Line of Business Processing

If you conduct business with customers who have multiple lines of business, you can set up the system to process customer transactions by line of business. You can distinguish these lines of business by product, division, geography, and so on. You set up one address book record for the customer, but you use the Company field to create a customer record for each line of business. This feature enables you to process accounts receivable information, such as credit limits and collection policies, and to set up default payment terms and tax information for each customer by company (line of business).

For example, the organization, Wholesale Super Foods, sells a variety of products such as produce, frozen foods, and paper goods to customers in the retail grocery business. You might have different payment terms and tax information for a customer who orders paper goods than for those who order produce and frozen foods. With line of business processing, each product line is set up as a unique company in the system. Therefore, the system maintains a record for each company by customer.

When you enter a customer record, you do not create multiple address book records to accommodate line of business. Instead, you assign the company to the customer record that is associated with the line of business. Using the Super Foods example, company 00001 is designated for the paper products, and company 00002 is designated for produce. When the customer orders napkins and paper towels, you enter the invoice for company 00001, and the system provides the default payment terms for 1/10, Net 30 (1 percent discount if paid within 10 days with the full amount due in 30 days). When the same customer orders fresh vegetables, you enter the invoice for company 00002, and the system provides the default payment term Due Upon Receipt. By setting up line of business processing, the system can provide the proper payment terms, currency, and accounting information as the default, based on the company number that you enter on the invoice.

If you do not set up line of business processing, the system maintains only one record for company 00000 in the F03012 table.