Announcing ECinteractive, is.D-force2 Version 9.1.5

This message covers the following timely topics:

What’s New In This Release?
Find Out What's Coming Soon And More

What’s New In This Release?

ECi is loading Version 9.1.5 on your live ECinteractive® and is.D-Force® 2 Web servers this weekend. The software update for this maintenance release will take place between 9 PM CST Saturday, Oct. 24, and 6 AM CST Sunday, Oct. 25.

Since this falls within ECi's Standard Weekly Data Center Maintenance timeframe
(www.DDMS.com/support/massfax/dcMtceWindow.htm), it does not require any changes to your Site Maintenance schedule.

In this release, you'll find the following software changes:

Set up Secure Automatic Login from Your Business Site (10295)

Your ECinteractive or is.D-Force 2 web storefront provides fast, convenient shopping — in a self-contained, secure environment.

However, some dealers have an existing Web site, hosted by their own Internet Service Provider or IT facilities.

Our login page has been enhanced to allow secure and efficient methods to accept customer credentials from an external site on a consistent basis. All you have to do is create the Web form to pass the name and password securely, and place it anywhere on your own site.

Automating external login can:

Save your customers time by minimizing the number of clicks and page loads, letting your customers shop faster and more efficiently.
Integrate your ECinteractive or is.D-Force 2 site more seamlessly with the rest of their business’s Web presence.
Draw greater attention to your online shopping and account services from any page of your site.

To learn how to build and house your own login page or form on your own site to log directly into your ECinteractive or is.D-Force 2 site, see Setting up Automatic Login from Your Site to ECinteractive (pdf). We've even included steps for giving your customers the options to recover a forgotten password or just shop as a guest instead.

Note: If you already have a login form on your site pointing to ECinteractive, please be ready to update your site's login form fields on Sunday to accommodate the new HTTPS, method, action, and form field names after we inform you that the software load is complete.

Quick Search Custom Items by SKU Without Its Prefix (10143)

If you have custom items in your catalog, the Quick Search page now lets your shoppers search those items by stock number — without having to enter the prefix. For example, HWL17000 can be found by just typing in 17000.

This enhancement is for use with SPR Enhanced custom items as well as the United Smart Search feature. Note: This QuickSearch enhancement is for custom items; it already worked this way with standard wholesaler items.

For detailed instructions on QuickSearch, see your online help.

United Enhanced — Multiple Item Selection from lists (10171)

Now your shoppers can select multiple items from multiple pages when adding items to a Favorites List or to the shopping cart.

This enhancement is available with the United SmartSearch feature, and when selecting custom enhanced content items.

For detailed instructions on selecting items across multiple pages in MyFavorites or Enhanced Search Results, see your online help.

Additional High-Priority Solutions

7425 — Enhanced by having separate functionality when using the AR Pay Invoices feature. The system now allows end users to print a remittance form without giving them the ability to pay invoices using a credit card.
8940 — Enhanced the Email Confirmation messages "As always, thank you for visiting ___" to insert the Main Site Address specified in Admin Site Info rather than the default URL from Site Management, which usually looks like "www.ecinteractive.com/####" where #### is a DDMS account number. This will be helpful for dealers to maintain their own brand voice.
10141 — Enhanced the end user Order Approval page and User Preferences page so that end users can view orders up to 180 days old, a new maximum compared to the previous 90-day limit. 10143 Enhanced by adding the ability to search for custom items by stock number without entering the prefix when using the Quick Search page. This enhancement is for use with SPR Enhanced custom items as well as the United Smart Search feature.
5562 — Corrected so the system properly sends approval emails to the recipients listed. Previously, the approver was receiving the email, but the individual listed on the CC address was not receiving the approval email.
6446 — Clarified the message that displays when the user does not enter a long enough password to meet new security requirements, so that it specifies that the password must be 6 or more characters.
6984 — Updated all end-user shopping site's left navigation menu so that "Quick Order" and "My Machines" are hidden if these options are disabled for the user currently logged into the site.
8157 — Corrected the "Unexpected Error" message to clarify instructions and to display the dealer's logo instead of the ecInteractive logo, so that customers who see this error know whom to contact when these errors appear.
9058 — Correct the Cart calculation display to generate the proper contract pricing when ordering an item with a minimum quantity.
9214 Corrected so if the user changes the item quantity for an order and clicks Save, the system properly re-calculates the order's subtotal in the shopping cart. Previously the user had to click the Save button twice before the subtotals were updated.
9440 — Corrected the Contracts page to allow marking CCIs for overnight deletion when they are unable to be deleted immediately.
9623 — Corrected the Manage Favorites page so that it is able to display items where the Pack Content contains apostrophes (').
9635 Corrected to handle Alternates/Substitutes set to GENERIC SUBSTITUTE = IGNORE, so that when users pull up their laundry list, it lists the original item on the list, not the "G" subbed item it should ignore by design.
10102 — Corrected the Enhanced Content Provider synchronization process so that when a dealer specifies both a long description and short description for S.P. Richards Enhanced Content, both are displayed. Previously, the Long Description was omitted. Note: United Smart Search does not allow us to upload multiple descriptions at this time.
10252 — Corrected so approval emails are sent to the proper individual. Previously approval emails were being CC'd to all users in the Approval Group.
10279 — Corrected so the system does not send empty packet 340's on a consistent basis when attempting to retrieve item information from the back office business system. This issue could possibly have caused back office business server problems and has been corrected to send only one 340 for all items.
10419 — Enhanced the Admin Control Panel to accommodate changes in SP Richards Enhanced third-party Etilize system. New parameters on the SitePreferences page are set to the recommended defaults for item priority sort order in Enhanced Search Results. By default, Force sort is disabled, Ascending sort is enabled, and Default Sort List is S.P. Richards for ECinteractive sites, and is.group for is.D-Force 2 sites. With these defaults, the following is the sort order for search results: first S.P. Richards merchandising, then is.group or Dealer Ranked Items, then S.P. Richards Ranked items, and the remainder sorting according to relevance as usual. These boxes are for display only. Do Not Change the Default Settings in these boxes.

For more details about your Web storefront, see also ECinteractive FAQs
(www.DDMS.com/support/doc/ecInteractive.htm).

Find Out What's Coming Soon And More

In the next few months, the ECinteractive team has an aggressive schedule to release more hot priority features to make your Web presence more competitive and efficient. We have made significant strides in implementing advancements vendors make in content. We continue working with our trading partners, our mutual goal being a better experience in searching and shopping for your customers. Log into your Admin Control Panel for more details on the Home page.

To find out more about the ECinteractive family of products, see our ECinteractive Product Information (www.ecisolutions.com/products/ecomm/ecinteractive), 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.

Sincerely,

ECi Product Management & Technical Support
http://support.ecisolutions.com