New IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned 25 suppliers:

• Vimpex International Corporation
• Knights Apparel, Inc
• Emerson Tool Company
• Sunnywood, Inc
• ABC Seating
• King Brothers Industries 
• Links Choice, LLC
• Madden Manufacturing Co.
• Root-Lowell Manufacturing
• TH Foods, Inc.
• Electrolux 
• Central Mills, Inc.
• Archway, Inc
• Builder’s Best, Inc. 
• Old Toledo Brands, Inc.
• Summit Industries 
• The Diploma Mill
• George J. Howe 
• Trans Tech Products 
• Jon’s Nursery, Inc
• Pinpoint Marketing Group
• Cooper Lighting, LLC
• LaBree’s Bakery
• Plus One Sports, Inc.

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.

If you would like to find out more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact John Etrie, IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at .

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New Resource! IDW eLearning Module Available on Portal

Whether you are new to Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) or you are an experienced user in need of a refresher on a feature in the application, you can benefit from the new interactive eLearning tool that’s now available on the IDEA Portal.

The new training course titled “Navigating through the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) Training Course” gives you an overview of IDEA’s Data Synchronization Platform and walks you through the most frequently used screens and features in IDW. You can explore at your own pace and view the module 24/7 on the web. The module gives you the option to complete the entire training course or jump ahead to a topic of interest using the contents menu bar (see screenshot below for an example).

The course reviews the following IDW features and processes:

• How to access IDW through the IDEA Portal
• Basic screen layout and navigation
• Sorting data in grid screens
• Selecting and moving items on a list screen
• Product details screen
• Data requests
• Users screen
• Subscriber directory
• Load summary
• Extraction summary
• How to create an FTP connection on your computer

All IDW customers can access the new training module by logging in to the IDEA Portal and navigating to Training>IDW>Training Modules. The new module will display at the top of the file list.

Please contact your account manager or email if you have any questions about accessing this new training resource.

Tags for this post: idw training idea portal

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Personalize Your Portal Homepage

One of the new features on the upgraded IDEA Portal 2.0 is a customizable RSS news reader or aggregator. You can use this new feature to get the latest industry headlines and a summary of IDEA news and educational articles. Find out more and learn how you can add RSS feeds and Quick Links to personalize your homepage.

What is RSS?

RSS (abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works (e.g. news headlines, articles, blog entries, audio and video) in a standardized format. An RSS feed provides full or summarized content from a website or section(s) of a website. The content header links back to the original location of the published content on the web.

RSS feeds permit “subscription” to regular updates, delivered automatically via a web portal (like the new IDEA Portal 2.0), news reader or email. Feeds also make it possible for site content to be packaged into "widgets”, "gadgets”, mobile devices, and other bite-sized technologies that make it possible to display the content just about anywhere.

What are the benefits of RSS on the Portal homepage?

The IDEA Portal 2.0 homepage acts as an RSS news reader or aggregator. It allows customers to consolidate a collection of RSS feeds that are important to them. You can use it to consume more knowledge in less time by accessing all your favorite news in one location. This helps you save time and minimize email inbox clutter.

The homepage automatically displays the and NEMA and NAED blog entries. Customers have the option to add RSS feeds of their choice by using the “My RSS Feeds” feature (See screenshot below for an example).

How can you personalize your Portal homepage with RSS?

You can add additional RSS feeds to personalize your portal homepage by following these steps:

1. Log in to the Portal with your user name and password
   Click on “My Account” in the menu bar
2. Click on “RSS” in the “My Account” menu bar
3. Visit a website of interest to find the RSS feed - Hint: if an RSS feed is found on the page, the RSS icon (see image to the right) should display in the menu bar of your browser
4. Click on the RSS feed link of the website
5. Copy the URL of the RSS feed
6. Paste the URL of the RSS feed in the space provided in the portal under My Account>RSS
7. Type in a name of the RSS feed below the URL so that you can easily locate the RSS feed on your homepage
8. Click the “Add” button

Now when you go back to your Portal homepage, the RSS feed you added should be displayed under the heading “My RSS Feeds”. All you need to do is click on the orange arrow and plus sign next to the RSS feed name to expand and contract the content.

