Release Notes 2025-R1

We are pleased to announce the 2025-R1 product release. As part of our real-time, omnichannel platform, we continue to enhance the features and capabilities that you can use across the different areas of the platform:

The following are the key components included in this Release:

Director Login

1) New login screen:  There is a new login screen that will be display for all users. The credentials to log n will remain the same as before the release. You can use the Remember Me flag which will save your Domain and Username so you just need to enter your password.

2) [OPTIONAL] Multi-factor authentication (MFA): MFA is not enabled by default so users can continue to log into Director like they always have.  

However, each user can enable MFA via the setup area in Director:

• Go to Setup
• Click on the Enable MFA App
• Click on the Enable Two Factor Auth button
• Scan the QR Code. You can use the Apple Password App or Authenticator App by adding your Director credentials.
• Your App will present you with a 6-digit code that you can enter in the Verification Code box.

The company Admin can also require MFA for all users via a setting in the Setup > Settings > Company profile area.

Once enabled, the first time a user logs in, they will be required to scan a QR Code that will direct them to their Apple Password App or Authenticator App. Once they have added Director as a site, they will be able to see a 6-digit verification code that they can enter as their verification code to gain access to Director.

In subsequent logins, the user will only be presented with the Verification Code screen to enter the code provided by their Password or Authenticator App.

Coupons 

1) Coupon definition updated with Terms, Image URL, and option to enable Click-to-Redeem:  You can now configure coupons to include terms and conditions, a coupon image URL, and enable a coupon for click-to-redeem support (see below).  This data is returned via the Loyalty Engine coupon APIs.

2) Coupon awards are now stamped with their expiration date when awarded:  If a coupon has a “days to expire” setting, then when a coupon is awarded, it will be stamped with the expiration date.  This data is returned in the loyalty engine awarded coupons API.  The coupon expiration chore has been updated to use this new field when determining whether to expire a coupon or not.

Web Snippets

1) Custom Clubs / Subscriptions Product Preference URL is now formatted as a link in the Club Signup Web Snippet – You can optionally set a link on any product listed under the Product Preferences tab. If you elect to do so, Products that have a link will be displayed as a traditional link formatting to make it more evident to customers that they can find more information about that product by clicking on the link. This will redirect to the desired link that will be opened as a new tab.

2) Pickup locations now display the web alias instead of Code in web snippet pickup order functionality (ticket #45910)

Clubs and Subscriptions

1) Automatic retries and logging: If you are using the auto-billing Club capabilities this Release fixes some issues with automatic retries, so you can now use both daily and weekly retries and then define what change of status you want to apply to the Membership 

When a club member status is changed after the retries there is now a log entry added to the customer activity log (see example below)

AI Engagement Release Building Blocks 

1) Updated Engagement Rules functionality: The Engagement Rules configuration was updated to use our new declarative Vertical Solution Framework (VSF) configuration platform.  As part of this we enabled a new scoping capability to be able to exclude customer segments from triggering a rule and added a Coupon Award engagement rule action.

2) Subscriber group signups (i.e. Opt-In Customer Segments) now show the Device, channel and optional reference number that was used when the customer joined the group:  The subscriber group membership UI has been updated to show the new fields, and the reporting view (evtview_SubscriberGroupRoster) now includes these fields.

3) Global opt-out list now based on customer partition:  Previously when a customer opted out of email it was a global across partitions. For multi-partition customers this was a problem.  Now the opt out is partition aware.  I.e. when a customer opts out of email it’s specific to the partition they are in, or All Partitions as may be applicable.  The Opt-out list now has a partition column (see below).

4) Customer list imports now trigger loyalty program update: Previously when a customer list import was done via the import tools, the loyalty program was not automatically refreshed until the nightly chore processing.  Now the programs are automatically refreshed once the import is complete.  

5) VSF Configuration Upload tool (Beta):  Engagement rules and Dynamic segments can now be uploaded to a client’s account using the new Director UI.  This will enable power users to upload new engagement rules and dynamic segments.

6) New Dashboard functionality (Beta only):  We have a new Dashboard capability that will be available for Beta users.  This will be exposed in a new Director UI.

Reports and Dashboards

1) Added a user menu access report:  This report enables you to see what Director application features your users have access to.

2) Reports Delivery via Email: Reports that are delivered via Email now use the Client’s dedicated email account if they have one vs using our shared email account.  For clients that don’t have a dedicated email provider, the reports will now be delivered via a from address that has the optinretailmail.com domain.  This ensures better deliverability since for DMARC/DKIM you need to have the domain from the From address match the domain registered in the DMARC/DKIM.  The mails will be in the form of user_clientdomain@optinretailmail.com if they are using our shared email provider.

Infrastructure

1) The Grid service was upgraded to use .net8 (from .net framework 4.8) and is now running on a Kubernetes cluster:  Previously the Grid service was hosted as an Azure web app service.  Our go forward hosting platform is to use Kubernetes and the Grid is now running on a Kubernetes clusters.  Though not a functional change, it was a major platform change for the Grid.

2) Support for MySql:  We now support client accounts on MySql.  This will be default for new client account.  Existing clients can remain on SQL Server. 

3) Fixed the bulk receipt/PDF generation in Director.   This has required since we moved the Director worker role to our Kubernetes cluster due to some Windows dependencies (Kubernetes is running Linux).

Other Features and Fixes

1) POS Receipt Message includes Shipping Address: If you are using bLoyal for Shipping from the POS, the customer's Shipping Address is now added to the POS Receipt Message. Please contact us if you want to leverage POS Receipts

2) Payment tender UI fixed to show all tender codes if client has a large list (ticket # 47154): Previously the tender code UI in Director would only show the first page of tenders.  Clients with more than 50 tender codes would only see the first 50. 

3) Discount rule import tool updated so all settings are enabled (ticket #48278)

4) Order confirmation emails now show product assembly descriptions vs SKU (ticket #45700)  

5) Tool to sync missing gift card transactions from Loyalty Engine to Director (ticket #47452): There a few cases where a gift card transaction failed to sync to Director and remained in the Loyalty Engine.  The balances were correct, but the transaction was not in Director as it should have been.   We now have a tool that will automatically sync these transactions.

6) Fixed the Customer GetSalesTransaction API:  It was failing when doing filters by StoreRegion or Channel.  

7) Manual Shipping charge updates in Director are now honored and are not being overwritten when recalculating or processing an Order (ticket #48634)