Customer Maintenance

Use Customer Maintenance to override and extend QAD EA system information related to customers and items. The recommended practice is to maintain customers and items using the Customer Load function provided with QAD CSS on the Administration|System Control menu. Customer Maintenance lets you manually adjust the results of the load.

Important: Customer records added or modified in Customer Maintenance in QAD CSS are not synchronized to QAD EA; you must manually update them in QAD EA. Maintaining customers this way is not recommended.

Customer records are domain-specific. You must indicate which data source (domain) each customer is associated with.

Implementation Guide: QAD Customer Self Service provides details about using load functions to add QAD EA customer and item information to your QAD CSS database.

Important: Implementation affects both usage and requirements of customer and item information stored in QAD CSS. You should understand this thoroughly before changing any customer or item information.

Important: When a customer is deleted or deactivated in QAD EA, the corresponding customer record stored in QAD CSS will not be automatically synchronized. Submitting orders in QAD CSS with deleted or inactive customer IDs will fail and the user will receive error messages.

Some examples of implementing QAD CSS relative to customer maintenance are:

•	Create a general pool of items for all customers. In this case, there will be many items and only one customer record. The information stored in the customer record is not used.

•	Create a specific pool of items for each customer. In this case, there will be many items and many customer records. The information stored in these customer records can include information not stored in QAD EA. It can also override information stored in QAD EA.

Many options are possible depending on how you plan to implement and use QAD CSS.

The menu location of Customer Maintenance is Home Menu|Administration Menu|Customer Maintenance.

Clicking the Customer Maintenance menu option displays the screen in Customer Maintenance.

Customer Maintenance

Customer Address Maintenance Navigation summarizes the contents of the Customer Maintenance navigation screen.

Customer Address Maintenance Navigation

 

Column	Search	Search Type	Sort	Description	Link
Customer Number	Y	Exact	Y	The unique identifier in both QAD EA and QAD CSS. This is an integral link between the two systems.	Y
Customer Name	Y	Begins	Y	Customer name associated with the customer number. The display may vary depending on specific implementation rules.	N
Customer E-Mail	N	n/a	N	The e-mail address associated with this customer overriding or extending QAD EA value.	N
View Items	N	n/a	N	This link displays only items associated with this customer.	Y

Adding a Customer

The Add function of Customer Maintenance lets an administrator add customers.

The following information is required to complete this process:

•	The unique customer name, e-mail, number, and group to be associated with this record

•	The default site from which items are shipped

•	The master customer associated with this record

To create a new entry:

1	Click Add in the navigation window to display the edit screen in Add mode.

2	Enter data into the appropriate fields.

3	Click Add in the edit window to save the record.

Detail Edit Customer

Data Source

Choose the domain that this customer is associated with.

Customer Number

The unique identifier in both QAD EA and QAD CSS. This is an integral link between the two systems.

Customer Name

Customer name associated with the customer number. The actual display depends on specific implementation rules.

Customer Group

You can use customer group as a key value in the system registry to control the behavior of your Web order-entry system based on customer group membership. Group names are not validated but should be planned and used consistently. The group name can be a maximum of eight characters.

Customer E-Mail

The e-mail address associated with this customer is used by QAD CSS to notify customers based on predefined events that you set up.

Default Site

This value represents the default site for calculating quantity availability in QAD EA. QAD EA determines a default site in Item Master Maintenance (1.4.1). You can use this field to override the QAD EA default with a different value.

See also the effect of the runGetDefWhseQty registry setting.

Master Customer

This field stores a reference to one or more QAD CSS customer records; use a comma-separated list for multiple values. The current customer inherits all of the items associated with master customers in addition to items associated with their own customer number.

Browse Icon

This lets you select from a list of all valid QAD CSS customers.

Warehouse List

Specify a comma-separated list of all the sites (warehouses) available for inventory calculations. The order of this list may impact the calculations, depending on implementation.

Note: This field is not currently used by the system.

Clicking a command button executes one of the following actions:

•	Add saves the new record to the database. All required fields—indicated by alternate field color—must be populated prior to saving a record. Before saving, the system verifies that the record is unique and displays an error if it is not.

