Customers
Customers holds the accounts of the people and organisations you sell to: their status, account type, currency, credit settings, holds, internal notes, and which of their addresses and contacts to use for billing, shipping and statements.
A customer is built from three layers. You never type a customer's name or address into Customers itself:
- One Party can be one Partner, and one Partner can have one customer account.
- The same organisation can also be a supplier: its Partner type is then Customer and supplier, and it has a separate account in Suppliers.
Every page follows the same pattern: Where (the screen) and Who can do it (the permission), numbered steps with the exact button and field names, a field table with an example for each field, and what the system refuses.
The example used in this guide
Bright Home Supplies sells kitchen and cleaning supplies. The examples continue the Sales, Invoicing and Payments guides.
| Person or account | Role in the examples |
|---|---|
| Farah | Accounts. Creates customers, adds holds and notes. |
| Nadia | Sales manager. Looks up customers and checks their settings before taking orders. |
Café Aroma (CUST-0042) | Wholesale customer, organisation, GBP. Buys weekly. |
Green Leaf Deli (CUST-0051) | New customer opened in the worked example. |
Harbour Bistro (CUST-0023) | Customer put on a credit hold for late payment. |
The Customers screens
Open Customers from the dashboard.
| Screen | What it is for | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Customer register | Search, filter and sort customers | Find customers |
| Create customer | Choose or create the Party, the Partner, then the customer account | Create a customer |
| Customer details | Tabs: Overview, Identity, Addresses & contacts, Records | The customer record |
| Customer groups | Group customers, e.g. by region or channel | Groups |
Customer status
| Status | Meaning | Can take orders? |
|---|---|---|
| PROSPECT | A potential customer, not yet trading | No |
| ACTIVE | Trading normally | Yes, unless an Order or Account hold applies |
| ON_HOLD | Paused for a business reason | No |
| SUSPENDED | Stopped, for example for a dispute | No |
| INACTIVE | No longer trading but may return | No |
| CLOSED | Finished. Can't be changed or reopened | No |
Customers created on the Create customer screen start as ACTIVE. Status changes are made by an authorised integration or support; the screens don't yet have a status button (see Help).
Key terms
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Party | The shared identity record of a person or organisation. | Café Aroma Ltd |
| Partner | The trading relationship with a Party. Type Customer, Supplier, or Customer and supplier. | Partner P-CAFE-AROMA, type Customer |
| Customer code | Your unique code for the customer account. | CUST-0042 |
| Account type | The kind of customer. | WHOLESALE |
| Hold | A typed stop on one kind of activity, separate from status. | CREDIT hold on Harbour Bistro |
| Assignment | Choosing one of the Party's addresses or contacts for a customer purpose. | Billing address, Invoicing contact |
| Customer group | A grouping of customers. | NORTH – Northern region |
Next: Access and permissions.