![](media/image1.png){width="2.75in" height="0.49930555555555556in"}

**Exciting changes coming to GSA Advantage!**

Beginning August 2004, some exciting changes will be coming to GSA
Advantage that we hope will improve your shopping experience. We will be
introducing a new categorization listing and improved search
capabilities that will help you find products and services even faster.
In addition, a new home page will be introduced. Some of the features
offered are:

-   Keyword searching against all products or restricted to a particular
    category!

-   Browsing by category!

-   Zip code no longer required to search!

-   Login is not required to search!

-   Simplified design!

-   Powerful advanced search!

-   Improved refine search and filtering!

-   **New GSA Advantage Home Page**

The home page shown below incorporates a more streamlined design and now
includes categories for products and services offered by GSA. We still
continue to offer the same features as before however, the more popular
features such as search, order status, and quick ordering are more
easily accessible. Login and zip code are no longer required to get
started. You will be prompted for login when needed or if you like, you
may still login from the home page. Take a look below!

![](media/image2.png){width="5.995138888888889in" height="3.86875in"}

**Your Home Page:** If you have logged-in, your personal home page will
include your most recent orders front and center so that you may check
status, reorder, etc.

![](media/image3.png){width="5.995833333333334in"
height="3.4895833333333335in"}

-   **New Browsing by Category**

**To browse by category:** click on a category link (left side of
homepage) then drill down through the categories to find the products
required. The results below appear by clicking on Office Solutions from
above.

![](media/image4.png){width="5.996527777777778in"
height="1.957638888888889in"}

The following appears if you click on "Office & desk accessories".

![](media/image5.png){width="5.999305555555556in"
height="1.1465277777777778in"}

The following appears if you click on "Boards". Notice that the path you
have followed is shown.

![](media/image6.png){width="5.999305555555556in"
height="1.0840277777777778in"}

The following search results appear if you click on "Board cleaning kits
or accessories". To zero-in on specific products, use the refine or
filter options as discussed below. Please note that you may also reverse
and go back up the category tree by clicking on the links shown in the
path.

![](media/image7.png){width="5.992361111111111in"
height="2.126388888888889in"}

-   **Improved Keyword Searching**

The real power to finding products fast is keyword searching. By
entering keywords, you will:

-   Greatly narrow the number of results to only those containing the
    keywords entered. You can also restrict your keyword search to a
    specific category (i.e. IT Solutions & Electronics) if desired.

-   Quickly move to your search results screen.

-   Allow GSA Advantage to separate all results into categories. This
    can be done by clicking on the "Show all matching categories" link
    on the search results page.

-   Allow GSA Advantage to provide some "suggested categories" which are
    those categories scoring the highest based on the keywords you
    entered. Note that suggested categories will only appear if any are
    identified.

**Search example:** Let's say you are looking for paper towels. When you
start your search, if you enter the keywords "paper towels", you will
get 1389 results as shown below. That's a lot of paper towels, but it
also includes paper towel dispensers, dining packets with paper towels,
and any other products containing the words "paper" and "towels".

GSA Advantage will now show you up to 6 suggested categories as shown
below. You may also click on the "Show all matching categories" to view
[all]{.underline} categories containing items having your keywords (note
that some of the categories shown under the "Show all" may not contain
the items you are looking for. Those categories having the highest hit
count will likely be the most relevant to your particular search).

![](media/image8.png){width="6.375in" height="1.8277777777777777in"}

If you clicked on the suggested category "Paper towels", you will have
reduced the number of results down to 1072, that's still a lot of towels
but let say you are looking for white single-fold paper towels. If you
"Search within results" and enter "white single-fold" you will now find
the results narrowed down to a manageable 7 products.

![](media/image9.png){width="6.379166666666666in"
height="2.203472222222222in"}

-   **Searching by NSN or part number**

You may be wondering how these new changes will affect your ability to
search for specific NSN or manufacturer part numbers. Well, the answer
is not at all. You can still search by NSN or part and you will be taken
directly to the search results like you have in the past.

-   **Refining your results**

Here's where you can really zero-in on only those products having
certain attributes or business size. If after finding you had 1389
results for "paper towels" you decided you wanted to narrow the search
to "white" towels having recycled content and offered by small business
only, you could refine your search as shown below (click on "More refine
options" or scroll to the end of the search results screen to get to
these options).

![](media/image10.png){width="5.873611111111111in"
height="1.6861111111111111in"}

Your results would look like the following (ignore zero prices from test
site):

![](media/image11.png){width="6.497916666666667in"
height="2.3402777777777777in"}

**Removing a filter** - if you then decided you do not want to restrict
this to recycled content, you may remove this restriction by clicking on
the ![](media/image12.png){width="0.18888888888888888in"
height="0.15555555555555556in"} next to recycled content. This would
then return the following:

![](media/image13.png){width="6.502083333333333in"
height="1.9215277777777777in"}

You can even refine your search to only certain manufacturers or
schedule contractors!

![](media/image14.png){width="5.992361111111111in"
height="2.696527777777778in"}

-   **Powerful Advanced Searching**

For you power users, we have expanded the advanced search capabilities.
If you wish to enter all criteria such as: "paper towel" and "white" and
"recycled content only", and "small businesses only", you may do all
these at once. You can even click on "More terms" to add more input
boxes to add or exclude terms. This new advanced search will also allow
you to specify a price range or a minimum or maximum price. Check this
out!

![](media/image15.png){width="5.995138888888889in"
height="4.636805555555555in"}

We hope this quick overview has given you a good idea of how some of
these improvements can help you find products faster. We encourage you
to take a few moments and play with these features once available to see
what they can do for you. You might even have fun! As always, your
suggestions are welcome and we encourage you to drop us a comment or
suggestion on ways we can improve GSA Advantage. Thanks for being our
customer!

The GSA Advantage Team