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You can enter as much or as little information about your customers as you want. The only information that is required for a new customer is a customer name, number, and address. If you do not assign a profile class, the system assigns the profile class 'DEFAULT' to each new customer you enter.

The profile option AR: Change Customer Name determines whether you can change a customer's name after saving their information. This profile option is set to Yes by default.

If you are using the Multiple Organization support feature, you cannot enter a salesperson at the customer level; you can only assign a salesperson to a customer site (for example, Bill To, Ship To, and Dunning site). If you are not using multiple organizations, you can assign a salesperson to a customer and to each of their site uses. For more information, see: Using the Multiple Organization Support Feature.

To assign a salesperson to a customer site, see: Assigning a Business Purpose to a Customer Address.

Prerequisites

   Choose automatic or manual customer and site numbering (optional). See: Defining Receivables System Options

   Define customer profile classes (optional)

   Define customer QuickCodes (optional)

   To view a range of customers:

1. Navigate to the Customer Summary window.

Note: This is a folder window, so you can customize how you view your data.

2. Enter your search criteria, which can be any customer attribute, then query the customers to view.

3. To view the details of a specific customer, choose Open. To view all addresses for a specific customer, choose Addresses.

   To enter basic information for a new customer:

1. Navigate to either the Customers or the Customer Summary window.

2. Enter a unique Customer Name.

Suggestion: To avoid duplicate customer names, query existing customer names before entering another. For example, to enter a customer called ACME, first query all customers with ACME in their name to be sure this name does not already exist. The Find Customers window lets you view the results of your query as multiple records in the Customer Summary window. You can query customers by name, type, taxpayer ID, class, category, status, or address. To use the Find Customers window, choose Find from the Query menu. You can also search for existing customer names using an alternate name in your query. See: Find Customers Using Alternate Names. If you find duplicate customer names, deactivate the duplicate customer name as soon as possible to avoid using it in data entry. Then, merge the duplicate customers. See: Merging Customers.

3. If you are not using Automatic Customer Numbering, enter a unique customer Number.

4. Enter an Alternate Name for this customer (optional). You can only enter information in this field if the profile option AR: Customers - Enter Alternate Fields is set to Yes. Receivables also uses the value you enter here to sort customer names in certain reports if the profile option AR: Sort Customer Reports by Alternate Fields is Yes. See: Overview of Receivables User Profile Options.

Note: To use flexible address formats with the Alternate Name field in the Customer Addresses window, see: Implementing Flexible Addresses for the Address Alternate Name Field.

5. Indicate the status of the customer by checking or unchecking the Active check box. You cannot enter new transactions for an inactive customer, but you can process and apply payments to existing transactions.

6. Enter the Taxpayer ID for this customer as an additional reference (optional). The Taxpayer ID is used in many European countries as the principal means of identifying and querying customers.

Note: The system provides country-specific validation of the taxpayer ID number for Italy, Spain, and Portugal. (This number is also known as the NIF.) If you entered either Italy, Spain, or Portugal in the Default Country field of the Systems Options window, and you set the Default Country profile option to the same value, the system validates the Taxpayer ID field based on the rules of your default country. If these values are different, the system performs no validation. For more information, see: Taxpayer ID Validation.

7. In the Use field, indicate whether this customer is a Customer or a Prospect. You cannot update this value after you save your work. This information is used by Oracle Sales and Marketing.

8. Assign a Profile Class to this customer (optional). Receivables assigns the profile class 'DEFAULT' to new customers, but you can choose any profile class that you have defined. To modify this profile class or assign a different profile class to this customer, see: Assigning Profile Classes to Customers.

Attention: The Profile Class field in the Customers window (Classification alternative region) and the Customer Summary window is a display-only field. To update the profile class assigned to this customer, use the Profile:Transaction alternative region.

9. Enter a primary salesperson for this customer (optional). The system uses this salesperson as the default when you enter transactions for this customer. If the system option Require Salespersons is Yes, you must enter a salesperson when entering transactions in Receivables. You define salespersons in the Salespersons window. See: Salespersons.

Note: If you are using Oracle Order Entry/Shipping, when you enter an order or a return for this customer in the Sales Orders or Returns window, all sales credits default to this salesperson.

10. Enter general customer information, such as Category, Tax Code, Tax Calculation, and Order Entry information (optional). For more information, see: Customers Field Reference.

Note: If you do not enter a value in the Reference field, the default value is the customer id. You cannot change this value after you save your work. If you import customers using Customer Interface, Receivables generates a unique customer reference for each customer.

Note: You can only enter Tax Rounding and Tax Calculation values if the Allow Override option in the System Options window is set to Yes. If Allow Override is Yes, the values you enter in the Customers window take precedence over the settings at the system level. See: Tax Rounding System Options.

11. Enter a customer address.

12. Enter customer contacts (optional).

13. Enter customer and contact telephone numbers (optional).

14. Save your work. If you are using Automatic Customer Numbering, the system assigns a unique customer number.

Note: If you do not have Oracle Sales and Marketing installed, Receivables displays an error message when you save your new customer information. You can prevent this error message from appearing by setting the value of the profile option OSM: Use Customer Keys to No.

Find Customer or Supplier Names By Using Alternate Names

Note: You can enter an alternate customer name in the Customers window only if the profile option AR: Customers - Enter Alternate Fields is set to Yes. See: Entering Customers.

Note: You can enter an alternate supplier name in the Suppliers window only if the profile option AP: Enter Alternate Fields is set to Yes. See: Alternate Names in Payables.

Attention: The Quick Find By Alternate Name window is only available from the Navigator if your System Administrator has added the AR_ARXCUFBA function to your responsibility. See: Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide.

   To find a customer or supplier name using their alternate name:

1. Navigate to the Quick Find By Alternate Name window.

2. Enter the Alternate Name you want to find, or select one from the list of values.

3. Press Tab or Return to execute your query.

See Also

Invoices and Customers System Options

Customer Overview

Customers Field Reference

Assigning Profile Classes to Customers

Assigning Payment Methods

Entering Customers In Oracle Sales and Marketing

Entering Customer Contacts

Assigning Customer Banks

Creating Customer Relationships

Customer Detail/Summary Reports