ECi Announces the Release
Of DDMS® Version 7.11

DDMS® Version 7.11.30 is now available upon request to all DDMS customers as of Monday, Nov. 7, 2005. This message covers the following timely topics:

• What's New in Version 7.11?
• How Do I Request the Software Update?
• How Can I Use Campaign Manager to Market to New, At-Risk, and Premium Customers?
• What's So Important About SQL and .NET?
• How Can I Create Order Surcharges to Offset Fuel Costs?
• How Can I Give Customers Gifts and Volume Discounts?
• How Do I Get Started With SPR 2nd Party Logistics?
• What's New on the ECi Private Supply Network (PSN)?

What's New in Version 7.11?

With more than 150 enhancements and fixes, DDMS Version 7.11.30 includes many features to help your company manage at-risk customers, rising costs, new vendor PSN services, CAP Specifier corrections, and other logistics, including the following:

• Campaign Manager. Build targeted sales campaigns, set up customer alerts (new customers, changes in purchasing patterns, etc.), identify sales opportunities, and manage customer accounts using a simple, wizard-based interface. more below»
• SQL Database Engine and .NET Codebase. Some applications released in DDMS Version 7.11 are beginning to use a SQL relational database engine and .NET programming language. But why? Integration, efficiency, and user-friendliness. more below»
• Fuel Surcharges. In response to the industry's escalating fuel costs, we have enhanced the Minimum Order Charges feature of our Order Entry application to give you greater ability to customize your fees per order. more below»
• Additional Volume Discounts. Just in time for holiday promotions! You can now offer discounts and item gift rewards to customers that place orders within a certain dollar amount. more below»
• SP Richards Second Party Logistics (2PL). Now you can provide local delivery services to customers who have branch offices nationwide via a network of other SP Richards 2PL participating independent dealers. We have enhanced our trading partner parameters, the customer database, drop ship ordering features, and SPR P/O transmission and acknowledgement formats to allow DDMS dealers to join the SP Richards Second Party Logistics Network. more below»
• New and Improved PSN Services. Eastern Distributing now offers PSN services, and we are releasing significant enhancements to PSN services for TriMega Purchasing Association (TPA) and Tech Data. more below»
• Enhanced Accounts Receivable P/O Lookup. To retrieve variations of purchase order numbers, you can now combine part of the purchase order number with an asterisk (*) wildcard that represents any character. You can use this feature when searching for P/Os in either the Short PO or Long PO boxes in the following: the Accounts Receivable Payments tab, the Accounts Receivable Post/Change tab (which looks in the AR-MASTER file) and the AR History Detail tab (which looks in the journal set in the Journal box, JNL-AR). If only one matching P/O number is found, the system retrieves the customer with the open invoice from the AR-MASTER file with the associated P/O number.
• Canadian Credit Card Processing. Recent enhancements make processing credit cards in Canada through your DDMS system easier and more flexible than ever. (Note: This feature will be integrated with Dealer Station® orders in a future release.) Use Approval Link™ 2.0, the interface between your DDMS system and Paradata Systems automated authorization and capture software for Canadian dealers. more details in "Setting Up and Using Credit Card Processing in Canada (PDF)"»
• Order Entry Interface for CAP Specifier. You can select an item in DDMS Furniture O/E and select an action that will interface directly into CAP Specifier to re-specify it, and then return to DDMS O/E with the corrected line. CAP Studio is a leading supplier of computer-aided design software, libraries, and electronic catalogs for the contract furniture industry.

This list of enhancements above is not exhaustive. You can find more information on DDMS.com:

• IMPORTANT: Before you load any software update, check our Web site for last-minute changes that may affect you on Release Notes.
• For information about all released changes, use Program Updates on our Web site to look up all corrections and enhancements released in Version 7.11, Version 7.11.0-A, Version 7.11.X, Version 7.11.30, and other versions. Note: Versions with a .X means that we have completed and tested a change, but have not yet assigned it to a specific released software version.
• For information about enhancements released in the DDMS Version 7 software, see "What's New in Version 7 (PDF)".
• For additional information about specific features, use your online help after you load the software update. Tip: You can search for keywords such as "Minimum Order" for fuel surcharge, and "Additional Volume Discount" for holiday promotion gifts.

