customers

Epicor 9Customers Course9.05.604

Disclaimer

This document is for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. This document and itscontents, including the viewpoints, dates and functional content expressed herein are believed to be accurate as of itsdate of publication. However, Epicor Software Corporation makes no guarantee, representations or warranties withregard to the enclosed information and specifically disclaims any applicable implied warranties, such as fitness for aparticular purpose, merchantability, satisfactory quality or reasonable skill and care. As each user of Epicor software islikely to be unique in their requirements in the use of such software and their business processes, users of this documentare always advised to discuss the content of this document with their Epicor account manager. All information containedherein is subject to change without notice and changes to this document since printing and other important informationabout the software product are made or published in release notes, and you are urged to obtain the current releasenotes for the software product. We welcome user comments and reserve the right to revise this publication and/ormake improvements or changes to the products or programs described in this publication at any time, without notice.The usage of any Epicor software shall be pursuant to an Epicor end user license agreement and the performance ofany consulting services by Epicor personnel shall be pursuant to Epicor's standard services terms and conditions. Usageof the solution(s) described in this document with other Epicor software or third party products may require the purchaseof licenses for such other products. Where any software is expressed to be compliant with local laws or requirementsin this document, such compliance is not a warranty and is based solely on Epicor's current understanding of such lawsand requirements. All laws and requirements are subject to varying interpretations as well as to change and accordinglyEpicor cannot guarantee that the software will be compliant and up to date with such changes. All statements ofplatform and product compatibility in this document shall be considered individually in relation to the products referredto in the relevant statement, i.e., where any Epicor software is stated to be compatible with one product and alsostated to be compatible with another product, it should not be interpreted that such Epicor software is compatiblewith both of the products running at the same time on the same platform or environment. Additionally platform orproduct compatibility may require the application of Epicor or third-party updates, patches and/or service packs andEpicor has no responsibility for compatibility issues which may be caused by updates, patches and/or service packsreleased by third parties after the date of publication of this document. Epicor® is a registered trademark and/ortrademark of Epicor Software Corporation in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. All othertrademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © Epicor Software Corporation 2010.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent ofEpicor Software Corporation.

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Contents

Customers Course...................................................................................................................5Before You Begin....................................................................................................................6

Audience.........................................................................................................................................................6

Prerequisites....................................................................................................................................................6

Environment Setup..........................................................................................................................................6

Overview.................................................................................................................................8Customer Integration.............................................................................................................9Maintenance Programs........................................................................................................10

Subsidiary Maintenance.................................................................................................................................10

Country Maintenance.............................................................................................................................10

Detail..............................................................................................................................................11

Address...........................................................................................................................................11

Port.................................................................................................................................................11

Compliance.....................................................................................................................................11

Tax Liability Maintenance........................................................................................................................11

Detail..............................................................................................................................................12

Taxes...............................................................................................................................................12

Tax Authority Maintenance.....................................................................................................................12

Customer Group Maintenance................................................................................................................12

Terms Maintenance................................................................................................................................13

Detail..............................................................................................................................................14

Description......................................................................................................................................14

Discounts........................................................................................................................................14

FOB Maintenance...................................................................................................................................14

Ship Via Maintenance.............................................................................................................................15

Sales Territory Maintenance....................................................................................................................16

Detail..............................................................................................................................................16

Boundaries......................................................................................................................................16

Salespersons....................................................................................................................................16

Work Force Maintenance........................................................................................................................16

Detail..............................................................................................................................................17

Authorized Users.............................................................................................................................17

Role Code Maintenance..........................................................................................................................17

Attribute Maintenance............................................................................................................................18

Customer Maintenance..................................................................................................................................18

Customer...............................................................................................................................................19

Detail..............................................................................................................................................19

Address Format...............................................................................................................................19

Demand..........................................................................................................................................19

Billing.....................................................................................................................................................20

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ContentsCustomers Course

Detail..............................................................................................................................................20

Bill To..............................................................................................................................................20

National Account.............................................................................................................................21

Price Lists.........................................................................................................................................21

Credit..............................................................................................................................................21

Credit Detail.............................................................................................................................21

Global Credit............................................................................................................................22

National Account Credit...........................................................................................................22

Alternates Detail..............................................................................................................................22

GL Controls.....................................................................................................................................22

Contacts.................................................................................................................................................23

Detail..............................................................................................................................................23

Mailing Address...............................................................................................................................23

Name Detail....................................................................................................................................23

Attributes...............................................................................................................................................24

Ship To...................................................................................................................................................24

Detail..............................................................................................................................................24

Demand..........................................................................................................................................25

Manifest Info..........................................................................................................................................25

General...........................................................................................................................................25

International....................................................................................................................................26

Billing..............................................................................................................................................26

FedEx..............................................................................................................................................26

UPS.................................................................................................................................................26

Documents.............................................................................................................................................26

Tax Exemptions.......................................................................................................................................27

Banks.....................................................................................................................................................27

Workshop - Add Customer Record.........................................................................................................28

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................29

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Customers CourseContents

Customers Course

This course introduces fundamental concepts pertaining to the creation of customer records. This course alsocovers various maintenance programs necessary to define a customer in the Epicor application.

This course explains the process of establishing maintenance programs, as well as the creation of the customermaster file.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify the three milestones in the life cycle of a customer.

• Describe the relationship between various entities of a customer.

• Identify core modules that interact with a customer.

• List subsidiary master files that contribute to the makeup of a customer.

• Describe the attributes of a customer record.

