Customer Search – Match Codes
You can maintain a match code for a customer and
search for the customer via this match code in both the background system and
the terminal application. This is particularly advantageous if you have many
regular customers because the customer selection can be definitely accelerated
by the search help. In the following, you will be informed about
- How to
create the Customer Match Code,
- How
manual Match Code Creations become effective,
- How to
search for the Customer via the Customer Match Code in the Window
„Customer“,
- How to
search for the Customer via the Customer Match Code in the Terminal
Application.
Maintaining
the Customer Match Code
You can search for a customer (or a customer group)
via the character sequence entered in the field Match Code (window Customer).
As soon as you create a customer, the match code will
be generated automatically by the input of the customer name, the customer name
and the match code are thus identical at first. However, you can modify the
match code manually in the field Match Code.
Attention!
- Manually entered match codes will only become
effective after you have run the program Create Customer Match Codes (menu
Report -> Basic Data).
The program
determines the match code by default according to the following procedure:
- First, all superfluous empty spaces are removed
from the customer name.
- If the customer name includes a comma, the
program assumes that the surname appears first, and then the Christian
name is displayed after the comma. In this case, the match code equals the
customer name – except for the empty spaces and the comma (e.g.: Reinert,
Michael).
- If the customer name does not include a comma,
the algorithm searches the last coherent word of the customer name which
is then determined to be the surname (e.g.: Karl Schmidt, Harald von der
Lohe). Therefore, double names must not be separated by spaces but only by
hyphens (“-“). (e.g.: Müller-Meier). All other names will be first names then.
The match code contains capital letters only.
- If the match code contains more than 20
characters after the conversion, it will be shortened to 20 characters
(e.g.: MÜLLER MEIER JOHANNE).
- The salutation should not be adopted in the field
“Match Code”.
Examples:
In the first lines of the files
"runCustomer.fgl" and "LsCustMatchCode.fgl", there are 2
variables which influence the search algorithm.
- CopyMode
If the value "TRUE" is set, the match code will be converted into capital letters only – except for commas and spaces. This setting is useful if the customer names are always entered as "surname", "Christian name". - ModifiedVowels
If the value "FALSE" is set, the mutations "ä", "Ä", "ü", "Ü", "ö", "Ö" and "ß" of the German language will be converted into "AE", "UE", "OE" und "SS". The FALSE setting should only be made if the printer or the display is not able to process such mutations.
Note:
- In general, these variables should not be changed. If they are changed, this must be carried out
in both files "runCustomer.fgl" and
"LsCustMatchCode.fgl".
How the manual input
becomes effective:
The modification of the customer match codes in the
field Match Code (window Customer) is not enough to be able to access these
terms. They will only become effective after you have run the program “Create
Customer Match Codes” (via the menu Report).
Attention!
- This program overwrites all manual entries in the
field Match Code and automatically creates a new index for the selected
customer which is also printed in a list, along with the customer no.,
customer name and the match code.
- If the customer name includes a "*", no
match code will be created since there might be a search for particular
customers in the customer application.
Subsequent to the program start, you will be offered
the following selection options in a window (the settings are usually to be
adopted):
- Company
Number of the company on the level of which the match code has been modified. - From/to Customer
Number range of the customers to be considered. - Step Size Display
Currently irrelevant - Record number
This value is preset and cannot be changed.
At the end, define the output medium. On the screen /
printer, both the customer name and the corresponding match codes will be
listed along with the selection criteria. After the names have been put out,
the procedure is complete.
Customer Search in the
Window “Customer”
Open the window Customer.
Enter some characters in the field Match Code
and click on the Search button
(magnifying glass). Only the customers whose names correspond to the entered
search pattern will be displayed.
Customer Search in the
Terminal Application
Press the key "Match Code", "Customer
Match Code" etc. There is no fixed name for this key. Information on how
to create this key can be found in the chapter Key “Customer Match Code”.
After you have pressed the key, the message “Search
with Match Code” appears in the top line, and „Enter Text“ appears in the
bottom line. Enter the first characters of the customer names to be selected
(so-called wildcards “*” are allowed, e.g. “Mey*”) and confirm with “ST”. All
customers whose names correspond to the search pattern will be displayed in a
selection window from which you can select the required customer. The more
characters you enter the smaller is the quantity of the customer names found.
If the system finds only one customer, this customer will be adopted directly.
The rules for the first characters’ input can be found in ... the following procedure.
This accelerated search procedure is particularly
useful with many regular customers.
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D-10587 Berlin Germany