Release Note - March 2023

2023 Q1 Training Release: March 17, 2023

2023 Q1 Production Release: March 31, 2023

Table of Contents

1. General - New ESM Logo, SSO Update
2. ESM Source Enhancements - Walk In Response, Column Filter, Ship To Location, Upload Line Item Response, Additional bug fixes
3. ESM Purchase Enhancements - Ship To location (Ethos integration) update, Reporter Update, Additional bug fix
4. ESM Supplier Enhancements - Bug Fix

General

New ESM Logo

As part of the ongoing improvement and innovation, we updated our logo in all the ESM applications to reflect our brand. 

ESM Purchase

ESM Source

Supplier Registration

ESM Supplier Portal

Updated SAML SSO Metadata

To enable our Single Sign On (SSO) clients to integrate with our Shibboleth services we must expose an unauthenticated Shibboleth Metadata Service endpoint. We updated the default metadata supplied by Shibboleth because it contained a warning that it should not be used in production environments. Now, the SAML SSO metadata presents multiple configurations and logs the auditing of the configuration being used by each SSO client. This will assist us in rotating configurations in/out of the production environments as we can trail new configurations with a limited client base before rolling it out system-wide and identifying clients that are still using deprecated configurations.

Learn more about SSO. 

ESM Source Enhancements

Create Walk-in Response for All Suppliers

Award Tab users can create walk-in responses on behalf of all suppliers, including ESM Purchase catalog suppliers, ESM Purchase non-catalog suppliers, and ESM Source suppliers. 

ESM Source > Award Tab > Create Walk-in Responses

ESM Source > Award Tab > Create Walk-in Responses > Search Suppliers

Added Column Filters on the Request Tab

Requesters can use the column filters in line-item bid sections on the Request Tab to quickly find the items they are interested in. Users can click on the filter icon next to the column titles to open the filters.

ESM Source > Request Tab > Create a New Request

ESM Source > Request Tab > Create a New Request > Column Filter

Changed the Ship-To Location Field to a Searchable Drop-Down Menu on the Request Tab

The Ship-To Location drop-down menu on the Request Tab was only able to display 100 records maximum. We removed this restriction so that all your ship-to locations can be seen by your requesters. Additionally, we updated the Ship-To Location field to a searchable drop-down menu, which allows users to type in keywords of the location names and select the location from the search results.

ESM Source > Request Tab > Create a New Request > Ship-To Location

Enhanced Upload Line-Item Response

The buttons for downloading and uploading Line-Item Response templates for the Walk-In Response page of the Award Tab are updated with the new labels so that it is more intuitive for users to understand the functions of the two buttons. This is also consistent with the labels used on the Event Response page of the Supplier Portal. 

ESM Source > Award Tab > Create Walk-In Responses

We also updated the default value of the No Bid column in the Line-Item Response templates. When suppliers or Award Tab users download the Line-Item Response templates from the Event Response page on the Supplier Portal or the Walk-In Response page on the Award Tab, this column will be empty by default. If suppliers or the Award Tab users do not want to bid on an item, they can type in Yes for the No Bid column in the templates. Otherwise, they can just leave this column empty. 

Line Item Bid Response Template

Additionally, we updated the validation process for uploading the Line-Item Response templates. The validation that checks if the correct and/or required data is entered for an item (a row on the line-item bid table) will only be triggered when the suppliers or the Award Tab users enter responses for that item in the template. If there is no data is entered for an item, we will treat it as No Response for the item and the validation will NOT be triggered. 

Bug Fixes 

In this release, the following bugs were fixed:

• The Specific States/Provinces pop-up window & the Specific Countries pop-up window on the Profile page of the Supplier Portal were not showing up after clicking on the link.
• No Bid column was not editable in the line-item bid section templates when the Award Tab users tried to create walk-in responses.
• The Upload Line Item Response pop-up window on the Supplier Portal > Event Response Page and the walk-in response of the Award Tab in ESM Source had wrong counts for the total items, successful inserts, errors, and no response. 
• Duplicated supplier records were showing up in the search results when the Award Tab users tried to search and create a walk-in response on behalf of a supplier. 
• Wrong responses and attachments were displayed in the Q&A sections when the user navigated from one Q&A section to another Q&A section. 

ESM Purchase Enhancements

Better Handling of the Empty Ship-To Location Returned by Colleague Ethos Integration

Occasionally, Ethos returns empty Ship-To data by mistake. Instead of overwriting the saved Ship-To Location with this empty data, the ESM system will use the previously cached Ship-To Location, so that when it is used in the subsequent message transmissions to the Colleague via Ethos, it does not throw an error message. This problem is specific to the Colleague Ethos Integration. 

Removed Inventory Transfer Option from ESM Purchase Admin

We removed the Inventory Transfer option from ESM Purchase Admin > General Settings > Add/Edit User page since this function is not available for Storeroom users yet. This option will be added back when the Inventory Transfer feature is fully functional. 

ESM Purchase > Admin > General Settings > Add/Edit User

TheReporter Update

We joined the Fulfillment Details view with the Purchase Order Item view by using the Catalog Item Number. This new join will remove the duplicated entries when reporting on Storeroom purchase orders.

Learn more about theReporter. 

Bug Fix

The following bug is fixed in this release:

• Items that were deactivated on the Item Maintenance page of the Storeroom Tab continued showing up in the catalog on the Shop Tab.

ESM Supplier Enhancements

Bug Fix

The following bugs are fixed in this release:

• Cancel button when adding a new description on the Registration Form Tab automatically signed the user out and redirected the user to the Log In page.
• Active for Procurement was still enabled on the Approve Tab after a supplier removed the Order From address and resubmitted the registration form for approval.