EzParts Version 5.0 allows manufacturers to utilize their existing business processes and maintain their parts and service data for publishing without requiring them to perform MANUAL IMPORT TASKS. Entire datasets and product lines can be added or updated in the EzParts Data Store with the click of a button. Source documents will not require any modification or rendering. We know that our manufacturers find EzData Editing and Mass import tools easy to use and efficient. We know we will disappoint some of our users who find EzData editing a delight, but we feel that this disappointment will be offset by the cost savings. Our expectation is that up to 95% of the data editing and maintenance process required to publish your parts data has been eliminated. Not only does no other parts catalog provide the functionality and usability of EzParts, no other parts and service catalog makes it as easy and cost effective to publish your parts and service data as EzParts 5.0 guaranteed.

EzParts 5.0 will automatically detect when your engineering department has modified a source file. EzParts will, when instructed, import that file and any other source file modifications that have been made since the last import and automatically update your dataset. The key to this functionality is intelligent source file mapping in EzParts. Version 5.0 has the ability to intelligently import 20 different vector illustration formats and automatically link these illustrations with their appropriate bill of materials. In addition to vector graphic support EzParts supports over 30 different types of raster based image formats.

Additionally revisions are also internally supported for Bills of Materials and parts listings. This means that users can easily see all Bill of Material revisions and past history for a specific Illustration.

When comparing Multi-Lingual parts and service applications it is critical to define your multi-lingual requirements. Other applications claim to be multi-lingual but fail to provide true multi-lingual menus and multi-lingual parts and service data.

We have extended our Multi-Lingual support in Version 5.0. EzParts will automatically serve ALL resources and Bills of Materials in the appropriate language of the user's choice. Technical service bulletins, Owners Manuals, Sales Brochures, Warranty information, Schematics, Parts Listings, you name it. When the language specific resources exist they are automatically displayed. If however a specified resource is not available in the users preferred language, the resources and parts information is displayed in the primary or default language. Additionally, EzParts does not require that you add each multi-lingual resource individually. Using smart linking EzParts can "discover" multi-lingual versions of resources and import or link to them for display automatically.

The Multi-Lingual experience in EzParts provides language specific menus, navigation and data. There is no limit to the number of languages you can support. Function Menus, Navigation trees, Service data, Parts lists and Bills of materials are all displayed automatically in the users preferred language.

The user can even "switch" languages on the fly. A dealer who speaks primarily English can easily work with a Spanish speaking customer by switching between English and Spanish versions of the Bill of Material for any illustration. Likewise a right click allows the user to display sales information, product literature, owner's manuals, user manuals and other resources that are available in secondary languages.

Kits and assemblies are native in Version 5.0. While EzParts has always had the ability to handle kits and sub assemblies; this functionality is taken to a new level with our "nesting" capability. Kits and assemblies are more easily identified on the bill of material listing. The nesting functionality allows the user to click on the master entry in the Bill of Material and review the individual assembly and kit components. Optionally kit "components" and assembly "components" can be automatically appended into the Bill of Material at run time when only the "master part number" appears in the Bill of Material.

Kits and assembly components are automatically "indented" on the bill of material. Clicking the master part number for the kit or assembly will hide/show the components for that assembly. Manufacturers and users can determine the "default display mode" for kits and assemblies components as initially expanded or not.

"Like" or "similar" parts and Remanufactured parts inclusion options include the optional ability to appended like and remanufactured parts to the Bill of Material where applicable. These inclusions are color-coded to allow easy identification.

The Bill of Material has been enhanced even further with the ability to insert plain text header tags and groupings into the Bill of Material that are visible to the user at run time. This allows for easy identification of parts groupings where schematics may illustrate more that one component or class of parts. Additionally the Bills of material allow navigation by clicking on the parts listing for "see table" and "see chart" and "see kit or "see subassembly" references. The chart is displayed to the user without navigating away from the illustration or schematic. This means a time saving for the user or technician who is performing the lookup. The user no longer needs to navigate to a separate resource to identify the required part when cross referenced in a lookup table or chart.

EzParts Version 5.0 has built in capability to generate a PDF parts book for the current model, section or sub-section. Publications will be easier to generate due to the fact that technical publications will not be required to generate parts books and PDF files manually. Many manufacturers are expending valuable time generating parts books using tools like Adobe in Design or other publishing tool. These tools are used by the manufacturer to apply cover pages, table of contents, headers and footers, borders and page numbering to the parts books and the manufacturer is import the source graphics, and bills of materials to create a finished document. EzParts Version 5.0 includes the ability to create and publish your parts books utilizing templates. Manufacturers will be able to eliminate multiple steps and generate their parts book on the fly for any defined language without relying on external tools.

