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Unique Features

The key strength of the system is gathering all information related to a customer into a single location. This includes:

• Integrated prospects and customers - prospects, leads and even 'deleted' accounts are all accessible through the customer screen
• Role views - the customer information presented on screen depends on the role of the operator viewing it
• Access history - see which users have accessed the customer record using the access history function
• Links to all customer information - all customer related information can be viewed from the customer screen
• Parameters - much of the processing on the system is highly automated based on customer configuration settings
• History - customer records are NEVER DELETED - they are simply marked as 'historic' which removes them from current views
• Multiple addresses - multiple delivery address can be maintained for each account
• Pricing - comprehensive pricing structures allow for simple or complex pricing to be applied to individual customers
• Billing structure - flexible billing structures with mixtures of head office and delivery accounts are supported
• Alerts - these can be triggered by events such as a purchase order about to expire; a credit limit breached, or even if it close to being breached
• Aged debt - six months ageing is used, and aged debt at any point in time can be displayed for a customer

The remainder of this page contains further information on the features and functions of the customer management module.

Information Available

When viewing a customer record, there is a lot of information that can be displayed - so here goes!

• Name and address - basic account details including main telephone and fax numbers
• Profile - customer type; sector; number of employees
• Head Office details - billing address, along with the number of accounts linked to the head office
• Status - mutiple statuses including account (open, prospect, closed); credit control; journey
• Account management - key account manager, credit control grouping
• Accounting profile - credit limit; credit days; invoice method; payment method (including payment on account, cash account, direct debit, credit card); VAT liable
• Transactions - invoices, credit notes, orders, PODs, receipts, allocations, debtor adjustments
• Turnover analysis - review the customer turnover across key lines
• Advanced billing - view the available credit remaining where invoices have been issued in advance of deliveries/service
• Deposit analysis - for organisations that charge deposits (e.g. watercooler industry), view deposits charged and refunded
• Access history - view dates and times when staff accessed the customer record
• Agreements (contracts) - view active and historic agreements for the customer - these can be rental, trial, sales, short term, hire purchase, and service
• Assets - not only can you view the assets currently on site for the customer, you can also view the history of which assets were placed with the customer
• Contacts - names, telephone numbers and email addresses for customer contacts
• Journeys - list all scheduled visits to the customer, as well as any outstanding orders that have been assigned to delivery routes
• Linked Accounts - summary information outlined above enables you to view the number of related accounts - this option enables you to view the details of those related accounts
• Location - directions to the customer as well as opening times, and preferred delivery times
• Messages - messages that appear whenever the account is accessed; or whenever an order is being recorded for the customer; or when a driver is due to visit the customer
• Notes - a record of interactions with the customer
• Other addresses - one-off or regularly visited address can be maintained for a single account
• Pricing - view the pricing arrangements that have been put in place for the customer
• Default order - a list of products that are regularly purchased by the customer
• Purchase order - a purchase order may be required per order, or a blanket order number may be provided that is time or value dependent
• Listed products - a list of products the customer has agreed to buy - the customer may not buy outside of this list
• Credit history - details of all of the times the customer has been placed on hold, or has raised a dispute over a transaction
• Visit history - a record of each visit to the customer by drivers, sales reps or customer service staff

It is possible to drill down further into some of the information retrieved from the customer record. For example, if viewing an asset currently on site with the customer, you can view the asset details, and see all of the locations in which it has been placed before it was placed with the customer.

Role Specific Customer Views

Customer information can be presented in 'Views' appropriate to the 'Roles' being performed by individuals accessing the information. The roles/view available are:

• General - basic customer details are displayed with access to all related customer data
• Distribution/Orders - primarily used by journey schedulers and people dedicated to taking customer orders - journeys and orders are given prominence in this view
• Accounts/Debtors - aged debt and outstanding invoices is the prime focus of this view
• Sales/Agreements - staff who manage customer contracts and new accounts generally use this view of customer information
• Orders/Service - staff managing orders for service activity can see equipment on site and service history in this view

The view a staff member has of the customer data can be modified when required to give them a different view.

Customer Functions

The customer create functions are available from the 'Quick Menu' which is available through the system. When viewing a customer record, the following fuctions are available:

• Create Master Account - a 'Master' account is a head office account which may or may not have additional delivery accounts linked to it
• Create Site Account - a 'Site' account is a delivery account that is linked to a head office account
• Allocate Price Group - one account can be linked to another for pricing
• Manage pricing - place the customer on a standard price list, or customise pricing for the customer
• Define Customer Set - a customer set is a way of grouping customers together outside of the normal head office-delivery account relationship
• Create order - create any type of order including product delivery, product return, asset delivery, asset return, asset service, asset sanitisation, or general service
• Record POD - while the POD processing module is normally used to record PODs, an individual POD can be created for a customer if necessary
• Create invoice - invoicing is normally undertaken through the invoicing module but this function can be used to create a one-off invoice for a customer
• Assign to journey - the journey management module is normally used to assign customers to journeys, but a customer can manually be assigned to a journey
• Raise journey request - you can create a request to increase/decrease customer visit activity which will be sent to the journey scheduler automatically
• Create agreement - a new contract can be created for the customer
• Register asset - assets are normally registered or delivered through the POD module, but the can also be recorded here
• Create note - record a customer interaction, e.g. telephone call
• Change status - activate/deactivate an account or change its credit hold status or journey status
• Maintain addresses - maintain a list of addresses for the customer

Reports

Examples of the reports that can be generated from information processed through this module include:

• Account Statement - list all transactions for a defined date range and show the aged debt at that time
• Activity - analyses orders and/or PODs to show stock and visit activity
• Special Prices - online report showing current and optionally historic pricing for a customer
• Turnover - view sales for an individual customer, customer set, or list of customers for a defined period
• Product Turnover - analyse sales for a specific product for an individual customer, customer set, or list of customers for a defined period
• Asset List - lists all assets on site or supposed to be on site with a customer, customer set, or entire database of customers
• Mail Merge - extract data to a report based on criteria such as aged debt, stop status and customer status
• Agreement Items - contract items for all customers
• Direct Debits - lists all customers that pay by direct debit
• Aged Debt - run the aged debt report for a single customer or for all customers
• Aged Debt by Credit Controller - shows aged debt for customers allocated to one or more credit controllers