Managing customers and prospects

To create a prospect, go to People > Customers/Prospects, click on the arrow at the right of , then select New customer or New prospect.

Note

When a new customer prospect is created, this prospect is not booked right away, meaning the subledger account is not created automatically. This prospect must be turned into a customer in order to be booked.

When a customer is created, it is booked right away unless the Not booked option is checked from the Finances tab > Accounting parameters section. In this case, you must go through Edit > Accounting view > Manage the customer in accounting to create the subledger account.

Specifying general information
1 Under the General tab, specify the customer or prospect's call name and contact details.
2 Drag and drop the customer or prospect's company logo on Logo.
3 Specify the SIRET / SIREN # to identify homonyms.

If the SIRENE API is configured, click on at the right of the field to identify the SIRET or SIREN number and therefore automatically fill in the following fields: the call name, the APE code, the full address (SIRET only), the legal form and the SIREN number (only if the SIRET number was already indicated).

Important

Only empty fields can be specified by the SIRENE API. Values already saved in the database will not be modified.

Note

When the third party has signified its opposition to the INSEE, the missing fields are left empty and must be specified manually.

Reference

For more information about the SIRENE API setup, see Configuring the SIRENE API.

4 Specify the Customer group to which the customer or the prospect belongs to. This field allows you to identify all customers and prospects belonging to the same person.
5 Under the Contact details section, specify the name of the country.
6 In the Miscellaneous section, specify information about your teams in charge of the customer/prospect, for example:
  • your company's code, the internal entity or team in charge of the customer or prospect;
  • the salesman and the account manager;
  • the status: out of target, prospect, short term...;
  • the customer or prospect account's open and closure dates.
Specifying financial information
DMF

020158 SALES CUSTOMER CHECK CONSISTENCY WITH SUBLEDGER ACCOUNTS

020159 SALES CUSTOMER SHOW MULTI-COMPANY INFORMATION TAB

020160 SALES CUSTOMER MODIFY MULTI-COMPANY INFORMATION TAB
1 Under the Finances tab, specify the accounting parameters such as the account numbers: general account, reconciliation account (the general account linked to a third-party's account and the customer Interco code).
2 Check the boxes:
  • Group, if a customer/prospect belongs to the same group as the working company.
  • Not booked, if a customer/prospect is not booked.
  • Factoring supported, if the payment of the customer/prospect outstanding amounts is issued by a factoring company. This box is visible only if the company associated with the customer is ***** or set up with the country FR.
  • Dematerialize invoices, if the customer/prospect accepts electronic invoices.
  • External / Internal / Virtual, depending on the type of customer/prospect. An internal customer is used to create internal projects. For example, a company can order services to another company of the same group.
3 Under the Terms and conditions section, specify the dates of payment conditions to apply to the customer.

In the drop-down list at the right of the Day field, select one of the following options:

  • Début de mois: allows you to indicate that the payment must be done at the beginning of the month.
  • Fixe: allows you to indicate that the payment must be done on a specific date. The day must be indicated in the On field.
  • Fin de mois: allows you to indicate that the payment must be done at the end of the month.

A fixed day of the month can be defined by specifying a value between 01 and 30 in the On field.

Example

The company wants it customer to pay them on the 30th of each month. It will therefore specify the payment conditions as follows:

30 days Fixe On 30

4 Specify the banking information, the invoice pricing method, the currency and the bank journal.
5 Specify the No. Days in the Holdback section. This number of days enables you to calculate the due date for holdbacks associated with the customer. If there is no value, the information will be searched for in the company's record sheet.
6 Specify VAT-related information:
  • Exempt: Check the box if you want the main site to be exempt from VAT. This option is only used to check the Exempt from VAT box on the main site. This option is displayed only if the customer is in the same country as the connected company.
  • EU exempt. : Check the box if the EU customer or EU customer prospect is exempt from VAT. This option is displayed only if the customer is an EU customer, meaning when the customer's country is checked EU.

Note

If the customer's country is neither France nor an EU country, the customer is considered VAT-exempt.

