Overview of New Enhancements to the Penn Marketplace Effective Monday, July 27th

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Effective Monday, July 27, 2009 the Penn Marketplace upgrade will result in significant changes to many of the screens that are typically used and tasks that are performed on a regular basis.

More information on the changes are available at the following locations:

• A high-level overview of the changes as listed below.
• A more detailed "Before and After" user guide can be found on the Purchasing website.
• A more interactive training experience can be viewed on the Training Snippets below and in the "Organization Message" section of the Penn Marketplace homepage.

If you have additional questions, please contact BEN Helps at 6-HELP (746-4357).

The following is an overview of the upcoming changes to the Penn Marketplace:

Shopping Changes

The home and product search tabs have a new look and feel that is more user-friendly and intuitive. Item search is streamlined now with a single search box for simple keyword searches and will be consistent throughout the shopping process.

• The new "Shop at the Top" feature will allow users to perform standard searches more easily. "Shop at the Top" will also include options for "Advanced" and "Browse by" searches that are commonly used to search by supplier, category, etc.
• The Search Results format has been updated. Items will be easily identifiable and necessary information will be featured more prominently on the results pages. There are also now improved sorting and filtering options.

Favorite Changes

The Favorites functionality has been updated to enhance the process of using and enabling favorites for users and groups of users. The interface for using and editing Favorites has been improved to be more user-friendly and intuitive. Some of the biggest improvements include:

• A split-pane view that allows faster navigation of Favorites folders and items within those folders.
• An all-new format for viewing Favorite items makes browsing more user-friendly and provides additional options to navigate, including product images, important attributes, an optional description, and more.
• A more direct method for editing, moving, and deleting Favorites without using a separate editing interface.
• The different interfaces for Favorites throughout the application have been consolidated into a single page.

New Product Flags: "Green Products" & "Energy Star"

Two additional "product flags" will be viewable upon return of items classifying supplier products as "Green Product" or "Energy Star."

New Supplier Flags: "Showcase Supplier Icon"

A new icon will be used to indicate which suppliers are participating in the Supplier Showcase, a website that contains Penn specific product and promotions offered by many of our preferred contract suppliers.

Note: The current flag for "Is Recycled" is incorrectly referred to as "Green" in some areas of the application. With this upgrade, the "Is Recycled" flag will be appropriately renamed to "Recycled" where applicable. This will prevent any confusion with the new "Green Product"flag.

Training Snippets