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AUG 30, 2012 www.illumaware.com 1
Mobile Friendly MyCarParts
All MyCarParts online catalogs recently received a free enhancement to enrich the viewing experience on mobile devices. The updated interface includes more mobile friendly applicaEon search lisEngs, as well as a reorganized product informaEon page to beGer present your products on the smaller mobile screens.
By making MyCarParts more mobile friendly, Illumaware conEnues to support the delivery of your catalog directly to the customer and installer. PuKng your informaEon directly in their hands, whether in the garage or along the side of the road, generates grass root support for your brand and can lead to a purchase decision being made well before the customer arrives at a store. ALer the purchase, leveraging the new mobile MyCarParts interface to deliver addiEonal assets such as installaEon diagrams and warranty informaEon will further enhance your brand loyalty in the marketplace.
This enhancement may provide a great opportunity to raise awareness about your online catalog with a new press release or through social media. If you have any quesEons about how to include addiEonal product informaEon or digital assets to complete your online presentaEon, please let us know and we will be happy to help.
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
INVALID APPLICATIONSTO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP?
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PRIORITIZE HOLESWITH VIO INTEGRATION
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DUPLICATE ENGINES?PAGE 3
THE ATTRIBUTES ARE COMINGTHE ATTRIBUTES ARE COMING
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THE ILLUMINATOR VOLUME VII
2012 Fall Leadership Days In San Francisco
The AutomoEve ALermarket Industry AssociaEon’s Fall Leadership Days conference will open September 5th in San Francisco, CA. The conference provides an opportunity for the associaEon’s staff and volunteer leadership to assemble and discuss industry challenges and opportuniEes. It is at these meeEngs where changes are proposed and approved to industry standards such as ACES and PIES.
Brian Williams will again be in aGendance represenEng Illumaware, helping to ensure our ability to meet the data requirements of a dynamic industry. If you, or a member of your organizaEon will be aGending and would like to simply meet or discuss new opportuniEes we may assist with, please contact Brian in advance of the conference at Brian.Williams@illumaware.com.
AUG 30, 2012 www.illumaware.com 2
Invalid Applications – To Keep or Not To Keep?A common area of discussion regarding the ACES standard is the concept of an invalid vehicle configuraEon, and just how much value they have. Defining and transmiKng invalid applicaEons is a fully supported and well documented funcEon of the ACES XML standard, but it is important to understand that a valid “ACES” pracEce may not be the most successful business pracEce for you.
We’ve all been there. Looking at a new “Invalid ApplicaEon” wondering what changed to make it invalid when our own research says it does exist. It is very tempEng to simply click “Keep Record Without ValidaEon” and move on; but that decision shouldn’t be made without understanding exactly how those records are going to be treated by all parEes from that point forward.
From a record validaEon standpoint within Evokat, this record will no longer be reviewed for validity, which means that you will not be noEfied if anything else changes in the configuraEon. In many cases, this is desirable, but it can also lead to unknown configuraEon holes by not keeping up to date with minor changes made to the AAIA standard. A visual review of your applicaEon definiEons may not be enough to highlight where differences occur and that can lead to lost sales, especially when records may be dropped when converEng to other standards such as Legacy.
Including these records in an ACES XML file is a valid pracEce and rather straight forward. A simple “validate=no” value is included with these records, telling data receivers that the vehicle being communicated cannot be validated against the VCDB. From that point, it is up to the data receiver to define if and how they are going to handle these situaEons. The three most common approaches in our industry today are: to ignore the validate value, to skip non-‐valid records, and to accept them. 1) The “validate” value can be disregarded and the records processed normally. This approach can delay file processing as validaEon reports balloon in size and highlight the records that were already defined to be invalid.
2) Receivers can ignore these records enErely, leading to coverage differences between your catalog and theirs. Even if the records are not ignored during the iniEal processing, a search tool that is structured around the VCDB will effecEvely ignore any records that refer to an invalid configuraEon meaning that potenEal customers may not be presented with your product as an opEon.
3) If the invalid records are ingested correctly, and if the catalog interface is designed to allow deviaEons from the VCDB, then the applicaEons can be presented to the customer. Some catalogs, such as MyCarParts, are designed to handle applicaEons in this manner, but it is not safe to assume that all search tools are designed the same way.
Keeping an invalid configuraEon does have its place, and has value in allowing catalog managers to author applicaEons in advance of a vehicle’s inclusion in the VCDB, but it can lead to a false sense of security as well. Overuse of the “Keep Record Without ValidaEon” funcEon to keep your “Analyze My Catalog” scorecards in the black should be avoided. Each invalid configuraEon should be reviewed and researched to see if the vehicle was simply reclassified in the VCDB, or if the original definiEon was actually incorrect. Taking the proper acEon to resolve these records will help drive sales, increase efficiency, and improve relaEonships with trading partners.
THE ILLUMINATOR VOLUME VI
AUG 30, 2012 www.illumaware.com 3
Prioritize Holes With VIO Integration
THE ILLUMINATOR VOLUME VI
To maximize your sales opportuniEes as well as get your catalog recognized as an industry leader, it’s criEcal to spend Eme analyzing and acEng upon your coverage holes. The coverage holes displayed on the Analyze My Catalog scorecard are an effecEve tool to ensure the broadest market coverage possible and to keep up with changes in the vehicle standards.