  • VAT number: the intra-community VAT number.
  • Functional Area: this code refers to a table that enables equivalences between VAT codes associated with customers / prospects. When creating a management object, the system can replace the sold product's VAT by the VAT defined in equivalence.
7 Specify the fields of the Payment schedules generation rule section if you want to automatically apply a payment schedule to invoices linked to this customer:
Option Description
Generate payment schedule on invoices

Check the box to enable the payment schedule on invoices linked to the customer.

The payment schedule will be calculated and added no matter how the invoice is created (manually, from an order, intra-group rebiling, etc.).

Due dates are displayed in the Due dates tab of invoices.
Number of due dates Specify the field in order to set the number of due dates in which the amount of each invoice will be paid.
Periodicity Select the periodicity of due dates (monthly, quarterly, etc.).
End of month Check this box if you want each payment due date to correspond to the last day of the month.

Note

When the payment schedules is set up on contracts, customers and/or projects at the same time, Akuiteo determines the payment schedule to take into account based on the following priority order:

  1. The payment schedule on the contract if the invoice originates from a contract for which a payment schedule is set up;
  2. Or else, the payment schedule set up on the project record sheet;
  3. Or else, the payment schedule set up on the customer record sheet.

The payment schedule set up on a project cannot be used if the invoice is multi-project. In that case, the payment schedule set up on the customer will be taken into account if it is set up.

Specifying marketing information
1 Under the Marketing tab, specify the following statistical information:
  • Customer or prospect's family and sub-family.
  • Customer or prospect’s profession, job category, grouping code or sector.
  • Type: Select in the help list the desired type. If the SIREN required box is checked in the Supplier and customer type setup, it is necessary to specify the SIREN no field in the General tab before saving the customer recordsheet.
  • Exclusion codes: the codes or keywords allowing you to exclude the customer from some of your analysis and reporting systems.
  • Keywords to specify when searching for a customer or prospect.
2 Specify the legal and additional information
[Customer only] Specify the information to block if the threshold is exceeded.
1 Click on the Blocking rules tab > .
2 After specifying the total or outstanding amount, indicate the features to be blocked as soon as the ceiling is exceeded.

Tip

By default, the In progress tab is not displayed. To show this tab, disable the Hide the 'In progress' tab preference from Edit > Preferences > Sales > Customers.

Associating salesmen with your customer
1 Click on the Salesmen tab > > .
2 Under the Employee section, select the main salesman and click on , on the right side of the screen.
3 Repeat the operation to add additional salesmen.
4 Save your customer or prospect record sheet by clicking on the icon on the upper left.
Applying color indicators

Prerequisites:

  • The CLIPRO_COULEUR management rule must be enabled (see CLIPRO_COULEUR).
  • Indicator colors must be set up (see Color indicators).
  • On-going modifications on the customer or prospect record sheet must be saved.

Up to 3 color indicators can be associated with each customer record sheet. Those colors give additional information on customers and their meanings are specific to each company (ex: customer's reliability). The customer's color indicators will be displayed on all management objects linked to the relevant customer.

1 From the General tab > Identity section, double-click on one of the three desired boxes next to the third-party's name.

A window opens and contains the list of available color indicators.

2 Double-click on the color indicator to apply to the selected box.

The color indicator is linked to the customer.

You can do this procedure on other boxes in order to apply up to 3 different color indicators.

To remove a color indicator, click on the relevant box then click on Reset.

The site creation screen enables you to search for and create a site linked to a customer or a supplier. Several sites can co-exist in the same structure (billing site, delivery site, etc.)

1 Open a site creation record sheet following the process of your choice:
  • From a customer record sheet, click on the Sites tab then on at the right of the table.
  • From a site record sheet:
    • Go to People > Sites and start a search.
    • From the search result, open the customer record sheet that you want and click on .
2 Under the General tab, specify the customer site's name and its contact details. Note the icons that enable you to display geolocation information.
3 Specify the customer reference used by the customer as an external reference.
4 Check Dematerialize invoices if the customer site can receive this type of format. To manage the dematerialization, go to Edit > Change dematerialization management.
5 In the Use of the site section, specify the site's type of use (billing, delivery, etc.). Check By default if you want the site to be specified by default on the customer's objects.
6 Specify the site's bank details and save.

Note

If the customer site closes, close it in Akuiteo from Edit > Close the site.

