ECommerce Software Updates
| 7/8/2009 | USPS Packaging: Small Flat-Rate Box - Utilize Small Flat-Rate Box packaging for use with USPS Rates and Endicia Shipping | |
| 6/16/2009 | Expanded Full Credit Card Access Control - Explicitly control full credit card number access for Administrators, and lock credit card access options to prevent changes being made | |
| 6/16/2009 | Show Kit Contents - View the contents of Inventory Kits at various points in the Order Management System to assist with order fulfilment | |
| 5/14/2009 | Layout: Import Files - Import Images, Audio, JavaScript, CSS, or Flash Files from the Layout Screen | |
| 5/5/2009 | Search Credit Cards - Search orders by Payment Credit Card, and customers by Preferred Credit Card | |
| 4/29/2009 | Customer List Screen: Display Company Name - Company Name is now displayed on the Customer List Screen. | |
| 4/29/2009 | Customers: Assign Owners and Follow-up Dates - Assign owners and follow up dates to customers. | |
| 4/23/2009 | Customer Activities - Record customer activities on the Customer Detail Screen | |
| 3/23/2009 | Additional Multiple Ship To Options - Customize your presentation of the Multiple Ship To feature to customers via the new Ship To Label, optional Explanation Link and Explanation Text, and Ship To Instructions | |
| 3/20/2009 | Customer and Order Exports: Include Passwords - Include Customer Passwords, represented by asterisks, in Customer and Order Exports | |
| 3/20/2009 | Layout Archive - Save layout settings to an archive, allowing quick reversion to an earlier layout if needed | |
| 3/18/2009 | Customer Integration: ACTIVE field - Specify a customer's active status when creating or updating a customer via Customer Integration | |
| 3/17/2009 | AddThis Button - Allow customers to add products to popular social networking sites via the AddThis Button | |
| 3/17/2009 | RSS Feeds - Publish products via Really Simple Syndication | |
| 1/6/2009 | Staging Layout - Create a Staging Layout to modify options in the Layout section and preview the results before making them live | |
| 1/6/2009 | Customer Merge: Preview Merge Option - Bypass the Customer Merge Preview when merging large numbers of customers | |
| 11/10/2008 | Marketplace Feeds: Google Analytics Tracking Variables Included - Google Analytics Tracking Variables have been appended to Marketplace Feed Product URLs | |
| 11/10/2008 | Google Base Feed: Weight Included - Product weight has been added to the Google Base Feed | |
| 10/31/2008 | Endicia Shipping: First Class Mail International - Create labels for USPS First Class Mail International™ shipments via Endicia Shipping | |
| 10/27/2008 | New Google Analytics Code - Utilize the new code (i.e. ga.js) provided by Google in conjunction with Google Analytics | |
| 10/14/2008 | New Buttons - Utilize new standard buttons for the Online Store | |
| 10/14/2008 | DHL ShipIT Enhancements - Create intrinsic multi-package DHL shipments; utilize DHL ShipIT tools for shipments to U.S. Protectorate addresses | |
| 8/27/2008 | Category Export: Include Category Number - Include Category Numbers in Category Exports, enabling the rapid creation of direct links for all categories | |
| 8/13/2008 | OrderQuery XML Tool: Query by Order Status and Billing Status - Query for orders via the OrderQuery XML Tool using Order Status and Billing Status as query criteria | |
| 8/8/2008 | Quick Find - Quickly search for objects from every list and detail screen within the OMS. | |
| 7/30/2008 | Suggestion Box Boolean Options - Toggle the Category Suggestion Box and the Product Suggestion Box features on or off from Settings/Boolean Options. | |
| 7/28/2008 | Category Suggestion Box - Select a category by beginning to type the category name and then selecting it from a list of matching categories. | |
| 7/15/2008 | OrderQuery and OrderUpdate XML Tools: Line Number - Update individual Line Items via the OrderUpdate XML Tool, using Line Numbers queried via the OrderQuery Tool | |
| 7/15/2008 | Invoices and Packing Slips: Include Tracking Numbers - Include Tracking Numbers on Invoices and Packing Slips in the Order Management System | |
| 5/13/2008 | USPS Packaging: Large Flat-Rate Box - Utilize Large Flat-Rate Box packaging for use with USPS Rates and Endicia Shipping |
7/8/2009 -- USPS Packaging: Small Flat-Rate Box
If you are using USPS Rates and/or Endicia Shipping (Settings/Compatible Software/Online Shipping Tools), you may now utilize Small Flat-Rate Box packaging. Packaging types may be specified when packages are defined Settings/Compatible Software/Online Shipping Tools/Preferences, subject to override at the product level in the Product Overrides section.