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Customers CourseCustomers Course

Before You Begin

Read this topic for information you should know in order to successfully complete this course.

Audience

Specific audiences will benefit from this course.

• All users

Prerequisites

In order to complete the workshops in this course, all necessary modules must be licensed and operating in yourtraining environment. For more information on the modules available, contact your Epicor Customer AccountManager [email protected]. It is also important that you understand the prerequisite knowledge containedin other valuable courses.

• Navigation Course - This course introduces navigational aspects of the Epicor application's user interface.Designed for a hands-on environment, general navigation principles and techniques are available at each ofthe interface levels in the Epicor application - system, module, and program. Workshops focus on each ofthese levels and guide you through each navigational principle introduced.

• Knowledge Camp Course - This course provides a high level overview of the quote to cash flow throughthe Epicor 9 application. You begin with how to create a quote, process it as an order, and fill the order acrossproduction planning and purchasing. The course also covers the manufacturing plan and shipment of partsto a customer, as well as how to process invoices, enter cash receipts, and generate supplier payments.

• Financial Foundations Course - This course introduces you to the maintenance programs in the Epicorapplication that set the basis for the financial activities within your company.

Environment Setup

The environment setup steps and potential workshop constraints must be reviewed in order to successfullycomplete the workshops in this course.

Your Epicor training environment, in which the Epicor demonstration database is found, enables you to experienceEpicor functionality in action but does not affect data in your live, production environment.

The following steps must be taken to successfully complete the workshops in this course.

1. Verify the following or ask your system administrator to verify for you:

• Your Epicor training icon (or web address if you are using Epicor Web Access) points to yourEpicor training environment with the Epicor demonstration database installed. Do not completethe course workshops in your live, production environment.

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Customers CourseBefore You Begin

Note It is recommended that multiple Epicor demonstration databases are installed. ContactSupport or Systems Consulting for billable assistance.

• The Epicor demonstration database is at the same service pack and patch as the Epicorapplication. Epicor's education team updates the Epicor demonstration database for each service packand patch. If your system administrator upgrades your Epicor application to a new service pack or patch,he or she must also download the corresponding Epicor demonstration database from EPICweb > Support> Epicor > Downloads and install it. If this is not performed, unexpected results can occur when completingthe course workshops.

• Your system administrator restored (refreshed) the Epicor demonstration database prior tostarting this course. The Epicor demonstration database comes standard with parts, customers, salesorders, and so on, already defined. If the Epicor demonstration database is shared with multiple users(that is, the database is located on a server and users access the same data, much like your live, productionenvironment) and is not periodically refreshed, unexpected results can occur. For example, if a courseworkshop requires you to ship a sales order that came standard in the Epicor demonstration database,but a different user already completed this workshop and the Epicor demonstration database was notrestored (refreshed), then you will not be able to ship the sales order. Epicor's education team has writtenthe course workshops to minimize situations like this from occurring, but Epicor cannot prevent usersfrom manipulating the data in your installation of the Epicor demonstration database.

2. Log in to the training environment using the credentials manager/manager. If you are logged into yourtraining environment as a different user, from the Options menu, select Change User.

3. From the Main menu, select the company Epicor Education (EPIC06).

4. From the Main menu, select the Main Plant.

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Before You BeginCustomers Course

Overview

Customers are the individuals or companies who purchase goods or services from the manufacturer. To capturean opportunity, detail a quote, or process a sales order, you must add a customer record to the customer master.

Customer Life Cycle

The Epicor application identifies three milestones in the life cycle of a customer:

1. Suspect - A business with whom the manufacturer could do business in the future.

2. Prospect - A business that has not made a purchase, but an opportunity exists and a quotation can beissued.

3. Customer - A business that purchases goods or services from the manufacturer.

Attributes of a Customer

A customer can have the following attributes:

• Sold To - Purchases goods and receives invoices for goods purchased.

• Ship To - The location where customer goods are to be shipped. The Epicor application allows you to addmultiple ship to locations to the customer master file for a single customer.

• Bill To - The bill to address for a customer.

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Customers CourseOverview

Customer Integration

It is important to identify where the details of the customer record display throughout the Epicor application.

The main modules in which the customer plays the key role include:

• Customer Relationship Management

• Quote Management

• Order Management

• Shipping

• Accounts Receivable

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Customer IntegrationCustomers Course

Maintenance Programs

This course provides an overview of two key maintenance program groups used for customer creation andintegration.

• Subsidiary maintenance programs

• Customer Maintenance

Consider building the subsidiary maintenance programs first. As soon as the customer master file is created, therecords from these programs are available for selection.

Subsidiary Maintenance

Define a customer record through a series of subsidiary maintenance programs. While most of these programsare not essential for the creation of a customer record in the Epicor application, these programs define specificattributes of the customer record. These attributes facilitate the processes involved in quotes, orders, shipping,and invoicing.

Country Maintenance

Use Country Maintenance to enter country records. A country record includes the ISO code, currency, language,tax region, default sales taxes, and other country-specific settings.

If your company does business with customers and suppliers in other countries, define country-specific informationin Country Maintenance. This information defaults to all customers and suppliers in the country. It also defaultsto customer ship-to addresses and supplier purchase points.

The country record determines default options for currency, language, and printed address formats. For Europeancountries, it also configures international border crossing requirements.

The country record is optional if you primarily conduct business within one country.

When a country is not selected, the customer sold to and ship to records use the default country set up for thecompany.

