remaining free two-hour Web training on O/PUS procedures is Friday, Sept. 28th, at 1:00 PM CDT. See connection instructions (www.ddms.com/training/free).
O/PUS Continues Changes in Manufacturer Codes (MAC). Uniformity is crucial to standardizing product IDs, but many wholesalers often carry the same product under different company prefixes. O/PUS continues taking steps to resolve differences between vendors. This quarter, you may see some instances where the MAC has changed to represent the vendor’s prefix. These changes are likely to increase the time it takes to run SIMPLE.
REMINDER: Running Make-Buys may not be necessary every quarter. Before you load, contact your vendors for a list of items where the unit of measure has changed. In general, deciding whether to run Make-Buys depends on how vendor UOM changes affect your business each quarter.
See Handling Vendor Unit of Measure (UOM) Changes (pdf).
Pre-Load Packing Inventory and CONTRACTS Files Avoids Hang-Ups: In recent quarters, your ECi Technical Support teams have noted a number of calls related to hangups during the ;SPC:CHGIT or (+IY) processes. We therefore recommend a new pre-load procedure of compressing your Inventory and CONTRACTS files. This procedure may be done up to two weeks prior to your O/PUS load. For detailed instructions, see Compressing Files on the Windows Platform (pdf).
Point-Of-Sale UPC Scanning Post-Load Procedure: The O/PUS update loads the UPC code into the customer UPC field within the I-ALIAS file. For point-of-sale scanners to have access to the UPC codes, one of your post-load procedures should be to use the (+ET) Special program to copy them from customer UPC to customer Common. It is the same as copying customer UPC to Common in the (ES) Alias screen. Each quarter, you may delete the records from customer UPC (I-Alias) as the UPCs are being updated in customer Common.
Super Store Data Update Pricing/Cross-Reference Exceptions: Quill and Corporate Express only provide item cross-reference data; they do NOT provide pricing data. In addition to item cross-references, Trade Service obtains “Single National Pricing” data for Office Depot and Office Max, and “Regional Pricing” (West, Midwest, and East) for Staples. For more information, see Post-Load FAQs and Super Store Data Update (pdf). Trade Services anticipates that the SSD Update files will be available for download via PSN after the OPUSInstall/OPdb release but before October 1; we will announce the release via email when it is ready.
REMINDER: Re-Import Ensite EBS Data After “Housekeeping”. Changes made during the O/PUS load will NOT automatically synchronize with the SQL database in DDMS® 8.11 or higher. If you previously validated and imported your SQL data, re-import your updated inventory data in EnsiteEBS. See Using the EnsiteEBS Utility (pdf).

Anticipated Releases and Announcements

O/PUS anticipates releasing and announcing the following updates:

U.S. OPUSInstall, OPdb Multi-Vendor Catalog Update files, and the FYI² Notes newsletter by the END of the week of Sept. 24-28.
UNIX FTP instructions by the END of the week of Sept. 24-28.
ASP SIMPLE software update & OPdb update file by the END of the week of Sept. 24-28.
ECi will offer complimentary Period End Saturday Support via email and fax on Sept. 29 from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time. Phone calls will be routed to our 24/7 lines, and may be billable.
Super Store Data Files sometime BETWEEN the release of the OPdb(R) Multi-Vendor Catalog Update and Oct. 1, 2007. Note: Trade Services is expected to announce when ASP-specific SSD program and files will be available, and we will provide additional instructions then.
Web Storefront Catalog Item & Image Updates (for Dealer Station, is.D-Force, 123Web, BaseStation, and Dealer Station Xtended) after Oct. 1, 2007.
Canadian update files & FYI² Canada the week of Oct. 8-12. ECi will offer complimentary Saturday support via phone from 9 AM to 4 PM Central Time that weekend. Calls outside the scheduled hours, and any calls unrelated to the Canadian quarterly update, are billable. Faxes and emails for Canadian updates sent over the weekend will not be processed until regular business hours resume the following Monday.

Free Training

ECi offers free Web-Based training on quarter-end on Sept. 22nd and 29th, 1-3 PM Central Daylight Time, on a first-come, first-served basis. For connection instructions, see www.ddms.com/training/free

Planning

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007, we sent Planning for the Current Quarterly O/PUS OPdb Catalog Update to all O/PUS customers.

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