Adding Customers

The following steps will explain in detail how to add a new Customer.  The sections included are the Customer Tab, Setup Tab, Contacts Tab, Clients tab, Notes Tab, History Tab, Email Tab, Detail Tab, Fields Tab, Documents Tab, Activity Tab, Data, Pricing Tab, Analysis Tab and Rewards Tab.

Customer Tab

1.First click on the Customer topic from the Contacts topic in the Main Menu.  This will open the Find Customer search form.  In the Find Customer form click the New button to clear the form so you may enter a new customer.  The cursor will be flashing at the top of the form in the Customer ID field under the Customer Tab.

2.VisionCore will automatically assign a unique Customer ID for each campaign since the program comes with the feature that allows automatic assigning of Customer IDs in the Starting Numbers form.  You may disable this automatic assigning of Customer ID numbers by going to the VisionCore program's Main Menu, clicking on the following: the Company Preferences, the General Tab, the Starting Transaction Numbers button, in the Shortcuts area click on Contact Manager and uncheck the little white box to the right of the Customer Number field.  With the Auto Customer ID checkbox disabled, you may assign a unique Customer ID which can be 40 alphanumeric characters in length.  For example: Joe Smith might be referenced as SMITJ01 using the first four letters of the last name, the first letter of the first name and then 01. There are many different naming conventions to choose from when creating your ID's. Some companies use the phone number or just a unique number for their IDs. There are many different naming conventions to choose from when creating your ID's.  When you have finished entering data for each field, press the TAB or ENTER key to move your cursor to the next field.

3.You may then enter the Company Name.  It is not necessary to add a Company name but this will give you another avenue to search for that customer in the future.  If you enter a Company name, that information will print on the reports throughout the program.

4.The next step is to select a Customer Type.  The Customer Type field is a great way to categorize and group your customers.  There are a few default types that have been added when you created a new data file.  Of course, you can edit this by clicking the ellipse button in Type Field, a Customer Type List form will be open and you can add or edit the type. After that you can click the toolbar icon "Type" and you can now add the Customer Type.

5.You may then fill in all the basic customer information like Salutation, Attention, c/o (In care of.), First Name, Last Name, address, City, State, Zip Code, County, Country, Other Names, Phone, Fax, E-mail and Web Site.  This is some of the main data that will be displayed on the Bill To and Ship To sections of all orders and invoices created for this customer.

Special Zip Code Feature

You will notice as you Tab through these fields the program will skip over the City and State and bring you to the Zip Code field combo box.  The zip code combo box will list every zip code you have entered up to this point.  If you enter a zip code that you have not used before, a message will appear asking if you want to add the zip code.  If you choose to add the zip code then the Zip/Postal Code form will open.  You will then need to fill in the city, state, county and country and click the Ok button to add it to the Zip Code records.  The city, state, county and country will now be automatically filled in and you will never have to enter that information twice.  From now on in any form that uses zip codes you will be able to select and use the one you just entered saving you data entry time.  You can add, delete and edit zip codes from the Zip/Postal Code form at any time.

Special address Feature
You will notice as a small colored Globe to the right of the address box.  If you have Internet access, once you have completed the address, City, State, and Zip Code fields, and, you click on the globe, you will be automatically brought to the Yahoo Web site showing the location of your Employee on a map!

6.        Enter the customer's Credit Limit. This credit limit will be tracked by VisionCore as you add invoices and receivables for the customer. If the customer ever goes over their assigned credit limit VisionCore will alert you with a message.

7.        The Balance Field will display the customer's current outstanding balance. This is based on all their Posted Invoices, Opening Balances, Deposits (Prepayments) and Receivables.

8.        Select a customer status. The Status field is a great way to assign a status for your customers. You can edit this by clicking the ellipse button in Status Field, a Customer Status form will be opened and you can add or edit the type.

Setup Information

Terms is also a very important field.  In this field it follows the VisionCore defaults (setup tab in Company Preference), you can click the drop down button to be able to change the default Terms the way the customer wants to pay for the merchandise.  If the Terms you want to use is not in the list box just go to the System topic in Main Menu and click Terms, in that way you can add or edit a terms.

You can use the Ship Via to setup a default shipping method for each customer. Normally this will automatically  fill in with your default Ship Via setup in Company Preference form but you can change it, Just click the drop down button to be able to choose the way the customer wants to shipped the merchandise.  If the Ship Via you want to use is not in the list box just go to System topic in Main Menu and click Ship Via to be able to add or edit a ship via.

The Currency field is used to assign a default currency for each customer.  Normally this will automatically fill in with your default Currency ID setup in the Company Preferences form but you can change it for foreign customers.  If the currency you want to use is not in the list you will have to add it to the Currency Exchange Rate form.  Every time this customer is used on an invoice or order their default currency will fill in the Currency ID on that form.  You can still override the Currency ID after it fills in if you need to but it helps speed data entry.

You may place the  customer on Credit Hold by clicking on the check box to the right of the word Credit Hold:.

You may enable the Acceptance of Back Orders by clicking on the check box to the right of the words Accept BO.

You may click on the check box by the word Active to show the Customer is an Active Customer.

Setup Tab

You can get to the Setup page of information by clicking on the Setup tab. This form contains other setup Information and Credit Card Details.

Detail  Information

1.First enter the Customers Credit Limit.  This credit limit will be tracked by VisionCore as you add invoices and receivables for the customer.  If the customer ever goes over their assigned credit limit VisionCore will alert you with a message, which you can even password protect using the Security form.

2.The Balance Field will display the Customers current outstanding balance. This is based on all their Posted Invoices, Opening Balances, Deposits and Receivables.

3.The Tax Code field  and Freight Tax combo box fields are very important.  They allow you to setup a default Sales Tax ID for each individual customer so that when you select this customer for a sales or service transaction the sales tax assigned here will automatically fill in that form.  You must make sure you have already setup your sales tax in the Sales Tax Codes form before you can use this.  The Tax Code and Freight Tax  fields will automatically be filled in with the values setup in the Security form > Default Accounts tab > Sales.

4.In the Rep Group field you may assign this customers' Sales Rep Group from the Sales Rep Group combo box.

5.In the Sales Rep field you may assign this customers' normal Sales Rep from the Sales Rep combo box.

6.The Pricing field is a very powerful way to assign specific pricing discounts to each of your customers.  There are several you can choose from including Discount Sales Price, Markup Standard Cost, Multi-Level Pricing or None.  When you add a new customer the default for this field is None, which means the customer pays the normal price for all items.  Below is a description of how the other 3 pricing levels work.  If you would like additional information on the extent of the pricing levels, please see the Inventory Pricing Levels document.
 
Discount Sales Price
When you select this pricing a field called "Percent" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a percent that you want the selected customer to get off of the normal sales price of every item sold.  If you enter 5% in this field and you sell an item to this customer that normally sells for 100.00 the program would automatically give this customer a 5% discount and the price would be 95.00.
 
Markup Standard Cost
When you select this pricing a field called "Percent" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a percent that you want the selected customer to get added to your cost of every item sold.  If you enter 5% in this field and you sell an item to this customer that normally sells for 100.00 but costs you 75.00 the program would automatically added 5% to your cost of 75.00 and the price would be 78.75.  The Markup Standard Cost is useful for customers that purchase a lot from you or maybe for close friends, family members or employees you want to give a good price to.
 
Multi-Level Pricing
When you select this pricing a field called "Level" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a level number between 1 and 20 that you want the selected customer to have.  If you enter 2 in this field and you sell an item to this customer that customer would get level 2 pricing on that inventory item if there is any level pricing breaks for that inventory item.  This pricing option is solely based on weather or not there is multi-level pricing setup in the Inventory form for the selected item being sold.

7.In the Warehouse field you can assign the Warehouse you would like by clicking on the drop down button in the  combo box and select the warehouse of your choice from the mini-form that appears.  The Warehouse choice(s) that appear in the combo box will be the one you entered during warehouse setup.   You also have the option of going directly to the Warehouse form by clicking on the Ellipse button to the right of the Warehouse field.

 The Use Warehouse checkbox when enabled will be used as the default warehouse for the selected Customer when creating quote, order or invoice.  For illustration on how this feature work, see Use Warehouse checkbox.

Credit Card Details

1.You can enter the Card type by clicking the drop down button, there are available Card Type options store in VisionCore, to be able to add or edit the Card Type you want, just click the ellipse button to be able to open the Card Type Form.

2.You may enter a customer's default Credit Card and Expiration Date if you wish.  This information can also be printed at the bottom of all the printed invoices if you wish by selecting an option in the Print Invoice form.

3.You can fill up the other Credit Card Information such as Name, Billing Address, Zip/Postal Code and Country.

Details Tab

1.You may enter a customer's Accounts Payable Contact in the AP Contact field.

2.You may enter a customer's Accounts Payable Contact's phone number in the AP Phone field.

3.You may enter  a customer's Accounts Payable Contacts's E-mail in the AP Email field.

4.The Source is a great Campaign tool that enables you to track where your customers are finding out about you.  You have the option of selecting Sources by clicking the drop down button as  well as adding sources to the combo box by clicking on the ellipse button to open Contact Source form where you can add or edit Sources.

5.Next you may enter a Tax Number if the customer has them.

6.In the Referred By field you can enter additional information on who or what source the customer was referred to you by.  This can be helpful if you track how a customer found out about your business like from a magazine ad, Web site, direct mailing, friend or referral.

Customer History Area

The Customer History area is read only and the information displayed here is calculated and displayed for your reference.  Each field is detailed below.

1.The Entered field is a read only field and it automatically reflects the date this customer was first input into the program.

2.The Modified date is a read only field and it automatically reflects the date this customer's file has been changed in any way.

Web Setup

The VisionCore will need to be addressed if you have purchased and installed the VisionCore Web product.

   1.   Enable access to Web site.  If you check the box, customers will be able log into your Web site.  This feature is also convenient because it quickly enables you block or unblock your customers' access to your site.\

  2.     The Username displays the username you and your customer have agreed upon for your customer.

  3.     The Password  field displays the Password you and your customer have agreed upon for your customer.

Fields Tab

The User Fields area is used to store the names of different contact methods used like Phone, Fax, E-mail, Web Site, and any other contact information that you use.  Under the Field tab, simply click on the drop down button (the arrow head pointing down) to select the type of user field you wish.  Then, type in the Value (whether it be a phone number, an E-mail address, etc.) in the Value field.  As you can see, you may add a number of User Field by clicking the ellipse button beside the word Field.

Documents Tab

You can add Document in a Customer Form by clicking the Add Document button and choose documents that is relatively important for you and your customer. And if you wish to edit your document, just click the Edit document button. And if you wish to remove your document, just click Remove document button. All the fields in the Document Tab are read only.

Activity Tab

The Activity tab displays a single line item list of all the activities that have been entered for the selected customer.  Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific activity will open the Customer Activity form displaying the details of that activity.  All the fields in the customer activity are read only.

To add new Customer Activity click the last Ellipse next to a blank line item or click the Schedule button at the bottom of the form.

Notes Tab

The Notes tab displays a single line item list of all the notes that have been entered for the selected customer.  Clicking on the ellipse button will open the Customer Notes form displaying the details of that Customer Notes.  All the fields in the customer notes are read only.

Data Tab

The Data Tab provides you an area to setup an unlimited number of fields to record customer data or questions along with setting up tabs to organize the data. The Data Fields form can be used to setup an unlimited number of fields in the Data tab.

You could have a tab labeled "Customer Questions" with questions such as "How did you hear about us?" or "Do you own a store location?"

Contacts Tab

The Contacts Tab provides you an area to put multiple contacts, sites and departments for the customer. To add contacts, you should select the ellipse button besides the "Contact Name" to open the Customer Contact. To add sites or departments, you would follow the same procedures.

History Tab

The History Tab displays a single line item list of all the posted transactions that a customer has placed in the past.  Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific transaction will open that transaction if you would like to see more details.

Special Pricing

Customer Special Pricing is used to track any special pricing that you want to give a customer on one or more inventory items, categories or subcategories.  If you would like to add special pricing for your customer.

Analysis

The information Analysis tab consists of read only monthly and yearly total invoices sales updates.  This is a quick and convenient area to track your customers'' sales. When you are through filling out all of the information about your customer you can click on the New button to add another customer or click the Close button to save the customer and return you to the previous open form.