Menu Path

Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:

• Financial Management > Accounts Payable > Setup > Country

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Country

• Material Management > Purchase Management > Setup > Country

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Country

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Country

• Sales Management > Quote Management > Setup > Country

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Customers CourseMaintenance Programs

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to enter country records and set the country code and default currency, language, defaulttax liability, and other country-specific settings.

Address

Use the Address sheet to specify the address appearance for a vendor or customer when it prints on a CrystalReports® form. This also applies to customer ship-to and vendor purchase point addresses.

When the Epicor application cannot find an address format for either a sold-to or ship-to address in CustomerMaintenance, it searches for an address format for the customer's country.

Note The Address sheet is optional.

Port

Use the Port sheet to add a port to a country. You can also designate one port per country as a default. Portsare available in Container Landed Cost Entry.

Compliance

Use the Compliance sheet to select the restriction types specific for the country's products.

Tax Liability Maintenance

Use Tax Liability Maintenance to enter tax liability records. A tax liability represents taxes a company handleswhen they trade with customers and suppliers. This can be taxes liable due to both your company's tax status orthe tax status of the customer or supplier.

The Epicor application allows you to assign a list of tax types to each tax liability code. Any tax type can containrules that control which level to calculate the tax (line or total) and can apply any exemption available for the tax.

Define what location controls the liability. Use Customer Maintenance or Supplier Maintenance to attach adefault tax liability code to the customer or supplier bill to and ship to addresses. The tax liability and the producttax category (which represents what has been sold or purchased) combination determines the final taxes andrates for the transaction.

Note Tax liability is optional in the Epicor application. If used, all records in Customer Maintenance canbe associated with the appropriate tax region.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Payable > Setup > Tax Liability

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Tax Liability

• Material Management > Purchase Management > Setup > Tax Liability

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Tax Liability

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Maintenance ProgramsCustomers Course

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to enter tax liability records.

Taxes

Use the Taxes sheet to enter information about tax liability taxes.

Tax Authority Maintenance

Use Tax Authority Maintenance to add, edit, and delete the codes that define taxes for external companies.This program is available if your company links to an external financial system.

Tax Authority Maintenance is a component of the taxation matrix within the Epicor application. Use Tax AuthorityMaintenance to organize data during accounts receivable (AR) invoice entry for tax reporting purposes.

Use Customer Maintenance or Supplier Maintenance to assign tax authority codes to a customer or supplierrecord.

Note Some countries require additional separation for tax reporting within areas of their country. Thisis based on a table of tax authorities. This field is then compared against customer, ship to, and supplierrecords for transfer to external tax packages.

Tip Use tax authority codes only when financial integration with other applications is necessary.

Tax authorities are optional within the Epicor application. If used, all records in Customer Maintenance can beassociated with the appropriate tax authority.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Payable > Setup > Tax Authority

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Tax Authority

• Material Management > Purchase Management > Setup > Tax Authority

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Tax Authority

Customer Group Maintenance

Use Customer Group Maintenance to divide the customer base into groups using criteria.

A customer group is a number of customers considered together as being related in some way. In many cases,organizations create customer groups based on the different verticals represented by their customer.

A price list or discount price list attached to a customer group applies to all customers within that group.

Example Set up Aerospace and Automotive groups and attach price lists to the group. This allows youto apply quantity-based discounts for products sold to these customers.

Customer groups can also be an important tool in developing reports and analyzing sales data for customers.Use customer groups to sort the Sales Order Backlog Report, Sales Analysis Report, and the Sales GrossMargin Report.

Use Customer Maintenance to add customers to customer groups.

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Customer groups are optional within the Epicor application. If used, they can be useful in pricing and salesanalysis.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Customer Group

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Customer Group

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Customer Group

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Customer Group

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Customer Group

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Customer Group

Terms Maintenance

Use Terms Maintenance to establish conditions that define how customers pay their invoices (for example,discounts, number of payments, and payment frequency).

Terms define the due dates, payment frequency, applicable discounts, and number of payment installments.

Each accounts receivable (AR) code defines a time period and a discount percentage period schedule.

To begin setting up the selling terms, select one of the following term code types:

• Days

• Day Of Month

• End of X Month(s) On Y Day(s)

Determine whether the discount percentages for a term code calculate against partial or full payments.

Each terms code can have either one discount period or multiple discount periods. Each discount period has aspecific percentage which is valid for a specific period. Together, the discounts gradually reduce the percentagesbased on the passed period (months, days) within the overall terms period.

Enter as many discount percentage periods as you need.

Note that the discounts have the same types as the term codes:

• Days

• Day Of Month

• End of X Month(s) On Y Day(s)

You do not need to select the same type for a term code and a discount assigned to this term code.

When a payment is received, the percentage active on the payment date is used to calculate the discount amount.

AR terms display on sales orders and AR invoices. Select default payment terms for customers and on AR invoices.

A terms record is required for all customers. When creating a customer record, a default terms record displaysin the new record, but you can override this selection.

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Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Terms

• Sales Management > Demand Management > Setup > Terms

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Terms

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to enter the overall parameters for each term code.

Description

Use the Description sheet to translate the description for the current term code into other languages.

Discounts

Use the Discounts > Detail sheet to define each discount period available within the current terms code andthe percentage discount available during this period.

The fields that activate on this sheet depend on the Discount Type value you select on the Detail sheet. Thisvalue indicates the method the Epicor application uses to determine the overall time period for each discountpercentage.

Available discount types:

• Days - Each discount percentage period is defined by a number of days after the Invoice Date. Any paymentsmade within this time period use this discount percentage.

