Details of 7 Super New Features in DDMS 8.25.0

Shortcuts for: All Dealers | Supplies | Furniture | Machines

January 19, 2011 — The DDMS 8.25 major release helps you expand your business and work more efficiently with technology both familiar and new.

This major release includes seven super enhancements (see details below) and dozens of other software changes.

Log in to the ECi Customer Support Portal (https://support.ecisolutions.com) to get your software download.

For All Dealers

Two New SQL Reports Ease Receiving Purchase Orders

Purchasing gurus will love our two new SQL Preview Reports now available from the Purchasing report group (QC# 57073):

• PO Receiving Report by Vendor. Subtotaled by Vendor and then grouped by purchase order number, this report lets you compare line item level detail, and identify discrepancies between Ordered vs. Received quantities.
• POs Received not Posted by Vendor. Also subtotaled by Vendor, this report instantly summarizes how many items were not posted, for which purchase orders.

Both reports include both current and journal files and can be limited to date range.

In order to use these reports, you must validate and import your P/O Journals in the updated EBS SQL Import Control Panel.

For more information, see Using the EBS SQL Import Control Panel (pdf), or Setting Up & Using SQL Preview Reports for DDMS (pdf) and your online help in DDMS 8.25 or higher.

New Due Date Limit Helps You Look Up Custom & Refill Orders

Do you sell custom printing, engraving, stamps, furniture, or machines? What about regular refills of coffee, water, or janitorial and sanitation supplies? When browsing Order Entry, you can now limit to the due date you specified. (QC# 57276)

Use the Due Date column to display only those orders with a specific order due date. To do so, click the Due Date box and enter the order due date to limit. Enter the date in mm/dd/yy format. The system displays the orders that meet the limits you set.

For more information, see your online help on Order Entry Browse in DDMS 8.25 or higher.

Eliminate A/R Re-Keying — Import Remittance Spreadsheets

The main efficiency driver of DDMS is how it handles data without the need for your staff to re-key it. What if you receive check remittance information from a customer or bank in an Excel spreadsheet?. (QC# 57335)

The new Import Remittance Data feature in Accounts Receivable Posting lets you import the data and post the checks to accounts receivable:

• The spreadsheet you use must contain the correct data, properly configured:
  • Invoice, Check, and Check Total are required.
  • Optional columns may include Amount, Date, and Account.
  • All columns must be formatted as Text to ensure both numeric and alpha-numeric customer accounts and invoices properly import.
• When the document is ready to import, go to the Accounts Receivable Posting window. Click the Action menu and select Import Remittances.
• After you enter the batch number and select the document, the new Import Details dialog box shows the required and optional columns as well as Sequence, Batch, and Exception.
• If there are Exceptions, the Import button is disabled. Exceptions must be corrected on the original spreadsheet prior to import.

For more information, see Accounts Receivable: Importing Remittance Data (pdf), or your online help topics on Importing Remittance Data, or About Configuring the Excel Spreadsheet to Import in DDMS 8.25 or higher.

New XNET Text Based Interface for Windows 2008 Servers

If you are running DDMS on a Windows 2008 Server, the new XNET Server and Client software is required in order to access certain text-based parameters, reports, and applications. (This XNET software can also be used on Windows 2003 Servers running DDMS.)

After downloading and extracting the DDMSInstall, you will find the new installers in the same D:\Downloads folder as Launch.exe.

• To install the server software, double-click xNetServer.exe.
• To install the client software, make a copy of xNETClient.exe either on a USB drive or a network share folder, and install it on each client workstation.

