Announcing Version 7.4.0 of ECinteractive

This message covers the following timely topics:

What’s New In This Release?
How Do I Set Up My "Down For Maintenance" Page?

What’s New In This Release?

ECi is loading Version 7.4.0 of ecInteractive™ and is.D-Force® 2 onto your live Web servers Saturday, March 22, 2008 — between 9 PM and 7 AM Eastern Time. Version 7.4.0 represents the biggest push of enhancements and changes since our initial launch, with more than 50 software changes.

For Your Shoppers

Version 7.4.0 makes it easy for your shoppers to:

• Pay outstanding invoices via credit card online. (4525) See Letting Shoppers Pay A/R Invoices Online (pdf).
• Shop for other users or departments. (4527, 7054) See Letting A User Shop For Others in ECinteractive™ (pdf).
• Sort long lists of Favorites into catalog categories. (3856)
• View More Info: On the Web storefront Product Detail pages, a More Info button will appear if the manufacturer has provided a link to additional information. The button will open a pop-up window that presents the manufacturer's additional content. (3992)
• Use MyMachines Product Comparison with S.P. Richards enhanced catalog. (5997)
• Lookup Available Departments: When users on is.D-Force2 sites enter orders for multiple departments, they can select from a drop-down list of available departments, instead of having to enter the exact department ID. (4834)
• and more!

For Your Admin Users

The Admin Control Panel in Version 7.4.0 makes it easy for you and your associates to:

• Reset shopper passwords and security questions. (5705)
• Delete orders or transfer them among a customer's users. (3608) See Transferring and Deleting Orders in ECinteractive™ (pdf).
• Customize site messages and pages in one user-friendly interface. (3788, 4537, 4538, 5839) See Customizing Site Text in ECinteractive™ (pdf).
• Assign users to multiple General Ledger/Inventory locations and printer IDs. (5021) See Setting up GL/Inv Location-Specific Users in ECinteractive™ (pdf).
• Block shoppers who are flagged Order Entry Exempt on your back-end system. (5445)
• Select among four new color themes, previously only available to is.D-Force 2 sites. (7337) For examples, see ECinteractive is.D-Force II Color Themes.
• and more!

For information about all released changes, use Program Updates on our Web site to look up all corrections and enhancements. For information and documentation about other features we've released, see also ECinteractive FAQs.

How Do I Set Up My "Down For Maintenance" Page?

Your Web storefront will be unavailable during these maintenance periods.

Since this release represents a larger than usual number of changes, the maintenance period is longer than usual (between 9 PM Eastern Daylight Time Saturday evening and 7 AM EDT Sunday morning). This may require some changes to your maintenance schedule.

You can schedule your site to be Offline for Maintenance by following these simple steps:

1. Log into your ecInteractive or is.D-Force2 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 JUST Weekend. (Leave the Weekday time fields blank unless you have set them up for your DDMS® system maintenance such as backup and day-end.)
6. (Optional) Select your Scheduled Maintenance page, for JUST Weekend. (Leave the Weekday page field blank unless you have set them up for your DDMS system maintenance such as backup and day-end.)
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.

NOTE: On Monday after the software update is complete, you may wish to return to these settings, and simply adjust the Weekend time off and on settings, so that your site is not unnecessarily shut down for maintenance on other weekends.

See also your online help (http://images.eci2.com/ecInteractive_adminhelp/Site_Maintenance.htm).

Find Out What's Coming Soon And More

Live Dealer Sites to Date: 324

Current Released Version: 7.4.0

Next Release Version: 7.4.1

Development Status: Quality Assurance Testing

Estimated Release Date: April 4, 2008

In the next few months, the ECinteractive team is releasing more hot priority features to make your Web presence more competitive and efficient in upcoming release versions tentatively slated as follows:

• 7.4.1 (Due to beta & Production April 4, 2008)
  Monitor site hits with basic Google Analytics.
  Synchronize Contracts (requires DDMS 8.14.40 released in March)
  Categorized Laundry Lists (also requires DDMS 8.14.40).
  
• 8.0.0 (Release Date TBD)
  Use new style for email messaging.
  Limit shoppers to a contract/laundry list.
  More home page catalog categories from your suppliers.
  Customize home page catalog category display order.
  Set prefs for categories & list lengths in Contracts/Laundry Lists/Favorites.
  Let shoppers see their budgets even if they can't edit them.
  
• 8.1.0 (Release date TBD)
  Let shoppers look up RouteTrak delivery signature.
  Let shoppers use Coupons.
  Streamline Item Management.
  Filter Enhanced S.P. Richards Subcatalogs.*
  Rank Your Own Items in SP Richards Enhanced Content.*
  * Note: this wholesaler content does not apply to is.D-Force2.
  
• 8.2.0 (Release Date TBD)
  Display competitive pricing information in ECinteractive.
  Allow ECinteractive users to order for multiple departments.
  Let shoppers update their machine meter readings online.

We are also aggressively working with our vendors to implement any advancements they make in content, our mutual goal being a better search experience for the end user. We understand the importance of continued progress and have an aggressive development schedule planned for the remainder of 2008.

To find out more about the ecInteractive family of products, see our ECinteractive Product Information, where you can access a demo site, marketing tools, and color themes. You can compare Dealer Station® and ECinteractive features for both your Administrative control panel and your end-user Web storefront.

See It Up Close and Personal

Join us April 24-26 at ECi Empowerment 2008, the National User's Conference for DDMS. Pick from five new sessions on e-commerce:

1. ECinteractive™ — This double-length session provides the information you need to get started selling online with ECinteractive and boost your online sales!
2. Migrating Customers to ECinteractive and is.D-Force2 — This session outlines the process for successfully migrating end users from Dealer Station or is.D-Force to ECinteractive or is.D-Force2. Learn how to set up customer groups for more control over the migration process. Group users based on their settings for substitute items, checkout, pricing, etc., and then migrate groups instead of individual users.
3. If You Build It, Will They Come? — Learn secret weapons for driving traffic and volume through ECinteractive™ to successfully compete with larger companies. Topics includes Web marketing, customer rebates, cross- and up-selling, how to provide attractive promotions, and giving your website a polished, professional appearance that reflects your overall company identity.
4. Increasing Leverage and Maintaining Accounts — Fortune 500 companies can be profitable customers, but many of these companies use specialized procurement software. Discover how to integrate your ECi e-commerce site with major procurement systems like Ariba, Commerce One, and SAP, positioning your company to win profitable new business.
5. ECinteractive™ Roundtable — Find out what winning e-commerce dealers know and do. Hear what successful dealers are doing with both ECinteractive™ and e-commerce in general to win business on the Web. Share your own thoughts, ideas, and accomplishments with your peers.