• Day Of Month - Each discount percentage period is defined by a specific day each month. If a payment fallswithin a certain date range in a previous month, the payment is automatically moved to the discount percentagefor the next month. This range is determined by the Minimum Days field.

• End of X Month(s) On Y Day(s) - Each discount percentage period is defined by a number of months plusan optional number of days into the last month past the invoice date. Any payments made within this timeperiod use this discount percentage.

Example Create a new Net 15 term code. Enter three discount percentages valid for a specific period.The first discount percentage is 8% and valid for two days. The second discount percentage is 5% andvalid between the third and the eighth days of the month. The last discount percentage is 1% and validbetween the ninth and fifteenth days of the month. Any payment sent after the fifteenthth day receivesno discount.

FOB Maintenance

Use FOB Maintenance to set up FOB term descriptions and delivery term codes. Free-on-board (FOB) is the pointwhere legal title of goods passes from your company to a customer or from a supplier to your company.

Use Customer Maintenance, Supplier Maintenance, Sales Order Entry, and Purchase Order Entry to select FOBcodes. The selected FOB code defaults in AP Invoice Entry and AR Invoice Entry.

Use the FOB table to validate descriptions and delivery term codes.

Delivery terms can be associated with an FOB code only if Internationalization is set up in Company Configuration.

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Non-Intrastat Customers

Important Free-on-board (FOB) codes are not required in the United States but can still be useful. FOBis required setup for European countries.

Common practice in the United States is to interpret FOB as the point where legal title passes from you to thecustomer or from the supplier to you. You can enter a generic FOB description such as My Plant’s City, Origin,or Destination. Select this description during a transaction. Since the term FOB prints on Epicor applicationforms, including FOB in the description can be redundant.

FOB codes have a different and more restrictive meaning in Europe than in the United States. European countriesuse this program to organize delivery terms data used for Intrastat declaration.

Tip Note that if you use Intrastat, the FOB description and corresponding delivery code is not requiredfor legal reporting. Because of this, you can leave the FOB value blank.

External Coding System

If your industry has a recognized external coding system, enter these external codes in FOB Maintenance. Usethese codes for your reference only. They do not activate any additional functionality.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Payable > Setup > FOB

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > FOB

• Material Management > Purchase Management > Setup > FOB

• Sales Management > Demand Management > Setup > FOB

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > FOB

Ship Via Maintenance

Use Ship Via Maintenance to identify the different methods you use to ship products to subcontractors orcustomers. These shipping methods are known as Ship Via Codes.

Note Ship Via Codes are mandatory at the point of sales order entry.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Payable > Setup > Ship Via

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Ship Via

• Material Management > Purchase Management > Setup > Ship Via

• Material Management > Shipping / Receiving > Setup > Ship Via

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Ship Via

• Sales Management > Demand Management > Setup > Ship Via

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Ship Via

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Sales Territory Maintenance

Use Sales Territory Maintenance to set up sales territories. This program is valuable when you want to assignsalespeople to a territory and have them respond quickly to applicable leads and opportunities.

If the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module is installed, sales territory is mandatory.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Sales Territory

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Sales Territory

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Sales Territory

• Sales Management > Quote Management > Setup > Sales Territory

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to set up new sales territory records and update the main details of existing territories.

Boundaries

Use the Boundaries > Detail sheet to establish or update the boundaries for a territory.

Salespersons

Use the Salesperson > Detail sheet to assign or update information about a salesperson for the territory.

Work Force Maintenance

Use Work Force Maintenance to establish work force records.

A work force is a group of people involved in the case management or sales management process. You canassociate customers and sales orders with specific work force people. The work force people you enter for eachsales order receive a commission based on the values you enter in Work Force Maintenance.

Tip If the Customer Relationship Management module is installed, you must enter at least one salespersonto later assign to a sales territory.

Menu Path


• Executive Analysis > Business Activity Management > Setup > Work Force

• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Work Force

• Production Management > Engineering > Setup > Work Force

• Sales Management > Case Management > Setup > Work Force

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Work Force

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Work Force

• Sales Management > Quote Management > Setup > Work Force

• Service Management > Expense Management > Setup > Work Force

• Service Management > Time Management > Setup > Work Force

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Detail

Use the Detail sheet to create and edit the primary information for a work force record.

Work force records define the name, role, title, manager, address, and commissions information for the personassociated with the work force identifier. Each record advises if the work force person can view all sales territories,view the company pipeline, or view both.

Authorized Users

Use the Authorized Users > Detail sheet to establish authorized users for a work force record.

An authorized user for a work force person is given permission to view, add, and maintain sales-related records.Managers can be added as authorized users to approve phases of the workflow process. A co-worker can beauthorized to manage the workflow of other employees while they are on vacation. If more than one person isdesignated as an authorized user, one can be chosen as the default authorized user.

Role Code Maintenance

Use Role Code Maintenance to create role codes. Assign role codes to customer service representatives, salesrepresentatives, or employees. Role codes are useful when you want to track each resource's assigned capabilities.

Role codes are used when creating a customer account and are associated with customer contacts and workforce members.

Roles define the position of the contact within this customer's organization. Each contact record established ateither the sold to or ship to level can be further detailed by assigning them to a predefined role.

Work force members are also assigned a role.

Roles are optional within the Epicor application, but you can use them for internal reference.