Note: Small Flat-Rate Box is available only for USPS Priority Mail and USPS Priority Mail International™. If a packaging type that does not apply for a given shipping method is selected, packaging type reverts to Own Packaging.
6/16/2009 -- Expanded Full Credit Card Access Control
An option to control full credit card number access for Administrators has been added to the Full CC Access checkboxes (Settings/Site Options in the Order Management System), which control the User Access Levels that may view full credit card numbers. For each Access Level for which Full CC Access is not granted, all but the last 4 digits of all credit card numbers are replaced by x's; those users may still enter full credit card numbers if and when it is necessary to do so, but may never view them afterwards. The Report/XML option, which replaces the Export Full CC option (formerly at Settings/Boolean Options) controls whether or not an order's full credit card number is included in the Order Print Report (Orders/Reports) and when using the XML Tools (Settings/XML Tools).
Notes:
- The Full CC Access checkboxes do not apply to users with Product or Layout access, who have no access to credit card information.
- If the Report/XML option is on, the user must also have access to full credit card numbers generally, via the appropriate User-level checkbox in this section, to access full credit card numbers in the Order Print Report.
Lock Full CC Access
Clicking the new Lock Full CC Access button will prevent any change from being made to the Full CC Access options. If you wish to then unlock those options, you must contact Nexternal Solutions.
Note: If your Full CC Access checkboxes are disabled and you do not see the Lock Full CC Access button, your options are currently locked. Please contact Nexternal Solutions if you wish to unlock these options.
6/16/2009 -- Show Kit Contents
The new Show Kit Contents field for Invoices and Packing Slips (Settings/Site Options/Invoices and Packing Slips in the Order Management System) controls whether or not the contents of Inventory Kits are shown on Invoices and Packing Slips. If this option is on, the products that compose the kit are shown below the name of the kit product to assist with order fulfilment. If this option is off, only the name of the kit product is shown.
A new, similar option to display kit contents in the Order Print Report may be found at Orders/Export/Order Print Preferences. Additionally, kit contents are always available on the Order Detail screen, by positioning the mouse pointer over a Line Item that contains an Inventory Kit; and when creating and viewing Shipping Labels via the Shipping Labels button on the bottom of the Order Detail screen.
Note: Inventory Kits are available only if Inventory Control (Settings/Site Options) is on, and may be defined at the product or SKU level.
5/14/2009 -- Layout: Import Files
On the Layout Screen in the Order Management System, you may now import a single image, audio clip, .css, .js, .swf file, or multiple files packaged into a .zip file. This is useful when referencing files in your Bordering HTML (Layout/Edit Advanced Layout).
Back to top5/5/2009 -- Search Credit Cards
In the Order Management System, you may now search orders by Payment Credit Card (Orders/Advanced Search and Sort) and customers by Preferred Credit Card (Customers/Advanced Search and Sort). In both cases, the searchable fields are Credit Card Type, Credit Card Number, and Credit Card Expiration Date. Credit Card Number searches require an exact match for inclusion in search results; Expiration Date searches allow for searching across a range of month/year combinations.
Back to top4/29/2009 -- Customer List Screen: Display Company Name
Company Name is now conveniently displayed on the Customer List Screen except in the instance where Company Name is set to "do not use" for every Customer Type (Customers/Types/Page 2).
Back to top4/29/2009 -- Customers: Assign Owners and Follow-up Dates
You may now assign both an owner and follow-up date to a customer. This can be done on the New/Edit Customer Screen, or more conveniently from the Customer List and Detail Screens. There is also a button labeled Today atop the Customer List Screen. Clicking the Today button will execute a search that displays a list of all customers that have a follow-up date of today that are also assigned to the logged in user. Both parameters are also included in the Customer Search, Customer Import, Customer Export, Order Export (Excel and Access), and CustomerQuery (XML Tools). Only Administrators, Editors, Power Users, and Guests can assign owners and follow-up dates.
Click here to see a video tutorial demonstrating this new feature.
Back to top4/23/2009 -- Customer Activities
You may now create and view customer activities on the Customer Detail Screen. Activities might include such things as notes from a phone call or email correspondence. A customer can have multiple activities and each activity has a recorded time stamp. Each activity will also have a specified type. Activity Types and their list order can be defined in Customers/Types.
Notes:
- Only Administrators, Editors, Power Users, and Guests can create activities.
