Understanding Customers and Customer References [Guide]

A Customer entity is a "master" record for a client. Creating this entity allows you to manage all associated information from a central location at an Account level, and use it when creating Sales Orders. 

While it is possible to manage orders setting their Ship To or Bill To properties, creating a Customer entity provides advanced functionality. A Customer is a manageable record that links a name, contact information, addresses, and specific references together.

This article provides a conceptual overview of the Customer entity in techOMS and explains the function of Customer References.

NOTE: For instructions on how to manage Customers, see: How to Manage Customers: Create, Edit, Delete, and Import [Step-by-Step guide].

This article is divided into the following sections:

1. Customer Identity
2. Customer References

I. CUSTOMER IDENTITY

techOMS automatically assigns a unique, system-generated ID to every new Customer created. This identifier's primary purpose is to ensure every customer record is distinct.

Separately, techOMS uses a validation rule to prevent the creation of accidental duplicates. It checks for the uniqueness of the following fields combined:

• Contact Name

• Ship To and Bill To Name

• Ship To and Bill To Address Line 1

• Ship To and Bill To City

• Ship To and Bill To Postal Code

• Ship To and Bill To Country

• Ship To and Bill To State/Province

NOTE: This criteria allows, for example, a single contact name to exist multiple times, provided they have different Ship To or Bill To addresses.

II. CUSTOMER REFERENCES

Customer References are key-value pairs that can be stored on a Customer entity (e.g., GLAccount = 12345 or SalesRep = John Doe).

The primary function of Customer References is automation. When a new Sales Order is created in techOMS and assigned to this specific Customer, these references are automatically copied from the Customer record directly onto the Sales Order.

WARNING: The reference copying process is a one-time action that occurs when the Sales Order is created. Updates made to a Customer's references will not retroactively apply to any existing orders previously associated with that customer.

 
The way Customer References are applied depends on how the Sales Order is created:

• Manual (UI) Creation:
  When a Customer is selected, the references are copied to the order upon saving. For more information, see: How to Manually Create a Sales Order [Step-by-step guide].
  
  
  NOTE: You may need to refresh the page for the copied references to appear in the order's References tab. 
  

    

• API Creation:
  When an order is created via the API with a Customer assigned, the references are attached to the order but will not be displayed in the user interface's References tab. For details, see: Getting started using techOMS API [Information].
   
• File Import:
  The Sales Order Import method does not apply Customer References, as this method does not link the order to a Customer entity. For more information, see: How to Import Sales Orders via file [Step-by-step guide].