Entering Customer Records

A customer record is like a card in a card index box. Each record holds information about a
specific customer, such as an address, telephone number, contact name, credit limit, and so
on. The Record button lets you quickly add, edit and delete information so you can keep your
customer records accurate and up-to-date. As you add your customer records, they appear
automatically in the list on the Customers window. The list lets you see the customers you have
and the amount they currently owe instantly.

There are three ways of entering a customer record.
Firstly, you can use the Customer Record Wizard by selecting the New button to guide you
through the process step-by-step.

Alternatively, you can choose the Record option from the Customers toolbar and enter the
details manually. Remember, if you have set up your customer defaults, some details will
automatically be entered for each new account you create. You can change these if you want.
Finally, if a record already exists that contains much of the same information as the new record
you require, you can use the Duplicate option to create a copy of the original record. This option
saves you time if you need to set up several records with very similar details, for example if you
have a number of customers based at the same address.

To enter your customer records

1. From within the Customers window, click Record.
The Customer Record window appears, displaying the Details tab.

2. Use the Details tab to enter the basic customer account details.
Important Note: See the next section, Opening Balances for Customers, before you enter
your customer’s opening balance.
If you have Accountant Plus or Financial Controller, you can also enter delivery
addresses for your customers. If your customer has several different offices, you can enter
a different delivery address for each office. To do this, click Delivery Addresses. Click New
and then enter the details you require. To save the address, click OK.

3. Use the Defaults tab to amend the defaults that have been copied from the Customer
Defaults option from the Settings menu. If you make a change on this tab, it only applies
to the selected customer.
Note: If you do not specify a nominal code, Sage Line 50 automatically assigns each
customer with a default code.

4. Use the Credit Control tab to enter or edit your credit control details.

5. The next series of tabs enables you to view information about how your customers trade
with you.

The Sales tab shows the value of invoices and credit notes you have sent to a customer
and the money received from them for each month of your financial year. You can use this
tab to show the trends in your customer’s monthly transactions.

Financial Controller users can also click on the Orders tab to view a history of the sales
orders that the selected customer has placed with you. Double-click on any of the orders
in the list to view the Sales Order record.

You can also create a new invoice or sales order for this customer from this window, by
clicking New Invoice or New Order.

Accountant Plus and Financial Controller users who use Line 50’s Project Costing can
click the Projects tab to view details of the projects associated with this customer. You can
also create a new project record for the selected customer by clicking the New Project
button. For full details about Project Costing,

The Graphs tab shows invoices, credits and balances month by month in a graphical form.
The Activity tab shows the transactions you have made with each customer. You can see
invoices, credit notes, receipts, payments on account and even discounts you have given.
In addition, the Activity window also shows a customer’s balance, turnover and monies
received. Each line of the Activity list represents a single invoice, credit note, payment on
account, discount or receipt. Each line is in turn made up of one or more individual items.
To see these items, click the '+' symbol at the left-hand side of the transaction line you
want to view. If any of the transaction’s items have been paid, then click the '+' symbol
against these items to show the payment details. The Activity tab also shows yourcustomer’s aged balances.

Financial Controller only: You can use the Contacts tab to record the details of telephone
conversations you have with your customers. The information you enter here also appears
in the Task Manager. For example, if you enter a follow up call date, the details appear in
the 'Contacts' section of the 'To Do’ list in the Task Manager.

If you have Financial Controller and your business charges for the time spent on the
telephone, you can also create an invoice directly from this Contacts tab.

6. The customer Memo tab enables you to attach electronic documents and filing system
references to your records using the Document Manager functionality.
The Memo tab also lets you keep additional notes about each of your customers. For
example, you can make a note of the date and times you talk and write to your customers,
and you can enter reminder notes to tell them about new products and special price offers.
Each memo creates a separate text file with the extension .SLM and stores it in a
sub-directory of your Sage Line 50 program directory called Memo. For example, if you
have installed your Sage Line 50 program in the default directory, the Memo files will be
stored in; C:\Program files\Sage\Accounts\Memo.
The customer’s account reference is used as the file name, therefore a memo for customer
SMITH01 would be stored in a file called SMITH01.SLM.

Note for network users only: All Sage Line 50 memos are stored on the data server.

7. To save your Customer record, click Save.
To exit the Customer record without saving, click Close and click No to the message that
appears.

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