Creating affiliation links between sites

If the company belongs to a group, you can indicate it in the customer record sheet, under the Affiliation links tab.

1 Click on and, in the first line, select the current customer's role in relation with the third-parties you are going to define.
2 In the second line, select the linked third-party's role, check the details and specify a name.
3 Click on to add the third-party.

Managing the dematerialization information

Important

This feature requires the feature flag Sales portal Domain > Statut Vente Facturx Label.

If the site is a billing site, dematerialization information can be specified so that it is automatically copied by default to the sales objects created for this billing site.

Under the Dematerialization tab, specify the information:

Field Description
Service code

Specify the routing code used to identify the customer’s billing site on the Approved Platform.
Service label

Specify the billing site's name.
Addressing

Specify the email address of the Factur-X recipient on the billing site.
Cash journal

Specify the cash journal associated with the billing site as part of invoice dematerialization.

The help list displays cash journals of the company used for connection.

If the payment method of an invoice is Transfer or Currency transfer, and the Cash journal is not specified in the Dematerialization tab:

  • The invoice cannot be booked;

  • The invoice payment method cannot be modified if the invoice has already been booked.
1 From the customer record sheet, click on the Contacts tab.
2 Click on at the right of the table.
3 Follow the process described in the Adding a contact section.

These fields enable you to create financial and main interlocutors, which are displayed in the General tab.

Creating a management object (quotation, order, invoice) from a customer record sheet
1 From the customer / prospect record sheet, go to Edit > New management object.
2 Select the type of object you want to create.

The object's creation window is displayed. The management object is pre-filled with information about the customer / prospect.

Reminder: an opportunity is created from a prospect record sheet.

Accessing the management objects linked to the customer / prospect
1 From the customer / prospect record sheet, go to Edit > Linked management objects.
2 Select the type of object and start the search.
Creating business links

Customer / Prospect record sheet

You can create business links from the customer / prospect record sheet, under the Business links tab. To do so:

1 Set up link types from Tools > Setup > General setup > Project > Link types.
2 Create two types of links:
  • SOLDTOPARTY: sold-to-party - stakeholder type
  • TO_BILL: customer to bill - invoice type
3 In the customer record sheet, specify the management links on all the customer record sheets for which the billing must be on a different site than the customer's.
4 In the "sold-to-party" customer record sheet, click on the Business links tab.
5 Click on > and choose the links and the third-party to be linked.
6 Save the modifications then save the customer record sheet.

Customer site record sheet

From the customer site record sheet, make sure that at least one site of the customer to bill is marked as a billing site.

Project record sheet

When creating a customer's project:

  • Customer = customer to bill
  • End customer = sold-to-party

If the customer to bill is taxed, check Default in the business link.

If this box is not checked, you must manually change the "customer to bill" using the relevant feature from the Edit menu of all Sales modules.

1 Add the sold-to-party in the Customers tab of the project record sheet.
2 Click on and specify the customer's code and call name.
3 Save the modifications then save the project record sheet.

Creating a management object

You must specify a customer when creating a management object for a multi-customer project. Here, the customer to specify is the sold-to-party.

Billing

When creating an invoice, the customer and the customer to bill will be automatically displayed if all the above-mentioned operations are made.

From a customer record sheet, you can:

  • Automatically book a customer in your database by clicking on Edit > Accounting view > Manage the customer in accounting.
  • Check if the customer subledger account does exist by going to Edit > Accounting view > Check consistency with subledger accounts.

The arrears tracking screen groups all not paid invoices of the customer and then, considered as part of the arrears.

This screen is available from:

  • Edit > Accounting view > Arrears tracking, or
  • > Arrears tracking.

Excluding an invoice from a direct debit to come

From the arrears tracking screen, it is possible to exclude an invoice from the direct debit to come.

1 From the arrears tracking screen > Invoices section, click on the invoice to exclude from the direct debit to come.
2 Under the Details section check the Exclude from direct debit box.
3 Click on the icon to validate the action.

The invoice is excluded from the direct debit to come. Furthermore, the Excluded from the direct debit column of the Invoices section is specified with the icon for the relevant invoice.

This feature enables you to book a prospect after turning it into a supplier.

From the prospect record sheet, go to Edit > New linked supplier.

