BMEcatHub software makes it easy to accept, modify and distribute electronic catalogs. You can import catalogs, filter them and edit items individually. The BMEcatHub is therefore your local repository for BMEcat catalogs or, in other words, a database in which you can change your product data records.

The BMEcatHub also enables mass changes to product data with the help of external tools such as Excel. So, we can easily apply data from our Office world to our product data. In addition, even large catalogs can be imported and exported extremely quickly. Here are only two impressive performance indicators:

• Importing a BMEcat of 500 MB (= approx. 40,000 products) takes approx. 30 seconds.
• The export of a BMEcat of 500 MB takes approx. 15 seconds.

BMEcat is therefore suddenly no longer just an exchange format for product data, but defines the database structure and provides the contents of a product database within  BMEcatHub.

Go on reading >>>>

The new version of the web service "BMECat2CSV/Excel" is online from now!

The web service "BMECat2CSV/Excel" converts your BMECat files (versions 1.2 or 2) into files in the format. CSV. You can convert files up to 500 MB in size through this service.

Link to the application: https://www.sepia.de/apps/bmecat2csv-excel/en

Features in detail:

• Entering the email address to be notified of the result of the conversion
• Uploading BMECat versions 2 or 1.2
• Conversion to csv or Excel spreadsheet
• User will receive a notification by email with a link to download the result

Goto the services website >>>

Depending on the required handling, the product structure but also the existing basic data for the product, different configuration systems are recommended. In this article, we would like to describe the different types of Product Configurators in more detail. Go on reading...

BMEcat2Shopware imports BMEcat 2005 into Shopware.

With BMEcat2Shopware you can import product catalogs of the type BMEcat2005 into your Shopware6 shop. The program runs locally on the PC. There are versions for Windows, Linux and Mac. The program uses the Shopware REST API to import product data into the store. If you receive a file with product data of type BMEcat 2005 from a supplier, simply use it as the data source for the import and select which fields from Shopware are to be filled with the fields from the BMECat. You can also save a configuration file and call it up again later. You can also store the access data for your Shopware integration in a second configuration file. The program has no quantity limits. You can import as many products as you want.

Go to the product website.

Just in time for the Bau München trade fair, Karcher Design is launching the new "Studio" product line. This series is characterized by the fact that the door handle can be individually configured. And this product configuration can be achieved via the Alterra::CPQ licensed by Karcher. In addition to the configuration of the Select Line ER90 model, Karcher is now also changing all other product lines to configuration, and the data is successively being prepared for use in Alterra::CPQ.

Goto Showcase Karcher

There are different techniques to automatically generate product data sheets – you can either use local applications on your desktop or you can use server-based services. For locally installed software, Adobe InDesign is widely used for typesetting promotional documents; but it has the disadvantage that the file format created by this program cannot be easily reproduced with non-Adobe software. A very good alternative to office programs is the generation of template-based output via a report generator like JasperReports. For setting up data connection and templates, this open-source program has an intuitive desktop interface called “JasperStudio”....

Read more >>>

Sepia is shipping the worlds first Configure Price Quote Software running in headless mode. A Headless CPQ software like Sepia’s new Alterra CQP operates separately from a graphical user interface. It provides simple mechanisms for incorporating CPQ functions into other systems such as websites, web stores, sales software or customer portals. The advantage of headless systems is that companies can very easily add new CPQ functionality to existing environments. Software from different manufacturers can be interconnected in this way.

Go on reading >>>

The Product Compatibility Rule Editor is used to create abstract rules that can then be used to determine compatible products, for example in web shops or in sales. The editor is also useful for creating rules for product configurators.

Read more >>>

The world-renowned manufacturer of natural wood design furniture Team7 introduces a 3D product configurator on its web platform. In the future, all of the company’s configurable products will be included. The 3D product configurator is part of the Alterra::SalesPortal eCommerce system, which works seamlessly with Alterra::PIM (Product Information Mangement) and Alterra::DAM (Digital Asset Management). The leading master data and logic system is the ERP system working in the background, which is connected to the Alterra platform.

