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Shopping 6.1

Features by release

New in Shopping 6.1

This release introduces the following improvements:

  • Order Tracking

    • To allow users to better understand how their requests are proceeding, users can now receive more email notifications, especially for deployments that are taking longer than usual. Users can also check a Windows notification area icon at their convenience for Shopping notifications, or they can see and check Windows action center notifications, When viewing the Shopping website, users can see enhanced status at the My Software All Orders page. The icon for the My Software link also displays a count of new notifications. Please refer to Order Tracking User Experiences for examples

    • Administrators can enable notifications in a variety of formats and at a level of aggressiveness that is appropriate to their organization. Administrators can also edit the notification texts to be most meaningful for their users. And they can customize the notification area icon and name to match that of the Shopping web page. For details on how to make those changes, please refer to Managing Order Tracking. See Order Tracking Best Practices for guidance on how to best manage Order Tracking

  • You can now offer Tachyon instructions to users in the same way as ConfigMgr, Intune, and other applications types. This option is most useful to allow users to fix or reconfigure their computers for issues that users commonly understand (such as disk space or Outlook issues). However, it can also be used to quickly deploy software to users or anything else that Tachyon instructions can do. Please refer to Managing Tachyon Instruction applications for details on how to set up Tachyon instructions as Shopping applications

  • Tachyon integration also enables the client-side activities of Order Tracking, particularly for client-side notifications and status monitoring

  • To enable Tachyon integration, please refer to Preparation to ensure your environment is prepared to enable Tachyon integration and then refer to Enabling Tachyon integration to enable it

  • 1E Tachyon integration

  • Windows Servicing Assistant improvements

    • Administrators can now allow users to show hidden files and folders on the user back up page.

  • Other

    • Shopping installs its web portal to use HTTPS binding by default.

      Note

      When upgrading, the Shopping URLs have to be updated in 1E Client and WSS Task sequences accordingly for customers that already have the 1E Client with the Shopping client deployed.

    • In the Shopping Web interface, when users select a category, the category remains open in the category menu and highlighted - helping the users to remember which category they were looking at

    • If a user selects to display Shopping items in a list view, or again in grid view, their selection persists on both views

    • ActiveEfficiency is no longer used by Shopping.

Features released in Shopping 6.0

This release introduced the following improvements:

  • Microsoft Intune integration

  • User Interface improvements

  • Windows Servicing Assistant improvements

  • Microsoft Store for Business Integration documented

Contained fixes:

  • Q21006 - SQL and Shopping Performance issues

  • Q21008 - Shopping Receiver flooding ConfigMgr with SMS_ClientNotification and Collection Refresh.

  • Q20829 - Shopping Receiver Threading Null Reference Exceptions and looping issues in CleanupAfterOrderCompleted.

  • Q20944 - ApprovalUpdate.vbs does not populate NextApproverName if approvals are done through deputy approver.

  • Q20890 - Deputy approver not getting set to 'Default Deputy Approver Group' while using a chain of approvers.

Features released in Shopping 5.6

This release introduced the following improvements, all relating to customer concerns:

  • Performance enhancements

  • Shopping database cleanup

    If the Shopping Records Purge Days setting is set to a non-default value, such as 180, the EmailRetry and OrderHistory tables will be purged of records older than that number of days. Organizations with large Shopping databases will find that this improves Shopping performance, especially including report generation, please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Records Purge Days for more details.

  • Order history

    Order history records for computers are deleted when computers are deleted from Shopping.

  • Configuration Manager

    Targeted computers are removed from the relevant Shopping collection after an order is completed. For successful orders, collection rule for the computer is removed from the collection instantly (and the computer itself is removed when the collection is reevaluated), but for failed orders Shopping will wait for the Retry Status Update For Failed Installations for Time Interval value to elapse, please refer to the Shopping Admin Console settings: Retry Status Update For Failed Installations for Time Interval for more details. When upgrading Shopping to version 5.6, computers with completed orders that have previously been added to Configuration Manager device collections are removed.

    When a Shopping Application is deleted from the Shopping Administrator Console (or has been in disabled state for more than 90 days), the corresponding deployments and collections are now also deleted from Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr). The disabled state period can be adjusted by changing the Clean Collections or Deployments for Disabled Applications after days setting, please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Clean Collections or Deployments for Disabled Applications after days for more details.