A new supplier record sheet to fill in is displayed. For more information, refer to Creating a supplier/prospect's record sheet.

DMF 020157 SALES CUSTOMER TURN PROSPECT INTO CUSTOMER

A prospect can be converted into a customer when converting a quotation into an order.

A prospect can also be manually converted into a customer:

1 From the prospect record sheet, go to Edit > Convert this prospect into a customer and click on Yes.
2 If automatic numbering is not set up for customers, specify the customer's Code. By default, the current prospect code is specified with the corresponding prefix.

Reference

For more information, refer to Numérotation des tiers et des collectifs.

3 On the window offering to book the customer, click on:
  • Yes to create the customer's subledger account,
  • No to not create the customer's subledger account,

The prospect is converted into a customer.

1 From the prospect record sheet, go to Edit > Transfer a prospect to a prospect or a customer.
2 From the Destination line, specify the Prospect or customer to which the prospect will be transferred.
3 Click on Validate.

The prospect is transferred to the destination prospect or customer.

Akuiteo offers three report templates from a customer / prospect record sheet:

  • Print a sales invoice statement
  • Print a customer dunning letter
  • Print other types (from Edit > Reports > Other)
Printing a sales invoice statement
1 From a customer record sheet, go to Edit > Reports > Print the Invoice Statement.
2 In the Selection criteria screen that displays, fill in the following fields:
  • Company: the name of the company linked to the customer
  • Division: the company's division
  • Entity: the company's entity
  • Customer ID between: the number of customers whose invoices will be printed
  • Invoices and payments of: the invoices and payments date intervals
  • Invoices to be paid (due date) by: the invoice due date before which the invoices will be printed
  • Does not include payments later than: the payment date after which the payments will not be printed
  • Sorting criterion
    • By customer name: invoices will be sorted by customer name, in alphabetical order
    • By customer code: invoices will be sorted by customer code, in ascending order
3 Validate.
Printing a customer dunning letter
1 From a customer record sheet, go to Edit > Reports > Print a Dunning Letter.
2 In the Selection criteria screen that displays, fill in the following fields:
  • Invoices with due dates before: the due date before which dunning letters will be printed
  • As of: the dunning date
  • Customer code between: the customer codes for which dunning letters will be printed
3 Validate.
Printing a dunning letter
1 From a customer record sheet, go to Edit > Reports > Print a Dunning Letter.
2 Specify the selection criteria and validate.
3 Select the letter's format and validate.
Dunning a customer by email

Prerequisite: Outlook must be installed and configured.

1 From the customer record sheet, go to Edit > Dun the customer by email.
2 In the window that opens, specify the employees and contacts to add as recipients.
3 Select a report template and specify the email title, the format and the attachments.
4 Validate.
Accessing the 360 degree view
1 From a customer / prospect record sheet, click on the 360 degree view tab.

All the financial information about a customer / prospect (address, contacts, events, management object) is displayed.

2 Double-click on the desired lines for more details:
  • The Address section displays information from the General tab.
  • The Notes section displays information from the Notes section in the General tab.
  • The Contacts section displays information from the General tab.
  • The Events section displays a summary table of all the events linked to the customer or prospect.
  • The Sales and Purchases sections enable you to access lines from the Sales and Purchases modules. Note that sales objects that have already been signed are not displayed in the table.
Displaying the customer's profitability chart
1 From a customer record sheet, go to Edit > Dashboard. Several charts are available:
  • Customer projects profitability option (per year and per amount).
  • Payment term for customer payments: displays the number of customer / prospect outstanding amounts per remaining payment deadline to help you calculate the remaining due dates before the deadline.
  • Billing by article family: displays the billed amount of article families per year.
  • Global billing by article family: displays the proportion of each billed article's family in comparison with the total amount billed per year.
  • Billing by article sub-family: displays the billed amount of article sub-families.
  • Global billing by article sub-family: displays the proportion of each billed article's sub-family in comparison with the total amount billed per year.
2 To save a chart as an image, right-click on the desired chart and select Save as.... A PNG image of the chart is generated.

You can temporary block or unblock a customer record sheet.

From a customer record sheet, go to Edit > Accounting view > Block / Unblock customer record.

