Introducing the only IBD
(Independent Bicycle Dealer)
"off the shelf" website solution.

i-BikeShop System Upgrades & Updates

This page details the last 40 system upgrades and updates that have taken place to the iBS system.

All new features added will be listed, plus any system modifications.
SHOW ALL UPGRADES

Products

updated 2012-01-03 16:21:17
BRAND NAME AUTO CAPITALISATION
==============================

By default, the system CAPITALISES brand names when you create/edit brands. This behaviour is only applied to the Brand Name field (it is not applied to the brand real or google name fields)

A new configuration option to prevent the system from doing this has been added.


ORDER VALUE LIMITS FOR ALTERNATE DELIVERY ADDRESSES
===================================================

Allowing your customers to provide alternate delivery addresses is not uncommon (though it does carry risk). The second new option is to allow an order value limit to be imposed, above which alternate delivery addresses will not be allowed.

Product Editor

updated 2011-10-28 13:51:45
Stock level indicators inproved.

Basic stock level management now has three possible settings:
Y - intended to denote a product is in stock in-store
O - intended to denote a product is NOT in stock in-store but IS available at the supplier
N - intended to denote a product is NOT in stock in-store NOR available at the supplier

Items set to N level indicator can not be added to baskets.

Google Base (Froogle)

updated 2011-10-28 13:49:31
i-BikeShop Google Shopping data feeds are FULLY COMPLIANT with all Google's feed specification updates.

A large amount of work has been done to the system to tailor the data structure and data fields to accommodate the revisions required by Google for both the May 2011 and September 2011 updates.

To assist in entering missing MPN and EAN/UPC data, additional tools have been added to highlight affected products and enable faster bulk updating.

Feeds will only now include items which have product identifier data, thus reducing the chance of rejected feeds.

Data Importer

updated 2011-07-20 01:11:12
Data import/export system updated to allow Google Taxonomy to be mapped against subcategories via the subcategory import function.

To assist mapping via the importer, a taxonomy cribsheet has been added to the cribsheets area.

General System

updated 2011-07-19 02:29:17
Admin Users system upgraded to allow individual permissions for "limited access" users.

This allows a specific set of editors to be enabled for specific admin users.

Products

updated 2011-07-18 23:56:14
Added a new product variant stock level setting of "O" into basic stock control to allow greater definition between products where pysical stock is held and products where you are working from supplier held stock.

Google Base (Froogle)

updated 2011-07-04 01:55:22
A new set of configuration options added into the main configurations area.

These new settings will enable tweaking data is formatted for submission to Google Base / Froogle / Google Merchant Centre.

The new options are:

Include "Active Sale Disabled" Products. DEFAULT: YES
Set this option to NO if you do not wish to submit items which are set to Active Sale Disabled.

Include Product Year in Title. DEFAULT: NO
This determines whether to submit the productYear field content as part of the product title.

Include VARIANT DETAILS in product Title. DEFUALT: YES
This determines whether to submit the Variant Detail, eg 'Red', 'White', 'Small' etc content as part of the product title.

Include Carriage Charges. DEFAULT: YES
This determines whether to submit carriage charges for each product. Carriage is a recommended field for Google data submissions. It is NOT a required field however. Depending upon the complexity of your carriage setup, it may be worth removing the values from the feed.
Where a product has an SSID rate, it will be submitted.
Where the product's parent category has two carriage rates (above and below threshold), the product price is used to determine which rate to submit.

MPN Field DEFAULT: NO SUBMISSION
This determines which of the (up to) four SKU fields contains the MPN.
MPN is "Manufacturers Part Number.
Google REQUIRE the submission of 2 of the following three values:
Brand
UPC/EAN
MPN
Brand is already submitted.
UPC/EAN codes are entered into the variant EAN field. A UPC is a 12 digit number, EAN's are 13 digits.
Not all products have an EAN or UPC code and in these circumstances, you should endeavour to submit a MPN in it's place.
Where large numbers of your product range have no EAN/UPC codes, it is advisable to enable submission of MPN codes. These codes should be entered into one of the SKU fields, and they should be entered consistently into the SAME SKU field.
Sites using the i-BikeShop central database should note that any available MPN codes will have been transferred into the variantSKU2 field.

