Eclipse Users Group (UFO) Newsletter                                                                                   August 2014
August Web & On-site Classes
Date
Class TitleFormat / Presented by
August 4, 2014
New Hire #1 Eterm Basic System Navigation 
Webinar - Zerion
August 5, 2014
New Hire #2 Eterm Basic System Navigation Sales 
Webinar - Zerion
August 6, 2014
New Hire #3 Eterm Basic System Navigation Purchasing 
Webinar - Zerion
August 7, 2014
New Hire #4 Eterm Basic System Navigation Warehouse
Webinar - Zerion
August 14, 2014
AP Preview Queue Eterm
Webinar - Zerion
August 14-15Solar The New Frontier - It Is What You Make It
Western Extralite
Kansas City, MO
August 19, 2014
Vendor Product Webinar Zerion Consulting Group
August 20, 2014
Vendor Product Webinar
New Vendor Partner ecmarket
August 21, 2014
AP Preview Queue Solar
Webinar - Zerion
August 26, 2014

The "(3) Step Rebate, Cost, Pricing & Gross Profit Optimization Playbook" for Eclipse Distributors 

Vendor Product Webinar - epaCUBE
August 28, 2014
Sales Contract Rebates
User Led - Webinar 
In This Issue
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New Member July 2014
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First Source
Houston
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Nominating Committee - Openings on the Board of Directors 

By Terry Kin, UFO Past President, Nominating Committee Chair

 

For 2015, the Eclipse Users Group (UFO) will have vacancies on the Board of Directors. The Eclipse Users Group has been and is a vital part of our relationship with Epicor and the future development of Eclipse software. As a result, these vacancies are very important to our membership. We are looking for individuals that would like to be very involved and would meet the qualifications and expectations outlined below.

We invite individuals who would be willing to serve on the Board to complete the questionnaire below and return to Mary Barlow, Executive Director of the Eclipse Users Group (UFO).

 

Expectations of a member of the Board:
Likes to participate in a "team" environment that works towards common goals for our members.
Will think outside the box for solutions
Monthly phone conference meetings
Semi-annual "face to face" meetings . . . travel is required at least a couple of times a year. The UFO reimburses some or all travel expenses for these meetings.
Participation or leadership in committee(s) of the board
Participate in training sponsored by the users group
Term of service on the board is for two years and can serve more than one term if elected

 
General Qualifications:

Be on either the Solar or Eterm platform.
Company experience with Eclipse can be from newly converted to over 20 years.
Size of your company does not matter. We want representation from small to large companies.
We are looking for company work area experts in Eclipse including owners or executives.

Individual Questionnaire:
What is your current position relative to Eclipse in your company?
How long have you been with your company?
How much experience do you have with the Eclipse platform in either Solar or Eterm?
What is your vision for the future of Eclipse?
What are a couple of improvements you would make to Eclipse?

If you are interested in becoming a Director for the Eclipse Users Group (UFO) please send an email to Mary Barlow, Executive Director, Eclipse Users Group(UFO) and be sure to include your answers to the Individual Questionnaire.
The UFO Advice Column
by 'Uncle' Frank Ousterhout

 

Dear Uncle Frank,

 

                When I enter a date into Eclipse, do I need a full four digit year or can I use just two digits?  For example, should I use 14 or 2014 for this year?

 

                Scott from New Jersey

 

 

Dear Scott,

 

                Actually, when working in Solar, for the current year, you need neither.  Let me explain. 

 

                Solar Eclipse was programmed to be very smart with date (and time) entry.  If you want to enter January 20 of this year, you have multiple ways of doing it:  1/20  or  1-20  or  1.20  or  1  20.  They all work.  If you do need a different year, you can add just the two digits so next January 20 would be 1/20/15  or  1-20-15  or  1.20.15  or  1  20  15.

