Online Ordering Portal Version 2020.008

February 8th, 2021

This year seems to be going by so quickly! Probably because we've been hard at work on a major revamp of our Online Ordering Portal. We've taken your feedback and run with it to improve versatility and convenience pretty much everywhere.

This update is chock full of great new features, but we definitely have a favourite: the new Portal Administration page. We've moved our existing portal controls here, giving them an upgrade along the way, as well as adding a ton of new features to keep them company. Check them out below!

New Improvements

• Captain to the bridge! The new Admin Page acts as your one-stop-shop to control your online ordering portal. A list of all features and functions (with links to tutorials!) is available in the Admin Page can be found in the Online Ordering Portal: Admin Settings Page Guide, but the new additions to the family can be found below:
  
  • Current portal settings have been brought over to the Admin Page so that your portal experience remains the same.
  • Limit who has access to the portal configuration by creating Portal Administrators. 
  • The new Non-Delivery Dates function allows you to plan ahead for holidays or other closures by disabling orders for a certain delivery date without impacting your regular delivery schedule.
  • The cutoff system has been completely overhauled! You can now set different cutoff rules by Customer Category, by Product Category,  or mix-and-match as needed!
  • For those who like a little mystery, the Cutoff Time display can now be hidden in the portal. We won't be offended, even though we took the time to make it prettier...
  • Gussy up your messages with our new text editor! Add colour or formatting to really get the information across. 
  • Speaking of messages, we got yours and added the ability to customize footer message on the order confirmation emails so that you can put your own spin on it.
  • Now there's checkbox giving the option to include the Product Code on confirmation emails.
  • Don't like the email notifications? We've added the option to prevent confirmation emails from being sent to customers.
  • If you're just getting started with the portal, or if you want to to try out something new, you can also use the new Test Mode to redirect all emails to one that you specify.
  • Added the ability to toggle the enforcement of Delivery Days, Order Minimums and the use of Web Portal Categories. These can be turned on and off as desired.
  • No longer shall you be relegated to using the MM/DD/YYYY date format. Choose from a list of countries with their official date format listed. Don't like your country's choice? No problem, feel free to choose from any among the list!
  • Use the Home button on the Admin Page login to return to your portal and check out the fruits of your labour.
• The Cutoff Time display got a major makeover: 
  
  • By default it will display the current week, with today indicated in green.
  • Non-Delivery Dates will be indicated in red.
  • When the customer selects a delivery date, the cutoff display will update to reflect the cutoffs for that week if necessary, and highlight the cutoff for the selected delivery date by bolding the cutoff.
• We added the Business Name to the Subject of all confirmation emails for added visibility and to make them easier to find in an inbox.
• Line item comments added to products will now appear in the confirmation email.
• If an error occurred while attempting to send a confirmation email to the customer, they will be notified in the portal.
• No error message when you submit an order, it just goes straight back to the order screen
• Orders cancelled through the portal will now be marked as Void.
  • The cancellation message added to the Notes section of the order will now include a timestamp to indicate when the cancellation occurred.
  • Customers limited to 1 order per delivery date will now be able to place a new order if the existing one for that delivery date has been cancelled.
• They may seem small, but we've made a number of improvements designed to make product selection easier when placing an order:
  • The + Other Products allows the customer to see all products available to be ordered through the portal.
  • Products past their cutoff time or lead time will display a message in the + Other Products screen explaining why the item is unavailable and stating the product lead time.
  • The Clear button will not clear any quantities for products past their lead time, and an order cannot be cancelled once one or more products are past their lead time.
  • If the portal is set to enforce the Minimum Order Value, the Review button will remain unavailable until that threshold is reached. The Minimum Order Value will be displayed in the order details at the top of the screen.
    • Hovering over the Review button will display a message stating that the order is below the minimum value required. 
  • If no items have been added to the order, the Review button will display a message when hovered over, prompting the user to add product to proceed.
  • No nonsense! Quantity fields have been restricted to positive numerical inputs only.
  • We've updated the Standing Order prompt when placing a new order to make it clearer: the user may now choose to Remove or Keep the standing order quantities when entering an order.
• If the portal is set to enforce Delivery Days, this will apply to the Edit Standing Order screen as well: Days that the customer is not set to receive delivery will not allow quantities to be entered.
• It's all about communication: the portal has been augmented to support both regular Standing Orders and Zero-Quantity Standing orders. Check out the cheat sheet at the top of the Edit Standing Order screen, the instructions given will change depending on if Zero-Quantity Standing Orders are enabled or not!
• Like hide and seek, without the seek. The Hide Category and Hide Subcategory settings on the customer's Web Order Info tab have been extended to apply to the Edit Standing Order and Product List screens as well.
  
  • Electing to Hide Category will also apply to the Web Portal Categories if that option is enabled.
• Users can use the Forgot Password to send a new automated email with a reset link. To do so, they'll need to have the UserID and notification email associated with the account.
  • The password reset will enforce the following security requirements: between 8 and 50 characters long, minimum 1 special character, minimum 1 number and a mix of upper and lowercase letters.
• When viewing existing orders, click on the column headers to sort the list. Click again to reverse the sort order!
• Activities done in the portal will now be recorded in the Audit Trail under the 'user' FBOL, to preserve a record of how many times and when an order or a standing order were updated through the portal.
• We decreased dependence on cached information, so that when a page is opened it shows the most up-to-date information, even if changes have been made since the session began.
• For our On Premise portal users, SSL is now available!

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an error that would sometimes appear when trying to view a closed return record.
• Standing Order Quantities would stubbornly come back after being cleared if +Other Products was opened. They're now staying gone.
• SSO Non-Web Order Products Editable After Cutoff
• The Cancel Order button would try to sneak back in where it shouldn't be if a new product was added to the order.
• The Cancel Order button would sometimes appear on an order after one or more Product Lead Times had elapsed. It couldn't cancel the order but it would try it's best. We sorted out when it is and is not wanted and it knows to stick to the rules.
• The Account History got some much-needed TLC. It now follows the same rules as the customer's Account tab in FlexiBake (when set to view the last 3 months' activity).
  • Transactions made exactly 3 months ago will be listed below the Balance BF and then absorbed into that balance.
  • You know what they say about assumptions. The Account History no longer assumes the customer has a Balance BF.
  • It would sometimes forget to include an invoice. It now knows that exclusion is a form of bullying and will not be tolerated.