  • Order processing for simultaneous order requests

    If you anticipate that Shopping will commonly receive multiple orders at once, you can enable multithreaded processing so that several can be processed concurrently, reducing delays. This can be done by setting the Number of Receiver Order Processing Threads setting to a value between 2 and 5 (inclusive), please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Number of Receiver Order Processing Threads for more details. To further optimize the processing, you can increase the Receiver Processing Batch Size value from its default value of 10 to as much as 100, please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Receiver Processing Batch Size for more details.

    In either case, you will need to restart the Shopping website and Shopping Receiver service.

  • Workflow Integration for simultaneous order requests

    If you use Shopping's workflow integration and process large numbers of orders concurrently, you can improve its efficiency by increasing the Number of Workflow Threads setting to a value between 2 and 5 (inclusive), please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Number of Workflow Threads for more details.

    Restart the ShoppingCentral service for this change to take effect.

  • Security improvements

    • Shopping Receiver does not require administrator privileges on clients

      The Shopping Receiver service account no longer has to have administrator privileges on client computers. Configuration Manager policy refreshes for new requests and re-shopping are now done using the Client Notification feature of Configuration Manager.

  • Easier upgradesShopping Central Installer audits all files in the in the Shopping installation directory tree for modifications done to any files (either manually or through hot fix) other than .dll and .exe files. The modified files are backed up to the Backup_<PREVIOUS_VERSION> folder in the installation directory. This backup allows you to identify all customizations and to re-implement them as needed. Please refer to Upgrading to Shopping for more details.

  • Improved statusShopping can now update the status of failed requests for up to 3 days. This allows Shopping to accurately reflect Configuration Manager deployment status for deployments that initially failed but succeed on a later retry. Adjust the Retry Status Update For Failed Installations for Time Interval setting in the Shopping Console to change the interval. The default value is 1 day (24 hours). Please refer to Shopping Admin Console settings: Retry Status Update For Failed Installations for Time Interval for more details.

Features released in Shopping 5.5.200

This release introduced the following enhancements, all relating to Windows Servicing Assistant:

  • Applications page in Windows Servicing Assistant includes all installed, normalized applications In previous versions of Shopping, the Applications page in the Windows Servicing Assistant showed only applications that would be upgraded or replaced. It did not show applications that would be retained, or applications that would not be migrated because there were no applicable migration rules. The Applications page now shows all installed applications that have been normalized in the 1E Catalog and have not been excluded in Application Migration. For an In-place Upgrade, applications that have no applicable migration rule will be retained and the current version of the application will be shown in the ‘New’ column. For Wipe and load or Replace, applications that have no applicable migration rule will indicate ‘Removed’ in the ‘New’ column. In addition to this change, if the Applications in OS Image list in the Applications tab of the WSA application settings is empty, it will not be displayed on the WSA applications page, leaving more space for the list of installed applications.

  • Allow conditional download of Windows 10 upgrade packages with Windows Servicing Assistant An In-place Upgrade task sequence may include multiple Upgrade Operating System steps that use different OS upgrade packages (e.g. when using a single task sequence to support multiple OS locales). In previous versions, WSA would download all OS upgrade packages. It is now possible to have WSA selectively download the upgrade package that matches the architecture and locale of the current OS. This is implemented on the Storage tab of the In-place Upgrade WSA Application settings.

  • Check Windows 10 version in Windows Servicing Assistant readiness checks before upgrading The Windows Servicing Assistant now includes a check to prevent an In-place Upgrade task sequence from executing on a device if the upgrade package in the task sequence is for the same or an older version of Windows 10 to that already installed. This is implemented as an additional checkbox in the Readiness tab of the In-place Upgrade WSA Application settings.