- An activity can only be modified by the person that originally created the activity.
- When using the Customer Cleanup Feature, customers with activities will not be deleted regardless of order history. When merging customers, activities will also be merged.
- Activity Types cannot be deleted if there are activities associated with that type.
3/23/2009 -- Additional Multiple Ship To Options
If you are using Multiple Ship To (Settings/Site Options/Multiple Ship To in the Order Management System), the following new fields, allowing you to further customize your presentation of the feature, are now available:
- The Ship To Label controls how the Ship To Select Box, and Ship To Address Labels, are referred to in the Online Store.
- The optional Explanation Text may be accessed by clicking a link (the Explanation Link) located adjacent to the Ship To select box and just below the Ship To Label. The Explanation Text is best used to to explain the Multiple Ship To feature to customers, and explain how to specify different Ship To Addresses for different products in the Shopping Cart.
- The Instruction Text is displayed in the popup window that appears when the customer adds a product to the Shopping Cart using a new Ship To Address. In addition to the instructions, the window includes a text box (labeled via the Ship To Label) with which the customer must specify a a short (25 character maximum) name for the recipient of the product being added; if the Free Gift Message and/or Free Gift Wrap features (Settings/Site Options) are applicable, the customer may also select those options at that time. Thus, the Instruction Text is best used to explain to the customer how to use the specific features available in that window. You may choose to use the Nexternal-generated standard instructions or your own custom instructions; if you choose the latter, you may use the case-sensitive replacement keyword PRODUCT_NAME, which is replaced with the name of the product being added to the Shopping Cart when displayed to the customer.
3/20/2009 -- Customer and Order Exports: Include Passwords
The Preferences screen for Customer Exports (Customers/Export in the Order Management System) and the corresponding screen for Excel and Access Order Exports (Orders/Export) now include an Include Passwords option. This option allows you to include Customer Passwords, represented as asterisks (e.g. ******), in the export. For security reasons, full Passwords are never included; however, including the asterisk representation of Passwords allows you to determine whether or not a customer has a Password, and the number of characters in the Password.
Notes:
- The field in Customer Exports, Customer Imports, and Order Exports that holds Customer Passwords, formerly named PASSWORD, has been renamed CUST_PASSWORD.
- If asterisk representations of Passwords are included in a Customer Export, then subsequently used in a Customer Import, the asterisk values are ignored; thus it is not possible to accidentally change a customer's Password as a result of the new Include Passwords option.
- If you have the prerequisite skills, it is possible to obtain full Customer Passwords via the XML Tools (Settings/XML Tools).
3/20/2009 -- Layout Archive
The new Layout Archive (Layout/Archive in the Order Management System) allows you to save layout settings for possible future use. The table at the top of the new Layout Archive screen lists the layouts in the archive, with the name and archive date of each. You may rename or delete any layout in the archive via the links provided.
Below the table are the Archive Actions. You may save either the current Live Layout or Staging Layout (if applicable) to the archive, or load a layout from the archive into the current Live or Staging Layout.
Tips:
- If you load an archived layout into the Live or Staging Layout, the existing layout replaced by the Staging Layout is permanently deleted. Copy the existing layout into the archive first, if you wish to retain it.
- When making the Staging Layout live, you are given an opportunity, at that point, to save the current Live Layout into the Layout Archive. This allows you to easily to revert to the earlier layout if necessary.
3/18/2009 -- Customer Integration: ACTIVE field
When using Customer Integration (Customers/Integration in the Order Management System), you may now specify whether or not the customer is active via the new ACTIVE field. Full documentation for Customer Integration may be found at http://www.nexternal.com/documentation/customers.htm.
Back to top3/17/2009 -- AddThis Button
The new AddThis Button (Layout/Buttons in the Order Management System) may appear on the Product List screen and/or the Product Detail screen in the Online Store, depending on the AddThis Visibility Rule (Layout/Main Layout). Clicking or positioning the mouse pointer over the button or link allows customers to add a reference to the corresponding product in popular social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, MySpace, and many more.
Tips:
- While not required, if you choose to use the AddThis button, Nexternal recommends that you sign up with AddThis (www.addthis.com) and enter your User Name at Settings/Compatible Software in the Order Management System, as AddThis provides a set of analytics tools to track use of the button by customers. AddThis signup is free.
- AddThis includes functionality to bookmark the corresponding product; thus, you may not want to use both the Bookmark Button and the AddThis Button.
