ChannelOnline 8.7.0 Release Notes

Released: March 7,2025 

This release, version 8.7.0, focuses on the introduction of QuickBooks Online, Floor margin/markup, XML schema updates, minor supplier and integration tweaks, plus fine-tuning core application functions and operational improvements.

• Documents
• Pricing
• StoreSites
• Integrations
• Suppliers
• General Fixes
• Fun Tip

View the release overview video: 8.7.0 Pre-Release Training.

Documents

E-waste handling – Improved e-waste verification when shipping addresses get modified on a quote/cart prior to convert to order. Now a change of address on the document will trigger the system to reassess whether e-waste is needed on the document and provide the necessary update to add or remove the fee. This check will happen after changes are made in the Billing and Shipping Address step on convert to order, by going to the billing and shipping edit page, it also applies to self registered and guest checkout end contacts.

• Example of the user message: “An item(s) on this document may have e-waste fee adjustments. Based on your taxation rules and the billing and shipping addresses entered, the tax rate for this document should be 6.0000%. Click ‘Cancel’ to keep the tax rate at 9.5000%, or click ‘OK’ to change it to 6.0000%.“.

Import Supplier Quotes – Import Ingram Micro (US) and TD Synnex (US) quotes onto ChannelOnline quotes via the Add/Import/Update function at the top of the document product table. First go on to either IM or TD Synnex and create a quote in their portal. Then come back to ChannelOnline, open the customer quote that you want to import the supplier quote to, then click on the Add/Import/Update dropdown arrow and select the desired supplier. After selecting the supplier a lightbox will appear where you enter the Ingram Micro ID or the TD Synnex CFM# to be imported. NOTE: Ingram Micro and TD Synnex quote import for Canada is still in development.

  –  Requirements:

• • Ingram Micro: activation of APIS Deal and Quote versions 6.
  • TD Synnex: activation of Production OAuth Credentials v2.0 and obtain the Client ID and Secret to enter into ChannelOnline.

Pricing

Global Floor – Setup global Margin Floor catch all rule for Discount Off List price rules. Calculation is based on an “if then” rule for floor margin.  If the calculated sell price based on % discount is below X% Margin (floor) then use X% Margin (floor) for calculation. To establish a global catch all minimum margin/markup for discount off list, set the “Never allow customer price to go below“ rate and method in the Price Profile Details edit window and save. Saved results will be displayed in the Profile Details widget on the profile’s edit page.

• Category / Manufacturer – Setup up an if then rule for floor margin to Discount Off List price rule selection when setting up individual Category / Manufacturer pricing rules. If calculated sell price based on discount off list is below X% Margin (floor) then use X% Margin (floor) for calculation. Floor rate and method can only be applied after the initial % discount rule has been created and saved.
• Example: On the Price Profile edit page, select the “Add New Rules” button. In the add rule lightbox within the Category / Manufacturer Pricing Rules sub-tab, select a category and manufacturer combination, like Networking and Cisco, enter the discount rate and select the “% discount**” from the method dropdown and click save. To add the floor margin, click the link in the Qty Pricing column to get to the additional pricing options for this rule. In the additional rule edit lightbox enter the rate and margin/markup rule next to the “Never allow customer price to go below“ option.

On Price Profile Edit Page

Inside the Edit Lightbox

NOTE: Use Qty Pricing column link to get to the additional pricing options, these include: Quantity discounts or breaks, assigning suppliers with or without inventory and floor margin/markup.

• Floor Import – When performing Price Profile imports it is also possible to import the floor margin/markup. Use either the Import button on the price profile edit window or go through the Import Wizard > Price Profile Import. To accommodate this new rule two columns have been added to the import sample file: Floor Rate and Floor Method. On import the system will look to apply this rule if it sees a % discount Method in that same row. If no % discount is present then the floor rate and method will be ignored. Import works with both old two level category and the newer full category (3 levels).

StoreSites

Contact Us and Self Registration forms – Implemented the use of Captcha verification for increased security on the public StoreSite forms near the bottom section above any custom fields. Users will be able to see an alphanumeric string to enter into the adjacent field for verification. Upon entry, users will be notified if it passes or fails.

Integrations & XML

Applications

• QuickBooks Online BETA: For years ChannelOnline has supported all the desktop versions of QuickBooks, now, in 8.7, we are happy to introduce our newest integration with QuickBooks Online. The QuickBooks Online integration offers synchronization (manually and scheduled jobs) of customer and contact information, quotes and sales orders, products and prices, when applicable from and to ChannelOnline. This integration is a licensed service starting with ChannelOnline version 8.7.  Please contact to your ChannelOnline sales representative for pricing and activation details.
  For more information about using the integration, please contact support to get the latest version of the QuickBooks Online Integration User Guide.
• Moneris Canada – Updated the checkout transaction method for use of Moneris in Canada.