In the record sheet's header, the Customer blocked for total receivables indicator is displayed.

Repeat the operation to unblock the customer record sheet.

You can warn or block the creation or the modification of management objects linked to a customer, specifically when a customer's outstanding amount is exceeded.

This feature helps you protect and ensure consistency in your accounts.

Example

You set up a threshold for outstanding amounts of 7,000 euros. You specified the following management objects:

  • 1 unpaid invoice: 6,000 euros
  • 1 unpaid invoice: 6,000 euros
  • 1 receipt: 500 euros

Your management objects linked to that customer amount to (6,000 + 1,600) - 500 = 7,100 euros The threshold that was set up is therefore exceeded.

You try to specify a new invoice on a blocked customer. An error message is displayed. The blocking rule applied on the customer is effective.

Prerequisite

To use this feature, you must authorize access to the accounting rules' screen:

1 Deactivate the Hide the Blocking Rules tab preference in Edit > Preferences > General > Sales > Customers so you can access the Blocking rules tab on the customer's record sheet.
2 Open the customer record sheet and click on the Blocking rules tab.
Setup
1 Open the desired customer record sheet.
2 In the Block on receivables section, select the desired options:
  • No blocking: to authorize the creation of management objects even if the outstanding amounts have exceeded the threshold.
  • Alert: to display a warning message indicating that the outstanding amounts have exceeded the threshold. The management object can still be created.
  • Block: to block the creation of a management object once the outstanding amounts have exceeded the threshold.
  • In the Amount field, specify the threshold from which blocking rules must apply. Ex: 7,000.
  • Block all action regardless of the outstanding claims: no threshold for outstanding amounts. When this box is checked:
    • the previous options are disabled.
    • the Block creation / modification of section cannot be specified.
    • the Calculate the outstanding amounts using the section cannot be specified.
3 In the Block creation / modification of section, check the boxes to identify the management objects to block or not during the creation or modification process. When calculating the outstanding amounts, only the pre-tax amounts of these management objects are considered.
Management objects Block when...
Opportunities Creating/modifying opportunities.
Quotations

Creating/modifying quotations.

Creating a quotation from a schedule and from a task.

Reviewing a quotation.

Creating an internal / a group sub-contracting quotation.
Orders

Creating/modifying orders.

Turning a quotation into an order.

Creating an internal / a group sub-contracting order.
Deliveries

Delivering an order (quantity / amount / percentage).

Generating a delivery note from a contract.

Generating a delivery note from a training session.

Generating a delivery note from expenses rebilling.

Generating a delivery note from the billing tool.
Billing tables

Creating/modifying billing tables.

Creating a billing table from an order.
Invoices (unpaid)

Creating/modifying invoices.

Modifying credit notes.
Training opportunities Creating/modifying training opportunity lines.
Registration files Creating/modifying registration files where the customer is the donor. The amount allocated to this customer is taken into account.
Maintenance contracts Creating help desk issues from the Desktop Application, the Help Desk Portal and the Customer Portal. The modification process does not apply to this rule.
4 Save.
5 In the Calculate the outstanding amounts using the section, check the options which start the calculation if the management objects are created or modified
6 Under the Call taking blocked section, check the boxes referring to the calls to block or unblock, depending on the situation.
Situation Action
No blocking No blocking rule is applied.
Alert if invoice not paid on the contract A warning message is sent to the customer as long as the pending invoice of the contract is not paid.
Alert if invoice not paid on the customer A warning message is sent to the customer as long as the pending invoice is not paid.
Alert on the customer (without check) An alert is sent to the customer when an issue is created on the Desktop Application, the Help Desk Portal or the Customer Portal.
Block if invoice not paid on the contract Impossible to create an issue for the customer, in the Desktop Application, the Help Desk Portal or the Customer Portal as long as the invoices linked to the contract are not paid.
Block if invoice not paid on the customer No issue can be specified for the customer, in Desktop Application, the Help Desk Portal or in the Customer Portal, as long as all the invoices are not paid.
Customer blocking (without check) No issue can be specified for the customer, in Desktop Application, the Help Desk Portal or in the Customer Portal, before a check is done.
7 Save.

The blocking rules are now enabled.