How To Guide

Customer Search

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 2
SETUP............................................................................................................................................ 2
ADDON PARAMETERS (GESXA0)................................................................................................ 2
USER PARAMETER (SALES/XANA/XCTRSORD) ....................................................................... 3
FUNCTIONAL .............................................................................................................................. 4
CUSTOMER SEARCH ..................................................................................................................... 4
RESETTING A SEARCH .................................................................................................................. 9
SELECTING A CUSTOMER ............................................................................................................. 9
QUICK CREATE BUTTONS ............................................................................................................ 9
CUSTOMER CREATION ................................................................................................................. 9
CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE LINK ............................................................................................... 11
ENTERING QUOTES .................................................................................................................... 12
ENTERING ORDERS .................................................................................................................... 13
CUSTOMER RETURNS ................................................................................................................. 14
INSTALLED BASE ....................................................................................................................... 14
INQUIRY ACCESS........................................................................................................................ 14
PLAN AND CREATE ACTIONS ..................................................................................................... 15

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Overview
A new function has been created to facilitate the order entry process associated with a large customer
base. One of the key elements is the ability to quickly find the customer based on a variety of selection
criteria. Often, the user may not have all of the data so the ability to do fuzzy searches is a key element
within this process. The Customer Search function provides customer centric hub from which the majority
of customer related activities can be viewed or launched.

Customer/Contact Selection
o Fuzzy search capabilities
o Multi-table search

Buttons for Quick Create

o Customers
o Sales Quotes
o Sales Orders
o Sales Returns
o Installed Base

Access to Key Inquiries

o History
o Sales Quotes (header and lines)
o Sales Orders (header and lines)
o Shipments (header and lines)
o Invoices (header and lines)
o Returns (header and lines)
o Base (By Address, Aggregated)
o Accounting (BP Situation, Rick Analysis, Last Operation, Aged Balance)

CRM Planning
o Appointments
o Telephone Calls
o Tasks

Drop-Down Create Features

o Invoices
o Appointments
o Telephone Calls
o Tasks
o Project
o Service Requests
o Warranty Requests
o Service Contract

Setup
Addon Parameters (GESXA0)
This defines the global Sales Order screen transactions that will be used. If not defined, the user is
forced to select the desired screen transaction (provided that there is more than one).

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Note: The quote, order and return transactions are the only screen transactions with predefined selection
capability at this time. They are typically associated with higher volumes than the other options.

User Parameter (Sales/XANA/XCTRSORD)

This has the same function as the global Quick SO Transaction. Defining this parameter at the user level
allows you to override the global setting. This provides flexibility in the event that you have multiple
profiles (supervisor, data entry, etc.) defined for processing these transactions.

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Functional
Customer Search
The customer search function allows a user to quickly find existing customers. This is done by
dynamically displaying the results as the user proceeds through the search function. A list of matches is
generated as the [TAB] key is used to advance to the next criteria field. All of the selection criteria are
combined using and logic (display only customers/contacts that meet all entered criteria).

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If the customer can provide the customer service representative (CSR) with their customer number (from
their catalog or other source), it can entered to shortcut the selection process. When this is done, it lists
the record and allows the user to verify the information.

The following table outlines the search prompts and how they operate.

Prompt Type Search Logic

Customer # Customer Exact Match
Customer Name Customer Fuzzy/substring (substring means the characters can
appear at any location in the name)
Customer Phone Customer Fuzzy/substring
Customer Email Customer Fuzzy/substring
Address Customer Fuzzy/substring (all 3 address lines are searched for
matches)
City Customer Fuzzy/substring
State Customer Fuzzy/left (this means that all characters entered must
appear from the left of the data element (ex: S means
states starting with the letter S.
Zip Customer Fuzzy/left
Contact Name Contact Fuzzy/substring
Contact Phone Contact Fuzzy/substring
Contact Cell Contact Fuzzy/substring
Contact Email Contact Fuzzy/substring

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During the entry of the selection criteria, the display contains all matches to the selection criteria. It is
initialized when [TAB] is pressed after entering a value in one of the selection criteria prompts or by
pressing the [Search] button. In the example below, a value of comp was entered in the Customer
Name field and the [TAB] key was pressed to advance to the next selection field. The results are
returned based on the selection criteria entered.

Note: The list contains customers that have the letters comp anywhere in either the Company Name or
the Business Name (ship to company name descriptions). The search is NOT case sensitive. The
match is fuzzy capability in that it is not case sensitive and it does not matter where in the string
the match is found.

Note 2: The results displayed may sometime seem to be duplicated. This is because a unique line is
displayed for each customer, ship to and contact combination. This sometime results in several
lines for the base customer. This can be seen with CUSDUS031 in the example (above).