General System

updated 2011-06-27 01:53:40
Added a javascript driven feature "slider" to the centre of the homepage panel with full backend systems to add up to 8 seperate slides.

Products

updated 2011-06-24 22:38:41
Configuration option added to allow switch to keyword based product URL's instead of the default query string based URL's.

Products

updated 2011-06-13 01:32:05
Added the option to alter the sort order for specification headings and values on a per master category level without the need to re-enter data.

This allows for new headings to be added and moved into a more appropriate display position.

Products

updated 2011-06-11 01:29:28
Display of products set to "Active Sale Disabled" can now be delayed until after in-stock products have been displayed. This may mean that the top of the product lists are not dominated by products which cannot be bought via the site.

Products

updated 2011-06-03 01:27:26
2 new fields added to "Brands";

brandRealName and brandGoogleName

brandRealName is submitted to Google Base in the mandatory "brand" field and allows sites to run with extended, keyword rich brand names on-site without the additionaly keywords being submitted to Google Base.

brandGoogleName is submitted to Google Base in the mandatory "title" field.

If either field carries a value, it will be submitted in place of the standard brand name.

Order Admin

updated 2011-05-08 01:24:23
The Create Manual Order system in the back office has been upgraded to allow quicker entry of customer data for repeat customers.

Type in the postcode (or partial postcode) and the system will now look through existing orders for matching postcodes and present you with a list of up to 10 possibilities. Click the one required in the presented list and the data supplied for that previous order will be inserted into the customer details fields (Name, Email, Address and Telephone).

The list of 10 possibilities will alter, the more of the postcode typed in.

Google Base (Froogle)

updated 2011-04-29 01:22:56
Froogle / Google Base feeds updated to include now mandatory MPN/GTIN values; submitted as EAN or UPC codes where present.

Order Admin

updated 2011-03-28 01:42:34
Within Order Admin you can define shipping/carrier methods to assign against your orders as you complete them, entering tracking info for your customers, this detail then forming part of the final email sent.

The new upgrades further extend this functionality, allowing you to now over-ride the order completion email template with one specific to each carrier if required. If a customised email template does not exist, the standard order completed email will be used.

Additionally, if you use carriers who allow you to use your own internal references for tracking numbers, you can also set up tracking number auto generation, again specific to each carrier / shipping method.

Shopping Cart

updated 2011-02-27 01:30:07
Sequential Milestone Discount Voucher

This voucher enables you to offer a preset discount amount for each multiple "milestone" spend... eg £5 off for every £50 spent;
£0-£49.99 -> £0 discount
£50-£99.99 -> £5 discount
£100-£149.99 -> £10 discount
etc etc

This voucher may be applied with or without the following limits:
Offers included/excluded
Master category limited (apply only to items from specified master categories)
Brand limited (apply only to items from specified brands)

Product Editor

updated 2010-12-21 01:55:06
Addition of optional EAN code field.

Addition of optional minimum stock level field for products when system is configured in advanced stock control mode.

Addition of a quick stock amendment system, driven by SKU/EAN codes with runtime options.

Addition of a low stock levels / reorder report for sites running in advanced stock control with minimum stock levels enabled.

Order Admin

updated 2010-12-21 01:54:59
Manual Order system upgraded to enable fetching of product data by entering a SKU/EAN code.

Shopping Cart

updated 2010-12-21 01:53:31
Finance checkout options added:

Basic: Consumers alerted to availability of finance via fixed content page from checkout.

Lite: Consumer offered finance (based on configurations) and transferred to a secure environment where required details are left. This data is then used by the retailer to manually complete the Moneyway (or other lender) application process in the absense of the consumer, then informing the consumer of the outcome.

Fully Integrated: Using Pay4Later, as above, but the consumer is taken through an entirely paperless application process with an instant decision. Pay4Later uses Moneyway as the lender.

Order Admin

updated 2010-06-26 00:35:49
System added to enable order creation from within back office. Option to transfer items from shopping cart, or freehand addition.

