Working with the Customer Service tab

The Customer Service tab contains all of the screens and fields that are used for entering and processing any type of order, whether it is a standard order, a one-step, a credit memo pickup, a credit memo one-step, a rebill, or a quote. When you use the Customer Service tab, you will be able to provide your customers with fast service while collecting the information the system needs for invoicing, purchasing, etc. Your entries are combined with a database containing information associated with customers, ship to information, products, and other orders.

You can also use the Customer Service tab to view information such as order status, customer buying patterns, and a recent transactions log— information you can leverage to sell more to your existing customers.

Following are descriptions of the screens available on the Customer Service tab.

Screen name

Purpose

Customer Profile

This screen helps you quickly:

Search for a customer if you are unsure of the customer's number.
View contact information, buying trends, general account activity, pricing information for the customer, and other customer profile information.
Determine what service level is appropriate when dealing with this customer. For example, if the customer is identified here as a Handle with Care account, you'll want to make sure that you provide this customer with excellent service; you may want to take special steps to ensure that this customer is satisfied and that you build or rebuild customer loyalty.

Select a customer for the order that you are entering into the system. If you'd like, you can skip this screen and enter the customer number directly on the Current Order screen if you know the customer number and if you do not need to view the customer profile information.

Note: To access this screen, you must have the proper security privileges. The Customer Lookup job function needs to be assigned to one of your roles. Roles are assigned to users in the User Maintenance on the Security Maintenance screen of the Vision Configuration tab. For more information, refer to About roles and job functions.

Ship Tos

This screen is where you switch the ship to address if multiple ship to locations exist for this customer and if the ship to location identified in the Active Data Bar is not appropriate for the current order.

The ship to address is useful because it enables Vision to assign the correct shipping routes, special instructions, and tax information, without requiring you to type a lot of extra information. Since taxes are governed by the location to which goods are sent, the ship to addresses take on a great significance.

You can skip this screen if you do not need to switch the ship to address for the order that you are entering into the system.

Current Order

This is the main order processing screen. This screen helps you quickly:

Specify whether the order you are entering is a standard order, a one-step, a credit memo pickup, a credit memo one-step, a rebill, or a quote.
Split commissions between sales representatives.
Place the order on hold.
Select payment options and enter any charges or other order-related information.

Note: To enter a new order or make changes to an existing order, you must have the proper security privileges. To enter a new order, the Order Entry job function needs to be assigned to one of your roles. To make changes to an existing order, the Order Maintenance job function needs to be assigned to one of your roles. Roles are assigned to users in the User Maintenance on the Security Maintenance screen of the Vision Configuration tab. For more information, refer to About roles and job functions.

Product

This screen helps you quickly:

Search for a product if you are unsure of the product number.
View detailed product information such as the catalog page number, the price class, the manufacturer, the vendors, the price, and product availability.
View the customer's buying history for a particular product, including the dates the customer has ordered it, the quantity, and the price.

Add one or more products to the order that you are entering into the system. If you'd like, you can skip this screen and enter each product number directly on the Current Order screen if you know the product number and if you do not need to view the detailed product information.

Note: To access this screen, you must have the proper security privileges. The Product Lookup job function needs to be assigned to one of your roles. Roles are assigned to users in the User Maintenance on the Security Maintenance screen of the Vision Configuration tab. For more information, refer to About roles and job functions.

Customer History

This screen can serve as a log of every time that individuals in your organization have communicated with that customer. So, at a glance, you can see, for example, that a customer service representative followed up with that customer on a credit return problem, and a salesperson contacted the customer regarding a recent wholesaler promotion.

Order Inquiry

This screen enables you to check on the status of a customer's order or release. The Order Inquiry screen is helpful when a customer calls you and asks questions about backorders, shipment dates, dollar amounts charged for freight, and related order information.

AR Inquiry

This screen enables you to check invoice terms, charges on the invoice, payment information pertaining to an invoice, and related AR information.

On Account Payment

This screen enables you to apply any combination of cash, check, or charge to a customer's account. An account receivable record is created for each payment, and it is recorded in the customer's Recent Transactions log as a line item with a type of A/R and an invoice indicator of On Account.

Note: To access this screen, you must have the proper security privileges. The On Account Payment job function needs to be assigned to one of your roles. Roles are assigned to users in the User Maintenance on the Security Maintenance screen of the Vision Configuration tab. For more information, refer to About roles and job functions.