EZPOG Planogram Software
Frequently Asked Questions
Sections
Choose “Section” from the “Start building your planogram” drop-down menu. Next, drag and drop the thumbnail preview of your section from the Action Panel onto your canvas.
When you want to specify the size of a section or fixture, or want to enter the exact position for a fixture, you can use feet, inches, or a combination of the two. For example, if you want to create a section that is 6 feet 6 inches high, enter any of the following: 6.5f, 6.5ft, 6.5 feet, 6f6i, 6ft 6in, 78i, 78 inches, etc.
All of your section properties will appear in the Action Panel once you have your section selected or highlighted*. From here, you can scroll through the various fields and edit things like section height, width, depth, base height, and background color; as well as, edit other properties.
*You will know your section is selected or highlighted, because the section will appear in the thumbnail preview screen.
Yes. Simply, click on your section, and then make any necessary changes to your section in the Action Panel. Hit the “Enter” or “Tab” key after each edit. Your changes will be reflected immediately, thereafter.
A section defines the entire width, end-to-end, of your planogram. A segment will provide a visual “break” in your section. This can be accomplished clicking into the Input Form in your toolbar and selecting the Segment data tab. There, you can add segments and alter their widths independently by editing the “Width” column. The example, here, shows three separate 3-ft segments.
Fixtures
Choose “Fixture” from the “Start building your planogram” drop-down menu. Now, select a fixture you would like to add to your section. Next, drag and drop the thumbnail preview of your fixture from the Action Panel onto your canvas. In this example, we have selected a Shelf.
All of your fixture properties will appear in the Action Panel, once you have your fixture selected or highlighted*. From here, you can scroll through the various fields and edit things like fixture height, width, depth, and color; as well as, edit other properties.
*You will know your fixture is selected or highlighted, because the fixture will appear in the thumbnail preview screen.
Yes. Simply, click on your fixture, and then make any necessary changes to your fixture in the Action Panel. Hit the “Enter” or “Tab” key after each edit and your changes will be reflected immediately, thereafter.
EZPOG lets you create and place pegboards that function exactly like the real thing. Simply, choose Pegboard from the fixture drop-down in the Selection Panel and edit the properties of your pegboard in the Action Panel. You can edit the dimensions, hole-spacing, merchandisable depth, color, and other pegboard properties. Pegboards can also be used to generate a “Slat Wall.”
At the top of your canvas, you will see an XYZ coordinate bar. When you have a fixture selected, you can edit the XYZ coordinates to place the fixture precisely – as opposed to placing it using your mouse.
- X controls the left-to-right location, with 0 being the leftmost position on the planogram.
- Y controls the bottom-to-top location, with 0 being the bottom or ground position of the section.
- Z controls the back-to-front location or depth, with 0 being at the back or on the backboard of your section.
After entering each coordinate, hit the Tab or Enter key to assign that coordinate immediately.
By default, all products placed on a shelf will be aligned to the left. You can change this: to align right; to spread like-products together with an even space between groups; or, to spread each individual product evenly across the entire space of the shelf.
First, select your shelf and modify the Product Placement attribute in the Action Panel.
Products
In the Selection Panel, select Product from the first drop-down and expand the Select Category drop-down to reveal your selection options. If you are an SMSB1 Image Library Subscriber, you can access all your image categories by expanding the SMSB Products tree. If you would like to choose from the products you have imported, expand the Custom Imported Products tree to review your category choices. You can browse by Category and, then, by Sub-Category.
1 SMSB Consulting Group is a product image and data catalog source for digital product content including e-commerce and planogram images.
In the Search Text field, enter your search criteria. You can search using a range of criteria such as UPC, partial UPC, flavor, size, utility, brand, etc. The searchable criteria are limited only by the type of data provided within the database.
Yes. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and left-click each product from the list you would like to add. As you select each product, it will appear in your Action Panel. When finished, you can simply drag the products from your Action Panel in one group and onto your fixture.
To add multiple facings of a particular product: first, make sure the product is selected and press the number for how many facings you would like on your keyboard’s number pad. To reduce facings: simply, highlight the product and press a lower number.