Products

updated 2010-06-15 01:33:12
New configuration options to allow control of the structure and content for each of the 8 product type pages, allowing you to customise the titles to better suit your needs

General System

updated 2010-06-09 16:13:06
New option for the two automated product listing panels within the homepage editor.

It is now possible to select to have the panel(s) display newly added product rather than just randomised products.

This effectively gives the option for the content of the current "latest additions" block to feature in the centre of the homepage.

The system may also be instructed to limit to new products from a defined category.

Media Browser

updated 2010-05-30 02:08:47
New Media Manager deployed

The new system gives you new tools to help keep your image library in order. It allows you to upload and resize images into ANY folder, delete unused images, rename images, delete empty folders and create new folders.

Additionally, and for the first time, the media manager now allows the upload of files other than images. You may now upload WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, ZIP, PDF and a number of audio and video formats.

The Media Manager is split into two sections. The left panel contains a directory tree view where the numbered folders which correspond to brands will have their relevant brand name displayed alongside, and the right (main) panel will display folder contents and file details including file URL, relative path and html tags to embed the content into the vaious editors.

Whilst this new tool is standalone, media usage is reported. Indeed, used files cannot be edited to prevent the inadvertent breaking of sections of a site where the file may be in use. Every section of the database which could contain embedded html is checked for references to the file being viewed.

Functions:
Add new sub-directories (up to 5 levels)
Upload new image (resized to user specified dimensions); GIF, JPEG or PNG
Retrieve image from any website (excluding password protected images) by specifying the image URL
Upload new document/file; DOC, XLS, PPT, PPS, PDF, ZIP, MP3, MPEG, AVI, WMV
View file usage.
Download file.
Copy releative file path, URL or html tag
Rename file (only if unused)
Delete file (only if unused)
Delete Folder (Only if empty)

Product Editor

updated 2010-05-25 01:51:38
New field to the Brands Editor screens (Add and Update) which allows specification of the URL of an image (logo) to remotely retrieve.

General System

updated 2010-05-15 01:54:29
Option to enable an embedded "WYSIWYG" html editor.

Once enabled, the advanced WYSIWYG editor will be embedded for editing of the main page body in the fixed pages editor, the main article body within the news editor and both of the open text panels within the homepage editor.

For those with less skill in HTML, a WYSIWYG editor allows you to work in a word processor style environment, but clickable buttons to add links, set text bold etc.

The embedded editor is an open source product called "FCK Editor" and you can google it if you want to find out more.

Product Editor

updated 2010-05-04 01:33:56
The global price updates panel has been amended to enable the Offer Price to be amended as a standalone value in the same way that RRP and Our Price can be amended.

Please note however that any current 0 value will be unaffected.

Order Admin

updated 2010-04-28 22:41:46
New system to enable you to:
1) edit the names of any of the predefined system order statuses to make them more relevant to your operation
2) create any number of new order status options, each of which you can define the name for.
3) control the sorting order so that you can place specific order statuses into your own selected order

The only exceptions are that you cannot modify or control the labelling for the following three status settings as they are defined for system purposes:
NEW
COMPLETED
DECLINED

Product Editor

updated 2010-04-26 16:55:11
Clicking in to any of the four pricing fields within the editor subcategory, brand or sku results list views will now preselect the relevant product as one to include in an en-masse update.

Product Editor

updated 2010-04-26 16:53:54
Auto Product Alert system added;

As with Order Comments, Product Alerts are often used repetitively, ie the same message(s) is deployed regularly.

A mechanism to predfine a list of product alerts has now been added which is displayed with the product editor at subcategory, brand and SKU result list level and the specific product editor screen.

In list views, revealing the alert field or alert options drop down will present the item as one to be modified.

Order Admin

updated 2010-04-19 23:11:49
Anti Fraud measures imporved.

All orders are now cross checked against a list of some 140000+ known UK call boxes / public telephones.