How Do I Request the Software Update?

If you want to take advantage of the new features in Version 7.11, we will be happy to ship the software update and instructions to you via United Parcel Service (UPS) Ground.

Please email a request for Version 7.11 to ddmssupport@ecisolutions.com, and include your DDMS account number, contact name, company name, shipping address, and phone number.

How Can I Use Campaign Manager to Market
To New, At-Risk, and Premium Customers?

Many dealers are moving towards an emphasis on managing customer relationships, especially new, at-risk, and premium customers.

In tandem with Notes Everywhere and the system's email capabilities, Campaign Manager lets you create automated marketing tasks based on a customer’s order history. You can send emails to both internal and external customers.

Campaign Manager lets you automatically recognize and react to customers who haven’t purchased recently. For example, you might set up a campaign to find all customers whose last order dates were more than 60 days ago (as shown below), and email each of these customers' salespeople internally to prompt some action or offer. You could also email marketing flyers or perhaps a discount offer directly to the customers.

You simply set up the campaign and limit to the customers that fit your criteria.

A new wizard will guide you through the process of identifying desired groups of customers and creating or modifying Notes prompts and communication campaigns.

Note: This feature is not included in all software packages and requires authorization. Campaign Manager is in the Platinum package and packages C and D. For more information, contact ECi Sales. To use Campaign Manager, you must also be authorized for Notes Everywhere.

For detailed instructions, see the PDF documents, "Campaign Manager (PDF)" and "Setting Up & Using Notes Everywhere (PDF)."

What's So Important About SQL and .NET?

Some applications released in DDMS Version 7.11, particularly Campaign Manager and Notes Everywhere, are beginning to use a new programming platform. These are the first in a new generation of DDMS(tm) applications, offering an enhanced user interface and incorporating Microsoft's latest SQL Server database architecture and the Microsoft C# (pronounced See Sharp) for .NET programming framework.

But what's the rationale behind this initiative? Our goals are as follows:

• Increase efficiency and reduce time-to-market of bug fixes and enhancements. The .NET toolset allows us to create a framework of templates that can streamline development. The new codebase allows us to break away from writing redundant code for both graphical and text-based interfaces. In the long run, it will make it possible for ECi to design & release the enhancements you want for your dealership more efficiently.
• Revolutionize our code's scalability, portability, and integration. The initiative gives us new relational database architecture, Web services tools and industry-standard protocols. As a result, data access and manipulation is much more portable than with the original flat-file DBFs. You will be able to export data for reports much more easily. It will be easier to integrate with the systems of your vendors, customers, and partners. It will also be easier to deploy solutions that synchronize or connect directly with Web services and mobile handheld equipment.
• Permit a more consistent, intuitive, user-friendly, task-oriented look-and-feel. The framework that streamlines development will also simplify end-user task flow. Order entry code, for example, will be more standardized and more easily scalable among supplies, furniture, machines, and other industries, with only slight differences based on the needs of each industry. The new wizardlike interfaces will walk users through each task with even better guidance than our standard tabbed applications do today.

The upcoming Contracts Module will also be based on this .NET and SQL framework. Its spreadsheet-style interface makes it easy to build, change, and assign customer contracts without ever leaving the application. You can also perform contract modeling and what-if scenarios, and even export contract data to Microsoft® Excel for additional analysis. In effect, the new Contracts application makes it easy to see what customers are - and aren't - buying. It is to be released in Q4 2005.

How Can I Create Order Surcharges to Offset Fuel Costs?

Offset rising fuel costs by adding a surcharge to orders below a minimum dollar amount. The fuel surcharge can be applied automatically or prompted at order entry. You can exclude selected customers from the charge, regardless of order amount.

You have long had the ability to specify a minimum dollar amount for an order. You used this feature by setting the Minimum Order Amount and Add on Dollar Amount fields in the (LG3) Order Entry Pricing Parameters screen.

We have recently enhanced this feature to allow you to exclude specific customers from the minimum order charge fee. We have also added the ability for you to customize the text that appears on the customer’s ticket whenever the fee is applied.