To change your product orientation or the view you want merchandised, select your product and use the Orientation drop-down located in the Action Panel to make your selection.
When you imported your Product Attribute Template, you had categories/sub-categories that looked identical, but were not [i.e., you had a space (“ “) before, in, or after your category/sub-category.] This creates a new unique entry relative to the entry without a space. Review your data before importing for this and other common mistakes, e.g., duplicate UPCs.
First, select the item you want to delete and press the Delete key on your keyboard. If your action will delete multiple items from your planogram, the system will first warn you before letting you proceed. To confirm deletion: simply, click Yes on the dialog box. To cancel: click No or Cancel.
Importing
- From the Import/Export menu located on the top left, select Import Product Attribute Data.
- In the proceeding screen, you are provided with a link to download an Excel template. Save the template to your desktop.
- Open the template and paste in your product attribute data. All of the Yellow Header Columns are required. Remember: In your filter selection, you can browse by Category and Sub-Category. Use Desc A to enter your Sub-Category. All Grey Header Columns are optional. If you are importing peg items, you may want also to import peg dimensions. When you are finished, save your template.
- Now, return to the screen from where you downloaded the template and click the Browse button. Navigate to where you saved your Excel sheet and click Open. Then, click Upload in the above window. You will be taken to your Import Queue which you can refresh periodically to check on the status of your upload. This screen will also show your upload history. **Note** It is very important to import valid and correct data to ensure your products and reports reflect correct data.
No. You need only import a Product Attribute Data file to create, save, print, and export to-scale planograms. Images only need to be imported, if you want a “live” image view of your planogram.
- **Note** You will first need to prepare your images for upload – see FAQ on Preparing My Images within next question. In the Selection Panel, click on Import Options and then Import Images.
- Click Browse and locate your Zipped Images and click Open.
- Now, click on the Upload button. You will be taken to your Import Queue which you can refresh periodically to check on the status of your upload. This screen will also show your upload history.
- Image Type: Image files loaded into EZPOG must be in a Targa (.tga), JPEG, or PNG format.
- Image Size: Image files must be 500×500 or smaller.
- Image Views: After you confirm that your images are the correct type and size, you must rename the file extension to .1, .2, or .3 depending on the view. Please see the FAQ item “How do I assign image views to my image files” for details.
- File Naming: There are two ways files can be named to be loaded successfully into EZPOG.
- Name each file for the UPC of the product. Images must be placed in a folder of any name. For example, 1234567890.1
- Name each file for the last 5 digits of the 10-digit UPC code. Place those files in a folder named for the first 5 digits of the 10-digit UPC code. For example: Folder: 12345 > File: 67890.1
- Compress: Once, this is done, you will ZIP the folder and create a compressed ZIP file. The ZIP file is what you upload into EZPOG. This file may be named anything you like. We suggest giving it a name relevant to your upload. This way, in your upload history, you will be better able to determine that on which you have worked previously.
- **HINT**: Using an image editing software, Select and Save the “background” or “negative space” as an Alpha Channel. Now, crop your image as closely to your product as possible and save the file. This will create a transparent background for your image once uploaded into EZPOG!
Multiple image views can be loaded into your library. This way, you can merchandise a product in the system in any way which you can merchandise that product on a real fixture. See the following image view guide and assign image extensions accordingly:
*If you import Tray and Case images and they do not have unique UPCs, then you will need to add a T or C to the end of the UPC just before the extension to have the system display that image when you select either the Tray or Case merch style (e.g., 67890T.1 and 67890C.1.)
Image folders and files need to be in a split 10-digit UPC format. As such, you will need to convert your UPC to a 10-digit version, if you are not starting with a 10-digit UPC (e.g., a UPC-11 or UPC-12 format.) See the guide below.
If, after you have given EZPOG some time to refresh your image data, you do not see your images in your planogram: first, make sure that you are currently set on Images in your View Options drop-down at the top right of your screen. If you do not see images still, then you will need to review the UPCs in your attribute file versus the image file names from your imported image zip file. EZPOG will match product data to images based on UPC. Your images must be structured in a 10-digit folder/file format. Your Product Attribute Data may be in a different UPC format, 11, 12, 13 etc. However, they must still match up to your image files when converting to a 10-digit UPC.