3/17/2009 -- RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are available on the category level for products that are available for sale to the general public (as determined by the Product Visibility value). RSS feeds present product data in a structured format for interpretation by RSS readers. RSS feeds are thus an excellent way to publish your products to a wider audience.
The new Display RSS Icon option (Layout/General Layout/Product Frame Options in the Order Management System) causes a small RSS icon to appear in the upper right corner of appropriate Product List screens in the BtoC Online Store. Clicking the icon generates an RSS Feed for visitors, displaying the 10 most recently created products.
RSS feed URLs take the form: http://www.nexternal.com/shared/storefront/rss.asp?CS=AccountName&Category=CN (or http://DomainAlias/shared/storefront/rss.asp&Category=CN, if you are using a Domain Alias) where CN represents a Category Number, or All in the case of the All Products category.
Note: To display the most recently updated products (instead of the most recently created products), add &SortBy=lastupdated to the end of a RSS feed URL.
1/6/2009 -- Staging Layout
The new Staging Layout is an optional feature that allows you to make changes to fields in the Layout section without those changes being visible to customers in your Online Store. You may also preview the Online Store using the Staging Layout, and make the Staging Layout live when ready.
To create a Staging Layout, click the Create button at the top of the Layout section in the Order Management System, then select whether to use the current Live Layout values, or the default Layout values, as the starting point for your Staging Layout. Immediately after creation, the Layout section displays the Staging Layout, and all Edit buttons serve to edit the Staging Layout. You may toggle back to the Live Layout, make the Staging Layout live, or delete the Staging Layout via the buttons provided at the top of the screen. You may also preview the Online Store with the Staging Layout via the View Online Store (Staging Layout) link provided.
Note: You may preview the Online Store with the Staging Layout at any time via the URL http://dev.nexternal.com/fairway/?Staging=True. The Staging Layout will persist for the duration of your Online Store session, unless you reenter the Online Store via the URL http://dev.nexternal.com/fairway/?Staging=False. The View Online Store links provided for the Live Layout and Staging Layout use those URLs automatically.
1/6/2009 -- Customer Merge: Preview Merge Option
The new Preview Merge option for the Customer Merge feature (Customers/Cleanup in the Order Management System) allows you to choose whether or not to preview the customers included in the merge before execution. If the Preview Merge option is on, click Next on the Customer Cleanup screen to access the Merge Customers screen, as before. If the Preview Merge option is off, clicking the Next button begins the operation immediately, merging all customers who meet the selected criteria. A Customer Merge is a permanent and irreversible action, and should be used only with great care.
Tip: Nexternal recommends using the Merge Preview feature unless the number of eligible records is large, and you are certain that you wish to merge all of them.
11/10/2008 -- Marketplace Feeds: Google Analytics Tracking Variables Included
Marketplace Feed Product URLs now included two Google Analytics Tracking Variables, utm_medium and utm_source. For all of the marketplace feeds, the utm_medium variable has been to "cse" which is a common abbreviation for comparison shopping engine. The utm_source variable has a different value for each engine. These values are:
utm_source
yps (yahoo product submit)
shopzilla
shoppingcom
googlebase
nextag
pricegrabber
windowslive
If you utilize Google Analytics, you will now be able to login to your Google Analytics account and measure data from each source. Navigate to "Traffic Sources/Campaigns" and then click on the ECommerce Tab. Next, set the dimension to either "Source" or "Medium".
Back to top11/10/2008 -- Google Base Feed: Weight Included
Product weight will now be included in the Google Base Feed. Google recently added this column to the feed specification. Weight can be used to help Google Base predict shipping costs if the "Tax and Shipping Settings" have been configured from within your Google Base account. For products that have weight specified at the SKU level, the default SKU's weight will be included in the feed.
Back to top10/31/2008 -- Endicia Shipping: First Class Mail International
If you are using Endicia Shipping (Settings/Compatible Software in the Order Management System), you may now create labels for USPS First Class Mail International™ shipments. With Endicia Shipping activated, labels may be created by clicking the Shipping Labels button at the bottom of the Order Detail screen, or via Batch Process (Orders/Batch Process).
Back to top10/27/2008 -- New Google Analytics Code
If you are using Google Analytics (Settings/Policies, Addenda, and Disclaimers in the Order Management System), you may now choose to utilize the new code (ga.js) provided by Google in your Online Store. You may make the choice between the new code (labeled as the current code) and the legacy code (i.e. urchin.js) when entering your Google Analytics Account Number in the Order Management System. You should use the same version of the code on both your web site and your Online Store.