Read more >>>

All modules of Alterra Software were checked for the component Log4J (remote code execution vulnerability CVE-2021-44228 in Apache Log4j 2 Java library aka “Log4Shell” - https://www.lunasec.io/docs/blog/log4j-zero-day/). Result: Alterra is 100% safe.

Sepia integriert erfolgreich Alterra::PIM und Alterra::SalesPortal beim Design-Beschläge-Hersteller Karcher. Das von Karcher vertriebene Produktsortiment zeichnet sich zum einen durch die enorme Variantenvielfalt und zum anderen durch die Kombinierbarkeit von einzelnen Elementen aus. Für den erfolgreichen Vertrieb Ihrer Produkte muss die Karcher GmbH mehrere Ausgabemedien bedienen, die die Produkte aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln und mit unterschiedlicher Zielsetzung darstellen. Dabei ist es hilfreich, dass Produkte so in Einzelteilen gepflegt vorliegen, dass man bei Bedarf Teile austauschen kann oder Produkte komplett neu zusammensetzt ...hier weiterlesen...

Der Thermokon Webshop auf Basis von Alterra::PIM und Alterra::WebShop ist online. Produktinformationen werden bei Thermokon zentral in Alterra::PIM und Alterra::DAM vorgehalten. Von dieser Plattform aus, können verschiedene Kanäle bespielt werden. Ein besonders wichtiger davon ist besagte Unternehmenswebseite mit dem integrierten Kundenportal. Hier kann ein Kunde personalisiert seine Produktdaten mit seinen aus dem ERP-System in Echzeit zugespielten Preisinfos aufrufen und Produkte zu Projekten zusammenfassen. Eine Bestellung kann hier projekt- oder produktweise direkt ausgeführt werden. Der Lieferprozess wird dabei mit Trackingfunktionen unterstützt.

Weiterlesen...

Jetzt den neuen BMEcatConverter für Excel testen

Der BMEcatConverter Version 3 für Excel wurde von Grund auf erneuert:

• keine Makros in Exceldateien
• Excel-Dateien können sowohl aus MS-Office als auch aus Libreoffice erzeugt werden
• eigene Felder können jetzt noch einfacher hinzugefügt werden
• .NET 5.0 Anwendung
• auch die neue Version ist OpenSource
• Betriebssysteme: Windows 10, Mac OS X oder Linux
• beliebige Datenmengen können verarbeitet werden.
• schnelle Verarbeitung: 1 Mio. Datensätze in ca. 10 Minuten je nach verfügbarer Rechenleistung.
• integrierter Validator für BMEcat 2

Windows Download: BMEcatConverter 3 für Windows 10 BETA (Windows GUI)

Weitere Downloads:

Apple Mac OS X: BMEcatConverterCLI 3 für OS X BETA  (Kommandozeilen Version)

Linux: BMEcatConverterCLI 3 für Linux BETA  (Kommandozeilen Version)

Excel Quelldatei als Beispiel:  BMEcatConverter-ProductData-Template.xlsx

Linux oder Mac OSX Beispiel für die Kommandozeile:  ./BMEcatConverterCLI --infile=./BMEcatConverter-ProductData-Template.xlsx  --outdir=/tmp

PIM systems are ideally suited for digitally mapping the entire life cycle of a product. The life cycle of a product begins in product development. This is where the first data is generated, which can later be used all the way through to sales. The preparation of documentation and manuals also produce data sets that can be usefully employed in other contexts.

The number of actors mentioned here makes it clear that without digital tracking of when and how work is carried out, organizational chaos can very quickly arise making it hard to guarantee data quality.

But how can you ensure – in an elegant and effective way – that all activities around a product record are logged in the PM system and remain traceable throughout the entire organization?

 Why don't we treat products as a projects in our pim-system ?