Another way to personalize:

You can also add Quick Links or shortcuts to the orange sidebar of your Portal homepage by visiting My Account>Quick Links and entering the URL and name of the webpage shortcut you want to create.

Please contact your account manager or email if you are unable to log in to the portal or if you have any questions about personalizing your portal homepage.

Read more about the upgraded IDEA Portal 2.0

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Get Forum Resources and Hear What Attendees are Saying

The IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009 reviews and presentations are now available on the Forum Resources page. Also, don’t forget to check your inbox for the Forum survey - the survey closes this Friday, October 30th.

Everyone is free to enjoy the public Forum presentations but some presentations include proprietary information and can only be viewed by Forum attendees. These presentations are password protected and marked appropriately on the Forum Resources Page. Please email to request a password. All attendees will receive the password by the end of the week.

What 2009 attendees are saying:

“The value I bring back to my company and our customers after attending this event more than pays for the trip!!”

“The Forum acts as a two way street - it is both a learning and a teaching experience.”

“The Forum provides a great platform in which to network with industry peers and stay abreast with eCommerce initiatives.”

“I don't think there is a better opportunity for manufacturers and distributors to share knowledge about how the industry does business and how we can make it easier and better.”

“It is always exhilarating to spend time with professionals who deal with these issues every day. I don't have any equivalent in my work at a very small distributor.”

“The IDEA E-Biz Forum rocks!”

Attention Forum Attendees – The Forum survey closes this Friday, October 30th. Please don’t forget to check your inbox for the survey (last reminder sent Monday, October 26th). We value the feedback you provide in the Forum survey because it helps us plan future events around your needs. Please don’t hesitate to express your opinions and share your ideas. All input is greatly appreciated and all individual feedback will be kept confidential. An overview of the comprehensive results will be shared once the survey is closed.

Please contact if you did not receive the survey or if you have additional Forum resources to include on the website.

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IDW Hot Fact: Utilities Workstation Now Available

IDEA added a new feature in IDW that will serve as a huge time saver for manufacturers. The new Utilities Workstation is a tool that manufacturers can use to make quick edits to product data directly in IDW and rapidly respond to the needs of their distributor trading partners.

The Utilities Workstation was influenced by feedback from IDW manufacturer customers. Time is money, and not being able to edit items in one location slows down the sales process. The workstation eliminates the need for manufacturers to submit a Flat File or EDI load to IDW in order to make quick edits to existing data. Edits can now be completed and saved in IDW on the spot. The workstation is currently available as a menu item on the IDW Web application. Manufacturers can open the workstation and start making edits to data today (see screenshot below for an example of how to edit data using the workstation).

The production release of the workstation is scheduled for November 30, 2009. Your feedback is welcome during the 30 day beta release and will contribute to the final product.

Please direct comments and recommendations to . A full training schedule will be announced prior to the production release.

Tags for this post: idw news manufacturers utilities workstation data edits

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November IDW and IDX Training Opportunities

This month IDEA continues to offer on-demand training sessions for customers online. The November training sessions will cover all the new features that were revealed at the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009.

On-Demand IDW Training

IDEA offers on-demand one-on-one IDW training sessions. The trainings are divided into two parts for manufacturers and distributors. Part one reviews the essential business elements of IDW and part two dives deeper into the application. These trainings will cover all the new IDW features that were revealed at the Forum. Niche training (e.g. net price, inbound mapping, etc.) is also available upon request.

Customers interested in scheduling an IDW one-on-one training session should contact , Data Sync Platform (DSP) Support Manager, at .

IDX Tracker Training Schedule

Tuesday, November 03: 1:30-2:30PM
Tuesday, November 10: 1:30-2:30PM
Tuesday, November 17: 1:30-2:30PM
Tuesday, November 24: 1:30-2:30PM

Times don’t work for your schedule? Contact our flexible IDX training expert, Supriya Reddy at to schedule a one-on-one training at a time that works for you.

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