SoftwareCentral · New shop administration

Rolling out the new shop

Nobody gets the new shop until you decide so. Let a pilot group try it at the addresses they already use, then switch everyone over with one tick.

Pilot Switch everyone

1 Pilot with a group

Settings › SoftwareCentral › New Shop › Pilot the new shop: choose an Active Directory group, or an Entra group when group memberships come from Entra, and save.

The New Shop settings tab with Pilot the new shop set to a group, Use the new shop for everyone unticked, and the other new shop settings below
The New Shop tab. The first two rows are the rollout switch.
For a pilot user
Opening the shop/Shop takes them to the new shop. Links with a program in them keep working.
Approval mailsThe link opens the new approvals page.
Group membershipChecked once per session. A user added to the group gets the new shop after signing in again; changing the group in Settings takes effect at once.
Directory not reachableThe user gets the classic shop, never an error.

The way back

A pilot user who needs the classic shop can open /Shop?shop=classic; they stay on the classic shop for the rest of the session. /Shop?shop=modern brings them back. Tell your pilot users, so a problem never stops them from ordering.

To stop the pilot, click Clear the pilot group and save. Everyone gets the classic shop again.

2 Switch everyone over

Tick Use the new shop for everyone and save.

From then on, the addresses of the classic shop and approvals page serve the new ones to everybody; the address bar still shows the old address. The pilot group no longer matters, and ?shop=classic no longer works. To go back, untick the box.

Before you switch Walk through the checklist below, and make sure the service desk knows the new shop and the approvers know the new approvals page. The user guide, under New Shop, is what the shop's own help button opens.

3 What is not switched

AddressWhat happens
/m/Shop, /m/ApproveThe mobile shop and approvals stay as they are. The new approvals page sends phones there too.
/MyAccountStays the classic page. The new shop opens the new My Account itself, from the shopper's name.
Shop Designer's previewAlways shows the new shop, whatever the switch says.

4 Checklist

  1. Go through the New Shop and Shop settings tabs; see New shop settings.
  2. Check a handful of applications: icon, description, price, approval flow, order details.
  3. Write a first message from IT, for example to welcome the pilot users.
  4. Choose the pilot group, and tell the pilot users about ?shop=classic.
  5. Collect feedback — shoppers can send a debug report from the shop's settings panel.
  6. Switch everyone over.

5 Best practice

  • Clear the pilot group to end the pilot. Everybody goes back to the current shop, unless Use the new shop for everyone is on.
  • Use the new shop for everyone when you are ready. It is served at the current shop's own addresses, so no links, menu buttons or bookmarks need changing. It overrides the pilot group.