Role codes are used in Time and Expense to define an employee role. For example:

• Time and Expense Approval Role

• Project Manager Approval Role

• Supervisor Role

• Employee Submit Role

Note If you select more than one approver role option, tasks are created for all individuals who matchthat role criteria.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Role Code

• Production Management > Engineering > Setup > Role Code

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Role Code

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Role Code

• Sales Management > Quote Management > Setup > Role Code

• Service Management > Expense Management > Setup > Role Code

• Service Management > Project Management > Setup > Role Code

• Service Management > Time Management > Setup > Role Code

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Attribute Maintenance

Use Attribute Maintenance to set up attributes you can link to customers and suppliers.

You can consider attributes as qualities that belong to a customer or a supplier. You can create and assign asmany attributes as you like. Attributes are especially valuable when a particular combination of details are requiredbefore you do your business with your customers or suppliers.

Example Define attribute ISO9000 and assign the attribute to any of your customers and suppliers whoare ISO9000 certified.

Menu Path


• Material Management > Supplier Relationship Management > Setup > Attribute

• Sales Management > Case Management > Setup > Attribute

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Attribute

Customer Maintenance

Use Customer Maintenance to enter customer records. Customers are businesses to whom you sell productsand services. Customer records are primarily used to create quotes, sales orders, and accounts receivable (AR)invoices. You also use customer records during the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process.

You can designate a customer as a Suspect, Prospect, or Customer. This allows you to create customer recordsfor companies that may do business with you in the future.

New customers are automatically placed on credit hold. You must clear the Credit Hold check box on the Billing> Credit > Credit Detail sheet to display transactions for this customer.

To set up a customer that has two or more divisions within a large company, use the Parent/Child functionality.Divisions are separate customers that link to the main parent company.

You can also specify a customer’s approved suppliers for materials, parts, and subcontract operations.

Customer records are crucial for capturing opportunities, creating sales orders, and generating accounts receivableinvoices.

Menu Path


• Financial Management > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Customer

• Financial Management > Deferred Revenue Accounting > Setup > Customer

• Financial Management > Multi-Site > Setup > Customer

• Production Management > Material Requirements Planning > Setup > Customer

• Sales Management > Customer Relationship Management > Setup > Customer

• Sales Management > Demand Management > Setup > Customer

• Sales Management > EDI > Setup > Customer

• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Customer

• Sales Management > Quote Management > Setup > Customer

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• Service Management > Field Service > Setup > Customer

Customer

Use the Customer sheets to enter a new customer record and edit primary information about the existingcustomer.

A customer record cannot be deleted if it is used on an order, quote, or AR invoice. You cannot delete a customerrecord if it is set as a parent company or an alternate bill to location for another customer record.

Detail

Use the Customer > Detail sheet, or the Customer sheet in Quick Customer Maintenance, to enter the primaryinformation about the customer, including a customer identifier and the customer’s main address. There areother options you define on this sheet, such as the language of the customer and the main salesperson.

The address you enter here is the primary sold to address. This address is also used as the main bill to address,although you can enter a different location on the Billing > Bill To sheet. If this customer is billed through a leasingcompany or a head office, however, define this location on the Billing > Alternates > Detail sheet. You can alsocreate multiple shipping locations for this customer record which you enter on the Ship To > Detail sheet.

Address Format

Use the Address Format sheet to setup the appearance of the main customer address, bill to location, or shipto locations. This format prints on all sales orders, accounts receivable invoices, and other reports associated withthis specific address. On this sheet, select the fields that display in the address block and also define thearrangement in which these fields print.

You can have different formats for each customer’s main address, bill to address, and ship to addresses.

Before setting up the address format, enter the address of the customer on the Customer > Detail sheet, thebill-to address on the Billing > Bill To sheet, or the ship to location’s address on the Ship To > Detail sheet.

If you want all your customers from a specific country to use the same address format, you can specify this formatwithin the country record. When you associate this customer, bill to location, or ship to location with that country,this address format becomes the default. For more information, refer to the Country Maintenance topic of theApplication Help.

To determine the address format, the Epicor application first looks for an address format on the ship to or bill tolocation record. If a format is not specified on these records, it then checks the customer record. If a format isnot listed for the customer, the Epicor application then looks for an address format for the customer’s country.If a format is not specified for the country, however, it then uses a default address format. This format does notdisplay the Country field.

Demand

Use the Demand sheet to assign a trading partner identification number and define demand processingparameters. The parameters defined specify how the Epicor application evaluates incoming Electronic DataInterchange (EDI) shipping schedules from your customer.

The parameters you define for your customer trading partner in this sheet include the following:

• Assign a Trading Partner identification number. A trading partner is the Epicor Service Connect identifier forthe customer. Epicor Service Connect uses this identifier to send and receive EDI documents between yourcompany and a specific customer.

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• Define demand processing parameters for a specific customer. This includes assigning Periodicity, DeliveryDays, and Date Type parameters used by the Epicor application to calculate the Ship By or Need By dates forthe demand schedules.

• Indicate how differences in unit price and part records should be evaluated by the application during demandprocessing.

• Specify the lead time required to evaluate and process certain types of action requests, for example, add newdemand schedule lines, change or cancel existing demand schedule lines, on incoming EDI transactions receivedfrom this customer trading partner. For each type of action request, specify the actions that should take placein the Epicor application (stop transaction or process transaction and display a warning message) whenincoming EDI transactions are received with insufficient lead times with respect to the parameters you havespecified for the type of transaction.

• Enter lead time values used with firm shipping schedules. Each lead time value defines a date range duringwhich the Epicor application notifies you when various actions occur on a firm shipping schedule currentlylinked to this customer record.

Important This sheet is only available if you use the Demand Management module. For more information,refer to the Demand Management Overview topic in the Application Help.