Two new parameters have been added to the (LG3) screen: Charge Description and Auto Apply.

• In the Charge Description field, you can enter up to 30 alphanumeric characters of descriptive text. You might enter the text Below Minimum Order Fee, for example, or Fuel Surcharge. The text you enter prints on the customer’s ticket, explaining the line item charge. When the customer’s order falls below the specified amount, the order-taker is prompted and the customer is charged the fee or has the option of placing additional items on the order. If the charge is later deleted in the Item Detail tab, the system writes a line to the EXCEPTIONS file.
• You use the Auto Apply field to specify that the system automatically apply minimum charges to all customer’s orders when the total falls below the minimum amount.

If you want to exclude specific customers, you can use the Exempt From Min Order Charges box in the Customer Order Entry tab. This customer is then exempt from minimum order charges and the order-taker is not prompted when the order is ended. This information is stored in the C-SUPP file. You can also print this information using Report Writer.

For more information, see your Version 7.11.30 online help for text-based parameters under the KeyOps menu on Setting (LG3) Order Entry Pricing Parameters.

How Can I Give Customers Gifts and Volume Discounts?

Set up a customer appreciation program that rewards large orders with a gift or additional discount with the new Additional Volume Discounts feature.

Multiple discount tiers enable you to set up different reward levels based on total order dollars.

• You can reduce the customer’s order by a discount percentage whenever the order falls within a set dollar amount, $100 to $200, for example. If you use this option, the discount applies to the entire order total and is based on the subtotal amount, before tax is added. The discount is given in addition to the customer’s regular pricing.
• Or, you can give the customer a gift item when placing an order within a specific dollar amount. In this case, a gift item is added to the order at no charge.

If an order falls within 30% of the next reward tier, the Additional Volume Discount table will appear (as shown below) to encourage up-selling the customer. For example, "If you add $10 to your order, I can give you a 10 percent discount!"

Gifts or discounts are added to qualifying orders automatically. A message (as shown below) notifies the Order Entry personnel what has been added, and the ticket will show it as a line item with no charge.

Before you can use this feature, you must set up the Additional Volume Discount Plans window in the Order Entry parameters. You use this window to set up plan codes, dollar amount ranges, and discount and gift items.

This new feature works in both text-based and graphical order entry. You must set up graphical Order Entry parameters and graphical Customers. After setup is completed, you can use this feature in text-based order entry.

When you set up discount percentages in the Additional Volume Discount Plans window in the Order Entry parameters, the system links the discount percentage you specify to an existing inventory item.

Linking the discount to an item is useful for tracking and reporting purposes. Unless you have items in your inventory that can be used as discount items, you must add new items for use with this feature in the Item window. Not only does this help the order-taker distinguish between discount plans and regular items while placing an order, you need the ability to track and report on these discount plans when printing reports. Therefore, you should carefully consider how you want to report these discounts.

• If you want to report the various discount amounts given for specific code plans and dollar range tiers, you should create several different unique items for each level and for each table you set up.
• If you only need to view one total amount of volume discounts across all your sales, you only have to set up one unique item, volume discount, for example.

After you set up your items in the Item window and your plan discounts in the Order Entry parameters, you must assign the discount plan to a customer. Use the Additional Volume Discount Plan box in the Customer Order Entry tab to do this.

In Order Entry, anytime the customer’s order falls within the specified dollar range, the system adds the discount amount to the entire order as a credit, reducing the amount of the entire order.

• If the specified dollar range is set up as a gift item, it is added at no charge. A message displays in Order Entry, notifying the order-taker that the item or discount was added.
• In addition, if the customer’s order falls within 30% of the next dollar range, the system prompts the order-taker, so the customer can consider adding more items to the order to reach the next dollar range and corresponding gift item or discount percentage.

Whenever a volume discount line is added to an order in Order Entry, the system updates the P-GLOBAL file.

Note: If the order has a negative shipped total, the system prevents invoicing the order with the additional discount line items. Instead, the system holds the order at a status 6. The system also prints a message on the ticket indicating that the order cannot be invoiced. The system holds a negative shipped total order with additional discount items to a status 6 or 7 when using the (TR)[G] or (TR)[V] functions. An AAAA special line is added with the text Negative Total - Invoicing Not Allowed and an exception is created. When final-verifying a ticket, if the order has a negative total, the system holds the order at a status 6 or 7 and creates an exception. In addition, additional volume discount items cannot be placed on a picking manifest. These factors only apply to discounted items, not gift items placed on the order.

