Trade Interface Login

Contents

  1. Prerequisites
  2. Overview
  3. Login Page
  4. Home Page
  5. Product Search Page
  6. Model Search Page
  7. Product Details Page
  8. My Sales Representative Page
  9. My Briefcase Page
  10. My Items Page
  11. My Online Orders
  12. My Account
  13. My Details Page
  14. My Preferences Page
  15. My Feedback
  16. Pending Orders Page
  17. My Basket Page
  18. Order Details Page
  19. Order Confirmation Page

This document describes the functionality of Trade interface that exists for each project created on the TOTECS platform. The Trade interface provides a fixed layout with minimal customisation that allows an organisation to quickly start trading online to existing customers.

Prerequisites

Please ensure that you have read and understand the following topic links before reading on.

Overview

For each project created on the TOTECS platform, the Trade interface comes bundled in with the project. The Trade interface contains a fixed number of web pages and layouts pre-defined. It is intentionally is designed so that anybody can start trading online to their existing customers without having to spending any time on design.

The interface provides several key aspects to Ecommerce. It allows users to navigate the category tree, locate products, and have users view pricing of products based on their set customer account. It allows users view the details of products, add products to basket, create orders, modifying pending orders, maintain shopping lists (wish lists), view customer account contracts, plus many more features.

The trade interface's web pages are all hidden from public view, which means that only users who are assigned to the Trade interface can login and use the interface. This also means that search engines cannot rank or find the data that is located on these web pages. This intentional since the Trade interface is not designed to be a public website, but rather a computer program that is accessible any over the internet.

Trade Interface Pages

The diagram shows all the pages within the Trade interface that users can navigate between. Each page provides different functions available to user. The pages themselves can be control by permissions based on the Facility Permission role assigned to the user logging into the Trade interface. For example a permission can be set so that the user cannot view the My Briefcase page and pages underneath it. Using the combination of Facility Role permissions and settings from within the Administration Centre, administrator users can control a wide range of aspects of users navigating through the Trade interface.

Trade Interface Navigation Pages

Login Page

The Trade interface's login page allows both users assigned to the Trade interface, and content managed websites interface, as well as administrator users, to enter their Login ID and Password credentials and login. Once their credentials have been authenticated the users will be redirected to their relevant interface.

The login page itself is fixed in its layout, with only the styling and banner of the page allowed to be customised.

Home Page

The Home page within the Trade interface is the first page that users see once they have logged in from the Login page. The home page can be configured to display the following:

  • A customisable advertising banner image
  • A panel advising of the number of pending orders requiring the user's approval
  • A panel displaying a product search form based on a configured search profile.
  • A panel containing a list of top level categories.
  • Panels each containing products assigned to a product flag.
  • A panel displaying a list of news/blog items. The news items display for news/blog groups that can be viewed for the whole project, or are assigned specifically to the Trade interface.

Each of these panels have settings and/or facility role permissions that allow them to be configured from within the Administration Centre.

Product Search Page

The Product Search page displays a table containing the results of a user trying to search for products. The are 4 ways in which the page is loaded from.

  • A user clicks on a category from the interface's left hand navigation bar, and navigates down through the category tree until they hit the child most category. The user is then directed to the Product Search page which will load the products belonging to the child category.
  • A user enters a search string in the quick search form on the left hand navigation bar, which causes the Product Search page to load displaying the results of products that match their search term.
  • A user fills out a search form displayed on the left hand navigation bar, which causes the Product Search page to load the results of the products that match the search.
  • A user fills out a search form displayed on the Home page, which causes the Product Search page to load the results of the products that match the search.

Additionally at the top of the Product Search page a search form will display that allows the user to alter their search inputs, or to use a different search profile to find products by.

The columns that are displayed in the product search results table can be customised through the Administration Centre. The labels of the columns can be customised to reflect terminology that the user's will know, and the ordering of the columns can be customised. The settings to customise the table are available from within the Administration Centre. Trade Users can also choose from the available columns the columns that they do not wish to see within the My Preferences page.

In the Buy column a setting can customise if a quantity box displays to the user to allow them to add the quantity of a product to the basket, or a button can be displayed that the user must click on to bring up the Quick Add dialog displaying more details about the product.

From the Product Search page users can also click on a product's code, description, or image to be redirected to the Product Details page to view more details about the product.

Model Search Page

The Model Search page displays a table containing the results of a user trying to search for models. The page is loaded from the model search form that can be configured to display in the left hand navigation bar. In the model search form users can choose to search for models based on make/manufacturer, model code, model name, year, and/or model sub code.