XML/ Import/ Export Updates

New XML updates and fixes were added in 8.7.0, the current schema can be reached at: https://xml.channelonline.com/schema/8.7/schema.zip
Contact support if you need assistance (pre-release https://xmlb.channelonline.com/schema/8.7/schema.zip).

• Update sales order line carrier method and tracking information in ChannelOnline. Added the shippingMethod elements “carrier carrierId” and “service shipServiceId” to the external API to be updated when sending data back to the sales order. (Vision)
• Coupon discounts not exporting properly on xml export have been corrected. On the export document the amount element now has the right discount and not the % value in the XML response. For example: if the doc is $200 subtotal and discount is 10%, then the amount element for discount should be 20 (for dollar value) and not 10 (the % discount).
• Resolved an issue with Update Entity requests failing for accounts with no default shipping address.
• Expanded address firstname and lastname backend to support up to 30 characters for each field passed via the account and contact transaction.
• Added the ability for SSO integration to handle the passing of global custom field data.

Suppliers

Some backend improvements have been made to optimize supplier file uploads, warehouse changes, and statuses. Larger updates include:

• Dell – Contract pricing was being lost on some line items after pressing Live Cost. Once Dell contract pricing had been placed on a document, hitting live update will not remove that contract pricing but hold that pricing through to purchase order.
• Ingram Micro – Import Quote from Ingram Micro on a ChannelOnline quote using the Add/Import/Update button. This feature uses the IM quote ID # for importing, no date range search is available for this function. To use the feature you need to activate it in the integration settings by clicking on the checkbox labeled “Enable the ability to import Ingram Micro Quotes through the Add/Import/Update document feature.” and then Save & Exit.  NOTE: This feature requires the use of the Ingram Micro APIS webhook service Deal and Quote Management v6 products.
  • Additionally, system updates were made to update Ingram Micro delivery methods for US and Canada for better accuracy.
• ScanSource – Updated integration to utilize the newer API 2.o version for enhanced data transfers.
• TD Synnex – Import Quote from TD Synnex on a ChannelOnline quote using the Add/Import/Update button. Uses the CFM# for importing, no date range search is available for this function. To use this feature you must have both the API Client Id and the API Client Secret fields completed in the Integration Settings window along with enabling checkbox that reads “Enable the ability to import TD Synnex Quotes through the config import feature.“ Remember to save when done. After updating you will find “Import TD Synnex Quote in the Add/Import/Update button on the quote. TD Synnex Oauth setup steps can be found in the information box below.
• Custom Suppliers – Implemented the ability to export a list if item via .txt, .csv, .xls, and .xlsx. This function can be found in the Supplier Actions widget on the supplier view page.

Deactivated the following suppliers:

• Climb Channel Solutions
• Core 3 Technologies
• Douglas Stewart
• Tech Data
• Westcon-Comstor

General Fixes

• Corrected and issue on quotes with taxing their e-waste fees; total ended up being less than the total not taxing the e-waste. When e-waste was applied the document edit view appears to have the taxed e-waste total lower than the non-taxed total. The Print Preview did have the correct end total but didn’t list the sub-lines for the calculation of the total correctly

• Account export selected All returning deleted accounts.

• Taxed E-waste Totals issue.

• Cases where discounts were not exporting properly on xml export.

• Price Profiles were creating duplicate rows while creating a new rule in Category / Manufacturer edit lightbox.

• Corrected instances where the MSRP was not being set when sending a quote via XML using import_documents_request.
• Exertis backend code migration in ChannelOnline for improved supplier support.
• Rectified the process causing occurrences when document activity log was sometimes empty after an XML request has been made for that document.
• Error saving a paragraph to a document has been resolved.
• Expanded address first name and last name fields in the interface to support up to 30 characters each. This reflects the change in the made to XML for this release.
• Restricting an account’s Company name to max 50 characters throughout for consistancy.
• Merging a product spec sheet into a Proposal would hang on occasion and not complete the insert. This problem has been resolved and the Spec Sheet merge properly completes the insert into the Proposal.
• Increased the number tags that can be added to an item beyond the old limit of 50.

Fun Tip

Account Notifications!

On a global setting, you can control which system notifications get sent to or copy whomever you want within your organization or that specific account, including group mailboxes! Just click System Emails in the admin pane, and edit the email notification template you’d like to change. Be sure to add the notification email tag (<customer_notification_email> for text, or [[customer_notification_email]] for HTML) to that template.  You can copy SalesReps, add people as a blind copy, and even edit the default text in any system-generated email.