Billing

Use the Billing sheets to enter and edit billing information about the current customer such as the accountsreceivable (AR) account, currency, tax options, billing terms, shipping terms, and other transaction information.This information is used on all sales orders, AR invoices, and other documents sent to a customer.

Note Most of the billing information is optional; the only required information is the terms code. Everycustomer record must be assigned to a terms code.

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to enter billing information for the current customer, including currency, tax options, billingterms, shipping terms, and other transaction information. This billing information is used on sales orders andother documents sent to this customer.

Important Use the Billing > Bill To sheet to enter the bill to address.

Bill To

Use the Bill To sheet to enter the bill to address for the selected customer. Use the main customer address orenter a different bill to address on this sheet. If the bill to address is in another country or requires a new addressformat for any other reason, use the Billing > Address Format sheet to modify the format.

The bill to address is not related to Parent/Child Customer functionality, although you can use the address of aparent company or a child company as the bill to. For more information, refer to the Customer Maintenance >Parent and Child Companies topics in the Application Help.

If the customer has different locations where you send parts and services, use the Ship To > Detail sheet to enterthe additional addresses for these locations.

Important Billing > Bill To sheet only allows you to enter the customer's own bill to address. To definemultiple bill to locations for this customer, use the Billing > Alternates > Detail sheet. These alternate billto locations are used when the bill to customer is a leasing company or when a head office needs to becharged instead of the purchasing customer.

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National Account

Use the National Account sheet to define settings for a customer in a national account that defines payer billto relationships.

In payer bill to relationships, a payer customer pays for a bill to customer that receives invoices. National accountsof this type can allow multiple payers, cross-account payers, and third-party payers. A company setting determinesthe non-tiered relationship class used to define accounts for payer bill to relationships.

Customers that belong to national accounts based on the class receive and pay invoices based on the relationship.A customer in such an account can be defined as a child or a parent customer. By default, parent customers actas the payers for their children. The Epicor application assumes the customer pays for its own expenses.

Options in this sheet override defaults set by the national account. You can define settings that allow childcustomers to pay their parent's invoices and allow a customer to pay invoices for all customers in the sameaccount.

The Epicor application also supports global overrides of payer bill-to relationships. Selection of Across NationalAccount in Company Configuration allows all account customers in payer bill to relationships to pay for othercustomers in the same account.

Price Lists

Use the Price Lists sheet to rank the priority of these lists for the current customer or current ship to location.Price lists define prices for your parts. You set up price lists to reflect seasonal price changes or special price breaksyou give to specific customers or ship to locations.

When you create an order, the part number is compared to any price list assigned to this customer sold to recordor ship to location.

Credit

Use the Credit sheets to enter credit terms for the customer.

Credit Detail

Use the Credit Detail sheet to enter and update the current customer’s credit information. Use this sheet todefine credit limits for the current customer and define other credit options.

Important Before you can edit customer credit information, you must have security rights to access thissheet. These rights are defined on your user record. For more information, refer to the User AccountMaintenance topic in the Application Help.

Use this sheet to place the customer on or off credit hold. If a customer is on credit hold, warning messagesdisplay when you attempt to create a new packing slip or sales order for this customer. Depending upon howyou set up your Order module configuration, these messages may warn you about the credit problem, or completelyprevent you from creating a new quote, order, or invoice.

The Epicor application places customers on credit hold when they exceed their credit limit during accountsreceivable (AR) invoice posting and sales order entry. Additionally, if you enter or update a credit limit for acustomer that already exceeds your new limit, that customer is also automatically placed on credit hold.

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Global Credit

Use the Global Credit sheet to display how a customer’s credit is divided between all the companies. If yourcompany uses External System Integration, several companies can use each customer record.

National Account Credit

Use the National Account Credit sheet to define settings for a customer in a national account that definespayer bill to relationships.

Subsidiaries in national account relationships can:

• Use the parent company's credit

• Use its own credit

• Share a credit pool defined in National Account Relationship Maintenance

These options can be set for national accounts and global national accounts.

Alternates Detail

Use the Alternates > Detail sheet to define different bill to locations for each customer record.

Use this functionality when another customer, the bill to customer, needs to be charged for the payment insteadof the customer who purchased the shipment, the sold to customer. This situation occurs when the bill to customeris a leasing company or a head office that needs to be charged instead of the purchasing customer.

Use the Alternates > Detail sheet to link a different customer record as a bill to location. This alternate recordhandles all financial transactions with this company, including credit limits, terms, and accounts receivable (AR)accounts.

Important If you want to select customers on this sheet, select the Allow As Alternate Bill To check boxfor these customers on the Billing > Detail sheet.

The alternate bill to locations you define on this sheet can then be selected in several programs such asOpportunity/Quote Entry, Sales Order Entry, Customer Shipment Entry, and AR Invoice Entry. Alternate bill tolocations can be selected at any point during the sales process.

Example Customer ABC has a sold to location in St. Paul, while its divisional accounting office is inMinneapolis. The corporate office, XYZ industries, is located in Irvine. For this customer record, the soldto customer is the St. Paul location, the bill to location is the division office in Minneapolis, and the alternatebill to location is corporate headquarters in Irvine.

You can select to bill either the Minneapolis office or the Irvine office. If you select the Invoice Addrescheck box on the Billing > Alternates > Detail sheet, your AR invoices are sent to Irvine. If you clear thischeck box, your AR invoices are sent to the Minneapolis office.