EzParts Version 5.0 incorporates synonyms into its search logic. These search synonyms are defined by language. For each language the Manufacturer can edit or modify the search synonyms to ensure that their users always get the correct search results.

For example: search synonym functionality for English users who search for the term "ENGINE" will see all the results for "ENGINE" and/or "ENG" "ENGN" maximizing the likelihood that the appropriate data will be displayed the first time the user performs the search.

The user does not need to be familiar with the abbreviations and specific terminology used in your parts and service data.

Supplemental visible or "hidden" data containing manufacturer specific information can be associated to parts, models, illustrations and other resources contained in the parts and service database. This data is utilized by the search engine to return highly qualified search results. This allows EzParts 5.0 to return more accurate data to the user minimizing the number of searches the user is required to perform. Multiple model association tags, supplemental data, and synonyms are only a few of the ways that EzParts provides a streamlined time saving experience to customers, dealers and technical service personnel.

Over the years EzParts has evolved into more than simply the most comprehensive parts and service tool available. Integration of additional manufacturer data and up selling strategies have resulted in maufacturers utilizing EzParts as a Sales and Training tool in addition to it standard Parts and Service Role. EzParts 5.0 allows the manufacturer to include and classify resources according to their type. Samples of classifications include: Training Guides, Sales Brochures, Warranty Information, Unpacking Instructions, Warranty Recall Information, Service Instructions, Service Bulletins, Service Checklists and more. Manufacturers can easily add new resource classifications as needed and assign security permissions to users based on resource class, restricting or granting access rights. Users can limit their search results by resources classification guaranteeing that searches return the information that they are interested in.

Notes functionality has been dramatically enhanced to allow for additional notes types that are displayed on a specific user action and within illustrations. Users cannot miss important information when the note is physically "embedded visually" on the illustration. Notes can be classified into different manufacturer defined categories allowing important data to be sorted and displayed according to user rights and manufacturer preferences. Examples of note type that the manufacturer can include are: Warranty notes, Service Notes, Sales notes. Additionally Up-selling enhancements include e-commerce notes that are displayed to provide useful parts related information at the time of adding specific items to the cart.

Many manufacturers discontinue and replace parts on one to one and on one to many relationships. A part may be discontinued and replaced by 1 like part or by 2 or 3 parts. In some cases these parts replacements are conducted on an OR or AND basis. For example:

ONE to ONE:
     PART 123 WASHER replaced by:
          PART ABC TEFLON WASHER

ONE to MANY "AND"
     PART 456 RETAINING PIN replaced by:
          PART DEF 5/8" BOLT
          AND
          PART ABC TEFLON WASHER

ONE to MANY "OR"
     PART 789 RUBBER LINKAGE SPACER replaced by:
          PART GHI 1/2" NYLON LINKAGE SPACER
          OR
          PART KJL 1/2" TEFLON LINKAGE SPACE

Handling super-sessions and parts replacements properly prevent EzParts 5.0 users from experiencing severe limitations found in other parts and service applications. When working with parts data combined with integrated eCommerce, it is critical that parts replacement data is handled properly so that the parts system automatically presents the correct notification or options to the user when they attempt to purchase a discontinued or replaced part. In the case of AND replacements, EzParts automatically notifies the user and places all required replacement parts into the cart. In the case of an OR replacement, EzParts prompts the user for the desired replacement part from the predefined parts replacement data. This ensures that your customer or dealer knows what to expect when they receive their order, every time.

The eCommerce system Both Vector and Raster image types natively supported. Web users can optimize for bandwidth allowing EzParts to decide what format provides the best user experience. This means that users with low bandwidth can opt to receive their schematic images in raster format while users without bandwidth limitations can opt to receive true vector graphic illustrations. The manufacturer does not need to supply the data in both formats. Where only vector graphics formats are provided, EzParts servers automatically render the raster images when required.

In EzParts 5.0 parts and service publishing tools, modifications to the User Security Definition model make managing users and user groups easier.

An enhanced encryption layer has been added to the data store to strengthen security related to the data store and optional encryption of external resources.

By working closely with manufacturers to determine their requirements and how their needs are affected by changing technology Systems Online has been able to provide many enhancements and modifications over previous versions of EzParts. For more information on the features of 5.0 and the scheduled release date please click on the button below and request more information from one of our sales representatives.