Thank you for choosing to use the PotashCorp Customer Service website. We want your experience with our site to be positive, and hope the information in this document will help you get started successfully.
Getting More Help
Problems Logging In
Error Messages
Changing Your Password
Availability
Short Cuts
Technical Information
Conclusion
The first thing we need to do is get you logged in to our site. We understand that security is an important concern for both our Customers and ourselves. Access to your information on the website is controlled by the 'User ID' and 'Password' that was sent to you by your PotashCorp Customer Service Representative. You will need to enter these on the first web page that is presented to you.
Note the following two places are available for you to enter your 'User ID' and 'Password':
Key in the 'User ID' and 'Password' that was supplied to you. You will notice that the 'Password' is not displayed when it is entered. When you have completed this you can either use your left mouse button to 'click' on the 'Login' button or simply hit the 'Enter' key:
If you are successful 'logging in' you will see a 'Welcome' page that includes your name and address, as well a list of your primary contacts with PotashCorp.
Getting More Help
It is not the intention of this document to provide a detailed description of all the functions available in the PotashCorp Customer Service website. That information is available online from the website by 'clicking' on the Help icon. Every page on the website has a 'Title' banner with 'Help on the right hand:
Clicking on the '?help' icon will open the following page in a new browser window:
This help is 'context' sensitive, that is, the 'help' shown is specific for the page you were on when you 'clicked' the '?help' icon. However, all the help for the full website is always available from the help Contents and Index menus of the Help. The help opens in a new browser window so that you can refer back to the Customer Service website at the same time you read the Help.
In addition to Index and Content, a Search function is also available, allowing you to find the help you require using a fully functional text search. Help also has a 'Glossary of Terms' so that if you encounter a text reference on the site that you need more information on, you can go to the glossary and look that term up.
Problems Logging In
There are a number of things that can go wrong trying to get into the PotashCorp Customer Service website. If, after reading this section you are still unsure why these problems are occurring, you should contact your own computer systems technical support staff. You can refer them to the technical information contained at the conclusion of this document.
We recommend you contact your Customer Service Representative when you are ready to try 'logging in' for the first time if you have any concerns.
Error Messages
If you are keying in an incorrect 'User ID' or 'Password' you will receive a page containing an error message.
You can retry using your password up to four times, before your 'User ID' will be 'revoked'. You must then contact your Customer Service Representative to get a new password.
Difficulty logging in can indicate a technical problem and should be referred to you support personnel with reference to the technical information in this document.
Changing Your Password
When you request access to the PotashCorp Customer Service website, you will be assigned a unique User ID that will never be changed. You will also be given a password. For security reasons, passwords are never given out over the phone. If you forget or accidently invalidate your password, you can contact your Customer Service Representative, and they will email you a new one.
The first password you use was sent to you in the email this document was attached to. This password is set to expire quickly, to encourage you to change it to one that only you know as soon as possible. You can change your password from the 'Login' page by 'clicking' on the 'New Password' button.
A new page will be presented to you with the following areas available to be keyed in to:
Once all of these have been filled in, you can 'click' on 'Continue' to set your new password. Your next page will inform you if you were successful, and let you know if you can continue to use the website. If you do not understand any error messages you get while trying to change your password, please contact your Customer Service Representative
Availability
The PotashCorp Customer Service website is designed to be available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, however, instead of the normal 'Login' page you may occasionally see a page similar to this:
The one scheduled exception for 'round the clock' availability is the third Thursday of every month, when our operational systems are shutdown for backups from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. CST. While these backups are being completed, or if for any reason we have to shut down the website, you will a message page telling you when you can expect to be able to 'login' to the website.
Watch for messages on the 'Login' page. We will try to ensure that you are kept informed of any circumstances that might effect accessibility to the Customer Service website.
In extreme situations where our website has become physically unavailable, we will inform all our users by email of the nature and duration of our problems.
Short Cuts
You may find it convenient to set up desktop shortcuts to the PotashCorp Customer Service website. The following are instructions for doing this in a Windows environment.
