Welcome to AlignBooks. We are happy to have you on board. In this help studio tutorial, we will explore the customer master set up options.
Before we begin, let us understand about the need of customer master and the usage of this particular activity.
In every industry, regard less of its dealing with cash or credit customers, an entity must maintain the track records of its individual customers. This allows the company to understand customer sentiments and make necessary adjustments to effectively meet the expected requirements of its customers.
Therefore, in customer master we setup the customer profile for each customer with all the available data at hand. This is normally a one-time process at the time of new customer addition and this library of data is extensively used to capture, generate and auto generate the required reports in a desired format. Example: Invoice creation, Payment receipt etc.
You can also edit and delete an already created set of information with required authorisation.
The key functions of a Customer Master Module are:
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Creation of a New Customer Record;
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Modification of an existing Customer Record;
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Deletion of an existing customer record.
We will be going through the each of these set of information in detail.
New Customer Creation–
If you are in Sales Drop Down you need to select 
and the screen which appears looks like this;
You can see the 
option at top right of the screen. Click on this option and you will be directed to the relevant customer creation screen. Here you will have seven relevant sections where all the required data pertaining to a new customer can be captured.
 Name: Here you input the name with which you are used to identify your Customer. This can also be a nick name or a short name. This field is not used for printing so you are at comfort to associate with the name.
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 Print Name: Here you input the customer name which will be used in printing documents. This normally is the registered name of the customer in statutory records. Name and Print name can stay similar.
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 Code: This is a system generated automated code to uniquely identify a customer. If you wish to keep your own series of codes, you may input a 6-digit Alpha/Numeric code.
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 Under Ledger: Select from the drop down the required control General Ledger in which the customer is to be grouped (e.g. Sundry Debtors Account). If the required GL does not exist in the list, you can create a new GL by clicking on  Icon or  option within the dropdown menu.
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 Is Sub Party: Select “ON” if you want to link the new customer to an existing group/customer. This will allow you the liberty to analyze the performance of multiple customers as one group.
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 Under Party: If the sub party is kept “ON”, then select from the drop down the required party/group with which you want to identify the customer.
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 Inactive: Select “ON” if you want to make a customer inactive. During any business transaction such inactive customer names will not appear in your list of customer name. You can reactivate customer again by selecting “OFF”.
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 Firm Status: Select from the drop down the constitution status of the customer. Ex. Individual, company etc. This classification helps the entity to analyze and fix the marketing strategies.
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 Territory: Select from the drop down the required territory based on which you want to group your customer. This categorization enables an entity to analyze the area wise business outputs and adjust marketing strategies. If the required territory does not exist in the list, you can create a new territory by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.If you wish not to maintain Territory wise classification, select default in the dropdown or keep this field blank.
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 Party Category: Select from the drop down list a priority on how you may want to identify your customer. This categorization helps the front desk and the support team to respond in select dialect with a specific customer and respond within an agreed service protocol. If the required category does not exist in the list, you can create a new category by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
If you wish not to maintain category wise classification, select default in the dropdown or keep this field blank.
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 Contact Person : Input here the relevant contact person name which the customer is advising to contact for his business needs. This contact normally being the proprietor himself or entity representative.
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 Logo / Photo : Upload an image of the customer or a logo of the company or its trade mark or any specific identification which helps you maintain the unique customer identity. Images could be JPEG or PDF, with the maximum size of 2 MB.
We are now finished with the basic part and made a unique identification for the customer.
We will now look into the Communication input where we separate the billing and shipping information
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 .Billing Information:
Address : Input here the complete address which needs to be printed on the invoices/bills. The address should suffice the requirement of all tax related requirement, preferably the registered address of the company. The same address would be used for the future communication with the customer, so it is essential to ensure that the address is complete and understandable to anyone including any third party for delivering the invoices or collecting the payments. Ex. Flat #, Building No./Name, Street name/No., Area, Land mark etc.
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 Country : Select from the drop down the Country of the address entered above. If the required Country does not exist in the list, you can create a new Country by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 State : Select from the drop down the State of the address entered above. If the required State does not exist in the list, you can create a new State by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 City: Select from the drop down the City of the address entered above.If the required City does not exist in the list, you can create a new City by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 PIN : Input here the required PIN to identify the relevant address. For postal communications Pin code is must.
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 Phone: Input here the most relevant contact number of the customer for a speech conversation.
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 Email: Input here the most relevant email address of the customer for written communication.
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 Longitude: Input here the longitude of customer location via Google Map to locate customer easily. Click on  to find your location’s longitude.
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 Latitude: Input here the latitude of customer location via Google Map to locate customer easily. Click on to find your location’s latitude.
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 Shipping Information: Enter the address where goods are generally dispatched for this Customer.
If the Billing Address and Shipping Address is same, you can copy the same by clicking on  otherwise fill the shipping address information in the same way as filled for Billing Address.
We are finished with the customer physical address input and will now focus on the Digital identification of the customer.
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 Digital: We live in a digital era where it’s a necessity to target online audience with right offers and suggestions. It is of great significance to fill in the relevant social profile information for the customer as this allows to keep a tab on his growth strategies.