Evokat presents a structured analysis of your applicaEon coverage against the VCDB and NAPA Vehicle tables on the ‘Analyze My Catalog’ page. Holes are broken down into 4 acEonable levels for efficiency: Makes, Models, Model Years, and ConfiguraEons without coverage. The different Eers are separated to make it easier to idenEfy acEonable holes and to focus on vehicles you are most interested in serving.
Even with this Eered approach, the holes informaEon can be overwhelming and it can be a challenge to determine the best starEng point. That is where integraEon with Vehicles In
OperaEon (VIO) informaEon comes into play. If you subscribe to a VIO data service, such as Polk or Experion, that informaEon can be linked to your coverage holes, at the Make and Model levels, to highlight the vehicles that should be given top priority. Simply provide us with a copy of the VIO informaEon you purchased and we will load it into your secured database for use in reports.
Not all coverage holes are created equal, so narrowing your focus with VIO integraEon will help to maximize your sales opportuniEes in the shortest Eme possible.
Polk is the premier provider of automoEve market intelligence. If you are interested in learning more about ways to leverage VIO informaEon, ask us for a demonstraEon or contact ALermarket PracEce Leader Mark Seng at Mark_Seng@polk.com.
Duplicate Engines?As AAIA has conEnued to expand the coverage of the VCDB across the enEre North American ALermarket, through the inclusion of the Canada and Mexico regions, new data challenges have presented themselves to Catalog Managers in the form of “duplicate” engines.
You may have noEced occasions where the Evokat mapping screen displays two idenEcal engine values for selecEon, and wondered which to select. In fact, they only appear to be duplicates but they are not. A complete engine base defines a bore and stroke size, among other values, as well as the more visible values such as liter and cylinder. SomeEmes these aGributes are leL undefined which prevents them from being
recognized as idenEcal. SomeEmes the values are off by as liGle as 1 millimeter due to reporEng differences by mulEple sources.
If you are know your part fits a 5.4L engine and are presented with mulEple values, then you should select both engines even though they appear to be duplicates. That is the best way to ensure that the coverage you want is defined.
We will conEnue to monitor all changes made to the VCDB and to pursue ways to clarify these situaEons when possible. If you have quesEons, concerns, or thoughts on this point, please contact us at any Eme.
AUG 30, 2012 www.illumaware.com 4
The Attributes Are Coming! The Attributes Are Coming!
THE ILLUMINATOR VOLUME VI
Members acEve in the AAIA community are already aware of a pending extension of the PCDB, called the Product AGribute Database or the PADB. The design of this addiEon has been under review for months and will likely be raEfied during the Fall Leadership Days conference in early September. Use of the new PADB is opEonal. However, an understanding of its purpose if your trading partners have plans to require it is important for future planning.
The PADB is the result of a long overdue and very challenging effort to standardize product aGribute informaEon across the industry. Several teams of Subject MaGer Experts (SMEs) have reviewed aGributes used by manufacturers and suppliers to determine a set of common aGribute definiEons by part type. The goal is to both ensure consistent communicaEon of criEcal product informaEon, as well as to simplify the data authoring process. If leveraged properly, potenEal customers will not leave confused as to whether “color” and “finish” actually refer to the same thing, and
suppliers will not have to author custom aGributes to fit the preferences of specific trading partners.
An addiEonal result of the PADB projects is the creaEon of new “PIES Only” and “ACES Only” AAIA Part Types. The SMEs idenEfied several categories where the level of specificity needed to describe the product was far less than what is needed to define its mulEple uses on a vehicle. For example, a bearing may have dozens of specific placements on a vehicle, but from a product classificaEon standpoint, simply calling it a “bearing” is sufficient. These new PIES and ACES Only part types will be introduced to the standard gradually, and should be incorporated into your future catalog authoring plans. Evokat has already been updated to handle this new level of Part Type assignment, as a primary “Part Type” value can be assigned on the Product Detail > Basic page in addiEon to the mulEple part types that can be assigned via product descripEons. Once the new “PIES Only” part types are released, they will be available for assignment on these pages. The true effecEveness of this iniEaEve will not be known for several months, unEl both retailers and suppliers have an opportunity to incorporate and author these values. If either side does not embrace the expansion then the effort will have liGle value, but if it is fully accepted by all parEes, retailers will be able to build effecEve comparison driven shopping carts and suppliers may find new ways to communicate their products selling points. Within Evokat, our strategy is to conEnue to provide catalog managers with the freedom to define product aGributes to fit your custom branding goals, while establishing a link between your aGribute names and the new official industry terminology.
Contact Information 800.880.4964 Bruce SpeicherManaging Partner
Brenda HeinitzDirector of Cataloging
Adrian KlingelFounder and CTO
Brian WilliamsDirector of Operations
Ralph BowenEvokat Subscription Sales
Richelle PowellDirector of Finance