•	Cancel closes the window without adding the record.

Modifying a Customer Entry

The Modify function of Customer Maintenance lets an administrator modify existing customer entries. Requirements for adding a record are the same as for editing a record.

To modify an entry:

1	Display the record to modify.

2	Click the Customer Number link in the row of the record to be modified. Clicking the link displays the edit screen.

3	Enter data into the appropriate fields. Fields that do not allow change are indicated by a second alternate color.

4	Click Save to commit your changes.

Customer Item Maintenance

Customer Item Maintenance is an extension of Customer Maintenance. This function lets QAD CSS administrators override and extend
QAD EA information related to customer items. The recommended practice is to maintain customer items using the Item Load function provided with QAD CSS on the Administration|System Control menu. Customer Item Maintenance lets an administrator manually adjust the results of the load.

Implementation Guide: QAD Customer Self Service provides details about using load functions to add QAD EA customer and item information to your QAD CSS database.

Important: The implementation of QAD CSS affects both the usage and requirements of customer item information stored in QAD CSS. You should thoroughly understand how the order module was implemented before changing any customer item information.

Some examples of implementing QAD CSS relative to customer maintenance are:

•	Create a general pool of items for all customers. In this case, there will be many items and only one customer record. The information stored in the customer record is not used.

•	Create a specific pool of items for each customer. In this case, there will be many items and many customer records. The information associated with these customer records can include information not stored in QAD EA or override QAD EA information.

Many options are possible depending on the specific implementation of QAD CSS.

Customer Item Maintenance is reached from the Customer Maintenance screen by clicking the View link.

Viewing Customer Items Through Customer Maintenance

Clicking a View link in Customer Maintenance displays the screen in Customer Item Maintenance.

Customer Item Maintenance

Customer Item Maintenance Navigation summarizes the contents of the Customer Item Maintenance navigation screen.

Customer Item Maintenance Navigation

 

Column	Search	Search Type	Sort	Description	Link
Item Number	Y	Contains	Y	The item number as defined in QAD EA. This field provides the link between the QAD CSS item table and the pt_mstr table in QAD EA.	Y
Customer Item Number	Y	Contains	Y	The item code the customer uses to cross-reference this item number.	N
Top Pick List	N	n/a	N	Cross item-type categorization of items used to give the customer another way to view a group of items; for example, the top ten items purchased last year. Displays value of Item List field.	N

Adding a Customer Item Entry

The Add function of Customer Item Maintenance lets an administrator add custom customer item records and associate them with specific QAD CSS pages.

Important: Customer item records are created and maintained through the Catalog Load function. Changes made here are not permanent.

To create a new entry:

1	Click Add in the navigation window to display the edit screen in Add mode.

2	Enter data into the appropriate fields.

3	Click Add in the edit window to save the record.

Detail Edit Customer Items

Data Source

The domain that this customer is associated with displays.

Customer Number

Specify the number identifying the customer associated with this item. This must be a valid customer ID in both QAD EA and QAD CSS and is an integral link between the two systems.

Item Number

Specify the item number as defined in QAD EA. This field provides the link between the QAD CSS item table and the pt_mstr table in QAD EA.

Customer Part

Specify the ID that the customer uses to refer to your internal item number.

Item Type

Not currently used.

Unit of Measure

Specify the stocking unit of measure for this item in QAD CSS as defined by QAD EA. If left blank, a unit of measure of each is assumed.

Search Item

Select this option to include this item when a keyword search is performed from the order-entry pages.

Item List

Indicate if you want to include this item in a special group, such as the top-ten items purchased last year.

No: No special processing is associated with the item.

Yes: The customer item view can be sorted by this value so that you can see the items with Yes grouped together.

Note: This does not currently extend to the catalog view of items.

Item Description 1

Specify the first line of the item description. This information can originate from the QAD EA item master table or marketing sales catalog.

Item Description 2

Specify the second line of the item description. This information can originate from the QAD EA item master table or marketing sales catalog.

Price

This is the price for this item, for this customer, in the customer’s default currency, at the minimum order quantity, when the price is provided from QAD CSS instead of QAD EA pricing routines.