Once a list of models is displayed in the search results table, users can click on the name of a model to bring up a dialog that displays all the products assigned to the model. From there users can add products to basket based on entering quantities, or click on a product to be redirected to the Product Details page.

Product Details Page

The Product Details page displays the details of one product. This allows users to find out in depth information a product. This page can be linked from any other pages that display a product link.

The following can be set to display on the web page:

  • Product Item Code.
  • Product Item Name.
  • Description fields 1,2 3, and/or 4.
  • List of file attachments.
  • Primary product image, and a list of images assigned to the product.
  • List of volume discounts/quantity break prices, based on the breaks applicable to the user's assigned customer account.
  • Recommended retail price (RRP).
  • Unit price.
  • Available stock level quantity, or stock level indicator icon.
  • Quantity box and Add to Basket button
  • An information icon that brings up the Product Information dialog box.
  • Text boxes that allow users marked as sales representatives to set the price of a product, or discount the product price based on a percentage.
  • Button that allows the user to add the product to their favourites list.
  • Button that allows the user to add the product to a new or existing shopping list.
  • Button that brings up a dialog that lists all the deals the product is assigned to for the user.
  • A form that contains fields that allows a user to enter extra information about the product that they are adding to basket. These fields are called Basket Product Fields.
  • A list of child products if the product is a parent product that contains kitted products,
  • A form that allows the user to choose from drop down options to find child products, if the product is a parent combination product.
  • A list of category crumbs that allow the user to see the category that the product is assigned to, and navigate back through the category tree.
  • A table of models that the product is assigned to.

A large number of these elemnts can be configured based on settings and facility role permissions set by administrators within the Administration Centre.

My Sales Representative Page

The My Sales Representative page (also known as Repspace) allows users assigned to the trade interface, and who are marked as a sales representative user, to view the customer accounts that they can manage. The page can accessed from the Home page, and from pages that display the My Briefcase tool bar.

The page contains two tabs that do the following.

My Accounts

This tab displays a table that contains all of the customer accounts that the user is allowed to see. The accounts that display are based on the same Sales Representative ID being assigned to the user, and to the customer accounts. Salesrep users may also have the ability to view all customer accounts in the project if the Facility Role that they are assigned to allows for it. 

In the tab the user can search for accounts based on the Account ID or Company Name data, or based on the Login ID of a user who is assigned to an account. Additionally the salesrep user can show only active accounts within the project.

Once the salesrep user has located an account, they can click on the Use Account button, which will assign the account to the user's session. From that point on the salesrep user will be able to search for products and see pricing based on selected customer account, as well as create orders that are assigned to the chosen customer account.

My Baskets

This tab displays a table of all the shopping baskets that the sales rep user has created. Salesrep users, unlike normal Trade users are allowed to have more than one basket created for them. By default when a sales rep user decides to use a customer account from the My Accounts tab, a basket will automatically be created for the account to allow the salesrep to put products into. By allowing a sales rep to have multiple baskets for each account, it allows them manage the products that each of their customers may wish to order at later dates.

My Briefcase Page

The My Briefcase page displays a summary of the user's activity within the TOTECS project. This page can only be accessed by clicking the My Briefcase button in the top navigation bar.

The page displays the following:

  • A panel with the summary of products, containing the number shopping lists that the user has created, products that the user has added to their favourites, and pages that they have bookmarked.
  • A panel displaying the total amount of orders they have placed for the month, the financial year, as well as the number of pending orders awaiting their approval.
  • A panel displaying the account balance of the current customer account assigned to the user.
  • A panel displaying the name of their assigned customer account, and the date that the user lasted logged in.

Each of these panels display a button that allows the user to be redirected to the My Items, My Online Orders, My Accounts, and My Details pages.

My Items Page

The My Items page displays information related to products that is relevant to the user. This page is linked from any pages that display the My Briefcase menu. 

The page contains the following tabs:

My Shopping Lists

Displays a list of shopping lists that the user has created, or been shared with from another user. Additionally the tab displays a form allowing the user to create new shopping lists.

For each shopping list the user can click on the shopping list name to open a tab that displays the products, and file attachments associated with the shopping list. Also links display that allow the user to delete shopping lists, Email the shopping list, share the shopping list with another user, and import all the products within the shopping list into their basket. 

My Favourites

Displays a list of products that the user has added to their favourites. For each product the user can set a quantity and add the product to basket, as well as remove the product from the favourites list.

My Bookmarks

This tab displays a list of pages that the user has bookmarked within the Trade interface. It allows the user to quickly click on a bookmark to navigate to the page within the Trade interface. Additionally the user can delete books from within this tab.