 

                Of course the easiest way to enter a date in either Eterm or Solar is just to use the 'F10' key.  This will bring up a calendar page and you can use your arrow keys to move to the date you want and then just hit 'Enter'.  So if it is Monday and you want to set a date for Thursday, you do not have to look at the calendar on your wall to see what Thursday's date is.  Just 'F10' and you can see the calendar date for Thursday.  (If you insist on using your mouse, you can also click on the little Calendar Icon next to any Solar date field.)

 

                Entering time has some neat features also.  You do NOT have to fully format any time entry for Eclipse for it to know what you mean.  Forget the ':' (colon).  You also do not need a full 'AM' or 'PM'.  With no designation, the system assumes AM time and just a 'p' will let the system know that you mean PM.  For example, 1020  is 10:20 AM, and 1020p is 10:20 PM. 

 

                Lastly, Eclipse also respects military time.  For 1:15 PM you can just type 1315 and forget about using the letter 'p'. 

 

 

                Regards,

                Uncle Frank

 

Bylaws Committee Update

Kevin Stevenson, Bylaws Committee Chair


 

The bylaws committee has the important duty of ensuring the Eclipse Users Group and its Board of Directors comply with the bylaws that have been adopted by you - our membership.  Our responsibilities include receiving, reviewing, and recommending changes to the bylaws; advising the Board of Directors of actions required to remain in compliance; addressing issues and questions that arise; and supporting the proper rules of order in our meetings.  

 

In many established organizations, this process is quite simple, because few changes are needed to the bylaws.  The Eclipse Users Group is no exception, because our last amendment to the bylaws was made in 2012.  A current copy of the bylaws is always available for your review on our website.  Should you have an idea for a change or any question regarding the bylaws, please notify us, and we will be happy to help.

 

If you have not yet participated in a UFO committee, the bylaws committee might be the perfect place to start.  You will have an opportunity to learn more about our organization, its purpose, and structure.  Contact us anytime, or if you attend Encounter 2014 this September, please speak with any board member about becoming more involved in YOUR Eclipse Users Group!


"Beam Me Up Scottie!"New Releases Launching Soon!

 

Gravitate Towards Enterprise Integration

 

Remember how fast the cars were in the"Fast and Furious?" Our Net Change technology will boost your Eclipse engine to give it fast-and-furious accuracy and consistency. Like cars, products have new models, right? The current "model" (Kourier Integrator 4.1) enhances our turnkey solutions (Kourier Integrator, SQL Accelerator and our Operational Data Store for Eclipse) to help you build and maintain a Microsoft SQL Server data warehouses and third-party integration. We took it one step further to give you a sneak peak at the next model....  

 

Grease the Engine with Kourier Integrator 4.2

New Features

  • Microsoft SQL 2014 support
  • Point-in-Time Exports
  • Inbound RESTful Web Services
  • And more...

Soar Past the Cosmos with Integrated eCommerce

Encounter our gateway to eCommerce with KommerceServer, an integrated B2B or B2C platform that connects to the Eclipse back office so your pricing, inventory and transactional history are always up-to-date. The webStoreFront and webPortal give your customers what they want : a modern, easy-to-use online experience.  

Trending Now: Mobile eCommerce- Browse, Search and Purchase from any mobile device!

 

Available Now! KommerceServer 5.3 

New Features 


 

Reengineered Content Management System (CMS)
  • Redesigned using MVC.net
  • Inline content editing
Advanced document management
  • Multiple media files by language
  • Gated download/ordering forms
  • Categorization, thumbnails and extended descriptions
New Interfaces
  • UPS LTL Ground Shippingo   
  • Old Dominion LTL shipping
  • 3DSI credit card processor
  • Product Data Warehouse (PDW) for
    Eclipse
Configurable Session Timeout Dialog
  • Increased Security
  • Prevent data loss on form entry

Company News

 

Kore Technologies Earns Second-Consecutive Listing as Top 100 Company 

Big data is a hot topic, and Database Trends and Applications' (DBTA) "Top 100 Companies Who Mater Most in Data," features Kore Technologies for a second time.The companies featured provide innovative solutions to the big data phenomenon.Read more here.