Normally, pricing is obtained from QAD EA through a pricing API, based on system registry setting runGetBestPrice. However, if for some reason a price is not returned from QAD EA or the QAD EA database is not available, the price stored in this field displays in the product catalog.

Euro Dollar

Specify the price defined in Price converted into the euro monetary unit.

Detail Image

This is the relative path and file name of the item detail image file displayed on the QAD CSS item detail page when system registry setting itemDetailPgm is set to display op_itemdetail.html for a new HTML page.

Alt Text

Specify the alternate text displayed in rollovers or when the image cannot be displayed.

Note: It is strongly recommended to specify image height and width to optimize the display performance of the Web site in all Web browsers.

Detail Height

Specify the height of the image in pixels.

Detail Width

Specify the width of the image in pixels.

Thumb Image

Specify the relative path and file name of the item detail image file displayed on the catalog page next to the item description when users select the option to show item images.

Alt Text

Specify the alternate text displayed in rollovers or when the image cannot be displayed.

Thumb Height

Specify the height of the image in pixels.

Thumb Width

Specify the width of the image in pixels.

Pop Image

This is the relative path and name of the item pop-up image file displayed when itemDetailPgm is set to display op_itemimage.html for a small image pop-up screen.

Alt Text

Specify the alternate text displayed in rollovers or when the image cannot be displayed.

Pop Height

Specify the height of the image in pixels.

Pop Width

Specify the width of the image in pixels.

Icon List

Specify a comma-delimited list of icon names defined in Icon Maintenance that display below the item description in the item catalog.

Note: The registry setting showLegendBar must be Yes to display the icon descriptions.

PDF File

Specify the path—relative to the images directory—and name of a file associated with the item that can be displayed in a browser. This can be an Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) file, such as a data sheet, marketing document, or technical specification. It can also be an HTML file or any other Web-compatible format.

This file displays when itemDetailPgm is set to display op_itemdetail.html.

Schematic File

Specify the path—relative to the images directory— and name of a file associated with the item that can be displayed in a browser. This can be a PDF or Word file containing technical specifications. This file displays when itemDetailPgm is set to display op_itemdetail.html.

Language Code

Choose a value from the drop-down selection list of available languages to associate with this customer item record. Leave blank if not implementing items by language.

Minimum Quantity

Optionally, specify a minimum quantity that can be ordered. This sets the default order quantity in the catalog. An error is generated if a quantity less than this is ordered. Leave this field set to 0 (zero) if no minimum applies.

Maximum Quantity

Optionally specify the maximum quantity that can be ordered. The system checks this field when an item is added to the shopping cart and displays an error if the quantity ordered is greater than the maximum. Leave this field set to 0 (zero) if no maximum applies.

Multiple

Optionally, enter the multiple for placing orders for this item. This field is checked when items are added to the shopping cart. Leave this field set to 0 (zero) if no multiple applies.

Integers 1–3

User-defined fields for integer values. These fields can be used during customization to extend the use of this record.

Decimals 1–3

User-defined fields for decimal values. These fields can be used during customization to extend the use of this record.

Characters 1–5

User-defined fields for character values. These fields can be used during customization to extend the use of this record.

Other Fields 1–15

User-defined fields for text strings. These fields can be used during customization to extend the use of this record.

Codes 0–5

Enter the item types (category codes) assigned to this item. The item types define the hierarchy for grouping items for display, with 0 (zero) as the top-most down the hierarchy to 5.

Clicking a command button executes one of the following actions:

•	Add saves the new record to the database. All required fields—indicated by alternate field color—must be populated prior to saving a record. Before saving, the system verifies that the record is unique and displays an error if it is not.

•	Cancel closes the window without adding the record.

Modifying a Customer Item Entry

The Modify function of Customer Item Maintenance lets an administrator modify existing customer item entries. Requirements for adding a record are the same as for editing a record.

To modify an entry:

1	Display the record to modify.

2	Click the Customer Number link in the row of the record to be modified. Clicking the link displays the edit screen.

3	Enter data into the appropriate fields. Fields that do not allow change are indicated by a second alternate color.

4	Click Save to commit the changes.