My Most Ordered Products

This tab displays a list of products that the user has previously ordered, which are based on the order of the quantity of products that they have ordered the most. This list provides a quick way for the users to add products to their basket again based on products that are most popular to them.

My Online Orders

The My Online Orders page displays a list orders that the user had created and submitted previously. The page displays a graph showing the total amount spent per month in online orders over the previous financial year, as well as allowing the user to navigate to previous financial years of order data, and alloing a user to click on a month to view a list of orders submitted online for the month.

Order Details Page

From the list of orders shown on the page the user can click on an order to bring up a new browser window that displays the details of the order. In the order detail page the user can see the following details of the order:

  • Billing address
  • Delivery address
  • Order number
  • Order date
  • Purchase Order Number
  • Freight Carrier
  • Customer Account Code
  • User Login ID
  • List of product lines, quantities, and prices
  • Freight, credit card, and minimum order surcharges
  • Tax applied to the order
  • Final order amount

My Account

The My Account page (also known as Account Enquiry) displays the details of the customer account associated with the logged in user. These details include:

  • Account Name
  • Outstanding Balance
  • On hold status
  • Payment Terms
  • List of invoices
  • List of transactions
  • List of sales orders
  • List of back orders
  • List of payments
  • List of credits

The details of the account displayed on the page are obtained in real time from the business system linked to the TOTECS project, via the Connecter software. This provides an up-to-date picture of the account, just as if the user was viewing the data straight from the business system.

Account Summary Tab

The accounts tab displays the details of the account, as well as a table of invoices that are outstanding and yet to be paid. For these outstanding invoices users have the ability to select a number of invoices, then choose to make a payment against them. It can be configured so that the user can make payments for the selected invoices via a credit card payment form, or by direct deposit by displaying the details of a bank account that they can transfer funds into.

Transactions Tab

The transactions tab displays a table of debits and credits that have occurred against the account. The list shows a running balance against the account as the transactions have occurred across invoices, orders, credits and payments. The transaction records in the table can be filtered by date range.

Orders Tab

The orders tabs displays a table of sales orders that have been created against the account. The order records in the table can be filtered by date range, or a specific sales order can be found by searching on an order number.

Backorders Tab

The back orders tab displays a table of back orders that have been created against the account. The back orders themselves consist of ordered products that were out of stock at the time an order was placed, which caused the stock to need to be ordered off a supplier. The backorder records can be filtered by date range.

Invoices Tab

The invoices tab displays a table of invoices that have been created against the account. The table displays all the invoices including outstanding and paid invoices. The invoice records in the table can be filtered by date range. Additionally invoices can searched on by the user the entering the invoice number in the search field.

Payments Tab

The payments tab displays a table of payments that have been created against the account. Each payment record contains the details of a payment, and when it was made. Payments credit the customer account and add a positive amount to the balance. The payment records in the table can be filtered by date range. Additionally invoices can be searched on by the user entering the payment number in the search field.

Credits Tab

The credits tab displays a table of credits that have been created against the account. Each credit record contains the details of credit, and when it was applied. Each credit adds a positive amount to the balance, and indicates a refund to the account. The credit records in the table can be filtered by date range. Additionally credit records can be searched on by the user entering the credit number in the search field.

My Details Page

The My Details page displays details related to the user who is logged in, and can allow those details to be updated. The page is accessible from any page where the My Briefcase panel displays on. The following details are displayed on the page:

  • User's contact name
  • User's first, second, and third name fields
  • Whether the user allows marketing material to be sent to them
  • The Emarketing user subscription categories that available to the user, and the categories they have subscribed to.
  • User's login ID
  • User's security question
  • Details of the customer account that the user is assigned to, these include:
    • Company name
    • Australian Business Number (ABN)
    • Contact name
    • Billing address 1, 2 and 3 fields
    • Billing address country
    • Billing address postcode
    • Fax number
    • Phone number
    • Email address
  • List of delivery addresses assigned to the user.

Depending on the Facility Permission Role permission assigned to the user, then on this interface they can also update all of the fore-mentioned details about the user (except the details of the customer account). Additionally the user can create, modify, and delete delivery addresses assigned to them.

My Preferences Page

The My Preferences page allows the user to customise the interface based on the the following settings:

  • Default Search Type: The setting allows the user to set the default search profile that allows users to search on products by from within the left hand navigation bar of the Trade interface.
  • Visible Search Columns: The setting allows the user to choose the columns that display in the table on the Product Search page. The user has the ability to show or hide columns that are available to them.
  • Show Thumbnails: The setting allows the user to choose if product thumbnails appear when viewing products in the table on the My Basket page.
  • Default Home Page: Allows the user to choose the page that displays when they first login.