Order tracking uses the sold to customer for its customer location. After the AR invoice is posted, tracking movesto the bill to customer. All sales analysis is primarily based on the sold to customer.

GL Controls

The general ledger (GL) control or controls selected on this sheet determine the accounts and journal codes usedto post transactions to which the record applies.

You can associate one or more GL controls with a record in this setup program. Each control associated with arecord must belong to a different control type. The association allows the use of control values when the recordapplies to a posted transaction.

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Example The AR Account and AP Account GL control types reference the company entity. You defineGL controls based on both types and apply them to Company A in Company Configuration. A transactionthat belongs to Company A then posts using the account hierarchy set up for this specific transaction forthe Company A business entity. Posting rules use the controls' account references to create the accountsfor the company's journals.

You cannot associate GL controls with programs where users select posting accounts when they enter transactions.Examples of this type of program include AP Adjustment and Cash Receipts. The Master Chart of Accounts(COA) defines the accounts available in these programs.

Contacts

Use the Contacts sheets to enter and edit contact information about the current customer.

Note Contacts are optional within the Epicor application.

Detail

Use the Detail sheet to define multiple contacts for the customer’s main location and the customer’s ship tolocations. You can add as many contacts as you need for the customer’s main location, as well as the customer’salternate ship to locations.

When you enter contacts for a ship to location, these contacts are linked directly to this specific ship to location.

Important Throughout the Epicor application, when a contact name displays on a grid, right-click tocreate a CRM Call, Case, Lead/Opportunity/Quote, Sales Order, Service Call, Task, or send Email.

Mailing Address

A customer contact can be responsible for receiving quotes, but work at a different location from the mainaddress. Use the Mailing Address sheet to enter the alternate address for the customer. When you create aquote for this customer, the name and address of the quoting contact is automatically used on the quote.

Important This option is only available for customer contacts. It is not available for ship to contacts.

Select the Special Mailing Address for Quoting check box to activate the fields.

Name Detail

Use the Name Detail sheet to gain better results on contact queries. This sheet divides the contact’s name intoseveral fields, which allows you to run queries on each item.

When you enter the name of the contact, you enable first name and last name queries in reporting tools andmarketing lists. The program analyses the contact names using the following logic:

• First word to first name

• Last word to last name

• Anything in the middle to the middle name

This functionality mirrors features available in Microsoft® Outlook®.

The information you enter on this sheet is linked to the current contact on the Contacts > Detail sheet. Whenyou open this sheet, the contact’s name displays in the Display Name field.

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Attributes

Use the Attributes sheet to track customers or customer contact activity. Attributes are user-definable traits youassign to each customer or contact on this sheet, such as Underwriters Laboratories Approved or Locally Owned.These details help you to follow activities a specific cross section of your customers or contacts are doing. Youcan assign as many attributes as you want to each customer or contact.

Examples include:

• ISO9200 Certified

• UL Approved

• SIC Code

Example To view transactions for customers whose products are approved by Underwriters Laboratoriesand are Locally Owned businesses, select these attributes for all customers that match this criteria. Reviewyour transactions for customers that have both attributes.

Ship To

Use the Ship To sheets to enter and edit shipping information about the current customer.

The Epicor application does not require a ship to address for each customer. When a customer account does nothave a ship to address identified, the Epicor application assumes the customer's ship to address is the same asthe sold to address.

Detail

Each customer may have additional locations that purchase your products. These additional locations, or ship tolocations, are entered in the Ship To > Detail sheet. Use this sheet to define the ship to location’s address, taxinformation, language, and shipping method. Each customer can have multiple ship to locations. You can alsoassign ship to contacts for this location.

You can create valid alternate ship to records for this customer that are linked to an external third-party customeror ship to ID by selecting the Alternate Ship To check box.

• The alternate ship to name and address you define on this sheet then becomes a valid ship to address for thiscustomer, based on the ship to information associated with the linked external customer.

• Once you have defined alternate ship to addresses for a specific customer record, you can then enter thecustomer number into the Ship To field in transactional programs, such as Sales Order Entry, to select ship toaddresses associated with the specified customer.

Example You can create an alternate ship to address record for customer ABC and link it to customerDEF. If you update the ship to information in the linked master customer record, in this case, customerDEF, it automatically updates the alternate ship to information on the Ship To > Detail sheet. You canthen enter customer ABC into the Ship To field in Order Entry and select the ship to address, if multiplealternate ship to addresses exist.

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Demand

Use the Demand sheet as needed to assign a trading partner identification number and define demand processingparameters that specify how the Epicor application should evaluate incoming Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)shipping schedules received from your ship to customer trading partner.

This sheet is similar in function to the Customer > Demand sheet, but allows you to define override demandprocessing parameters for specific ship to locations for a customer trading partner. For example, the tradingpartner may have West Coast, East Coast and off-shore ship to locations, each with their own lead time andshipping requirements.

The demand processing parameters you define for your ship to customer trading partner in this sheet includethe following:

• Assign a trading partner identification number and define demand processing parameters for a specific shipto customer. This includes assigning periodicity, delivery days and date type parameters used by the applicationto calculate Ship By or Need By dates for the demand schedules.

• Indicate how differences in unit price, part records, and revision levels are evaluated by the application duringdemand processing.

• Specify the lead times required to evaluate and process certain types of action requests (for example, addingnew demand schedule lines, changing or cancelling existing demand schedule lines) on incoming EDItransactions received from this ship to customer trading partner. For each type of action request, you specifythe actions that should take place in the application (stop transaction or process transaction and display awarning message) when incoming EDI transactions are received with insufficient lead times with respect tothe parameters you have specified for that type of action request.

