Announcing DDMS Version 8.18.60 Major Release

This message covers the following timely topics:

What’s New In This Release?
How do I get this version?

What’s New In This Release?

May 1, 2009 — The ECi DDMS Version 8.18.60 major release is available now. This release includes enhancements designed to make it easier for you to take full advantage of new technology, work more efficiently, and grow your business:

All Dealers | Supplies | Furniture | Machine and Equipment

For all dealers:

• Installation Streamlining. The DDMS installation wizard has been enhanced to verify that your both DDMS servers and their client workstations meet current minimum DDMS System Requirements for supported operating systems.
• Modify Tax Settings for Entire Orders. Instead of just adjusting tax settings line by line, Graphical Order Entry has been enhanced to give you greater flexibility in making global tax changes to orders. The system now keeps a default order tax District and Taxable flag permanently saved with each order, in P-GLOBAL. Initially, these settings default to the Customer's tax settings, including shipto taxing. In Order Entry's Global Order Settings (F6) dialog box, you can toggle whether it's Taxable, browse or enter a different District. If you make changes to these two fields, Reset Entire Order will automatically toggle on, but you can uncheck it to ensure the new tax settings only affect new line items that you add to the order after you click OK, either manually or by importing furniture SIF files. The system retains the last district you've applied, any time you return to this order.

  Exceptions:

  • Due to standard system tax logic, tax setting changes will not apply to items that should not be taxed — for example, if labor is non-taxable in your state (items may be catalogued as not taxable as required, or the vendor alias may be coded to a non-taxable G/L department).
  • For furniture graphical Order Entry, the tax district is set according to the customer master taxability, which may be overridden by the customer ship-to address.
  • Note: These tax enhancements do not apply to CCH Tax Subscribers.
• Removing Additional Salesperson. A new Clear button in Order Entry's Global Order Settings (F6) dialog box lets you remove the secondary salesperson from an order (This is useful if you add a secondary salesperson when placing the order for reporting purposes but the order later changes. In the Secondary Salesperson box, check the Apply Change box and click the Clear button. The Item Settings (F8) dialog box has a similar option for the line item level.)

  We've also updated the SQL Import, Data Dictionary and VER-FILE to reflect the new fields for P-GLOBAL and sales journals. For detailed instructions on the (F6) Order Settings dialog box, see the online help topic, Viewing and Changing Order Settings, under Order Entry Basic Procedures for Placing Orders.

• Replaced Microsoft SQL Linked Server in EBS SQL applications. As more DDMS applications are developed with SQL, there is a need for a more robust data transfer than the "linked server" method we previously used. Since we upgraded to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 in DDMS 8.15, we are able now to replace linked server functionality and DBF direct calls with managed code in DDMS's Bank Reconciliation, Price Modeling, Manufacturing, and Customer Price Plans. We have also updated I-AUX and CHANGES files, and removed Export.Changes and Import.LastRun tables. (54721, 54775, 54894, 54895)

For supplies dealers:

• Jan San Item Additional Info for Hazard Document Updates. We've enhanced the Item database to assist janitorial/sanitation supplies dealers in compliance with HazMat rules from agencies such as the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) or the Canadian Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS).

  A key requirement is for employers and distributors to provide new or updated Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) with hazardous material and chemicals being handled or shipped. Manufacturers or importers issue and update these documents to communicate precautions for storage, exposure, and disposal.

  If you are authorized for JanSan in DDMS, the Item database has a tab for Additional Info. This tab allows you to create, view, edit, and delete I-JANSAN records for each item as needed. This includes the current issue date for the hazard documents, and the Hazard Special text to notify customers that the latest hazard document is available.

  If your customer has ordered a HazMat item, the system will compare the document issue date specified in the Item Additional Info tab against the C-JANSAN issue date of record from that customer's previous orders. If the customer's document issue date is older than the item's I-JANSAN document issue date, the item's Hazard Special text you've specified prints on invoices and tickets, and the C-JANSAN issue date is updated.

  For more information on authorization, contact ECi Sales (sales@eci2.com or 877-957-4672). (54874)

For furniture dealers:

• Meeting New End Customer Data Requirement. Enhanced the Kimball Office PSN and National PSN services so that when you use PO Communicate to build their purchase orders, the required end customer information is included to comply with the new requirements of these manufacturers' online ordering systems. (55352)
  
