Create a New Customer

Before creating a new customer account it is a good idea to search the prospect database to check whether a prospect account already exists for this customer. If so, it is advisable to convert the prospect into an active account so that any contact history for the prospect is retained, and to ensure that the same company does not exist as both a customer and a prospect on your system.

3. Enter the Account Code for the new customer. Click the new account button or click here for help on figuring the next available account code to use to fit in with the existing account code sequence.

4. Use the option tabs along the lower half of the screen to set up the information required about this customer. The tabs are:

It is advisable to work through each option tab in turn to ensure you do not miss out any of the details required for this customer.

1. Click the Contacts tab and fill in their name and address on the left side of the screen. If you are using a 3rd party web site for your e-commerce solution you may have mandatory fields that must be filled in. The minimum information for a valid address is line 1, 2 and the postcode (UK only).

2. To record details for the contact person(s) you have at this company, click the Contacts button. Refer to Create a New Contact for instructions.

3. If invoices for this company are sent to a different address, you will need to create an invoice address. Click the Invoice Address button. Enter the invoice address details into the popup window and Save.

4. To create a statement address if these are not sent to the main address, click the Statement Address button. Enter the statement address details into the popup window and Save.

5. To create delivery addresses, click the Delivery Address button. Start with Address Reference 003 since 001 is reserved for the invoice address and 002 for statements. Enter the delivery address details into the popup window and Save. Click here for detailed instructions on setting up delivery addresses.

6. On the right side of the screen, select the Contact from the drop-down menu or alternatively use the Contact Search button

(click here for Contact Search instructions), and enter the telephone number, fax number and website address.

7. Select van route details for this customer. You can create area codes and zone codes if new ones are required.

8. You may copy this Customer to a new Customer by pressing the Copy button. A option window will appear asking for the Company (if you are running multi-company Gx) and the new Customer's account code. You may select to copy the Customer's Purchase History and CRM Comment History by ticking the appropriate boxes. Finally click the OK button to copy the Customer.

9. If you have the Power-Gx EPOS module then you may input or scan the customer's Loyalty Card number into the space provided. Tick the check box provided if you wish this customer to be exempt from collecting and redeeming loyalty points. Please note that a loyalty card customer must have the number of days credit set to 0 unless the Exempt from Points check box is ticked.

10. If you are using a 3rd party website then a label will display the last date and time that the customer's details were updated to the website.

3. Enter the Bad Debt Addressee for this account. This name can be used as the addressee for debt chasing letters.

2. If invoices for this customer are to be consolidated to another account on your Sales Ledger, enter that account code in the Send Invoice To Account Code field.

5. Select the method of calculating the Payment Due Date from the three options. The customers number of days credit will be added to the invoice date according to this selection to calculate the date it is due for payment.

7. If statements for this customer are to be consolidated to another account on your Sales Ledger, enter that account code in the Send Statement To Account Code field.

9. Enter any free type Statement Text that you want to appear on statements for this customer.

2. Select the Discount Category for this customer from the drop-down menu. Click here for instructions on creating discount categories.

3. Select the Settlement Discount for this customer from the drop-down menu. See: Create Settlement Discount Codes.

4. You can click the

icon next to Contract Start Date to open the customer contracts program.

5. Select the Rep Code for this customer from the drop-down menu. See Create Rep Codes.

8. Select the Selection Group for this account. See: Create Customer Selection Group Codes .

9. To set up the catalogues that this customer takes, click a cell in the catalogues Code column. This reveals a drop-down menu option from which you should select the highest priority catalogue allocated to this customer. This will become part of their price and discount structure . You can apply a Discount % to the catalogue. Add each catalogue they take to the list in order of priority. Use the

buttons to reorder the priority of catalogues.

2. Enter an Account Name Sort String for this customer. This is a ' quick access code ' to allow the easy retrieval of an account if you do not know or wish to type in their full account code. The sort string can be up to six characters long, and where prompted for an account code, you can type all or part of the sort string to find the customer.

3. The Account Status should be left as 'Active' for this new customer. If you are amending an account, select the required status from the drop-down menu.

4. Choose the Default Order Source for this customer. When you place a sales order it will automatically use this order source unless you change it. See: Create Order Source Codes.

5. Enter the number of Months History that should be retained for this customer. This will automatically use the number of months entered in Sales Ledger Setup Options unless you overtype it. When the sales ledger period end is run, any transactions that have aged beyond the number of months history set up here will be removed from the system.

6. Select the Default Nominal Code to be used when entering transactions for this customer. This should be a sales nominal code. Note: invoicing via Sales Order Processing will overwrite this with the correct sales nominal code attached to the products being invoiced.

8. Select the Invoice Frequency for this customer. Daily produces a separate invoice for every sales order. Weekly and Monthly will print all sales orders within the given period on one invoice.

9. You can Consolidate Invoices by account, delivery address or cost centre, so that a customer can have all orders for each account, delivery address or cost centre on a separate invoice. Alternatively you can select the no consolidation option, meaning that an invoice is produced for every order.

10. Cost Centres can be set up for a customer. Enter the Cost Centre number and Description. When you place a sales order for the customer you will be asked to select the correct cost centre.

11. Tick the Invoice for each Consolidated Account check-box if the invoices for this account are consolidated to another sales ledger account, but they want invoices for this account to remain separate to invoices for their own account.

12. Tick the Invoice Order Contact Only check-box if you wish to email the invoice to the contact on the order rather than all contacts that are marked to receive invoices.

13. Tick the Mandatory Customer Reference check-box if sales orders for this customer must contain a customer order reference. You will not be allowed to bypass the reference field in Order Details if this is the case.

14. Tick the Only Invoice Fully Delivered Orders check-box if this customer does not wish to received more than one invoice per sales order. This prevents the system invoicing the parts of an order that have been dispatched so far.

15. Tick the Print Discount on Invoices check-box if you want invoices for this customer to show the full price, discount and their price. Do not tick this box if you prefer their invoices to show their nett price only.

16. Tick the VAT Exempt check-box if VAT is not to be applied to goods bought by this customer. For example Charity Organisations are VAT exempt in the UK. This only applies to domestic customers.

17. Tick the Web Enabled Account check-box if you wish to set up this customer with a Business to Business account on your e-commerce solution (website).

18. Using EPOS Price List at the Till check-box, this is only relevant if you are using the EPOS module. If you wish this customer to use the prices set on the EPOS Price List at the till then tick this option.

19. Select the required Acknowledge Sales Orders option for this customer. When you save a sales order it automatically generates the required format of order acknowledgement.

20. The Using Alternate Stationery option should be used if you wish this customer to use an alternative version of your stationery for Invoices, Delivery Notes etc. Please contact support for assistance in configuring this feature.

2. This tab will display the customer's turnover over the last 12 periods (Rolling Periods) or over the course of the current financial year ( Financial Periods ). To change the display click on the appropriate option in the bottom left of the screen.

3. If you wish to record a budget figure for this customer's turnover, use the box provided in the bottom right of the screen.

2. Enter any information you wish to record about this account. This can also be viewed in Contact Details and sales orders.

2. Type any Delivery Instructions and Invoice Instructions you have for this customer. The delivery instructions will appear on the Header Details tab when you enter a sales order.

2. Enter the Customer's Bank details in the spaces provided. Please note that the Customer's Bank Details are used in conjunction with the BACS file export facility in Invoice Production. This facility is not enabled by default.