The page is accessible from any page where the My Briefcase panel displays on.

My Feedback

The My Feedback page displays a form that allows the user to fill out and send an Email otification to a configured Email address in the project. When the user fills out the form they can also choose from a subject related to the enquiry they are submitting. This page provides an avenue for user's to get in contact with the administrator's of the project (or a person within the organisation) without having to create an Email themselves.

The page is accessible from any page where the My Briefcase panel displays on. 

Pending Orders Page

The Pending Orders page displays a table that lists the orders that require the user's decision to approve or decline. This page is accessible from the pending orders panel on the Home page of the trade interface, or from the My Briefcase page.

A user can be assigned to receive order approvals if they are assigned as managers of other users through the Purchase Manager feature, or if they have been specifically assigned by another user to approve an order through the Order Approvals feature. In both these cases another user needed to have created an order, set the payment to be On Account, and submitted the order so that it is in the Pending state.

On the Pending Orders page a table will display a list of all the orders submitted by other users that are awaiting confirmation. For each order in the table the managing user will have a choice to approve the order, modify it, or decline it using the buttons provided. If an order is declined then the order's status will be set to "Declined", and the order will not be sent to the business system linked to the TOTECS project. If the order is approved then the order's status will be updated to either unprocessed or sent, depending on if the order could be successfully sent to the external business system or not via the configured connector software.

Additionally the managing user has the option to modify the pending order. If they choose this option a new browser window will open displaying the details of the order and allow the user to update the order's billing address, delivery address, purchase order number, freight carrier, instructions, add products, remove products, and change ordered product quantities. Once any of the order data has changed and the user has clicked the save button, the surcharges of the order will be re-calculated based on the updated data.

Please note: If a deal was applied to a product, as soon as a managing user modifies the quantity of the existing product the deal will no longer be applied. Additionally if a user adds a product line, no deals will be applied to orders that are pending.

My Basket Page

The My Basket page displays a list of products that the user has added to their shopping basket (also known and a shopping cart). This page is accessible from the View Basket button in the top menu bar of the Trade interface.

This page allows the user to do the following:

  • View a list of products in their basket
  • Remove products from their basket
  • Alter quantities of the products in the basket
  • Add multiple products to basket quickly using the Quick Add form. Users can choose the product field to find products by.
  • View the product code, name, thumbnail image, stock level.
  • Allow salesrep users to set the unit price of a product.
  • Allow salesrep users to set a discount percentage against a product.
  • Allow salesrep users to set the customer account associated with the basket, as well as the name of the basket.
  • Allow users to see a list of deals applicable to them.
  • Allow users to find deals by entering a voucher code, or promotion code.
  • Allow users to add products to basket with a deal once a deal was successfully found.
  • Allow users to click on an information icon against each product to view more details of the product in the Product Information dialog.
  • Allows users to click on a product code or name to navigate to the Product Details page.
  • Remove all products in the basket by clicking the Clear Basket button.
  • Create a new shopping list, or add the products in the basket to an existing shopping list.

A number of facility role permissions and settings can be configured to set the panels, and data that is displayed on this page.

Once a user is happy with their basket, they can click the Next button to proceed through the order checkout process.

The user can click on the Continue to Shop button to be redirected back to the home page to allow them to keep browsing the interface.

Order Details Page

The Order Details page displays a form that allows the details of a new order to be set. This page is accessible from the My Basket page when the user clicks on the Next button.

On this page the user can set the following details of the order:

  • Delivery Address: User can choose an existing delivery address created by them or a delivery address associated with the customer account assigned to them. The user also has the option to create new delivery addresses, or update an existing address. Each delivery address contains the following fields:
    • Address Description: Label to set for the address to allow the user to be able identify the address,
    • Contact Name: Name of the contact person who is contactable when the order is delivered.
    • Address 1: First address field. The label of this field can be customised. Typically it stores the street address,
    • Address 2: Second address field. The label of this field can be customised. Typically it stores the suburb, town, or city name.
    • Address 3: Third address field. The label of this field can be customised. Typically it stores the state, region, or province.
    • Country: Country that the address is within. Users can only choose a country that has been enabled for the project.
    • Phone Number: Phone number of the contact or business.
    • Fax Number: Fax number of the contact or business.
  • Freight Carrier: Drop down field that shows the options that the user has chosing a freight carrier. This field sometimes used for obtaining additional information about the user, instead of providing a freight carrier.
  • Method of Payment: Options of the payment methods available to the user to pay for the order. These options display based on the payment methods assigned to the user's customer account. The list of payment methods are:
    • Account - The order is placed on the account, and paid later on, based on agreed payment terms.
    • Credit Card - The order must be paid by credit card before it can be submitted.
    • Paypal - The order must be paid through Paypal before it can be submitted.
    • Direct Deposit - The order will be paid by money being transferred from a bank account. Once the order is submitted the bank account details configured in the project will display advising the user how they can pay for the order.
    • Running Quote: The order will be set as a running quote that does not require any payment.
  • Purchase Order Number: Allows the user to set a number that corresponds with a purchase order that has been created back in their business system. The purchase order number allows the sales order being created to be tracked.
  • Confirmation Email Address: The Email address that an order Email notification will be sent to once the order has successfully been submitted.
  • Instructions: Allows any additional information to appear on the order, that tells the person picking, packing, or delivering the order about any extra information. Users have the ability to choose from previous instructions that they previous wrote on an order to save time.
  • Quote Order to User for Review: This field will allow the user to choose another user assigned to the same account to have the ability to approve the order. Once the order has been sent it will be marked as Pending, and the assigned user will need to login and approve the order before it is sent to the linked business system of the project.

A number of these fields can be forced to be mandatory through the permissions associated with the Facility Role assigned to the Trade user.

If the user clicks the Next button on the page, the details they gave for the order will be verified, and the surcharges of the order will be calculated, based on the surcharge rules set out in the project. Once this has occurred the user will be redirected to the Order Confirmation page.

Express Checkout

If the Express Checkout feature is turned on, and the user is assigned to a customer account associated with an Express Checkout profile, then the user will not need to visit the order details page. Instead the user will proceed from the My Basket page to the Order Confirmation page, with the details of the order set based on the Express Checkout profile's settings. This makes it easier for users to checkout by reducing the amount of steps required.

Order Confirmation Page

The Order Confirmation page displays details of the order, and allows the user to view the order before it is confirmed, and submitted. This page is only accessible from the Order Details page, or from the My Basket page if the user was able to use the Express Checkout feature.

This page displays the follow details of the order being created:

  • Billing address
  • Delivery address
  • Order number
  • Order date
  • Order status
  • Purchase Order Number
  • Freight Carrier
  • Customer Account Code
  • User Login ID
  • List of product lines, quantities, and prices
  • Calculated freight, credit card, and minimum order surcharges.
  • Tax applied to the order Final order amount
  • Organisation Logo associated with the project
  • Organisation address information associated with the project
  • Checkbox that asks the user to confirm that they accept the terms and conditions.

This page provides a visual look of the order, and provides the last chance for a user confirm that the order's details are correct before it is submitted.

For users paying for the order by credit card, once they click on the Submit Order, a dialog will appear asking for them to enter their credit card details. Upon submission these details will be sent to the Credit Card Payment Gateway configured in the project, with the money being transferred into the Merchant Bank Account that has been configured in the payment gate way. 

Order Number

Once a user has reached this page an order number will be generated. This order will have its status set to Unconfirmed. The order number can then be used when creating payments before the order is submitted. If the user does not submit the order, then they arrive back at the Order Confirmation page at a later time, the platform will try to use an existing order number if it was not confirmed, otherwise a new order number will be generated.

Credit Card and Paypal Order Payments

For users paying for the order via Paypal, once they click on the Submit Order button they will be redirected to Paypal's website, where they can login, confirm the payment amount, then submit the payment. Once the payment has been successfully processed they will be redirected back to the Order Confirmation screen where the order will be submitted.

In order to use Paypal the project must be configured with the details of the Paypal account that payments will be sent to. For Credit Card payments a merchant bank account must be set up and associated with a Payment Gateway provider that is supported by the platform, these providers are currently SecurePay, eWay, and TNS.

Order Submission

Once the order has been submitted the status of the order will be updated to either Pending or Submitted on the page. The actual status of the order will be changed to either Pending, Unsent or Sent. If the order could have been submitted to the business system linked to the project, then the order's status will be updated to sent, otherwise it will be left as unsent and an administrator user will need to manually send the order through the Orders interface available from within the Stores menu of the Administration Centre.

Order Confirmation Email Notification

When the order is submitted an Email notification will be sent out to the Email address specified from the order details page, as well as the Email address configured in the project. The order Email confirmation will consist of a message that advises the recipient that the order was submitted, and an attached webpage document that allows the details of the order to be displayed.

If the order was submitted as a pending order, then an Email will be sent to all the user's who have the ability to approve the order.