Firstly, it will be helpful to understand the fundamentals.
A Customer account is the invoice address that you send invoices to and is the address that you set up in your accounts package.
Sites are the physical locations where equipment is stored, jobs are raised, and engineers are sent to.
Every Customer account in the system must have 1 site but can have more if needed.
It is common for a site address to be the same as the customer's address, especially when the customer only has 1 location.
Essentials!
Start with our helpful ‘how to’ videos below.
Watch our Customer and Site video playlist ▶ Customer & Site YouTube playlist.
Getting There
You can access your Customer Accounts by:
Heading to the Records menu and selecting Customer & Site Records.
Let's start creating the customer account.
Creating a Customer Account
Now that you are on the Customer Account Details page, you can create a new customer account.
To do this:
Click the Add button.
This will open a new page with a data capture form to fill out.
If you have added or updated your System Defaults, some of the Customer Details fields will be automatically pre-populated.
Next, update your Customer Record with important details.
Begin by entering the customer’s address details.
Geographical Area
Here you can select from, and create, a list of entries.
Click the Ellipsis (...) box next to Geographical Area.
You can choose one from the current list or click Add to create a new entry.
In the window, add a name, area code or an abbreviation for the area.
You can also add a description, if necessary.
Account Details
In the Account Details section, begin by adding the Customer Name.
Next, create an account number. You can click the Generate button, and this will create the next available number in the system, or you can manually type in a unique number. If you are integrating Service Geeni with an Accounts package, you need to use the same Account Number to ensure the Customer account will correctly sync.
If this is the customer's Head Office location, tick the check box.
When raising the account from within a Branch in Service Geeni, the fields for Home Branch and Branch are locked, as the account will be raised for the branch that you are in. This is the default for systems that have just one branch.
If you have multiple branches set up in Service Geeni and create a new customer while in the "All Branches" view, you can select the home branch responsible for managing that customer's account.
You can also specify which branches are allowed to raise jobs for the customer. Choose "All Branches" if multiple branches will conduct business with the customer.
Parent Group / Divisions
Assigning Parent Groups allows you to group Customer Accounts for reporting and is particularly useful if you plan to use the Customer Portal.
To assign a Parent Group, click the ellipsis to select from the list that may have been created.
If you need to add new options to the list, click add, then enter a name and description for the item.
Then, select from the list to add it to the customer record.
Existing list options can be managed and edited by using the Action Tray icon to the left.
Select an option, as required, for each or leave blank.
It is the same process to add a User Managed List for Company Size or Standard Industry.
Optional Account Detail Fields
Adding further details helps to share information, provides better visibility and enhances reporting.
Select Company Size and Standard Industry to enhance reporting.
Add an EORI number and a HS code, if your customer has them, for import and export requirements.
Add any notes you want to store about the customer in the free text entry boxes.
General Information
In the general information section, you can apply further details to your customer record, including Sales information.
Select Active, to make this customer live in the system.
If you select Inactive, you are unable to raise any jobs against the customer. Inactive customers can be activated at a later date if needed.
You can assign a Sales Rep to the customer if you have one set up.
Click the ellipsis to add one to the account or click add to create a new salesperson.
If you are creating a new one, enter the first and last names and then enter an email address.
You can tick the buttons to indicate which areas and industries the salesperson covers, and you can choose more than one option.
Add any contact numbers and then click Save when finished.
You can then assign the customer account to a sales area if you are using this field in the system. Select one from the list or click add to enter a new one. If adding a new one, enter a name and description and then click Save.
The Priority field may already be filled if you have set a standard priority in your system defaults.
To select a priority for the customer account, click the Ellipsis. Select one from the list or click add to create a new one.
Tick the box to denote if this customer receives free delivery. This is normally used when you process sales orders in the system.
Financial Details
In the Financial Details section, you can set up any specific charge and payment details, plus invoicing and accounting details. This will ensure the correct charges are automatically applied for work carried out and decrease invoicing time.
Here you can set defaults for jobs that will be carried out for this Customer.