  • Perform In-place Upgrade compatibility check in Windows Servicing Assistant readiness checks You can now include Windows 10 upgrade compatibility check in the readiness checks for an In-place Upgrade WSA Application. This feature is implemented as an additional check box in the Readiness tab of the In-place Upgrade WSA Application settings. When enabled, during the readiness checks, WSA will download the upgrade package and execute setup.exe /Auto Upgrade /Quiet /NoReboot /DynamicUpdate Disable /Compat ScanOnly. Optionally, an administrator can choose to ignore any warnings generated during the compatibility check by checking the Ignore any dismissible compatibility messages checkbox, which adds /Compat IgnoreWarning to the setup/.exe command line. If the compatibility checks fail, WSA will report the issue to the user and through the WSA Order Tracking, and will not attempt to run the task sequence.

  • Improve hash-check efficiency in Windows Servicing Assistant The Windows Servicing Assistant performs readiness checks when the user reaches the Readiness stage of the wizard. If the user selects ‘I want to continue working…’ from this page, the user is notified when the checks have completed, but by design they will run again when the user re-opens the wizard and selects ‘I’m done. Go ahead…’. This is by design, as things may have changed between the user receiving the notification and actually starting the deployment. However the readiness checks include hash-checking the content that has been downloaded, which can be time consuming and confusing to the user. Now, although the readiness checks will be rerun, content hash checking will not be repeated if it has been completed in the last 30 minutes. This period is configurable (between 0 and 480 minutes, where 0 means always rerun the hash checks) and the feature is implemented on the Storage tab in each of the WSA Application settings pages.

  • Allow Windows Servicing Assistant to exclude user state migration In previous versions, the Windows Servicing Assistant expected to find steps in the task sequence for migrating user data and settings with the User State Migration Tool. Some customers requested the ability to exclude user data and settings migration. This has now been implemented as an additional check-box labelled ‘Do not capture user files and settings’ in the Data Capture tab in the Wipe and Load and Replace Capture WSA Application settings. When this option is enabled, all other settings on the Data Capture tab are disabled and WSA will not attempt to calculate space required for user data migration or locate peer storage. When the task sequence executes, the WSA Actions – Initialize step will set a variable named 1ESkipUserStateCapture will be created and set to True. If the task sequence includes groups or steps to capture or restore data, these groups or steps should be conditioned to only execute if 1ESkipUserStateCapture is not equal to true.

Features released in Shopping 5.5.100.39

This release introduced the following enhancements:

  1. TLS 1.1 and 1.2 support

  2. ICS and email notification customisation for legacy OSD

  3. WSA enhancements:

Features released in Shopping 5.5

This release introduced the following enhancements:

  1. Windows Servicing Assistant – a client-based wizard that enables users in the office or working remotely over VPN to initiate an OS upgrade or OS refresh (wipe-and-load) or to migrate data, settings and applications from an old PC to a replacement PC at their convenience. Note that the Windows Servicing Assistant feature requires a Windows Servicing Suite license in addition to the Shopping license. It also has a dependency on 1E Nomad 6.3.201 or later, which used to manage content and storage of user state using custom Task Sequence steps that are implemented with Nomad. 1E Application Migration is also required if you want to enable the Windows Servicing Assistant to migrate applications.

  2. In a move to consolidate 1E agents into a single agent, Shopping 5.5 replaces the Shopping Agent with the Shopping module in the Tachyon Agent. To support Shopping 5.5, no Tachyon infrastructure or license is required. The Shopping Agent will continue to work with Shopping 5.5 but the Windows Servicing Assistant is only available when the Tachyon Agent is implemented with the Shopping Module enabled. Refer to Installing the Shopping client for further information.

Features released in Shopping 5.4

This release introduced the following enhancements:

  1. Shopping and Application Migration integration – the integration delivers self-service features to our Windows Servicing Suite

  2. You can disable the option for shoppers to choose which applications they want to reinstall during a self-service OS migration

  3. Hide text in the banner for a Shopping application – text is not a mandatory requirement for application banners

Features released in Shopping 5.3.1

This release introduced the following features:

  1. Integration with AppClarity 5.1 and the new Catalog.

  2. Accessibility – The Shopping Web (for admin and non-admin users) and the Shopping Admin console are 508 compliant.

Features released in Shopping 5.3

This release introduced the following features:

  1. Application mapping:

    AppMapping support in Shopping 5.3

    Prior to AppClarity 5.1, Shopping linked applications using the publisher, product and release nomenclature. However, AppClarity 5.1 implements a new catalog format that defines software using the vendor, title, version and edition. This new schema is currently not compatible with existing Shopping versions and so the application mapping feature is not supported with AppClarity 5.1. This new functionality will be provided as a hotfix for Shopping 5.2 and 5.3 and included as part of the Shopping 5.3.100 release scheduled for August 2016.