• Additionally, this sheet allows you to enter Lead Time values that you use with firm shipping schedules. Eachlead time value defines a date range during which the application notifies you when various actions occur ona firm shipping schedule that is currently linked to this ship to location.

Important The Ship To > Demand sheet is only available if you use the Demand Management module.For more information, refer to the Demand Management Overview topic in Application Help.

Manifest Info

Use the Manifest Info sheets to configure default shipping options such as carrier options and billing information.

The manifest information is used as the default information in Customer Shipment Entry when a customer's salesorder is moved to shipping.

You can define manifest information on the customer record and any additional ship to locations. The manifestinformation settings can also be configured on the ship to level of the customer, so that each ship to locationhas its own defined carrier and shipping service options. If these settings are not defined on the ship to level, thecustomer settings are used.

Note The manifest information is optional for the Epicor application.

General

Use the General sheet to set up default carrier settings for customer shipments. These settings include deliveryand pickup handling, insurance, and cash on delivery (COD) options. The information is then sent to the manifestsystem where the Pack ID is freighted.

If settings are not established here, the plant defaults display in Customer Shipment Entry. The options enteredin Customer Maintenance can be changed in Customer Shipment Entry.

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International

Use the International sheet to set up carrier options specific for international shipments for customers. Theseoptions are the defaults for the first order packed in Customer Shipment Entry. The information is then sent tothe manifest system where the Pack ID is freighted.

The options entered in Customer Maintenance can be changed in Customer Shipment Entry.

Billing

Use the Billing > Detail sheet to establish billing options for the customer. This information is sent to the manifestsystem.

FedEx

Use the FedEx sheet to enter freight information settings for FedEx®. This sheet is useful if FedEx Corporation isthe shipping service with which you send shipments.

UPS

Use the UPS sheet to enter freight information settings for UPS®. This sheet is useful if UPS is the shipping servicewith which you send shipments.

Documents

Use the Documents sheets to define the processing parameters for inbound documents you accept from acustomer trading partner when sent to you as well as the outbound documents you generate and send to thecustomer trading partner through Epicor Service Connect.

The Demand Management functionality uses these definitions to recognize the specific Electronic Data Interchange(EDI) documents, such as advanced shipping notices, sales order acknowledgments, and invoices, that aregenerated in the Epicor application.

The document processing parameters you define for your customer trading partner in this sheet include thefollowing:

• Assign a unique document identification number.

• Specify the type of document being defined, for example, forecast, unfirm release, ASN, and invoice.

• Specify the map ID number and whether this is an inbound document you receive from this customer tradingpartner, or an outbound document you send to this customer trading partner. If it is an outbound document,you can specify if the Epicor application should automatically generate a document record deposited in adestination folder, for transmission to the customer trading partner via EDI, with no manual interventionrequired on the part of a user.

• Specify the part number processing hierarchy the Epicor application must use to validate internal part, customerpart, manufacturer part, EAN, GTIN, or UPC codes on the inbound demand document when received fromthis customer trading partner.

• Specify how incoming demand transactions for the document will be processed - Always Accept, Accept IfNo Errors, Manually Accept.

• Identify an Alternate Trading Partner ID (if any) being used for the document.

Important This sheet is only available if the Demand Management module is licensed. For moreinformation, refer to the Demand Management Overview topic in the Application Help.

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Tax Exemptions

Use the Tax Exemptions > Detail sheet to enter the customers tax exemption details. Tax exemption refers toa customer allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed to reduce taxable income undersome systems. Tax exempt status provides a taxpayer complete relief from tax, tax at a reduced rate, or tax ononly a portion of the items subject to tax.

In cases where multiple exemptions are specified for a document/line, the Epicor application uses the highestexemption. When more than one exemption is highest, the Epicor application uses exemptions in the followingorder:

1. Customer

2. Product

3. Tax Liability

4. Tax Type

5. Tax Exempt Code (the existing code that can be set manually)

Tax exemptions are optional within the Epicor application.

Banks

Use the Banks > Detail sheet to enter a customer's banking information, for example, bank name, paymentmethod, and bank registration code. You can also indicate which bank account is the default for all withdrawalsfor this customer.

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Workshop - Add Customer Record

This workshop demonstrates how to add a customer record.

Navigate to Customer Maintenance.

Menu Path: Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Customer

1. From the New menu, select New Customer.

2. In the Customer field, enter XXX (where XXX are your initials).

3. In the Name field, enter your name.

4. In the Type field, select Customer.

5. In the Customer Address section fields, enter the following data:

DataField

<your street address>Address

New YorkCity

NYState

10010Postal Code

USACountry

6. In the Territory section, click Get Territory.

The Territory field populates with the appropriate territory.

7. Click Save and exit Customer Maintenance.

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Conclusion

Congratulations! You have completed the Customers course.

Please take a moment to let Epicor know how to serve you better by completing a course evaluation athttp://www.keysurvey.com/survey/191084/2e21/ or by clicking the Course Evaluation link below. Your feedbackprovides the guidelines for the future direction of Epicor education.

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ConclusionCustomers Course

Additional information is available at the Education andDocumentation areas of the EPICWeb Customer Portal. To accessthis site, you need a Site ID and an EPICweb account. To create an

account, go to http://support.epicor.com.

http://support.epicor.com

customers

Documents

insufficient lead times

work force members

demand schedule lines

material management

firm shipping schedule

includes assigning periodicity

menu path navigate

financial management