OU Direct Today Introduced ‘Product Automation’ to Online Program

09 May 2013

OU DIRECT TODAY INTRODUCED ‘PRODUCT AUTOMATION’ TO ONLINE PROGRAM

In breaking news from OU Kosher, OU Direct, the website available to all OU Kosher certified companies, became even more direct today, Thursday, May 9, with the addition of Product Automation. This new feature includes a variety of options to make it easier and quicker for companies to maintain their certified product lists and to add new products.

“We are very excited to introduce the newest OU Direct feature,” declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher.

“Previously,” explained Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher, “companies had to fax or email their requests for a new product by using a form. The improvements allow the process to be entirely online, going right into the system.” Companies will be able to get their approval 24/7 he said.

The “Product Automation” initiative was under the Direction of Dr. Sam Davidovics, Chief Information Officer and Director of the Information Technology (IT) Department of the OU; and Rabbi Moshe Zywica, Executive Rabbinic Coordinator/Director of Operations of OU Kosher.

Product Automation will allow certified companies to:

• View all of their OU Certified Products (Schedule B) in multiple formats namely PDF, Excel and a new customizable grid;

• Add new products online;

• Copy products from one plant to another;

• Terminate products instantly online;

• View status of all submissions.

The new grid format allows for:

• Easy filtering and sorting of products;

• Easy navigation from one page to another;

• Increasing and decreasing the number of records that appear on each page;

• Viewing detailed product information, i.e. the plant(s) at which the product is produced, and the certification status of the product within each plant.

New products can be added to the Schedule B of one or more plants by simply completing an online form and clicking submit.

• One or many existing certified products can be copied to one or multiple plants;

• Product Certification can be terminated immediately at a specific plant or at all the plants where the product is produced;

• All submissions can be viewed online to determine the current status of each request.

It’s fast, simple and easy to use and is certain to make OU Direct an even greater asset.

For further information, visit www.oukosher.org.

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