Other Changes for All Dealers:

This release includes other improvements to the usability and flow of commonly used DDMS applications:

1. 57231 — Corrected issues with -1 tickets when creating A/R deposits. Previously the system was not auto applying the deposit to the -1 ticket when it was invoiced.
2. 57251 —Corrected problems when using Unit of Measure conversions with the EDI Auto Create Tickets in SGA feature. Previously the system was not creating the proper UOM.
3. 56965 — Corrected the logic for checking whether TBL Server or TBL Utilities is running to reflect how the function changed in Windows 2008 Server and Windows 7. This prevents an authorization error that occurred in 8.21.60 and higher when launching or rebooting ECi DDMS software.
4. 57155 — Corrected the Purchasing PO Comments window hotkeys so that Alt+E properly moves from either the Start Of Order comments or the Line Item Comments to the End of Order comments on the first item of the order or any other items in the order. It now also properly retains the Start Of Order comments and End of Order comments on lines after one has been saved on a previous line item.
5. 56975 — Corrected the Customer database so that if you delete the final record it no longer generates the error, "Row handle referred to a deleted row or a row marked for deletion."
6. 56995 — Corrected the Customer database's Category fields to allow you to enter a value of zero (0).
7. 56999 — Corrected so when importing sales journal information the EBS SQL Importer does not show a percentage greater than 100%.
8. 57316 — Corrected the CCIP Report Format at the bottom under the heading of “Please remit your payment to” so that it no longer defaults to the name of "Independent Business Products."
9. 57002 — Corrected Order Entry so that when you create an order after setting the Attention on a customer and going to the Item Detail tab and then going back to the Global tab and changing customers, the system will set the Shipto to the new customer's Shipto information. In version 8.22.20 to 8.24.x, the original ShipTo was inadvertently retained.
10. 57246 — Corrected the (SGA) EDI screen so that when using custom code 1: = 'N' and building a file from a journal it is not using the decimal in the sequence number. In Version 8.24, a it stored the sequence number with a decimal.
11. 57268 — Corrected an EBS import issue that seemed to cause the SJDELTA.bat batch to hang in Versions 8.23.20 - 8.24.x while using the (MIR) screen to rename sales journals at month-end.
12. 57275 — Corrected an issue with releasing a multi-line Quote for a customer who has a route-assigned locations in Advanced Manifest. In Version 8.24.20, it did not pull the correct Inventory Location. The Quote Release in graphical now reads the Advanced Manifest route parameters correctly for all line items on a ticket. In O/E history it still displays the GL loc and Inv loc of either the first or the last line item on the order (this is how it has always worked), but it is shipping the line items from the correct inventory location.
13. 57230 — Corrected the logic with Utilext and TBLnetcom in Windows 2008 64-bit systems, so that you can start/stop them as needed for troubleshooting Cardlink during the day rather than taking the entire system down with TblSever.
14. 57231 — Corrected issues with -1 tickets when creating A/R deposits. Previously the system was not auto applying the deposit to the -1 ticket when it was invoiced.
15. 57168 — Corrected the ;SPCCMPJR so that it properly compresses the XX-TAX files when running the compression on sales journals. In Versions 8.23 - 8.24, this was causing issues with EBS when trying to import sales journals.
16. 57181 — Corrected the code to create the I-BOM-AG file, so that when a Manufacturer uses Build Assembly on a list, the system no longer generates the Error Creating new Assembly message that appeared in Version 8.23.20 - 8.24.
17. 57183 — Corrected EBS Utilities Full Import function so that it no longer displays an error that "the file was too large to delete."
18. 57188 — Corrected issues when building purchase orders in graphical Order Entry. In Versions 8.23.20 - 8.24, if you created an order in the text-based (G) Order Entry screen and later used the graphical Order Entry window to build the P/O, the system was displaying the No Items To Purchase message.
19. 57190 — Corrected the export report format for the new Accounts Payable > Vendor Deposits Monitor > Open Deposits Report. In Version 8.24.x, the amounts were not formatted as dollar amounts when exported and viewed in Excel spreadsheets.
20. 57195 — Corrected an issue that caused Delta Imports to time out in the EBS SQL Import Control Panel. In Versions 8.21.60 - 8.24.x, an error "ExecuteNonQuery Requires an open and available connection") indicated a timeout occurred while trying to remove records from the sync folder. Apparently the period-end (MA) process removed tens of thousands of order lines that the sync timed out.
21. 57208 — Corrected the (UR-I) Monthly Customer Invoice so that it shows Credit Invoices as credits, and properly calculates the totals. In Versions 8.23.20 - 8.24.x, credits were being treated as invoices, adding to the total instead of subtracting from it.
22. 57344 — Corrected an issue in EDI to allow the system to split the P-LNEDI file when using a custom code of N in the 1 field. When a line was supposed to split in Version 8.24.20, a required value was not sent on the 810 packet. Now, this custom code stores a value from the 850 packet and properly sends it back on the 810 packet.
23. 57311 — Corrected issues when building EDI files and partial ship items. In Version 8.24.20, when building the EDI file with partial ship items, the system was dropping nearly all segments from the file..

