Preferences

Descriptions of the fields and buttons on the Preferences screen of the Customer Maintenance tab are provided in the following table.

Note: To access the Preferences screen, you must have the proper security privileges. The Customer 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.

Field or button

Description

Order Processing

Accepts Partial Shipments

If the customer accepts partial orders, select this option; then, you can ship as many items as you have in stock to this customer and place the rest on backorder.

If this option is not selected, you cannot ship merchandise unless you can fill the entire line item.

For customers who accept partial shipments, the status of the wholesale vendor (drop ship versus non-drop ship) may affect the bump-down sequence for EDI transmissions to vendors.

Accepts Backorders

If a customer accepts backorders, select this option. If a customer does not accept backorders, leave this option unchecked. An unchecked box means that the system cancels a specific line item when an operator is entering an order in Customer Service unless there is enough of the product available to fill the quantity specified in the line item.

There is one exception to this rule. If the customer accepts partial orders, the system lets you partially fill the line item in question. But it does not put the unfilled portion on backorder. It cancels the quantity it cannot fill.

Sort Furniture Pickers

This check box indicates whether or not the line items on a customer's pick ticket should be sorted according to the bin locations of the warehouse.

If the customer accepts furniture pick tickets that list line items sorted by warehouse locations, select this check box.

If the customer does not want to receive pick tickets that list line items sorted by warehouse locations, clear this check box. Then the picket ticket line items are printed in the same order they were entered on the Customer Service tab.

Desktop Delivery

If the customer requests desktop delivery, select this option. This also indicates that the sales rep's commission can be manually calculated using the Desktop Delivery commission sliding scale.

Government Customer

If this customer is a government agency that would like to be offered National Industries for the Blind (NIB) equivalent products as substitutions during order entry, select this option.

Complete Ship

This indicator tells the system how this customer wants to receive shipments. You have several options for this field:

  • Backorder Complete (B): if the customer wants complete shipment of backorders. Thus, the customer will take delivery of whatever is in stock at the time the order is placed. As the remaining merchandise arrives in your warehouse, it is held until the backordered lines are complete. At that time, a second and final delivery is made.

  • Complete Ship (C): if the customer accepts only shipments of orders that can be completely filled. Whatever merchandise happens to be in stock is held until the rest of the merchandise for that order comes in. As the backordered products arrive, they accumulate on a 999 Release. Once the entire 999 Release is filled, the system generates a pick ticket.

  • Normal Shipping (N): if this customer does not require complete shipments. Pick tickets are generated based on product availability at the time the order is entered in Customer Service, as well as when each backorder is received.

Billing Code Match Pattern

You have several options for this field:

  • Type a pattern match for billing codes, which are used to identify locations within a ship to. Valid entries are patterns that are compared for matches. For example, the pattern 3A-4X-2N means that a valid billing code must have the following pattern: 3 alpha characters - 4 alphanumeric characters - 2 numeric characters. AA-XX-NNN is not a valid entry for this field.

Existence of a pattern match in this field makes entry of a Billing Code required when an order is entered on the Customer Service tab.

  • Leave this field blank. During order entry on the Customer Service tab, you are not required to enter or select a billing code (unless the Billing code Match Pattern is established for the ship to).

  • Type VALID in this field. During order entry on the Customer Service tab, the Billing Code field becomes a drop-down list of the available billing codes established for the customer.

If a Billing Code Match Pattern is established for the ship to location on the Ship To Preferences screen of the Customer Maintenance tab, it overrides any pattern set up here for the customer.

This field is also used for monthly billing and customer reporting.

Vertex Customer Class

Enter a customer class code defined in the Vertex software. This code is not required.

PO Requirements

PO Required

If this box is checked, it means that the operator must enter the customer's PO number when entering an order for this customer on the Customer Service tab. If this box is unchecked, it means that the PO number is not required.

PO Match Pattern

This field is a pattern match for customer PO numbers. For example, entering the pattern 3A-4X-2N in this field would require entry of a customer PO having the following pattern: 3 alpha characters - 4 alphanumeric characters - 2 numeric characters.

Blanket PO Match Pattern

This field is the pattern match for a blanket PO. This field also specifies whether the Blanket PO field is required. If a pattern match is entered in this field, a blanket PO number must be entered in the Blanket PO field here and also on the Current Order screen of the Customer Service tab when you are entering an order. This default can be overridden on the Current Order screen on the Customer Service tab. The pattern AA-XX-NNN is not a valid entry for this field.

Blanket PO

If a customer uses a blanket purchase order number, enter that number here. Data retrieval from the RELEASE file (until you purge the data) is available to show the money spent under this blanket PO number.

Document Prints

Invoice Discount Print

Select how the customer's prices print on his or her invoices.

Invoice Delivery Method

Select the manner in which invoices are delivered to this customer. Valid options are as follows:

  • Print: Select this option if you would like the invoices for this customer to be prepared for printing during EOD processing. The invoices are sent to the spooler hold file of the person who started the EOD process. They are printed automatically (if the print queue is set up to do so), or you can print them from the hold file the next morning. The printed invoices can then be mailed to the appropriate customers.

  • Fax: Select this option if you would like the invoices for this customer to be faxed automatically during EOD processing. The system performs a check to make sure that a fax number has been established for this customer; if a fax number has not been established, a warning message is displayed.

(If you select this option but a fax number has not been set up for this customer on the Master screen, the system checks to see if an AR contact has been established for this customer on the Contacts screen. If one has not been established, the system will display a warning message. If there is an AR contact, the system checks for a corresponding fax number. If there is no fax number, the system will display a warning message.)

  • Email: Select this option if you would like the invoices for this customer to be emailed automatically during EOD processing. The system performs a check to make sure that an email address has been established for this customer; if an email address has not been established, a warning message is displayed.

