ECi Ships DDMS®
General Release Version 8.10

As announced at the ECi Direction 2006 Users Conference last month, ECi has started shipping Version 8.10 to all active DDMS® customers beginning on Friday, May 12, 2006. As usual, the software will be shipped in waves, with customers who attended the users conference being the first to receive their software update.

This message covers the following timely topics:

When Will I Receive My Software Update?
What's New in the Version 8 General Release?

When Will I Receive My Software Update?

DDMS general releases must be shipped to hundreds of customers via United Parcel Service (UPS) Ground.

To avoid inundating your support team with calls about new features, ECi Technical Support managers have created a schedule to ship the Version 8 software update in waves, which will take several weeks. Customers who attended the ECi Direction 2006 Users Conference are the first to receive their software update.

Your support techs are not privy to the shipping schedule, and cannot tell you precisely when to expect your software update to arrive.

However, if you are in a hurry to take advantage of the new features in Version 8, please send a "Priority Request for Version 8" to ddmssupport@ecisolutions.com, and include your DDMS account number, contact name, company name, shipping address, and phone number.

For a preview of the Version 8 installation instructions that are included in the package, see Installing Version 8 DDMS (pdf). This document explains how to install Version 8, including:

Instructions on file "compression" to accommodate new data fields.
Important steps to share a new folder on the server before installing the client software update.
How to adjust your backup scripts to properly back up new SQL database files.

What's New in the Version 8 General Release?

With hundreds of enhancements and fixes, DDMS Version 8 includes many features to help your company streamline procedures and take advantage of new technology:

Next Generation Program Architecture. Some applications released in DDMS Version 7.11 and higher use a SQL database engine and .NET programming architecture. This may require some changes to ensure proper file backups. more below»
Bank Statement Reconciliation. Mark deposits and checks as cleared or outstanding to balance your bank statements. more below»
Approval Link™ for VeriSign™ PayFlow Pro®. Process credit card payments with Level 3 item detail and accept American Express cards via VeriSign’s™ Payflo Pro®. more below»
Pay Multiple Vendors on One Check in A/P. Buying-group transactions are easier than ever. more below»
Warehouse Bin Designations. Streamline picking, packing, and other warehouse operations with bulk bins, multiple bins, floating bins, staging bins, and more! more below»
Enhanced Furniture Order Entry Change Mode. A multitude of enhancements have been made in the Order Entry Change Mode . more below»
Work in Progress. View and compare your actual costs on an individual order basis prior to and after invoicing to ensure a more accurate bottom line. more below»
Job Costing. View job costing totals at the project, item, and employee levels, and access additional detail. more below»
Bill by Estimated Copy Counts. You can tell DDMS to calculate an average meter reading for monthly billing if none has been entered. more below»
Machine Disposition. A machine disposition shows the overall status of the machine, whether it’s on hand, rented, leased, or sold, and is automatically adjusted based on actions you take in DDMS. more below»
Demo Picker. A new Machine Order Entry mode automatically creates work orders for setup, delivery, network, and pickup, and adding special instructions. more below»

This list of enhancements above is not exhaustive. Get more information on our Web site:

Before you load any software update, check our Web site for last-minute changes that may affect you in 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 8.10 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 8 software, see What's New in Version 8.
For additional information about specific features, use your online help after you load the software update. You can search for keywords such as "Reconcile."

What's So Important About SQL and .NET?

Some DDMS applications — particularly the new Bank Statement Reconciliation, Campaign Manager and Notes Everywhere (released in Version 7.11 and higher) — are beginning to use a new programming architecture. These are the first in a new generation of DDMS®applications incorporating elements of ECi’s new Titan architecture. Titan offers an enhanced user interface and utilizes Microsoft's latest SQL Server database architecture and the Microsoft C# (pronounced See Sharp) for .NET programming framework.

This technology is the key to DDMS's evolution to an enterprise-class business system. It provides ECi with new development tools, improved databases, a new smart-client architecture, a more intuitive user experience, improved enterprise scaling and more.

Action Required

As a consequence of the new tools and tighter control of data types in this new architecture, some preparations may be required:

Backing Up SQL Data, Version 7.11 and above (pdf) Beginning with Version 7.11 released September 21, 2005, some DDMS® applications use a SQL database engine that stores data in a different folder than the standard volumes. It’s important to ensure a complete backup in the event that you need to restore. Follow these instructions to verify that the SQL data is included in your daily and other period-end backup procedures.

On our Web site under Release Notes, more information is available about the new technology: Preparing for DDMS® Enterprise-class Business System (EBS) Applications.

How Can I Reconcile My Bank Statements?

With the new Bank Statement Reconciliation program, you can quickly and easily mark cleared and outstanding checks and deposits to balance against your bank statements.

Create, edit, delete, and reconcile your business cash accounts.
With one click, you can see check detail or deposit detail.
When reconciling, you can also make adjustments as needed.
After reconciliation, you can view the reconciliation dates in General Ledger History detail (G/L Drill Downs).

For detailed instructions, see Bank Statement Reconciliation (pdf).

Bank Statement Reconciliation is the first DDMS application to take full advantage of our new Titan architecture. It includes a completely new user interface, SQL databases, and utilizes the Microsoft .NET programming framework. Some preparation may be required to properly install Version 8 (see above article).

How Does Approval Link™ Work With VeriSign™?

DDMS Version 8 gives you new credit card processing options. Now you can accept American Express cards and process payments with Level 3 item detail. Approval Link™ Payflo Pro Edition is a new version of Approval Link that intergrates with VeriSign’s™ Payflo Pro® authorization and capture software. Payflo Pro lets you receive authorizations, store transactions, settle transactions with your clearing house, report on your transaction dollars by type of card and communicate electronically using Internet TCP/IP.