Web Site: Input here the relevant web page address of the customer.
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 Face Book : Input here the face book account or page of the company to enable follow-up on his day to day updates.
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 Skype: Input here the relevant Skype id of the customer.
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 Twitter: Input here the Twitter account name of the customer.
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 Linked In: Input here the LinkedIn id for the customer.
We will now input the statutory details for the customer which identifies its relevant registration and tax status.
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 GST No: Input here the GST No. for the customer.
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 CIN: Input here the registration number of the customer provided by the regulatory authority with which the customer is registered. Ex. Company Identification Number (CIN) should be entered in case the company is registered under Registrar of Companies.
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 PAN: Input here the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of the Customer.
We will now input the defaults which identifies an entity integration with its customer.
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 Payment Term: Payment terms usually differ from customer to customer based on their business credibility. Select from the drop down list your agreed terms with the customer. If the required term does not exist in the list, you are able to create a new payment milestone, by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu. A dialog box will appear with options as below;
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Name
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Input here a name for the payment term, Ex. Advance, progressive, retention etc
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Code
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Input here a 4 digit code, Ex. “0001”
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Fixed Days
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Keep this “ON”, if you want to fix the credit period in days period.
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No of Fixed days
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Input here the credit days allowed as agreed with the customer. Ex. “60”.
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Payment Cycle
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This option will automatically become “ON”, if your payment term is not fixed days.
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Run on
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If payment cycle is “ON”, select the cycle from the drop down list. Ex. “Weekly, Bimonthly or Monthly”.
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 Price Category: Select from the drop down a relevant price category if you maintain different price categories for the customer. If the required Category does not exist in the list, you can create a new category by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 Sales Executive: Select from the drop down the specific sales personnel allocated to the customer account. This field is available only if you have configured Salesman wise billing “ON” in Configuration->Company Setup->Sales Setup . If the required Sales Executive does not exist in the menu, you can create a new by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 Agent-Broker: Select from the drop down the specific Agent/Broker allocated to the customer account. This field is available only if you have configured Agent wise billing “ON” in Configuration->Company Setup->Sales Setup . If the required Agent does not exist in the menu, you can create a new by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 Transporter: Select from the drop down the relevant transported who would be delivering goods to a customer. If the required transporter does not exist in the list, you are able to create a new name by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu and input a transporter name.
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 Credit Limit : Input here the credit limit allowed to an individual customer. If you have kept credit control “ON” in your Sales Setup, you must define a credit limit here; the system will not let you raise an invoice beyond the credit limit defined here.
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 Allow Mobile Access: If you are using CSS module of AlignBooks and want to give your customer an access on system to upload his Order and view his ledger, then check on the relevant Box. Once you check on the Box, the System will prompt for password. You can type in a password which you must also share with your Customer along with a Customer Code and your Company Code. The Customer can down load the CSS Application on his phone and login using this information to start uploading orders and checking his ledgers in real time.
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 Customer on watch: If you want to keep this customer on watch, check on the relevant Box. The Customer will be added to your Dash Board and all its key figures will be visible to you on your Dash Board.
We will now input the specific banking information relevant for a customer.
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 Bank Name: Select from the drop down the relevant bank for the customer. If the required bank does not exist in the list, you are able to create a new name by clicking on Icon or option within the dropdown menu.
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 Branch: Input here the branch name of the selected bank.
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 Account No: Input here the account number for the selected bank.
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 IFSC Code : Input here the RTGS / IFSC code for the selected bank/branch.
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 Custom Fields: If you have selected any User defined Extra Field at the time of Company Configuration (Configuration->Company Setup->Sales Setup->Customer Custom Fields), that number (maximum 5 fields) of UDF fields would be visible and you can enter the relevant details against those fields. Here one thing to remember that if you have opted “Allow Blank – No” against any of the UDF filed in set-up then while creating Customer master you have to provide the information under that User Defined Field(UDF) or to say you cannot keep that field blank.
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Click on 
to Save the values.
Click on 
to Exit from the New Customer Form.
We are now back to the main screen for the Customer Master.
Edit: If you wish to Edit a customer detail, click on 
. The customer details will be opened in edit mode, can make the required changes and click on to save the changes made by you. If you think that this record is no more required, you can delete the record by clicking on 
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Delete : If you wish to delete a customer data, Click on 
and confirm the deletion.
Note that if you have created Sub Party under a Customer, the System will not allow you to delete this record unless you delete all the sub parties under the customer.
It is advisable not to delete a Customer if some data are already entered against that Customer. If you have closed dealing with a Customer or for any reason any Customer is Inactive you can always opt to make the Customer “Inactive”.
Export : Click on 
to Export the data as visible in the list to an Excel Sheet.
Search : Type a text to search a particular record.
Group : If you want to Group your display on any particular field, hold that field and drag a little up outside the Grid, your display will be grouped on that field. To remove the groupings drag the field back into the Grid column.
Sort : If you want to sort data on a particular field, click on the label of that field, your data will be sorted on that field. You can reverse the order of sorting by just Double click on the label of that particular field.
Click on 
to Exit from the Customer master.
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please give us a call for further help. Happy Aligning!