    • Seamless application mapping with AppClarity – you no longer have to manually enter the application's reference id in the AppClarity Tab when you manage properties for the application. Just select the AppClarity application name from the drop-down list and the Reference ID field is automatically populated with its AppClarity reference id.

    • Enhancements to OSD mapping rules – you no longer need to enter the application's AppClarity reference id when you create an OSD mapping rule, just search for the AppClarity application by name. The AppClarity Reference Id field is automatically populated with its reference id when you select the application.

    • Enhancements to the OSD wizard – we replaced ratings with application usage under Re-install applications previously shopped for and added a Cancel button which allows shopper to abort OSD wizard midway.

    • Changes to the settings for Shopping and AppClarity integration – the name of the AppClarity database and its server instance are now mandatory fields when you integrate these products

    • Changes to database privileges – so that the Shopping Web and the Shopping Admin console can connect to the AppClarity database, read only permissions are granted to the NetworkService account as well as the Shopping Admin user/group account to AppClarity database.

  2. Application sets – bundle commonly requested applications as a set and make available to Shopping administrators.

  3. Deploying OS for others and tracking migration status.

  4. Security:

    • LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) – you can make LDAP traffic secure by enabling the Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) protocols under Setting in the Shopping Admin console. Ports 389, 636, 3268 and 3269 must not be blocked on the domain controller. If they are restricted, then all the servers hosting Shopping components must be added to the exception list so that Shopping can make the specific LDAP calls.

    • Secured cookies are encrypted over TLS when the browser connects to the Shopping Web Portal over HTTPS

    • Use of iFrames – to mitigate against cross frame scripting (XFS), the Shopping Web can no longer be parsed in an iFrame on another site. This security feature is enabled by default – however, if you are certain that you are safe from XFS, you can comment out the <X-Frame-Options> settings in the web.config file.

  5. Accessibility:

    • The Shopping Web portal is 508 compliant for non-administrative shoppers visiting the site. Accessibility for admin users is coming soon.

Features released in Shopping 5.2

This release introduced the following features:

  1. FIPS compliance – Shopping now uses a FIPS compliant encryption algorithm to encrypt the Shopping license information, the admin console settings and the Lucene index used for searching

  2. Social Features – add ratings and reviews to Shopping applications and provide featured, trending and latest views for them

  3. Mobile app gateway – there is now a mobile specific web portal that acts as a gateway to iOS, Android or Windows app stores to allows users to shop for specific applications that are compatible with their mobile device

  4. OS filtering for app model applications – the Shopping web portal now allows shoppers can only shop for AppModel Configuration Manager applications which are compatible with their machines

  5. Multiple SMS Provider support – supports the scenario where multiple SMS providers are present, enabling it to take advantage of the Configuration Manager 2012 multiple SMS provider load balancing and fail-over features

  6. Installing the Shopping Agent – new Shopping agent has been introduced as the preferred alternative to Shopping client Identity to retrieve information about the local computer when browsing the Shopping Web portal

Features released in Shopping 5.1

This release introduced the following features:

  1. Role based access control – do away with managing the complexity of access control lists and use role based access control (RBAC) to control what administrators and shoppers can do. RBAC also enables you to align the roles you assign users and administrators to the actual roles they hold within your organization.

  2. Using search – look for applications in the Shopping web by using simple or advanced searching techniques.

  3. Shopping workflow – extend the default Shopping provider feature by running VBScripts asynchronously during workflow transitions.

  4. Shopping Web Welcome screen – an ideal mechanism for capturing the shopper's attention to highlight campaigns or lead-in to the Shopping web.

  5. Multiple Shopping versions – you can now run two or more Shopping systems concurrently to support the migration process.

  6. Additional language support – country specific language files are provided for Spanish (es-ES), Italian (it-IT) and Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR) in addition to German (de-DE) and French (fr-FR) previously provided.

In this section: