Summary

The Customer window is the central location of all customer records and customer accounts.

The Customer window is used to create, maintain and view customer records. A customer record is a group of general customer information such as the customer's name and mailing address. When a customer account is created in a specific module (AR, UB, etc.), a customer record is attached to the account. This links all the customer's accounts to their customer record so that changes to the customer record will update to all of the customer's accounts. For example, if you would like to change the billing address of all of the UB module accounts attached to a customer record, change the mailing address of the customer record. New billing statements will be sent to the new address on the customer record. This will not work if there is an alternative address attached to the UB customer account (UB> Maintenance> Account> People tab> Alt Address tab) because the alternative address will override the mailing address on the customer record.

The Customer window is also used to open the customer accounts attached to a customer record. For example, if you would like to view all of the Utility Billing accounts attached to a customer record, enter the customer number into the Customer window. The Customer window will display the customer accounts created in any module along with the customer record. You can open the customer account, or open the customer record.

The Customer window will also display the relationship between customer records and the UB module customer accounts attached to the customer record. If a customer account is a Utility Billing module account, the Customer window will display an R, O, or B in a column labeled D. The D column displays the relationship between the customer record and the customer account. An R means the customer record is the resident of the lot attached to the customer account. An O in the D column means the customer record is the owner of the lot but is not the resident. If the customer record is set up as the Owner and the Resident, the Customer window will display an R in the D column. A B in the D column means the customer record is set up as a bill to on the customer account but is not the owner or resident of the lot on the customer account. A customer record is set up as a bill-to on a UB module account on the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> People tab> Bill-to sub-tab).

Step by Step

1     View the existing customer records.

• Open the Customer window by clicking the Customer icon at the top of the main application window.
• Enter information into the Search Criteria section and press ENTER to display the records that match the criteria in the window (Pressing ENTER is the same as clicking the Refresh icon).
• An icon will display in the bottom right corner of the window after the records have loaded in the window.
  • If the icon is a green star, the Complete icon, all of the records in the database that match the search criteria have loaded in the window.
  • If the icon is an orange container, the Incomplete icon, only a portion of the database records have populated in the window. This increases the performance of the window because only the data that closely matches the search criteria is displayed. Click on the Incomplete icon if you would like all of the records in the database that match the criteria in the Search Criteria section to populate in the window.
    • NOTE - Springbrook Cloud users will not be able to click the Incomplete icon to display all of the available records. Data grid filters will need to be refined in order to display all records that meet the filter criteria. However, Springbrook Cloud users can generate a .csv file that includes all the records in the database that meet the specified filter criteria via a data grid export.
• The Customer window displays all of the customers that have been created in the application. This includes customers attached to Utility Billing accounts and customers used in other modules.
• The Accounts section will display each of the accounts attached to the selected customer.
  • To edit an attached account, highlight the account and select Modify Account from the Modify icon drop-down menu. This will open the module-specific Account Maintenance window for the selected account.
• Highlight a customer record and press ENTER to open the selected customer record. This will open the Customer Maintenance window.
• Highlight a customer and press DELETE to delete the selected customer record. You cannot delete a customer record that is attached to a customer account, or has been used in a Cash Receipts module receipt.
• Press INSERT to create a new customer record. This will open a blank Customer Maintenance window.
• The Contact Management section on the Customer window is used in conjunction with the Contact Management module. The issues attached to a customer will display when a customer record is selected.

2     Create a new customer record in the Customer Maintenance window.

• Enter information into any of the fields in the Customer Maintenance window and press ENTER to save. The Save icon will become available as soon as any information is entered into the window, so none of the fields in the window are required.
• The Customer Number field will display the customer number. This field will not be enabled.
  • The Customer Number field will display 000000 if you are creating a new customer record. The customer record will be assigned the next available customer number when the customer record is saved.
  • When a UB module customer account is created, the UB customer account will be assigned a sequence number based on the customer record number. For example, if a UB module customer account is created for customer number 000001, the UB customer account will be numbered 000001-001.
• If the customer record is attached to a UB module account, the mailing address fields will be used as the mailing address of the billing statements generated on the UB customer account.
  • If the UB module billing statements should be sent to a different address, you can set up an alternative billing address on the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> People tab> Alternative Address sub-tab). The UB module billing statements for that account will be sent to the alternative address.
• You can add security to the Social Security field using the DB Security feature (SS> Maintenance> DB Security).
  • Security can be set up on the Social Security field at the user or user group level by setting security on the SSN field in the Customer table.
• The Description field can be used for general notes or information.
  • The Description field will display on the People tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> People tab).
• Complete the Contact Information section with the customer contact data.
• The Confidential toggle is used to flag the customer record as confidential. This allows you to incorporate the confidential tag in custom QBE and local reports.
• The Customer Miscellaneous tab is used to enter miscellaneous information on a customer record that is outside of the scope of the current application.
• Press ENTER when complete to save the new customer record.
• Click the Launch URL icon drop-down menu and select a URL type code to transmit data from the customer or lot to the web site attached to the URL type code.
  • This icon is accessible from any tab on the Customer Maintenance window.
• If your organization uses third-party web sites for tasks such as lot mapping or new customer background checks, URL type codes can help improve efficiency by reducing data entry.
• URL type codes are created and maintained on the URL Setup window (SS> Maintenance> URL Setup).
• Click the Audit Trail icon to open the Audit Trail window. This window is used to track any changes made to the customer record.
  • Use the Search Criteria section to sort the displayed audit trail.
  • The Audit Trail History section will provide details about any changes made to the customer window including the date of the change, type of change made, user that made the change, and data table that was edited.
  • This icon will only be enabled after the customer has been created and saved.