 

Social Media: The "Alien" Environment

Today, the phrase "going social" may seem like an alien concept but we're discovered how to make sense of this entity. So, pick up that smart phone and shuttle your way over to Facebook,  Twitter and LinkedIn to connect with us and other like-minded lifeforms.


 

Still not sure?

Read our tips of the trade, here

Kore_Web

 

 

866-763-KORE | info@koretech.com

Did You Forget or Never Knew?

by  Elizabeth Richardt - CappUSA


PURGE MAINTENANCE

 

Purge Maintenance is an option that very few of us use on a regular basis, but it is a way to remove old logs from our system that can slow down processes. Depending on the number of files set to purge, the process could take several days or weeks the first time it is ran. This process should never take place during business hours. Although you can do "Manual Purges", Eclipse recommends using the Phantom Scheduler to set up regular purging when it will least impact your company. Since this is the case, I will only show Scheduled Purges.

 

What Logs should I consider purging?  When in doubt always check with Eclipse Support.

            MAINT.LOG     PROD.LOG       CARON.DETAIL            DTS.QUEUE

  • How does the system know how many months are to be kept.  This is predefined in "File Definition Maintenance". Eterm - F2 - F - F  (If you are not familiar with this screen, do not make changes without consulting with Eclipse)
  • Purge Maintenance - Solar - Maintenance -> Merge/Purge -> Purge Maintenance Eterm - F1 - U - M
  • Manually enter the log or Press F10 or Click on the "?" for a list of available logs
  • When you enter the Log, the "Keep Months" field will auto populate with the information from File Definition Maintenance
  • Next Run Date - Displays the date the system will run the purge next - once it has been scheduled
  • Last Run Date - Displays the date the system purged the file last
  • Last Status - Displays the status for the last purge:
    • Finished - Process completed without incident.
    • Sleeping - Process suspended based on parameters entered in Purge Detail Maintenance, such as running during normal working hours.
    • Disabled - Process suspended based on parameters entered in Purge Detail Maintenance, such as running during inventory maintenance or a holiday.
    • Running - Process is currently running. Use the View > View Log option to review actions on the file, such as how many records were purged during the last run.
    • Stopped - Process stopped manually. The system restarts the purge process during the next scheduled time frame. Use the View > View Log option in Purge Maintenance to review actions on the file, such as when the purged was stopped.
  • Next - Select "Detail Schedule" (Under Options on the menu bar or create a button) - to set "Detail Purging Schedule Setup"
 
 
  • Use the View > View Log option from Purge Maintenance to review the status when the log was last purged and what changes have been made to the log purge process, to determine if records need to be reviewed or checked.
  • Once you have entered the information on this screen, you are then ready to Schedule the Phantom Processes
    • From the Option menu, select Schedule to display the Phantom Scheduler screen and schedule the purge for regular intervals.
  • You can stop a process if you begin a purge process and find that you need to stop that process due to system resource impacts.
    • From the File > Merge/Purge menu, select Purge Maintenance to display the Purge Maintenance window.
    • In the Purge File column, enter MAINT.LOG to populate the Purge Maintenance window.
    • Locate the line item you want to stop and select the check box in the Stop column.
    • The system changes the status of the purge to Stopped. The system runs the purge again at the next available time based on the schedule set up in File Definition Maintenance.
  • If you decide to Purge the "PROD.LOG" - please be aware of the following:
    • Product log files contain the cost, quantity, and location changes for a product as recorded in the Product Activity Log. The system displays a warning message when you schedule a purge.
  • CAUTION!! 
  • Purging the PROD.LOG could affect your Inventory Valuation Report if you check the history for calculated cost, such as average costs. We recommend carefully considering the purge before continuing. It also stores the historical average, average landed cost, the landed cost and the last cost.


