This article covers the following aspects:
1. Accessing the product catalog management dashboard
In order a manufacturer to manage the product catalog items, one has to click on the ‘Manage catalog’ section.
By doing so, one is redirected to the catalog management page, where all the current uploaded product catalog items are shown in tree structure. On this page, the manufacturer can either use the search field in order to search for a specific product, or he can expand the catalog tree and click on the desired product.
When the desired product family is selected, all the contained catalog items are shown on the list, on the right side. The manufacturer can now see all the available catalog items, and get a quick overview. The information that is available on this view is the 'Order number', the 'Product name' and the 'Application version'. At this point, if the manufacturer wants to modify the information for a specific catalog item, one has to click on the ‘magnifier’ icon of the respective product.
By doing so, one is redirected to the index page of the catalog item whose magnifier was clicked before. From this page, the manufacturer can add, modify or delete information for a specific product. This information will be accessible by the ETS/ETS Inside end users directly.
2. Product catalog item properties and metadata
The product catalog item properties are distributed per sections on the following page.
1. Generic information section
On this section, the manufacturers can see some generic product item information such as:
• Identifier: This is the unique ID of the catalog item
• Order number: This is the order number of the catalog item
• Name: This is the name of the Application Program of the catalog item
• Application Version: This indicates the version of the Application Program
2. Picture section
On this section, the manufacturer can upload a picture that corresponds to the selected catalog item. There are two ways to do so. The first one is to 'drag & drop' the desired file(s) and the second one is to click and get the 'classic uploader' in order to attach the files. Once the files are attached they can be found below the uploader.
The picture is always language independent and can be in JPG format and not bigger than 100kB.
Life type
A manufacturer is able to define the life type for each catalog item individually. The options for the life type of a catalog item can be the following:
- 'Default', which indicates that this is a regular product already existing in a market.
- 'New product', which indicates that this is a new product in the market, and the manufacturer wants to make the users aware of it.
- 'End of life', which indicates that this product is going to be withdrawn for the market within the next months and the manufacturer wants to make the users aware of it.
The manufacturer can select one of the values from the respective dropdown menu.
Blocked
When a catalog item is not available at all from a manufacturer, a manufacturer administrator can mark it as 'not available' and all the managers and the users will not able to enable or disable it on their local markets.
The manufacturer can select one of the values from the respective dropdown menu.
Extra information
- Upload new
A manufacturer can provide a zip file that can contain any extra information for each item individually. Therefore, the manufacturer can provide e.g. CAD drawings, certificates, other tool software, etc. The zip container shall not be more than 200 MB. Moreover, it is also possible to select an existing, already uploaded file as ‘extra information’ for a catalog item. In order a file to be uploaded, the manufacturer has to click the 'Upload new' link. By doing that, the manufacturer has to insert the version of his zip container, a short description for it and of course the file as such. When this information is filled in, the manufacturer has to press the 'Save' button, which is located on the bottom of the page. As soon as the file is uploaded, it can be found directly on the page.
In order an existing file to be deleted, the manufacturer has to press the 'Delete' button, which is located below the filename.
As soon as the 'Delete' button is pressed, the file is marked as 'To be deleted' and an informative message is shown. However, in order to finalize the deletion of the file, the manufacturer shall also press the 'Save' button, on the bottom of the page. Only by doing that, will the file be deleted.
On the other hand, if the manufacturer presses the 'Delete' button but he has changed his mind and he wants to keep the uploaded file before pressing the 'Save' button, he can press the ‘Undelete’ button and the file will remain.
- Select an existing one
A zip container that has previously been uploaded by the manufacturer for another catalog item, can be used for other catalog items as well. To do so, the manufacturer has to click the 'Select existing file' link and select from the dropdown menu the file out of the existing files. When the file is selected the manufacturer has to press the 'Save' button on the bottom of the page in order the changes to be applied.
4. Localized data section
The Online Catalog allows the manufacturers to upload information that will be language dependent. The initial page that is shown, contains a list will all the ETS User Interface available languages, meaning that the information that can added here shall be in one of the available languages, otherwise it will not be possible to be shown.
In order to add information in a language, the manufacturer has to click on the respective language button from the list on the left side. By doing so, the following fields are shown:
The manufacturer can provide a description for his product, in which he may present the product’s functions or give a short summary of the product’s application.
On that field the manufacturer can provide some comments that concern the catalog item. E.g. 'Now, with an updated Application Program!'. This comment can also be temporarily shown by enabling the 'Time limitation' option and defining the start date and end date.
A manufacturer can provide a PDF file that contains technical documentation for each item individually. Moreover, it is also possible to select an existing, already uploaded file as 'technical documentation' for a catalog item. The procedure to upload/select an existing/delete a file is similar to the 'Extra Information' file.
If the manufacturer has filled in and saved all the information then it will be shown in ETS as it shown here (click the picture to enlarge).
- Comments
- Description
- Technical documentation
- Extra information