Using Approval Link Payflo Pro Edition, you can delay capture of funds. When a credit card is authorized for an order that is not invoiced, the total dollar amount of the order is temporarily reserved on the credit card and a reference number is assigned.

With Approval Link 2.0, billing the order ties up the money until it expires, because the invoice is
sent in a separate transaction. Approval Link Payflo Pro Edition, however, marries the authorization and invoice by sending that reference number with the invoice transaction.

For detailed instructions, see Setting Up and Using Credit Cards and Approval Link 3.0 (pdf).

How Do I Pay Multiple Vendors on One Check?

A brand new feature of Accounts Payable is paying multiple vendors with ONE check. This makes transactions with buying groups such as is.group or TriMega easier than ever. For detailed instructions, see Accounts Payable (pdf).

How Do I Use the New Warehouse Bins?

DDMS offers more features than ever to make your picking, packing, and other warehousing operations as efficient as possible.

You can now set up more bins and use larger bin numbers to manage your warehouse.
New features let you use various bin types, including bulk bins, I-AUX bins, and multiple bins, which may be floating bins or staging bins.
New bin types include quick pull bins, intermediate bins, overflow bins, and various backup bins.
When you receive items, you can specify staging bins.
You can also use mixed bin types, and take advantage of more efficient pulling options as well as enhancements to the picking and shipping manifests.

For detailed instructions, see Warehouse to the Max! (pdf).

What Can I Change Now on My Furniture Orders?

In the Order Entry Change Mode, many improvements have been made for quotes and orders:

Making global changes and specifying attentions
Describing uncatalogued items
Updating acknowledgement numbers
Noting item ship dates and item departments
Automatically building new purchase orders when you accept changes
Deleting lines by P/O numbers
Receiving to a variety of bins, such as staging bins

And with the Modify Order function in Furniture Order Entry (released in Version 7.12), you can mass change and recalculate cost, sell, list and gross profit variables on any order or quote. This gives you tremendous control over your pricing based on the limits you set. The Modify Order feature is available to all DDMS Office Furniture Edition customers at no additional charge. "It is so simple, so intuitive, that it makes mass changes a blast," said Mark Goldman, ECi Project Manager.

For more information, see What's New in Version 8 (pdf). For detailed instructions, see DDMS Office Furniture Edition (pdf).

How Do I Account for Work in Progress?

A powerful add-on-accounting function for the DDMS Office Furniture Edition, Work In Progress (WIP)* gives you the ability to view and compare your actual costs on an individual order basis prior to and after invoicing to ensure a more accurate bottom line.

WIP also helps to eliminate overpayments to manufacturers, correct payment of commissions to
salespeople and helps in the overall order process.

For detailed instructions, see Work In Progress (pdf).

*WIP is not included in all software packages, and may require authorization; contact sales@eci2.com.

How Do I Drill Down to Critical Job Costing Levels?

"We're beta testing version 8, and one of the most exciting parts about that is the job costing
piece," said Cari Marshall, co-owner of L&M Office Furnishings. "It fits very well with the whole project management scheme that we're trying to put in place."

You can view job costing totals at the project, item, and employee levels, and access additional detail.

For detailed instructions, see DDMS Office Furniture Edition (pdf).

*Job Costing is not included in all software packages, and may require authorization; contact sales@eci2.com.

How Do I Bill By Estimated Copy Counts?

Some dealers use Meter Reading Request Cards. "One problem we've tried to solve was customers who do not respond by our normal billing date," said Mike Claire of Smith Office Equipment in Lafayette, Indiana.

You now have the ability to use an average meter reading for monthly billing if no meter reading has been entered. When you begin monthly invoicing, the system checks the database for blank meter readings, and sets an average meter reading if none is available. The system can also generate an exception for each serial number processed using an estimated copy count, which lets you easily track them.

For detailed instructions, see What's New in Version 8 (pdf).

How Do I Specify Machine Dispositions?

A machine disposition shows the overall status of the machine, whether it’s on hand, rented, leased, sold, and so forth. The disposition is adjusted based on the changes to the status of the machine equipment.

You can define the availability disposition of every machine in your inventory.
You can set up automated disposition changes based on actions such as purchasing, receiving, demos, ordering, loans, returns, and so on.
The Order Entry window will only be allowed to commit equipment that is in stock and available for demos, leases, and sales.
The Item Disposition Quantities window of Machine Detail lets you query additional models, and locate an individual item's warehouse bin.

If you plan to use the new disposition feature, you must perform the steps described in Machine Disposition Setup (pdf) after loading your software update.

Machine Disposition is available at no extra charge to customers of DDMS® Machines & Equipment Edition.

How Do I Use Demo Picker?

Demo Picker is a new Order Entry mode in DDMS Machines & Equipment Edition that lets you:

Enter a machine-specific customer address.
Build the machine in the handy new Machine Accessory dialog box.
Enter backorders and begin the process of delivering on-hand items without waiting for all the items to be in stock.
Verify to assure that the system properly tracks the items and maintains serial history information.
Mark checkboxes to automatically create work orders for setup, delivery, networking, and pickup, and add special instructions for each.
Track the trial period dates for follow-up purposes. You can Accept, Reject, Invoice - and still add, change, or substitute parts and accessories. Subsequently, you can Finish or Credit a demo order.

For detailed instructions, see Machines and Equipment (pdf).

*Demo Picker is not included in all software packages, and may require authorization; contact sales@eci2.com.

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ECi Ships DDMS® General Release Version 8.10