For Supplies Dealers

Import Offline Adjustments to Customer Price Plan Spreadsheets

Your salespeople and executives often work offline. If they are not logged in to your DDMS system, they don't have immediate access to the Customer Price Plans application.

Now you can give them the ability to use an Excel spreadsheet to adjust prices on multiple items on multiple price plans by a percent, dollar change, or new dollar amount. Once they manipulate the data, you can import changes into Customer Price Plans application. (QC# 57249)

Before you may import into Customer Price Plans, the spreadsheet must meet specific requirements:

• The user must create a list of price plans to be changed and items to change.
• The item number and manufacturer in the spreadsheet must match the item number and manufacturer in the price plan exactly
• The worksheet must be created with specific column names and in a specific order. The system looks at the columns in order from left to right.
• In the first tab, the first column must be Price Plan. Then optionally, you could have columns named Group, Customer Account #, and Customer Department.

  

• The second tab must have these columns in this order: Item Number, Mfg, Change Price by %, Change Price by Amt, and New Price.

  

For example, using the spreadsheets shown above, Item Number 1 ESS price
will be lowered by ten percent on all the price plans listed in the Price Plan column.
This item’s price is not affected on any other price plans.

For more information, see pages 37-40 of Customer Price Plans (pdf) or your online help topics on Exporting Customer Price Plans to Excel, Adjusting Price Plans Using an Excel Worksheet, and Importing Customer Price Plans from Excel in DDMS 8.25 or higher.

Other Changes for Supply Dealers:

This release includes several other improvements to the usability and flow of Private Supply Network communications, Auto Short-Buy, Customer Price Plans and more:

1. 57302 — Corrected so the system displays the proper quantities when using the PSN Stock Check feature in Order Entry. Previously Order Entry was displaying different stock check quantities than PSN was sending to DDMS.
2. 57167 — Corrected the (EL) Price Check screen and (GL) screen to calculate the correct price for cost plus customers when using the [Q] action code and calculating with multiple quantities.
3. 56945 — Corrected the synchronization of Customer Price Plans to eliminate an issue in Versions 8.22 - 8.24 that appeared to make some price plans disappear from the graphical CPP window, even though they were present in the (ET) screen.
4. 57165 — Corrected the synchronization of Customer Price Plans to eliminate a I-MASTER duplicate issue in Version 8.23 - 8.24 that seemed to cause contract items to show up as "Not On File."
5. 57298 — Corrected the system logic so that if you receive Additional Freight Charges from S.P. Richards via the Private Supply Network, they can be written to the customer ticket/invoice, just as the system does for carton count and ID information. Your system must be set to use the "Y" setting in the Customer Buyer/Manifest tab's "Freight" field, and the invoices in question are in P-MASTER and not already invoiced when you run the (TR-2) function.
6. 57229 — Corrected the logic for hangling additional charges when transmitting purchase orders with TriMega Point NationWide via the ECi Private Supply network.
7. 57302 — Corrected so the system displays the proper quantities when using the PSN Stock Check feature in Order Entry. Previously Order Entry was displaying different stock check quantities than PSN was sending to DDMS.
8. 57096 — Corrected the Auto Short Buy (ASB) logic so that when an issue occurs with corrupt Short-Auto or Launch .CDX files, the ASB function no longer hangs in an infinite loop.