(If you select this option, the system checks to see if an AR contact has been established for this customer on the Contacts screen. If one has not been established, the system will display a warning message. If there is an AR contact, the system checks for a corresponding email address. If there is no email address, the system will display a warning message.)

For more information, please see Specify how invoices should be sent to a customer.

Invoice Message

This two-line text field contains the text of a message to be printed on the invoice.

Order Acknowledgments

This drop-down list indicates how order acknowledgments should be generated when orders are accepted for this customer on the Customer Service tab. Valid options are as follows:

  • None: This is the default option. If no order acknowledgments should be generated automatically for this customer, select this option.  If this option is selected, you cannot select an order acknowledgment method for the ship to location (in the Order Acknowledgments drop-down list on the Ship To Preferences screen).

  • Fax: If order acknowledgments should be faxed to this customer automatically, select this option. The system faxes the order acknowledgments using the fax number of the Contact assigned to the order during order entry on the Customer Service tab. If there is no Contact tied to an order, then the order acknowledgment is faxed to the Primary Contact set up for this customer on the Contacts screen. If a fax number has not been set up, the system prints the order acknowledgment and/or sends it to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

  • Email: If order acknowledgments should be emailed to this customer automatically, select this option. The system emails the order acknowledgments using the email address of the Contact assigned to the order during order entry on the Customer Service tab. If there is no Contact tied to an order, then the order acknowledgment is emailed to the Primary Contact set up for this customer on the Contacts screen. If an email address has not been set up, the system printer prints the order acknowledgment and/or sends it to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

  • Print: If order acknowledgments should be printed automatically and then mailed to this customer, select this option. The system prints the order acknowledgments and/or sends them to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

If an option is selected for the ship to location (in the Order Acknowledgments drop-down list on the Ship To Preferences screen), it overrides the option selected in this drop-down list on the Preferences screen.

Backorder Acknowledgments

If this customer accepts backorders (as indicated by the Accepts Backorders check box), this drop-down list indicates how backorder acknowledgments should be generated for this customer when backorders are placed for this customer on the Customer Service tab. The backorder acknowledgments are generated during End-of-Day (EOD) processing. Valid options are as follows:

  • None: This is the default option. If no backorder acknowledgments should be generated automatically during EOD for this customer, select this option. If this option is selected, you cannot select a backorder acknowledgment method for the ship to location (in the Backorder Acknowledgments drop-down list on the Ship To Preferences screen).

  • Fax: If backorder acknowledgments should be faxed to this customer automatically, select this option. The system faxes the backorder acknowledgments using the fax number of the Contact assigned to the order during order entry on the Customer Service tab. If there is no Contact tied to an order, then the backorder acknowledgment is faxed to the Primary Contact set up for this customer on the Contacts screen. If a fax number has not been set up, the system prints the backorder acknowledgment and/or sends it to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

  • Email: If backorder acknowledgments should be emailed to this customer automatically, select this option. The system emails the backorder acknowledgments using the email address of the Contact assigned to the order during order entry on the Customer Service tab. If there is no Contact tied to an order, then the backorder acknowledgment is emailed to the Primary Contact set up for this customer on the Contacts screen. If an email address has not been set up, the system printer prints the backorder acknowledgment and/or sends it to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

  • Print: If backorder acknowledgments should be printed automatically and then mailed to this customer, select this option. The system prints the backorder acknowledgments and/or sends them to your spooler hold file, depending on how your printer is set up.

If an option is selected for the ship to location (in the Backorder Acknowledgments drop-down list on the Ship To Preferences screen), it overrides the option selected in this drop-down list on the Preferences screen.

Report Card Group

Select the group that you want to use for this customer. If you include this ID on several customer master records, all of those customers can be grouped together on the Customer Report Card Report.

Freight Manifest Customer Link

You can type a customer number in this field. If you do so, the Freight Manifest print will print a different manifest form for this customer. It will also link several customers under one customer and print them all on the same manifest.

Monthly Reports

Monthly Billing Invoice Reports

If this customer wishes to receive monthly billing invoice reports, select this option.

Usage Report Heading Day

Choose the day for which you wish to run this report.

Monthly Billing Sort

Select how the monthly billing reports are to be sorted.

Usage Report

The Usage Report field enables you to select which Usage Report(s), if any, you want to run for this account.

Usage Report Frequency

Select one of the options to specify the frequency of the Usage Report(s).

  • Monthly (M)

  • Quarterly (Q)

  • Yearly (Y)

Consolidated Usage Cust #

Enter the customer number that is used to produce Consolidated Usage reports.

Display Report Subtotals

If the End-of-Month Usage reports should have subtotals for contract and non-contract items, select this option.

If the End-of-Month Usage reports should not have subtotals for contract and non-contract items, clear this option.

Current Fiscal Month

Choose the fiscal month for which you wish to run this report.

Department By Location Within Ship To Number

Delimeter

This field denotes the position where the location is found within the Ship To code. The format for this field is TS,L, where S indicates the starting position and L indicates the length. The delimiter T5,3 indicates start at character 5 and use 3.

The Usage Report uses the delimiter to find and segregate the department number out of the Ship To key. If a location delimiter is entered, you must specify where this delimiter is to be applied by selecting the Usage By Page or Billing By Page options.

Usage By Page

If you would like the Usage Report to have page breaks at locations, select this option.

Billing By Page

If you would like the monthly billing reports to have page breaks at locations, select this option.

Accept

Click this button to save any changes that you have made.

Cancel

Click this button if you do not wish to save the changes that you made, and you wish to revert to your previous information.

 

Related Topics

Sample screen shot

Working with the Customer Maintenance tab