 

The Adjectives of Eclipse E-Commerce

by Ethan Pitsch of Caxiam

 

Taking your Eclipse ERP powered business online is no small task. There are many things to consider and plenty of unknowns along the way. Fortunately there are a number of good companies who have experience in dealing with these unknowns. But how are you - the business owner, head of marketing, or head of IT - supposed to know where to get started?

 

Here are a few adjectives to keep in mind as you consider the various components of your project. While this is a broad overview, the full-length article can be found on our website here:

 http://www.caxiamgroup.com

 

Expandable & Fast - The ERP Connection

You may be surprised to know there are multiple ways to connect to your Eclipse system. The XML Integration option is not the only way. Custom connectors are available and can access any data you need from Eclipse.

 

Flexible & User Friendly - The Product Information Management Software

While Eclipse and PDW often hold a large portion of your product data, it's rarely a good idea for these tools to house the product data you plan to display on the website. There is a whole industry out there dedicated to building software specifically geared toward housing product data for websites.

 

Accurate & Detailed - The Product Data and Associated Media

Even the greatest looking and most functional website can be rendered useless if your product data and associated media files are inaccurate or not detailed enough. Part of any e-commerce effort involves a data inventory and cleanup phase. Be sure you build this into your timeline!

 

Organized & Structured - The Categories, Subcategories and Attributes

Just because you and your customer service team know all the names and locations of your products doesn't mean your customers do! Take special care to organize, arrange and structure a logical hierarchy to your product catalog.

 

Predictable & Helpful - The Searching, Filtering, and Faceting

Once your product data is accurate, detailed, organized, and structured, you are now ready to embark on building a search tool that is predictable and helpful. Prediction helps prevent misspellings and offers opportunities to cross-promote items they may otherwise be missed.

 

Conclusion

 

If any of these components of e-commerce are overwhelming to you - fear not! Remember, there are many companies using Eclipse who have taken their businesses online successfully. There are a wide variety of options - from turnkey solutions to custom development strategies - that can help get you up and running. Reach out to Caxiam today, and we'll walk you through all the details!

Enhancement Committee News

by Chris Bohn, Enhancement Committee Chair

Well, hopefully many of you will have scheduled or even implemented the Eclipse 8.7.9 Update by the time you read this.  If you are unaware of the purchasing benefits of this enhancement or the very powerful Queue Builder you will do yourself a big service to watch the recorded presentation on the User's Group website.  Simply go to www.eclipseuser.com, login, click on the VIDEOS tab along the top, then select the "What's New In Epicor Eclipse Release 8.7.9".  You will be glad you did!  One of the important reminders I'd like to stress is that this release is loaded with features that came from the users group member's feedback on purchasing. 

 

So what's next?  The next release, 8.8.0 will be focusing on Solar enhancements.  During the month of August, members of the Enhancement Committee will be meeting with the Eclipse Product Managers and perform a Deep Dive on the Solar community on the Ideas Site.  With this detailed review of EVERY idea, we are hoping to squeeze more of your suggestions into this next release.  "How can I help?" you ask.  I would ask that you, or your "Solar advocates" log onto the Ideas Site and review the Solar Community ideas, and vote.  Your votes do matter.  If there are two ideas that development is deciding between, the one with the greater votes will most likely win.  Also, if your great idea is not listed, please add it!

 

Here are a couple of Solar ideas that will get you started!

 

SOE customer selection should be sorted by the sort-by field in Customer File Maint - Idea to have customer accounts listed in alphanumeric order when creating a sales order for a customer with multiple ship to accounts. 

 

Window closes after use - Idea to keep report windows open after running a report instead of automatically closing.  Currently, Solar is very inefficient if you are running the same report multiple times.

 

Thanks again for helping to make Eclipse a better product!

Eclipse Users Group/UFO | 813-643-1001 | edufo@eclipseuser.com | http://www.eclipseuser.com
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Disclaimer  The information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by UFO and while we endeavor to keep the information up-to-date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to this newsletter or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the newsletter for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data arising out of, or in connection with, the use of the information in this newsletter.

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