Note: This feature requires authorization. For more information, contact ECi Sales.

For additional instructions, see your Version 7.11 online help for Order Entry parameters under the KeyOps menu on Additional Volume Discount Plans.

How Do I Get Started With SPR 2nd Party Logistics?

The SP Richards Second Party Logistics (2PL) Network is designed to provide local delivery services to customers who have branch offices nationwide via a network of other participating independent dealers.

While this program is similar to SPR's USA Express, the order will be fulfilled by a local participating 2PL "servicing" dealer, as shown in the diagram below, instead of being drop shipped from SP Richards via UPS.

For more information about the Second Party Logistics Network, or to sign up and obtain your contracting ID and servicing dealer IDs, contact your SP Richards representative.

(instructions corrected 11-22-2005) In DDMS®, parameters for the 2PL program are set in the Shipping Info section of the (SGA) Trading Partner Parameters screen: for each customer or department, enter the servicing dealer's ID number in the Delivering Dealer # field, and set the 2nd Party Delivery field to Y. To correctly process 2PL orders, you set up your customer as a national drop ship (NDS) account using the DS box in the Customer Shipto/Attention tab.

Note: Do not change the Contract # and Contracting Dealer # fields in the (SGA) screen. Those fields are not used for Second Party Logistics.

When you place an order for an NDS account, you serve as the "contracting" dealer, as shown in the above diagram. The ECi PSN transmits the information necessary for the SPR system to process 2PL P/Os, and prints 2PL order status information in the P/O acknowledgment. If the customer is set up as a 2PL account and the order is a drop ship, then SPR routes the order to the distribution center nearest the delivery destination, based on the customer’s zip code. The order is filled and delivered the next day directly to the customer by a local participating "servicing" dealer.

(Note: In Order Entry, you can toggle the NDS flag on or off, but not the 2PL flag. To turn off 2PL for a specific customer, change the (SGA) 2nd Party Delivery field to N and clear the Delivering Dealer # field. Then you can retransmit the order, if necessary, as a regular drop-ship order.)

For detailed instructions, see Using SP Richards Second Party Logistics (2PL) Network (pdf).

What's New on the ECi Private Supply Network (PSN)?

With the release of DDMS Version 7.11.30, Eastern Distributing offers PSN services, including purchase order transmission, acknowlegements, and stock and price checks. For instructions, see the "Setting Up & Using the Eastern Distributing PSN (PDF)."

Tri-Mega Purchasing Association (TPA) PSN enhancements. Instead of the original functional acknowledgement ("Your order was received on this date"), TriMega PSN is now able to provide a full detailed acknowledgement from manufacturers (including line item details and quantities to be shipped), which greatly improves the order flow and auto short-buy capabilities for TriMega customers. Additionally, new (CP) Electronic Invoicing parameters for the "Match on P/O Nbr" field let you match on the manufacturer invoice number or packing slip number; this will reduce the number of exceptions that occur when posting A/P invoices from the TriMega Purchasing Association. You will also be able to send up to two bin numbers per item on purchase orders; when the manufacturer processes your order, the bin number will print on the label for the warehouse. For instructions, see the updated "Setting Up & Using the TriMega PSN (PDF)."

TechData PSN Enhancements. Tech Data allows the dealer to change their shipping method for each purchase order/order/line item. The shipping method value was previously hardcoded as “23” Fedex Ground. You can now set the shipping method for each carrier. The DDMS Order Entry application has also been enhanced to allow you to use Tech Data's blind drop ship. If you select drop ship in Order Entry, Tech Data will drop ship the merchandise to the customer and send the package with your dealership's address in the “From” portion on the package label. For instructions, see the updated "Setting Up & Using the Tech Data PSN for DDMS (PDF)."

If you are not currently using the ECi PSN, you can you can set up an account by using the online form on the “Starting a New PSN Account” Web page.