• Transmit Orders via PSN to HON, Gunlocke, and Paoli (HNI Companies). Available at no charge to any DDMS dealer using the furniture module: new data interchange services from HNI Companies, Inc. on the ECi Private Supply Network (PSN).
  • You can import SIFs containing HON, Gunlocke, and Paoli items into the DDMS Order Entry window.
  • You can then automatically build purchase orders to upload into their electronic ordering Web portals. There, you can view orders and item details.
  • All the while, DDMS' order and accounting flow keeps track of all your furniture sales.
  Setup will require obtaining information from your HON, Gunlocke, and Paoli representative(s). It also requires DDMS Support authorization. (54517) For instructions, see Setting Up Electronic Communications with HNI Companies, Inc. 
  (www.DDMS.com/Resources/Doc/PSN/hnipsn.pdf).
• Furniture Order Entry Efficiency. We've added a number of efficiency features to the Furniture Order Entry application (54622):
  • Changing Orders On Hold: When you change an on hold order in Furniture O/E, the Build P/O option in the Order Totals tab is unavailable. This option is grayed out when the order is on hold. In addition, if you import a SIF file in Furniture O/E Change mode and the order is on hold, the hold status remains until you continue the held order.
  • Modifying Furniture Orders: We have added two new columns to the Furniture O/E Modify Orders dialog box: Extended Margin and Extended List. The system multiples the order quantity to the current margin and current list to calculate the extended margin and extended list totals. We have also altered the total columns at the bottom of the dialog box to display only extended column information. This includes the Extended Price, Extended Cost, Extended Margin, Extended List and Gross Profit Percentage.
  • Updating P/O Item Departments and Responsibility Center when Changing Furniture Orders: When changing line item departments on an order in Change or Final Verify modes, the General Ledger department is now updated on both the ticket and the purchase order, as long as the line on the P/O has not been posted to payables using the A/P Post P/O feature. The system now checks the PO-MASTER and JOUR-PO files, as well as the first journal listed in the (LF2) screen. If the P/O lines have been posted, the Changing the Order’s Department Will Make the Order and P/O Not Match warning message appears. This notifies the order-taker to not change the line item’s department. The system also now updates the responsibility center (RC) for the new department. By updating the ticket, the P/O, and the RC, this ensures that the Cost of Goods and accounts payable information properly match. For example, let's say you have the General Ledger account 01-401-01 Sales New Furniture and the corresponding account 01-501-01 Cost of Goods, New Furniture. Then you change the general ledger department on an order that represents 01-401-01. The purchase order will automatically update the item(s) with same general ledger account representing the 01-501-01 account.
  • Updating P/O Notes When Changing Furniture Orders: When adding new P/O communication notes in Furniture O/E Change mode (F11), the notes you specify update the P/O header notes as well as the items linked to the P/O. This is a useful feature if the P/O has already been sent to the manufacturer who later asks for this P/O to be updated with special notes. It allows the order-taker to return to the Furniture window and make the necessary changes. To use this feature, open the Order Notes dialog box (F11) and add the necessary notes. Check the Prompt to Update PO Notes check box and click OK. When the system displays all the purchase orders attached to this order, click the box corresponding to the P/O number to update. If the P/O has already been transmitted, the text Transmitted appears after the P/O number. This notifies the order-taker that the P/O can be reprinted or retransmitted, as necessary.
  For detailed instructions on these O/E features, see your online help.

For machine and equipment dealers

• Machine Covered Items Exclusions: Many machine dealers provide toner as a covered supply in the contract. However they need to be able to exclude the color toner. Previously, this exclusion was not possible because color and black & white toner are in the same category. We have enhanced the Machines & Equipment Edition to allow dealers to be able to create a lists of excluded items from contract coverage.

  Use the Machine Contract Types Exclusions Tab to set up as many different items from contract coverage as needed. When you click Save, each excluded item for the contract type is updated in the new Z-T-Items file. An additional Exclusions tab has also been added to the Machine Contract Detail window. This tab shows the items to exclude for the machine’s specific system and sub-system number. Exclusions in this window are stored in the Z-C-Items file. In both windows, you can easily add and remove item exclusions.

  When using exclusions in Serialized Order Entry, click the Exclusions button, when available, to view the Contract Detail Exclusions tab. After you complete an order for a machine containing exclusions, the system automatically properly updates the machine’s contract information in the Contract Detail window and the Z-C-Items file.

  If the machine is later returned, the system removes any excluded items along with the contract. When placing covered supply orders in commercial order entry, the system checks for excluded items and prices them accordingly. The Machine Work Orders window has also been enhanced to properly handle excluded machine items. When deleting in the Machine Detail window, any excluded items are also removed.

  For more details on Machine Contract Exclusions, see your online help.(52958)

• BEI Data Transfer Revised. Enhanced the background processing and logic of the BEI Data Transfer, so that it more efficiently extracts the correct serialized data for performance benchmarking by BEI Services (beiservices.com). For details on this feature, see Sending Data to Business Equipment Information Services
  www.DDMS.com/Resources/Support/faq/machine/MachBEI.pdf (54488)
• Recap Start Times and Dates. Corrected the Recap window so that when closing a service call the Start times and dates properly retain the data. Previously, some dealers had reported the Start times and dates were coming up blank, and continuing past the window resulted in a Step 40 error message. (54868)

The list of changes above is not exhaustive. All recently released corrections and enhancements are published online:

Program Updates for Version 8.18.60 (www.DDMS.com/updates/searchresult2.asp?swversion=276&search=Search).

Program Updates for Version 8.18.40 (www.DDMS.com/updates/searchresult2.asp?swversion=271&search=Search).

Program Updates for Version 8.18 (www.DDMS.com/updates/searchresult2.asp?swversion=255&search=Search).

Program Updates for Version 8.17 (www.DDMS.com/updates/searchresult2.asp?swversion=251&search=Search).

For more information about new features in DDMS software, see:

• What's New in Version 8
  (www.DDMS.com/Resources/Doc/version8/whatsnew_ver8.pdf)
• Other Version 8 Documentation
  (www.DDMS.com/support/doc/ver8doc.htm)

How do I get this version?

If you report an issue, you automatically receive the software update that provides a resolution. If you have not reported an issue but want to take advantage of the software changes in this release, we will be happy to ship it to you via United Parcel Service (UPS) Ground. You can request a software update by email ddmssupport@ecisolutions.com, including your DDMS account number, contact name, company name, shipping address, and phone number. Or log in to submit a ticket for the latest software online at https://support.ECiSolutions.com.