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WebShop/UnderDevelopment (2005-08-16 12:05:26)

This page lists brainstorming ideas to make the shop more convenient

Priority TODO (David H., a guy who provides professional services for oscommerce since years made this for us for reasonable cost, but I don't like the limitations, and it didn't even pass basic testing):

Source easy to mount HALL sensors - preferrably from US, help please

Items related wishlist

Items that would be nice to host. If you have ideas where to get (what types, and for how much, in quantities of ~100) them from (especially if you can supply):

software Todo list of improvements:

having the client scale is very bad. The image can look very bad do to bad scaling on the client. It also makes the page load very slow. And uses more bandwidth then needed.

We need to get this done soon so we can. It will take some time to remake all the Images and the sooner we getthis the better.

it is important to improve our shop infrastructure because

Customer Focus Improvements

Ultimately we need an interface that is incredibly easy to use. Simplistic choices that break down into greater complexity on demand. This way we can target a market from an end user to the MS type customer to an experienced EE.

The webshop is most certainly not bad from this perspective, however there needs to be some work done on descriptions. For instance if I buy a Motec, the website gives me information on what type of engine the ECU will drive, what additional components are required and what the kit comes with. The assembled V3 controller has you will probably want to order (which I think should reworded to be forceful, In addition you will require) and a link to the WIKI. It states there are 12 FETS and 8 IGBT's. At this point you have lost your end user, and probably over half the MS community.

It's difficult to know what to order, as the descriptions aren't very thorough. Dependencies are obviously being checked manually once the order is placed. However it's disconcerting placing an order for a product you know is a system of components and wondering if you are going to have to place another order to complete the ECU. An automated check once going to the checkout would be helpful.

Also a more thorough list of dependencies would be fantastic, even if this is just a pointer to the a single WIKI page.

Remember there are no hard dependencies. The "dependencies" are just recommendations.

RedMist wrote: That most certainly is an issue. Perhaps we should rewrite some of the descriptions and make them necessities. If someone is knoledgeable enough to determine they don't need a component then they simply won't order it even if it states its a necessity.

"BEFORE YOU CHECKOUT ENSURE YOU HAVE CHECKED THIS WEBPAGE TO ENSURE YOU HAVE CONFIGURED YOUR GENBOARD CORRECTLY."

Pointing people to the wiki is a good idea (in fact almost every page does that).

I had noted that, however they point to descriptive pages on the website that give little indication of what exactly to order. IE if you require this feature you WILL NEED.

In the end it would mean less work in regards to ensuring everyone's individual BOM is correct. see MembersPage/RedMist/GenboardOrder

Feature Requirement
Direct Drive Fuel Pump (no relay) 1 x FET for each pump
Wide Band O2 1 X FET: FQPF20N06L for each WBO2 sensor

It seems to me there are 2 choices for this:

In any case, templates and examples are of great value. This is the 2nd reason I always ask people to scratch their plans in wiki. (the primary reason is that in email it finally takes 5x more time for them, and 20 times more time for the support crew).

I started WebShop/CommonPackages to help customers pack their shopping carts in less time with less intimidation and more confidence.

In addition should we not just increase the price of the kit and add minimal amount of IGBT's and FETs to suit a basic 4 cyl engine,to the rescue kit? Would make pick and pack alot more simplistic and would also decrease potential client frustration.

We always had a kit with increased price (the cased unit).

The client should plan his install to some degree, especially when chosing the cheaper option.

RedMist wrote: Very good point Marcell, there is little point in differentiating the product more.

If he is unsure, he should make a wiki page first and ask for help. The shop infrastructure is not sufficient for this process (unless one invests significant time and makes it possible in ofbiz.org), but it's hard to make it simpler than a wiki page.

Remember that this is one the simpler parts of the project: if someone is not confident, he should ask. If unable to ask on a simple page to help with his BOM, his project will fail anyway. He should buy a complete car.

RedMist wrote: This again depends on our target audience. If we state we wish to attract the MS style community then we most certainly cannot expect them to construct BOM's. Personally I'm very much on the low scale of experience with engineering, however would rank well up on the MS scale. The MS is simple, fun relitively flap B goes in slot A. I would hope that the VEMS product is heading in this direction, otherwise my project will also fail.

But this is the same as you suggested: pointing people to wiki for planning their BOM in wiki is the simple, yet very efficient tool. I doubt that anything more complex would be easier to use or more efficient.

When selecting an option. Such as Case holes, the "return to shopping" just returns you to back to the case selection screen.

Where should it take you ?

Attempting to alter quantities isn't self explanitary. There is no "Update" key, you must adjust the number then hit enter (which I would have thought would have taken me to checkout)

shopkeeper focus improvement

Add a payment status and target (since recipient can be many!!) - in our situation parts ship sometimes after, but usually before payment is done. We need to keep track easily.

Some mechanism to assign warehouse and status (ordered-item parameters that can have value from a given set, in general) to ship from by individual item (eg. WBO2 and Connector to ship from US while other parts ship from Hungary). No strict relation with the order status needed. If we set the whole order as sent-out, we don't much care about the individual order-items any longer. But before that, it can be nice...

headquarter focus improvement

NOTE: ofbiz solves most of this, we just need to migrate slowly (stock is in ofbiz already, sales should be from ofbiz too..)

This must help planning, supply chain, margin reports, etc...

We will grant license for enterprises who want to sell VEMS related items. We want to have some regulations on reports, commission (part of the profit will stay at the shop, and some will be passed on that finances the common developments) but be flexible in some other means.

In the simplest case, this would just be number ranges for orderid-s. site1: 1000000..1999999, site2: 2000000..2999999 etc... This would make it possible to have several shops (maybe some not available to customers), any of them could record initial orders and used to process shipments.

Prices:

pictures for broadband capable gimpers:

http://www.american.hu/GenBoardv31

especially the new, shorter EGT with nice bung and the application of the new recommendation highZ FlyBack (SMB diode and SMB transient suppression diode) - I should ask GF to redo the pictures, what I make with her camera are horrible without exception:

http://mail.american.hu/GenBoardv31/EGT_short/

Q: What the fitting specifications are cause I'm building a header and like to weld a bolt on it for the EGT right now thx.

The header must have a hole, with female thread (4..7 mm length is OK): the outer diameter of the male thread (sensor-part) is 1/3 inch (standard piping /NAPA?/, not metric). We plan to have metric soon, that will most likely be M10 10mm thread.

Fero, you measured yours more precisely (header done), can you put results here just to double-check ? Currently the K-thermocouple is available only with 120mm long sensor element, the connection is +30mm and 2.5m cable. The sensor can be bent if needed. It takes nothing to order shorter thermocouples (in fact we have a very cheap ~9 Euro one perfect for head-temperature - should be uploaded to shop) but if the tip is 1000..1100C and environment is also hot, it will be harder to keep the cable connection to max 400C with a say 60..80 mm short probe.

See also