Google Base (Froogle)

updated 2010-03-31 19:54:30
Configuration field added to insert Google Base / Google Merchant Center / Google Webmaster tools verification META TAG

Products

updated 2010-03-18 23:05:53
Sales promotions systems upgrade:

Value Linked Discount (x% value of item X in other free goods) (PRODUCT Specific)
AND
Reward Discount (£x.xx in other free goods) (PRODUCT Specific)

Both now have an option to create these promotions en-masse, by selecting a brand of product and all the categories where products appear that you might wish to add product specific rewards to.
This might not seem particularly practical until we explain why this feature has been added.

In both category based versions of the above, there is no mechanism to exclude any products from the global reward scheme. So for example, if you were to create a reward scheme worth 10% of the value of any purchased bike in free accessories, there would be no way of limiting which bikes the promo was applied to (with the exception of existing offers). Product specific versions allowed you to create different levels of reward on different products, but if you wanted to offer 10% against all specialized, but 15% against all Giant, this could not be done EXCEPT by creating each bike reward manually.
The second benefit is that I have also amended the system such that if it finds a product specific reward with a value of 0, it removes that product from any category based offerings.

So now, to have all bikes EXCEPT Marin, for example, you create the category based reward on bikes, then use the product specific reward, specifying all bikes from marin and assigning a reward value of 0. Now, your site will display the reward offering on all bikes except marin.

Shopping Cart

updated 2010-03-06 00:03:43
Item order quantity fields now configurable in back office.

Default selection quantities may now be set at the product level (current 5) up to 200.
Default selection quantities may now be set at the checkout level (current 20) up to 200.

Product Editor

updated 2010-02-07 14:57:15
Addition of 2 further 2 SKU fields (total 4) plus configuration options to show either 1,2,3 or 4 in editors.

Product Editor

updated 2010-02-01 02:40:23
Global updates system improved

Alter status per product, set pricing, set stock levels against variants AND enter/edit product alert values in one process, moreover, product status can be different for different products in the same action.

Altering the product status dropdown (new) for any product will tick it's modify? selector box, as will altering any one of it's variant stock values.

This multiple event global modification is now the DEFAULT in brand list view, subcategory list view AND in SKU search view

Order Admin

updated 2010-02-01 01:14:14
Anti Fraud measure improved.

All orders now cross referenced against previous orders placed in the preceding 28 days looking for repeated data, eg email addresses, telephone numbers, IP addreses etc.

Many fraudsters "test" a site with a small level order prior to going for the kill.

They will often submit a small value order to see whether it gets through undetected using the stolen credit card. If it does, they will then often place a sequence of orders for other items within a short period of time. It would be 4-6 weeks before you'd get the chargebacks and as such you would carry on blindly, often believing that as it's a previous customer, you can let your guard down a little.

Where the same details have been used on previous orders (within the month) you will be alerted, giving you the opportunity to check those other orders to see if there might be anything suspicious.

The checked data fields are:

Telephone number: checked against telephone, landline and delivery telephone fields.
Landline number: checked against telephone, landline and delivery telephone fields.
Deleivery Telephone number (if applicable): checked against telephone, landline and delivery telephone fields.
Billing Postcode; checked against both billing and delivery postcodes
Delivery postcode (if applicable); checked against both billing and delivery postcodes
Email address
IP address

Google Base (Froogle)

updated 2010-01-16 02:41:58
Exemptions added, anabling admin to prevent specific sub-categories and brands of product from being submitted to Google Base / Google Merchant Centre

Order Admin

updated 2009-12-21 14:43:42
Auto Comments system added. Many comments added to customer orders by admins are of a repetative format, ie the same message with just small tweaks.

A system to predefine and subsequently select comments and add them as admin comments has now been deployed.

Auto comments are defined as one of two types: internal or customer and appear in the relevant list in order admin.

Intro Editor

updated 2009-12-02 20:57:57
Homepage (Intro) editor amended to allow automated random products to be displayed in a highlight (block) format or super highlight (full width block) format.

Mailing List

updated 2009-11-24 01:23:04
System sending modified to cater for larger databases and prevent browser timeout causing partial sends.

For more information you can contact us on: info@i-bikeshop.com

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