Release Notes: March 5, 2020

Here’s what’s new with DirectScale the week of March 5th, 2020.

Lots of really good stuff this week! Enough said.

Remember to come back every Thursday or subscribe to “News from DirectScale” to get reminders about all the cool things we are delivering.

🎁 New Features and 🌟 Enhancements for All!

🎁 New! Edit Custom Report Created Via SQL [Corp Office] We keep improving the features around the Custom Reports in the Corp Office! This week we introduce the ability to edit your custom report that was created using the SQL Builder. 

🌟 Improved! SQL Manager Preview Below [Corp Office] When we made the update to show the Preview in the slide-out for the Custom Reports we didn’t realize it would make it even more inconvenient for the SQL Manager.  Now the SQL Manager shows the query results in the same page and the Custom Reports show in the slide-out optimizing each of these experiences. 

🌟 Improved! StatusID added to API.V2.GetChatData [Corp Office API] In order to only show chat messages to those who are certain statuses, we’ve included the StatusID in the API call.

🎁 New! Verify Address Hook [Corp Office] To support other address verification services, this part of the code is now hookable in the client code.

🎁 New! After Database Copy Hook [Corp Office] When we copy data down from live to another environment, the settings can now be hooked so certain things (like live merchant credentials) can be skipped. 

🌟 Improved! Removed Unused Print Packing and Print Picking Buttons [Corp Office] These buttons were unused and broken. We got rid of them because no one is doing manual fulfillment. 

🌟 Improved! Fixed Defect with Default Shipping Method [Retail Site] The setting in the Retail Site Admin to set a default shipping method for the store wasn’t always being followed.  This defect has been fixed so the default shipping method can now be set on the Retail Site.

🌟 Improved! Custom Page/Content UI Update to Increase Space [Retail Site Admin] We hear you!  Writing custom code on the tiny modal that didn’t expand wasn’t the best user experience. Now when you create a custom page/content you get a full page with an extra large input box. Keep up the suggestions in our Feature Wishlists post in the community! 

🐞 Bugs That Have Been Squashed

🐞Fixed: Commission Details: Paid To Showing Wrong Name [Corp Office] In the Commission Details of the Commission Profile, the “Paid To” column was showing the name of the person who placed the order and not the person who actually got paid that commission.  This has been fixed so the payout details are accurate.

🐞Fixed: GetDate was Using Universal Time [Corp Office] There were several services that were using universal time instead of server time. The use of dates was just inconsistent and incredibly annoying so we cleaned up everywhere that was using universal time to now use the server time (the client’s preferred timezone).

🐞Fixed: Shipping Methods without Ship Table Records Failed Orders [Corp Office] This only applied to shipping methods that used “Shipping Table” as their payment calculation and there were no actual records on the shipping table. The order would fail and the user would not know why. Thankfully none of our clients had empty shipping tables so no one noticed. There is now a setting to choose how to degrade when there are no records. It will either display an error to the user or just hide that shipping method altogether.

🐞Fixed: Abandoned Orders Report Shows $0 Orders [Corp Office] Orders started in the Web Office are tracked so the user can pick up where they left off next time they log in. There is an associated report in the Corp Office so if marketing wants to proactively reach out to those who haven’t completed orders, they can. Unfortunately this report was tracking sessions of orders where nothing was actually added causing this report to seriously bloat. It’s clean now.

🐞Fixed: SQL Manager Queries Dates Sorted as Text [Corp Office] We’ve run into this one before! Dates in the database just were being treated as strings instead of dates, so we fixed it, again.

📘 Help Documents and Training

📘New! Initial Set Up Guide [Guide] This comprehensive guide includes checklists, steps, and videos that take anyone through the first critical things that need to be set up and tested to start taking orders.

📘New! Adding Documents and Media [Video] This video shows you how to specifically add various document and media types to the Web Office via the Web Office Admin.

📘New! How to Create a Custom Widget [Article] This article specifically teaches you how to create a countdown widget but includes enough general principles of widget creation that it can be used as a guide for creating other custom widgets in the platform.

📘New! GenericFTP (for 3PL) Implementation Guide  [Article] This article shows you how to use SFTP to access and update shipping status without needing an API integration.

📘New! Visible SCM Implementation Guide (3PL) [Article] This article covers the steps involved in connecting your Visible SCM account to Corporate Office.

🌟 Improved! How to Assign a Role to a User [Article] With some of the recent changes to Web Office Admin and creating and managing users, this was updated to reflect those changes.

🌟 Improved! How to Edit an Existing Role [Article] With changes to how roles and added and managed, this article was updated to reflect those changes.

🌟 Improved! Employee > Roles [Article] Updated this tutorial to include definitions for all roles.

🌟 Improved! How to Edit Business Information [Article] Added more details to clarify this part of Corporate Office.

🌟 Improved! How to Edit Company Details [Article] Added more details to help clarify these parts of both the Web Office and eCommerce Admins.

🌟 Improved! Order Details [Article] Updated this tutorial's formatting and accuracy.

🔮 What Cool Things Are We Working On?

• Improving the user experience for when orders have volume that gets distributed over time.
• Better backup options for when tax providers go down. 
• Unifying the Admin experience across all our tools.
• Ongoing enhancements to improve Retail Admin’s ease of use and add new configurable settings.
• We are creating more user guides for specific parts of the system such as customization and the Retail Admin.
• We are creating videos for the most important parts of initial customization.

Is something missing from this list? Report bugs that you find to our amazing Support Team by chatting with them from the platform or submitting a request here.   

Do you have a cool idea for a new feature? Join the community discussion to suggest new features and see other ideas you might have never thought of here.