is a snapshot/update necessary?

[dandelion]

Hi

One of my clients runs Catalog to process orders whilst I do all of the maintenance separately on Developer.

I frequently add new products for him and update the site, and usually send him a snapshot immediately which he then installs on his machine and does an update to synchronise product keys. However he has experienced FTP problems and sometimes it takes a lot of attempts to complete the update for him.

We are using custom product references, and I was wondering whether the above process is necessary for two reasons:

1. To synchronise - I think if he doesn't run an update from his machine after I have uploaded a modified site, that he cannot then download orders, as the site encryption key reflects my Developer license, whilst he has a separate Catalog license - am I right?

2. If he doesn't update, will he be able to process an order for the new product (which I have assigned a unique prod ref to). Will the product reference be passed in the order, and show on the reports. He doesn't currently do any stock control from his machine - he could probably actually be using Order Manager rather than Catalog.

Thanks, Dan

[Toby B]

Hi Dan

1. To synchronise - I think if he doesn't run an update from his machine after I have uploaded a modified site, that he cannot then download orders, as the site encryption key reflects my Developer license, whilst he has a separate Catalog license - am I right?

This is not right. You do not have to get your client to run an update from his PC after you have uploaded a modified site. Licence keys do not affect uploading and downloading - otherwise the Order Manager software would not work with a Developer. However you must keep in mind that the encryption key, username and password must be the same in the upload and download PC. The keys can be found in Housekeeping | Security. The keys are transferred through snapshot or can be manually entered in.

The only time I can think of when you will need to send your client a snapshot is if you changed your shipping, payment and tax settings.

2. If he doesn't update, will he be able to process an order for the new product (which I have assigned a unique prod ref to). Will the product reference be passed in the order, and show on the reports. He doesn't currently do any stock control from his machine - he could probably actually be using Order Manager rather than Catalog.

Yes he will be able to process an order with a new product you have uploaded. The reference will also be included in the details.
It does look like your client only uses the functionality that OM provides.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[dandelion]

Thanks Toby

I have always been confused about this - I was confusing the encryption key with the authorisation key, and not thinking properly.

Thanks again, Dan

[Florian]

Dan,

The only other time you will need to do a snapshot update is if your client wants to use to Offline order function or wants to add another item to an existing order. You can only add items that are in the order machine database - hence a snapshot is necessary if you want your client to use this V7 feature and you have added new items to your design machine.

We learned this the hard way ourselves

Florian

[dandelion]

That makes sense. So I suppose it is really best practice to send the snapshots to the client as and when, but not necessary for them to Update.

I feel a lot clearer now!

Thanks, Dan