Simply, re-import your Product Attribute File. The data in EZPOG will be overwritten with your new file’s data. Simply, select UPC or ID when importing to match on that primary key.
No. Simply, import those products alone in the Product Attribute and Image files. This action will also speed up your upload and subsequent processing.
Advanced Misc.
EZPOG currently supports Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox (Internet Explorer is not supported).
- Yes, You can import either an EZPOG file or a PSA (JDA compatible) file.
- To import a single file you can load from the home screen or click the Import/Export Menu dropdown and select Import Planogram. In both cases you will be prompted to select the file from your computer and it will be uploaded to the Home Folder.
- To import multiple files at once, click on the Import/Export Menu dropdown and select Import Planograms (Bulk Load). Files must be saved in a zipped folder. Within that zipped folder, files within an additional folder will be loaded into EZPOG into a folder with that name. Files not within an additional folder will be loaded to the Home Folder.
- NOTE: Upload times will vary depending on file size
- You can export your planogram in EZPOG’s native .ezp format, JDA compatible .psa format, as a .jpg image and as a .pdf file.
- To export the planogram as a workable planogram file, click on the Import/Export Menu Dropdown and select Export Planogram. Then select either EZPOG file or JDA compatible file and save to your desktop.
- To export your planogram as an image file, click on the File Menu Dropdown and select Save Planogram as a JPEG or Print to PDF. Once you select your options you can download to your desktop.
If you wish to remove your planogram from the system, you must delete it from EZPOG. Exporting a planogram file, only, exports a copy of the file to a local directory. It does not delete the existing file from the system. To delete the file from EZPOG:
- Return to the home screen
- Select the folder where you planogram resides
- Check the box next to your planogram
- Then, click on the trash can icon.
- Clicking on the Tools Menu dropdown and selecting Report Options will call up a dialog box for you to make your report selection.
- Select your report by clicking the corresponding radio button next to the report name. You can save the report locally and open it immediately.
- Using basic MS Excel formulas, you can produce a wide variety of analysis depending on the report that you have selected and on which data you have imported for your products.
First, select your Section. Next, change the Name field in your Action Panel properties window to create the Heading as you would like it to appear. This Heading will show when you print your planogram.
- To open the color rules dialog box, click the Tools Menu dropdown and select Color Rules.
- Click the Add New Rule button at the top left of the window. Select your desired criterion from the Criteria Name drop-down menu.
- Select your operator from the Operator drop-down menu. Enter your criterion value in the Criteria Value field.
- Select a color for your rule. NOTE: The Dynamic color rule will color each different value of your criteria a unique color.
- Click on the Product Labels Options button in the toolbar above the canvas. Find the Primary Key drop-down at the bottom on the menu. Make your selection and hit OK. Then, save your POG before exporting. You can set your Primary Key to UPC, ID, or both.
- First, update your product library by importing an updated product attribute template. Next, open your Planogram and click the Settings Menu dropdown and select Planogram Settings. Select the Product Data Tab and click Reset All Position Data to Workgroup. This replaces all product data in your Planogram with the newly-updated data in your master library [i.e., it will update any new descriptions, dimensions, etc.]
If, when you first login, you notice that your *Home* folder file listing appears empty and only loads completely after a short while, then it may be time for some file cleanup. Remember: All imported files are first saved to your *Home* folder even if you save them elsewhere; leaving you with two copies. You may want to delete some of your older files from your *Home* folder to speed up loading a bit.
Click on your Section and modify the Name field in the Action Panel. This will become your Header when you print to PDF. In the Action Panel, scroll down to the Text field where what you enter here will become your Sub-Header when you print to PDF.
While EZPOG will function 100% while using a Mac, it is important to note that compression applications (zipping) on Macs do not function the same as they do in a PC environment. We recommend using a PC to compress (zip) your image folder/files to avoid this issue.
– The front slash key “\” zooms to the product you have selected
– The back slash key “/” zooms back out to the planogram
– The plus key “+” zooms in
– The minus “-” key zooms out
– To add facings, click on a product on a shelf and then select the number of facings you would like from the number pad on your keyboard.