Tip: If are using Google Analytics, Google recommends that you modify the code on your web site as described by Google Analytics Help. However, in Nexternal's experience, most aspects of Google Analytics will function properly even without making the change.
10/14/2008 -- New Buttons
Several new buttons have been added to Layout/Buttons in the Order Management System. You may choose to use any of the new buttons in your Online Store simply by selecting that button. You may use any of the preexisting buttons, or you may upload custom buttons, as before. The new buttons are available for the Add To Cart, Select Options, Check Out/Add Products, Tell a Friend, Bookmark, Enter Coupon, Order Gift Certificate, Redeem Gift Certificate, and Redeem Gift Card Buttons.
Back to top10/14/2008 -- DHL ShipIT Enhancements
DHL has made numerous changes and enhancements to their XML ShipIT tools (Settings/Compatible Software in the Order Management System). If you are using DHL ShipIT, the following changes apply:
*Multi-package shipments are intrinsically supported by DHL when (a) the Shipping Method is not DHL Ground, (b) no more then 20 packages are included in the shipment, and (c) the shipment does not include any packages of type Letter. Back to top
8/27/2008 -- Category Export: Include Category Number
Category Exports (Categories/Export in the Order Management System) now include a Category Number (i.e. CATEGORY_NO) field. This enables the rapid creation of direct Category Links for each category included in the export, as Category Link URLs take the form http://www.nexternal.com/AccountName/CategoryCategoryNumber (or http://DomainAlias/CategoryCategoryNumber, if a Domain Alias is in use at Settings/Site Options).
Back to top8/13/2008 -- OrderQuery XML Tool: Query by Order Status and Billing Status
If you are using the OrderQuery XML Tool (Settings/XML Tools in the Order Management System), you may now query orders using Order Status and/or Billing Status as query criteria. Additionally, the OrderQuery tool has been updated to allow more than one query criterion in the OrderQueryRequest. Please refer to the XML Documentation for full details.
Back to top8/8/2008 -- Quick Find
A search field is now available on every list and detail screen within the Order Management System. The yellow search button has been replaced with an "Advanced Search/Sort" link located in the upper right corner of every screen. With the exception of the Order Number search, you may enter just part of a word to find a list of matching records. For example, a Last Name Search on the Customer List Screen for "Smi" would return a list of customers that have a last name that includes the combination of letters "smi," such as customers with the last name "Smith."
Back to top7/30/2008 -- Suggestion Box Boolean Options
By visiting Settings/Boolean Options and checking or unchecking the Category Suggestion Box or Product Suggestion Box you can toggle these features on or off.
Back to top7/28/2008 -- Category Suggestion Box
Stores with 100+ categories can select categories by typing them into a text box and then selecting them from a menu that appears displaying matching category names. This feature implements subcategories by separating them with the pipe ("|") character. Therefore, if "Irons" is a subcategory of "Golf Clubs" then it will be displayed in the suggestion box as "Golf Clubs | Irons".
Back to top7/15/2008 -- OrderQuery and OrderUpdate XML Tools: Line Number
If you are using the XML Tools (Settings/XML Tools in the Order Management System), you may now update individual Line Items via the OrderUpdate XML Tool. To do so, query Line Numbers via the OrderQuery tool (i.e. the Order/ShipTo/ShipFrom/LineItem/LineNo node in OrderQueryReply), then use those Line Numbers in the OrderUpdate Tool (i.e. the OrderUpdate/StatusUpdate/LineNo node in OrderUpdateRequest). This allows you to, for example, specify Tracking Numbers on the Line Item level.
Back to top7/15/2008 -- Invoices and Packing Slips: Include Tracking Numbers
The new Include Tracking Numbers field (Settings/Site Options/Invoices and Packing Slips in the Order Management System) controls whether or not Tracking Numbers are included on Invoices and Packing Slips. If included, Tracking Numbers appear in the upper right, along with fields such as the Order Date and Order Number.
Back to top5/13/2008 -- USPS Packaging: Large Flat-Rate Box
If you are using USPS Rates and/or Endicia Shipping (Settings/Compatible Software/Online Shipping Tools), you may now utilize Large Flat-Rate Box packaging. Packaging types may be specified when packages are defined Settings/Compatible Software/Online Shipping Tools/Preferences, subject to override at the product level in the Product Overrides section.
Note: Large Flat-Rate Box is available only for USPS Priority Mail and USPS Priority Mail International™. If a packaging type that does not apply for a given shipping method is selected, packaging type reverts to Own Packaging.