Alterra::PIM is the right PIM system for your Shopware 6 environment. If you don’t want to make the same job two times when it comes to product data maintenance, Alterra::PIM is the right choice. Using Alterra::PIM is already worthwhile if you run one shopware instance and sell products in several regions with different languages. The benefits become even greater if you use the multi-shop or multi-channel features of Shopware 6. Alterra can also be used as a bridge between your ERP system and Shopware 6 for real-time transfer of inventory and price data. Alterra::PIM is highly flexible and also takes into account product variants and so-called “custom fields” in Shopware 6.

Alterra PIM-System for Market Grounds

The Hamburg-based company Market Grounds develops and markets high-quality food products related to coffee. In order to keep customers up to date with the current range of products, Market Grounds must be able to create product information and price lists with focus on their different target groups. To reduce production times for the different output channels and to get the effort required for data maintenance under control, the company decided to integrate Alterra PIM as a central product data store for all marketing and sales-relevant product information.

The most important decision criteria are the adaptability to internal work processes as well as compatibility with the Adobe Creative Suite in particular Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

For successful retail companies, the procurement of high-quality, up-to-date and – above all – correct supplier data, especially product information, is becoming an increasingly decisive competitive factor.

Standards have already established in some industries, while others are only now starting to implement digital business processes for business communication between suppliers and customers. In many cases, the daily routine of “obtaining” product data is an elaborate manual process which often consists of creating meaningful product data from heterogeneous piles of information (Excel lists, PDFs, Word files, etc.) and distributing it to the different sales channels.

This article aims to shed light on the issue of data formats for exchanging product data and implementing digital business processes. We therefore present a compilation of the most important standards to give you an impression of the formats that are particularly suitable for your industry, your company and your specific application.

HYDROKOMP GmbH is a supplier for the international mechanical engineering and tooling industry. HYDROKOMP designs, manufactures and distributes high-quality coupling systems, rotary couplings, clamping technology, and machine elements for industrial applications. Against the background of digitalization and the reorientation of online activities, the company decided upon a new approach: a technical solution based on the Alterra Variant Configurator should be used to increase the effectiveness of the sales organization. Alterra Variant Configurator (Alterra::VC) is a software plugin that runs fully integrated into an existing website, allowing you to configure any product.

In addition to the standard features of a WebCMS Alterra offers some extra features that make it particularly interesting for companies. Alterra CMS uniquely supports companies in their Product Experience Management. Any information about the product can be combined and output in the web via Alterra CMS. The Alterra product family is a real one-stop shop for: product data management, customer master data, image and video data management, product configuration, web shop and web content management. Alterra CMS references PIM, DAM and PCM – without having to copy, import or build interfaces for data exchange. This makes Alterra CMS a unique transclusion engine!. Alterra CMS therefore is a real alternative to Typo3 or Drupal.

The digitalization of product management in companies is no easy task and only possible with the right tools. CLINIC & JOB DRESS decided to rely on the combination of Alterra PIM and Alterra DAM as central building blocks for the implementation of the digital transformation of their product marketing. In the given context, digitalization means the processing of all relevant information over the entire life cycle of a product.

Lesen Sie diese Projektberichte über die Integration von Alterra PIM:

• Segmüller
  
• abholen.de von EDEKA
• Toshiba Europe
• Messer Group
• WENKO Wohnideen
• Thermokon Sensortechnik
• Halfen Group
• M+W Dental
• Stahlwille
• WASI
• Rudolf Müller Verlag

Diese international operierenden Unternehmen haben mit Hilfe von Alterra PIM erfolgreich ihr Produktdaten-Management  verbessert.

The Whitepaper of Alterra PIM as PDF.

Sepia GmbH & Co. KG

Ernst-Gnoss-Strasse 22
D-40219 Düsseldorf  - Germany

Phone: +49 211 51 419 75

Phone alternative: +49 211 74 958 712 0

E-Mail: info@sepia.de

Looking for consultation or a web demo?
Get it here.