For Furniture Dealers

Simplify Herman Miller Ordering Via PSN (Free!)

Herman Miller furniture dealers who previously had to manually upload files to KIOSK can streamline the task using the ECi Private Supply Network (PSN).

• Behind-the-Scenes Transfer Eliminates Manual Upload.
• Functional Acknowledgement Via PSN — New to KIOSK.
• Override Redirects Orders For Special Handling.

Issue with Manual Text File Uploads in DDMS 8.24. If you do load DDMS 8.24 or higher without setting up the Herman Miller PSN, please note that we have discovered an issue with the manual file upload.

Shipto Name and Phone number are encoded into the SIF file but are not being output to KIOSK.

As a workaround, you can look up that information in the Vendor Options tab of the P/O Communicate screen or in DDMS Order Notes as shown below, and add it to your purchase order once you log into KIOSK.

Or, you can set up your system to take advantage of the Herman Miller PSN!

Herman Miller dealers will receive a separate announcement with detailed instructions.

Assign Dealer Sales Representative Email, Percent of Order

If you place orders with Allsteel, HON, Gunlocke, or Paoli, new data will be required to communicate purchase orders properly. (QC# 57157)

The Purchase Order Communicate Vendor Options tab now lets you:

• Identify the DSR salesperson of record for the order.
• Assign a percentage of responsibility for the order.

You can divide the default 100% among up to three salespersons, 60% to Sam, 20% to Mary, and 20% to John, for example.

We anticipate an announcement from affected manufacturers when this is data is required. Meanwhile, to ensure seamless communication, we recommend preparing your Salesperson Contacts in advance. For more information, see Setting Up and Using HNI (HON, Gunlocke, Paoli) PSN (pdf) and Setting Up and Using Allsteel PSN (pdf) or your online help on the Salesperson Contact Maintenance and Communications Vendor Options Tab in DDMS 8.25 or higher.

Other Changes for Furniture Dealers:

This release includes additional improvements to the usability and flow of Furniture Delivery/Install, Project Management, and P/O communications with your manufacturers:

1. 56981 — Corrected so when using the Furniture Delivery/Install Marking window, the system saves changes you make to the columns on the grid. In DDMS 8.23 - 8.24, it wasn't saving the data.
2. 56293 — Corrected so the system does not change the grid information in the Project Management Order Level tab when accessed from another tab. In Version 8.21 - 8.24, if viewing the Salespersons Totals tab and returning to Order Totals, the system was changing the grid information to display Salesperson first.
3. 57237 — Corrected so when clicking Execute to open a template in the Furniture Project Management window without first selecting the template, the system does not display an Unhandled Exception error message.
4. 57289 — Corrected an issue with Allsteel PSN services that caused "Unable to get PO Information" and ActiveX errors to appear in DDMS 8.24.21 when trying to process an Allsteel purchase order.

For Machine Dealers

Changes for Machine & Equipment Dealers:

This release includes additional improvements to the usability and flow of Machine sales, service, and more:

1. 57124 — Enhanced graphical Inventory Item Transfer so that if you transfer a machine that has sub-system numbers assigned to it, you are prompted, "This Serial Item Includes Subs - Transfer Subs?" as it does in the text-based serialized (EZET) screen.
2. 57304 — Corrected the Contract Detail > Machine Browse window so that clicking a column heading without first hitting the Query button no longer generates a runtime error.
3. 57301 — Corrected the BEI Exports Interface to set the FIXSERV "Call code" to reflect the call code from the workorder. In a previous release, a dealer had erroneously requested that the FIXSERV "Call code" be set to the call's solution code.

More Info On Recent DDMS Version 8 Releases

• 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?

Log in to https://support.ecisolutions.com,

click Software Downloads, and
follow the on-screen steps.

Need Help? (800) 366-4778 • https://support.ecisolutions.com • ddmssupport@ecisolutions.com