The Customer Maintenance program is where you set up and maintain your customer file. It is easy to create new customers and easy to maintain them once they are added to the system.
You can access the Customer Maintenance program in several ways.
Click on the Customer toolbar icon at the top of your [i] Merchant Desktop, if you have toolbars displayed. The Find Customer screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new Customer. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Customer window. The Customer Properties window appears. If you had entered any information in the search fields, that information will be carried over to the concomitant search fields on the Customer Properties screen when enetering a new customer. You can also access the Customer Order Subscriptions program by clicking on the Subscription toolbar icon.)
or . . .
From the menu at the top of the [i] Merchant Desktop, select File-Open-Customer. The Find Customer screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new Customer. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Customer window.)
To create a new Customer:
From the menu at the top of the [i] Merchant Desktop, select File-New-Customer. The Customer Properties window displays. This is where you enter the information for the customer you are creating.
The Customer Properties window has an assortment of fields. You can rearrange the fields, add fields, and remove fields in the Screen Designer for Customer Properties. The documentation below deals with the [i] Merchant default setting for Customer Properties.
In the First Name field:
Key in the customer's first name. If the customer is a business, key in the business name here in the First Name field.
In the Last Name field:
Key in the customer's last name.
In the Type field:
Select the Customer Type for the customer. Customer Types help to sort customers into groups of your choosing. For example, you may have Customer Types of B (Business), R (Regular), T (Teacher), etc. If you need to view information on how to select a parameter in a code-driven field, please click here.
Note:
While at the Find Customer Type parameter screen, you can create a new Customer Type, if needed. For information on how to create a new basic parameter, click here.
In the AutoDiscountID field:
Select the Automatic Customer Discount Code for the customer, if applicable. If you need to view information on how to select a parameter in a code-driven field, please click here.
In the Short Name field:
If you leave this field blank, [i] Merchant will fill it in automatically with the next available customer number or default customer short name (first and last name of customer merged together), making it unique to every customer in [i] Merchant. If it is not unique for some reason, the system will prompt you. To determine whether you want the system to set a customer number or a short name, set up the default in Tools-Options. The default in Tools-Options is short name. Of course, you can key in anything you want in this field as well, so long as it is unique.
In the Opened field:
The date defaults automatically to the current date. This is the date the customer was created in [i] Merchant. If you need to change the date, simply key in the desired date or click on the arrow to the right of the field and select the date you want from the calendar that appears.
In the Closed field:
When creating a new customer, leave this field blank. This is strictly an informational field that holds the date when this customer became inactive. If you fill this in for a customer, the customer will still be on your system. It is just an informational tool that you can use for your benefit. When filling this field in, either key in the desired date or click on the arrow to the right of the field and select the date from the calendar that appears.
The bottom half of the Customer Properties window is under the Address tab. This is where you enter the customer's contact information. (The Address tab refers to the customer's Bill To address.) Fields that have a red exclamation point to the right of them indicate vital information that you will want to fill in.
In the Formal Name field:
Key in any name for the customer, if desired. If you want to use this field, you most likely will rekey the customer's first and last name--or business name--here. A sensible reason to do that would be that you want the customer's name directly above the address in Customer Properties.
In the Contact field:
Key in the contact person's name for this customer, if different from the customer (such as a secretary) or the contact person for a business. For example, if the customer is a school, you would put a specific person's name in the Contact field if a certain contact person at the school exists.
In the Address field:
Key in the customer's address (number and street, or P.O. Box).
In the City field:
Key in the customer's city.
In the State/Province field:
Key in the customer's state or province, or click on the arrow to the right of the field and select the state or province from the list.
In the Zip/Postal code field:
Key in the customer's zip code.
In the Country/Region field:
Select the appropriate Country/Region code. If you need to view information on how to select a parameter in a code-driven field, please click here.
In the Phone field:
Key in the customer's phone number. Don't worry about dashes or parentheses. [i] Merchant will format the phone number.
In the Ext. field:
Key in the customer's extension, if applicable.
In the Email field:
Key in the customer's email address, if applicable. Notice the word "Email" above the field is a different color and underlined. It is a hyperlink. Once you enter the email address, you can click on the Email link and you will be taken automatically to your email program, with the "To" field already filled in with the customer's email address, as entered in the Email field. A handy tool.
In the Fax field:
Key in the customer's fax number, if applicable. Don't worry about dashes or parentheses. [i] Merchant will format the fax number.
In the Web field:
Key in the url to the customer's Website, if they have one. As with the Email field, this is a hyperlink. Once you enter the Website's url in this field, you can click on the Web link and you will be taken directly to the customer's Website.
In the Mobile/Other field:
Key in the customer's mobile or cell phone number, if applicable. Don't worry about dashes or parentheses. [i] Merchant will format the phone number.
In the Ext. field:
Key in the customer's mobile or cell phone extension, if applicable.
If you need to create another (Ship To) address for the customer, you can do that.
Click on the "Add Address" toolbar icon at the top of the screen, or choose "Add an Address" from the Edit menu at the very top of your screen. Next to the Address tab in the middle of the Customer Properties screen, a Ship To tab appears. Click on that. The bottom half of the Customer Properties screen is blank again (the top half is still filled in). Fill in the fields, the same way you did for the general Address tab.
If you need to create still another address for the customer, select Edit-Add an Address again from the menu at the top of the screen. A third tab, called Contact, appears to the right of the Ship To Tab. This is applicable if the customer (most likely a business in this case) has a contact person at an entirely different address. Fill in the fields under the Contact tab, the same way you did for Address and Ship To.
There is a special Tax Exempt box that you can put on the Customer Properties screen as well. To do so, go to the Screen Designer and move the TaxExempt selection from the palette into the work screen, and position it where you want it.
If you have security access to do so, you can add and maintain an A/R account for a customer. To add an A/R account:
While in the Customer Properties program for a specific customer, click on the Add A/R toolbar icon at the top of the screen. The A/R pop-up window appears. This is where you set up the customer's A/R account information.
In the Name field, the system will simply insert the value from the customer's Short Name field. You can either change this, or just leave it as is.
The Account # field fills in automatically. While you can alter this, it makes sense just to leave it as is. This field cannot be left blank.
The Balance field is grayed out. To set up the balance, you need to click on the Adjust toolbar icon at the top of the A/R pop-up window. This calls up the A/R Adjust window. Here, you can key in (or use the up/down arrows at the right of the field to set) the appropriate balance in the Balance field. Or, once the customer's A/R account has been established, you can key in (or use the up/down arrows at the right of the field to set) the adjustment to the balance in the Adjust field, and the system will adjust the balance automatically. In the Reason field, you must key in a reason for any A/R adjustment. Once you have set the balance or made the adjustment, click on the Apply button at the upper left of the A/R Adjust window. You will be brought back to the A/R pop-up window, and the Balance field, though still grayed out, will be adjusted accordingly.
Determine the Account Limit and key the value into this field.
The Opened field defaults to the current date, but you can change it if needed. The arrow at the right of the field yields a mini calendar, from which you can select a different date.
The Closed date is blank, and you would not fill that in until the customer's A/R account is terminated.
The Scan ID fills in automatically with the same value as the Account #. You can leave this as is, unless there is a prefix number needed.
The AR Terms field is where you can assign an A/R Terms code to the customer's A/R account.
The Active field is a check box. If checked, the customer is an active A/R customer. If unchecked, the customer's A/R account is not active.
When you are finished setting up the A/R account, close out of the A/R window. The system will prompt you to save your changes.
You can access an existing A/R account for a customer by doing the following:
While in the Customer Properties program for a specific customer, select Edit A/R from the toolbar at the top of the screen. The A/R pop-up window appears. If you have security access to do so, change any of the fields as needed, then close out of the window and save your changes at the prompt. Or simply view the information and then close out of the window without making any changes.
You can attach Customer Rewards to a customer via the Rewards icon, at the top of the Customer Properties window. You can attach as many existing Rewards as you want to any customer. When a customer meets the specifications for a Reward premium, POS will automatically notify the clerk, and the premium will be given. For detailed information on Customer Rewards, please click here.
Once you have clicked on the Rewards icon, the Customer Rewards Find window displays. Let's go through it. . . .
The upper portion of this window is informational. It provides you with a few basic facts about this customer. This information cannot be changed here. To change any of it, Close out of the window and make the alterations in Customer Properties.
The lower portion of the window is where you can add (or delete) Rewards for a particular customer.
To add a Reward:
Click on the "Add to List" icon, on the far left of the window, just above and to the left of the "Reward" column heading. The Find Reward window will appear, from which you will select the Reward you wish to attach to this customer. Once the Reward is selected, you are returned to the Customer Rewards Find window, and the just-selected Reward will display in the lower portion of the window. The name of the Reward will display beneath the "Reward" column. You can add as many Rewards as you wish for a particular customer using this method. Each time you add a Reward, a new row will appear, beneath the Reward just above it.
There are several additional columns in this portion of the window. They list essential information for the Rewards, specific to this customer.
"Opened" lists the date you added the Reward to the customer. This value cannot be changed.
"Last Reward" lists the last time the customer received a Reward premium for this reward. This value cannot be changed.
"Dollars Toward Reward" lists the ongoing dollar amount that is being accumulated toward the Reward premium. Once the premium is met, this figure will reset. If needed, please click here for more information on how Rewards work in [i] Merchant. This value can be changed, if desired and if you have security access, by selecting "Adjustment" from the Edit menu. However, manually updates to this field should be very rare, and are strongly discouraged.
"Quantity Toward Reward" lists the ongoing quantity (number of applicable items purchased) that is being accumulated toward the Reward premium. Once the premium is met, this figure will rest. If needed, please click here for more information on how Rewards work in [i] Merchant. This value can be changed, if desired and if you have security access, by selecting "Adjustment" from the Edit menu. However, manually updates to this field should be very rare, and are strongly discouraged.
Notice the "Needed for Next Reward" line that appears below both the "Dollars Toward Reward" and "Quantity Toward Reward" columns. The value listed here does what it says--it lets you know how many dollars or what quantity of titles are still needed for the reward to be met. So, if a reward is dollars-driven and the premium is $100, and the customer has accrued $30 toward the premium, $70 will be the value in this field, since that is what is still needed for the premium to be met. The Quantity premium works exactly the same way, only using quantity as the benchmark as opposed to dollars.
"Life Dollars Spent" lists the total number of dollars this customer has spent on items that qualify for this Reward premium. This value can be changed, if desired and if you have security access, by selecting "Adjustment" from the Edit menu. However, manually updates to this field should be very rare, and are strongly discouraged.
"Life Rewards Earned" lists the total number of dollars this customer has earned via Rewards premiums for this Reward. This value can be changed, if desired and if you have security access, by selecting "Adjustment" from the Edit menu. However, manually updates to this field should be very rare, and are strongly discouraged.
"Sequence" is a column where the value can be altered without having to select "Adjustment" from the Edit menu. This applies if you have more than one Reward attached to a customer. The first Reward you added will have a Sequence value of 0. The second (i.e., the second row) will have a Sequence value of 1, and so on. But you can change the Sequence values if you want. Why would you? Well, the Sequence numbers represent a tiering system. The Sequence 0 Reward is the first Reward the system will look at when it's looking to match an item purchased against the available Rewards for a particular customer. If the item doesn't match the Sequence 0 Reward, the system will then check the qualifications of the Sequence 1 Reward, and so on down the line. (If no matches are made, the item will not be applied to any of the Rewards.) As soon as the system makes a match, it uses the first Sequence Reward it finds. An item cannot be applied to multiple Reward premiums. So, if you want a certain Reward to be checked against first, be sure you set its Sequence number to 0.
Example:
Kim has three Rewards premiums attached to her customer file: Business, Fiction, and Cookbooks. You have set the Sequences as follows: Business, 0; Fiction, 1; Cookbooks, 2. One day, Kim purchases a cookbook, but its qualifications place it under two of the Rewards--Business and Cookbooks. Since Business has the lower Sequence number (0), the book is credited toward the Business Rewards premium, not the Cookbooks premium.
"Membership Expires" lists the date, if one exists, when the Reward premium will expire for the customer. If there is no expiration date, the field will read, "Never."
"Renew" is a checkbox field, but it is not active for any Reward premium with an expiration date of "Never." If a premium does indeed have an expiration date attached to it, then the checkbox under "Renew" will be active for that premium. If a premium has expired, a "warning" icon will display between the "Membership Expires" field and the "Renew" field for that premium. Checking the "Renew" checkbox will update the "Membership Expires" field once you select Save.
To delete a Reward from the customer's file:
At the bottom of the Find Reward window, highlight the Reward row you wish to delete, and click on the "Remove from List" icon, which is just to the right of the "Add to List" icon. The Reward row is deleted. Please be aware, if you remove a Reward from a customer's file, any totals already accumulated toward the premium will be lost, and will not be applied to other Reward programs. However, if you have already issued a premium to the customer, that premium will still be valid, even after the Reward has been deleted from his or her customer file. (The premium will have been issued as a Balance Card; the customer will still be allowed to use that card.)
When you are finished making the necessary changes, Close out of the window. Changes are saved automatically.
If you want to create a new customer record that is very similar to an existing record, you can use the Save As option. This works much the same as the Save As option in other applications, such as Microsoft Word.
To use the Save As option:
Locate a customer in the Find Customer window.
Once you access Customer Properties for the selected customer, change the field or fields you want, making sure you alter the Short Name field. Remember, the Short Name must be unique.
Once you have changed the applicable fields, select File from the menu at the top of your computer screen.
Under the File menu, select Save As. The new customer record is created.
Close the Customer Properties window. The new record will be at the bottom of the grid within the Find Customer window. It will also be highlighted.
You can create notes for each customer you create, if you want. Click on the Notes icon at the top of the Customer Properties window, or select Notes-Customer Notes from the menu at the very top of the screen. The Notes window opens.
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Note: |
Anytime you click on any toolbar icon at the top of the Customer Properties window, it serves as a Save, in that it saves any changes you have made. To cancel any saved action, immediately press the Undo icon. This will undo--and save--the just-made changes. |
To access an existing Customer Order for a customer, simply click on the Customer Orders toolbar icon, and the Find Customer Order window will appear for that customer. Any Customer Orders for that customer will appear in the grid at the bottom of the Find screen.
To create a new Customer Order for this customer directly from the Customer Properties screen, click on the New Order icon. The Customer Order Properties screen will appear, with the current customer selected. You can immediately begin to place the desired products onto the Customer Order.
You can also create authorized users for a customer. The most likely example would be--if the customer record is a business, and underneath the business umbrella, you want to add individual employees. The individual employees would be the authorized users. To create authorized users . . .
Click on the Authorized Users toolbar icon near the top of the screen. This opens the Authorized Users window.
Notice the check box field--"Check this box if a name must be selected before allowing an A/R transaction at POS. If you leave the field unchecked, the list of authorized customers is nothing more than an informational display. It will have no practical use in [i] Merchant. However, if you check the field, one of the authorized users you end up creating here will need to be entered at the POS when you complete an A/R transaction. This, in effect, will leave a trail at the POS, detailing the specific authorized user who made the A/R transaction.
To create an authorized user, simply click on the Add Name button. A blank row will appear underneath the heading "Authorized Name." Simply key in the authorized user's name. Repeat this procedure to create as many authorized users as is necessary.
To delete an authorized user, highlight the row you want deleted and then click on the Delete Name button. The row will be deleted.
When you're through, simply click on the Return to Main Screen button to return to Customer Properties.
Once you are finished creating the customer record, simply close out of the Customer Properties window by clicking on the Close icon or the "x" at the top right corner of the Customer Properties window.
Anytime you want to access an existing customer, simply use the Customer Find program, as described at the top of this page. Once you access the Customer Properties window for an existing customer, make any changes you need.
When you are on the Properties page for a specific customer, you can access any existing or past Customer Orders for this customer by clicking on the Customer Orders button at the top of the Properties page. This button also appears on the Customer Orders Find screen. At that screen, with a customer highlighted, the Customer Orders button will be activated, and if you click on it, you will be able to access any existing or past Customer Orders for the selected customer.
You can create a new Customer Order for this customer by clicking on the New Order button.
You can access the Customer Order Detail Find window for a customer by clicking on the Order Details icon at the top of the screen, or by selecting "Customer Order Product Detail" under the History menu at the top of the screen. All products this customer has ordered via Customer Orders will be displayed.
Also under the History menu, you can access the following programs: POS Product Details, POS History, and Tender Accounts.
You can also delete a customer from the active customer database file. To delete an existing customer:
Once you have accessed the customer you want to delete, on the Customer Properties page, select Edit-Delete Customer from the menu at the top of the screen. A prompt box asks if you want to delete the customer. If no, choose "No". The customer is not deleted. If yes, click "Yes". The customer is deleted. (Only users with security access to delete customers will be able to do this.)
Once a customer has been deleted, you are automatically returned to the Find Customer screen. The just-deleted customer appears in the grid at the bottom of the screen, with a strikethrough line running through the entry. You can reactivate the customer, if you wish.
To reactivate a deleted customer, select him or her from the grid. A message prompt appears, asking if you would like to restore the customer. If you select "Cancel," nothing happens, and you are returned to the Customer Find screen, with the deleted customer still having a strikethrough line running through the entry. But if you select ""Yes," you are taken to the Customer Properties page for the customer. When you close out of Customer Properties (assuming you don't delete it again), the customer will now be active, and will no longer have a strikethrough line running through him or her in the grid.
You can also reactivate a previously deleted customer at a later point.
Run a search for existing customers. But before running the search, be sure that the View-Show Deleted Items selection (from the menu at the top of the screen) is checked. If it's not checked, deleted customers will not display after the search is run. If it is checked, any customers that have been deleted at a prior point will display, along with the active customers, in the grid at the bottom of the screen. The deleted customers will have a strikethrough line running through them.
To reactivate a deleted customer:
Select the entry. A message prompt appears, asking if you would like to restore the customer. If you select "Cancel," nothing happens, and you are returned to the Customer Find screen, with the deleted customer still having a strikethrough line running through him or her. But if you select ""Yes," you are taken to the Customer Properties page for the customer. When you close out of Customer Properties (assuming you don't delete the customer again), the customer will now be active, and will no longer have a strikethrough line running through him or her in the grid.