Create New Customer

This procedure is used to create a new customer record.  A customer record must be created for each customer you do business with before any quotes, orders, or other transactions can be processed for the company. 

As new customer records are entered into the system, the system uses the new record default and the field level security features to control data entry.  The new record defaults are used to control which fields in the company record are automatically loaded by the system.  The field level security is used to determine which fields the operator can modify in each customer record.  By using the default and security options in combination, your company can allow trusted users (including order takers or sales reps) to create new customers in a manner that allows other departments such as credit and finance to set and control company policy.  Default values for critical information such as payment terms and credit limit can be set to conservative values (such as COD CASH, $500.00) and these fields can be “locked down” while your credit department determines how the account should be handled. 

Once an account is set up (which can happen while a customer is on the phone), the order taker can enter an order or a quote for the customer.   This order can then be shipped immediately or optionally routed to a credit hold screen to ensure that a minimum review of the customer is performed by credit before any shipment is processed.

New customer records can be created using the following procedure.

1.  Select the Customer Manager from the CRM Pull-down menu   The Customer Manager is used to create and edit company records.  The Customer Manager also allows you to view related information for the company such as orders, quotes, invoice history, comments, actions, opportunities, etc.  When the program is activated, it may display the information for an existing customer or it may be blank.

2.  Press the CLEAR Key.  Pressing the CLEAR key will clear any existing company record from the program, and cause the system to load the company new record default information into the view. 

3.  Accept or change the default information for the new customer.  The new record default feature is used to automatically load required or restricted fields in the Company record based on your company policy.  Default information normally includes the default payment terms, credit limit, and tax information for the account.  Your ability to edit the default and other information in each field of the Customer Manager can be restricted based on your company policy.  By using a combination of default information and field level security, the system can be set up to allow operators to create new customer records but to only access and change the fields that are appropriate based on the operator.

4.  Enter the other information for the new customer.  The Customer Manager program is split up into several different panels.  The various panels can be accessed using the tab buttons shown in the program.  Each of the tabs displays a logical group of fields or type of related information – such as accounting information, ShipTo addresses, contacts, sales information, address information, etc.  The Customer Manager also displays several different types of fields.  Some fields such as the Company name and account number are key fields and must be filled in either manually or automatically before a new company record can be saved.  Other fields such as the payment terms, Taxtype and Taxcode, are required fields and are tied to a related data file (such as the payment terms table), and these fields must also be loaded with valid information before a new record can be saved.

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Customer Comments - Creation and Maintenance