The example below illustrates the results of adding additional criteria of 843 into the customer phone
field.

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As you enter additional criteria, the list will reduce. This allows you to quickly locate and also through the
help of fuzziness find entries that may contain data entry errors.
The example below illustrates the results of adding additional criteria of johnson into the contact name
field.

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The search results window displays the following data.

Column Source Comments

Customer Customer Customer Number
Business Name Ship-to First or second line of the company name appearing on the
Customer ship-to tab of the customer.
or Or
Customer First line of the company name on the customer
Address Ship-to Address code associated with the ship-to location.
Address 1 Ship-to Column header corresponds to the labels entered on the
country definition for US.
Address 2 Ship-to Same as previous
Address 3 Ship-to Same as previous
City Ship-to
State Ship-to
Zip Ship-to
Business Phone Ship-to
Business Email Ship-to
Contact Name CRM Contact Displayed from the contact linked to the shipping address.
Contact Phone CRM Contact
Contact Cell CRM Contact
Contact Email CRM Contact

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The customer search function is unique in that it not only searches the ship-to customer information but
also the contact table at the same time. It is possible to find the customer but not a matching contact. If
you would like to assign a contact to the customer, you can access the contact function by tunneling to
Customer Maintenance (described below).

Resetting a Search
The [Clear] button can be used to clear all selection criteria and any results so the user can start a new
search.

Selecting a Customer
To use the majority of the features within the customer search function, you must select a customer. A
customer is selected by double-clicking on the desired customer in the results window. When this is
done, the selected customer is displayed on the bottom of the window. The majority of the actions you
take automatically apply to the selected customer.

Quick Create Buttons

The quick create buttons allow a user to access a maintenance function with minimal keystrokes after
locating the desired customer. All of the functions accessed via the buttons work in a similar manner with
some minor differences that are available in the setup.

Customer Creation
The [New Cust] button provides a shortcut for creating a new customer when an existing record cannot
be located. This functionality relies on the setup of Customer Categories and standard X3 security to

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ensure that the customers are preset as fully as possible and that the CSR does not have access to
restricted fields. This feature allows the CSR to quickly create a new customer record so that an order or
quote can be placed.

The following screen illustrates an attempt to locate a customer jones. Since the customer was not
located. The [New Cust] button is used to trigger new customer creation.

The option places the CSR into the Customer Maintenance program and they are automatically in
Create mode. They must provide any mandatory data as well as the essential identification data that
will allow the order to be properly delivered

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Create button is active is you are

automatically placed in create
mode.

Customer category provides most

of the mandatory default data.
User provides unique elements
such as address, payment data,
etc.

Customer creation is performed using the standard X3 Customer Maintenance function. Details are how
to use that function and the particular settings are not covered in this guide.
After creating a new customer/contact, the user is returned to the Search window.

Customer Maintenance Link

When a customer appears within the Results window of the Customer Search function, you can access
the Customer Maintenance function by right-clicking on the line and choosing Customer.

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This link allows the CSR to quickly update key customer information as needed (address, etc.).

Since the function is accessed via a tunnel. Standard X3 security is used to control access to the function
and the fields within it.

Entering Quotes
The [Quote] button allows the user select a customer and tunnel directly to Sales Quote Entry. To select
a customer, the user must double-click on the line appearing the customer search. Once a customer is
selected, the [Quote] button activates and can be used.

Pressing the [Order] button places you into Sales Order Entry and you are automatically in create mode.
The left list is automatically filtered so that it only displays orders for the selected customer.

To expedite the quoting process, a parameter for Quick Quote Transaction is available. Defining this
parameter provides a default and allows for bypassing the transaction selection window. If the value is
not defined, the user is required to select a screen transaction for processing.
.
The example below shows the quote function for a customer having no quote history (left list blank).

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Entering Orders
The [Order] button allows the user select a customer and tunnel directly to Sales Order Entry. To select
a customer, the user must double-click on the line appearing the customer search. Once a customer is
selected, the [Order] button activates and can be used.

Pressing the [Order] button places you into Sales Order Entry and you are automatically in create mode.
The left list is automatically filtered so that it only displays orders for the selected customer.

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Customer Returns
The processing of Sales Returns is managed just like Quotes and Orders.

Installed Base
Access to the installed based is also provided via a quick access button. Processing is identical that of
the other buttons.

Inquiry Access
Access to the inquiries is provided via the drop down options in the Customer Search window. The
sample below show the menu with the submenu for Quotes activated.

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Plan and Create Actions

The Plan and Create options within the Actions drop-down are used to access/create many of the other
features mentioned in the overview of this document. The sample below shows the options that are
available in the Create submenu.

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