Internet Explorer
Open an Internet Explorer browser session and go to the login page by entering http://custserv.potashcorp.com in the address. If the browser window fills your whole screen, make it small enough so you can see some of your desk top by clicking on the minimize button at the top right corner of the window. Now click and hold down with the right mouse button
on the Internet Explorer logo
at the top left hand corner and 'drag' the icon to your desktop. When you release it you will be asked if you want to create a 'shortcut'. Use your left mouse button to click on 'Create a Shortcut Here'. You will now have an Internet Explorer icon on your desktop, labeled 'Login to Your Account'. Clicking on this icon will launch the Customer Service website immediately.
Netscape
Open a Netscape Navigator browser session, and enter http://custserv.potashcorp.com in the location. Click the right mouse button over an empty part of the page. A pop-up window will appear with a number of options listed vertically. The second last one is 'Create Shortcut'. Select this option by clicking on it with your left mouse button. Another window will appear that looks like this:
Click on 'OK' and a desktop icon will be added with 'Shortcut to Login to Your Account' as its' title. You may now click on this icon any time you want to launch the Customer Service website.
Technical Information
The following information is intended to help your computer systems technical support staff troubleshoot any difficulties you may have using the Customer Service website.
Browser and PC Compatibility
This website has been designed to work with either Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. It is not compatible with release 4 or lower of the AOL browser. It will work properly with Mozilla. It makes use of Cascading Style Sheets, and will appear best with versions of Internet Explorer higher than 5.0. There are no operating system restrictions as long as one of these browsers is supported. You will find you require minimum Pentium II class machine with 32 meg of memory to provide acceptable performance because of the sites' potential to build large HTML tables and Microsoft Excel files. The site was designed for a minimum screen resolution of 800 by 600 pixels, but looks best at 1024 by 860.
Javascript/Java
Javascript Version 1.1 is used for a minimal amount of client side scripting. If you have a proxy firewall that prevents Javascripting, or the browsers are denying the use of Javascript, the site will not operate properly. The '?help' icon generates a second browser session that will optionally based on the browser use Java Applets to build more sophisticated Contents, Index, Search and Glossary functionality. However, the help has been designed to check the compatibility of your browser, and will present an HTML only version of the help with limited functionality.
Excel
The Microsoft Excel downloads available from the website are built by setting the 'content header' of the web page to be an excel application, and then sending an HTML table. This is the most efficient and lightweight way to download spreadsheet information. If you do not have Excel as an application on your PC, or are not running a browser with an Excel 'plug-in' you will have problems with these downloads.
Performance Issues
The dynamic content of the website is built using Active Server Pages. While we have set our web servers to provide the best possible performance, the dynamic generation of large tables can take some time. Because the site goes directly against our operational applications, if our production systems are particularily busy, response time can be somewhat slower. However, we think you will find the typical performance of the site to be quite strong.
PDF
The reports and Material Safety Data Sheets available on the website are built in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader 'plug-in' installed. This can be downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.
Cookies
Application level security on the website is controlled by a 'cookie' sent to the client's browser. This 'cookie' holds the security information required by the application that supports the information retrieval capabilities of the website. Both your browsers and firewall must allow 'cookies' to be created in order for the site to work. Problems with 'cookies' usually show up as an 'Access Denied user profile not defined' error message, because the site was unable to obtain the correct security information from the client.
Secure Socket Layer
All information from the website is encrypted through 'https'. Your firewall must allow port 433 to be used in order for the website to work. Older browsers may not recognize the digital certificate authority being used, in which case they will need to be upgraded.
Session Timeouts
The PotashCorp Customer Service website makes use of web server session variables to keep track of security information. These variables are designed to time out after 90 minutes of inactivity. When this happens, you will be required to log back in again.
Contact
If you have any technical questions about access to our website, please
E-mail the Webmaster.
Conclusion
We hope this document will provide you with enough help to get started using the PotashCorp Customer Service website. We encourage you to contact your Customer Service Representative when you are ready to Login, as they will be happy to assist you.