These fields may be pre-filled for you via your System Defaults, if they have been set up.
These lists are user managed so you can create additional ones if needed by clicking on the ellipse (...) and +Add to add a new one.
VAT Code: Select the relevant VAT code from the list via the ellipsis.
Charge Codes: Select the appropriate Charge Codes for the different types of work (each job type) you may raise for the customer.
Once set these will serve as the default Charge Codes for the customer, you can modify them when creating individual jobs if needed.
Repair Charge Code: These are any ad-hoc or reactive jobs raised for your customers outside of any service or pre-planned maintenance.
Select a Charge Code for Repair jobs.
Service Charge Code: These are any pre-planned service or maintenance jobs, that will be raised from Service Contracts in the system, such as annual services.
Add a Charge Code for Service jobs.
Inspection Charge Code: These are codes raised for your hire or off hire inspection process.
Add a Charge Code for Inspection jobs.
Invoice all Jobs to Site: Tick the button if you want to invoice jobs for this customer to their site addresses.
Leave this unchecked if you want all invoices to go to the main Customer address.
Payment Terms: Select a Payment term for the customer from the list or click add to create a new one.
If you are adding a new one, give the Payment Term a name and then add the number of days you want to set for payment to be due.
Choose one of the drop-down options to select the term type.
The options are:
Number of days in the following month.
Days after the bill date.
Days after the end of the billing month.
Days of the current month.
Currency Code: Select the correct currency code for the customer using the next field.
Annual Sales Target: This can be used for reporting in the system. Enter an annual sales target for the customer.
VAT registration: Enter the customer’s VAT registration number if known.
Company Registration: You can add the customer's company registration number if known.
Set up Invoices to be Addressed to the Site: The Job Invoice To field allows you to specify who gets invoiced for any jobs raised at this site. Your options are to:
Invoice the main customer account, this site address.
Another site address. If choosing another site, select from the list.
Consolidation Rules
You have options for enabling consolidated invoicing for the customer. Consolidated invoicing allows you to combine multiple separate invoices into one document for the customer.
Select the type of invoice that your customer would like to receive as a consolidated invoice. You can select one or more types.
You can add any specific accounting contacts for the customer here. These contacts can be used in the Communications Centre as recipients of emails from the system for documents such as invoices.
Sales Order Defaults
Defaults for Sales Orders can be set up here.
You can choose:
System Defaults: This follows the settings applied from your System Defaults.
Customer Specific: Will determine whether the System Wide defaults on sales orders will be used for the dates or if specific defaults for the individual customer record will be used.
If choosing customer specific defaults, you will then need to specify the date options listed for Order dates, Dispatch Dates and Delivery dates.
Do not charge means the user will manually enter an order date when creating the Sales order.
Date created means the date field will be populated with the date when the Sales Order is being raised.
Calculated date allows you to specify the number of days from the date when the Sales Order is created.
Mandatory Order Reference
This section of the customer record allows you to specify if you require an Order Reference from the customer to raise different types of invoices.
This will ensure the user who is raising the invoice is prompted to enter the customer reference before proceeding.
Check the boxes to apply the Mandatory Order reference for each of the invoice types required.
Surcharges
Surcharges are additional fees or charges added to the original price of a product or service.
You can choose to include or ignore Surcharges for:
Fuel
Non DD (Direct Debit) Surcharge.
Paper Surcharge
Complete setup
When you have finished updating your Customer Account record:
Scroll back to the top to save the customer record.
Click the Save icon to the left and your new customer will be raised.
Congratulations! You have created your first Customer Account!
You will now see your new customer listed on the Customer & Site Records page.
You will also notice that if you click the plus icon to the left of the customer account, a site has been created for the customer. This happens by default when you manually create a customer in the system.
The site ID will be created from the Customer ID, followed by 001 for the 1st site.
If you create additional sites for the customer, they will be numbered sequentially.
If you hover over the account number on the left, you will see a snapshot of the customer information.
Congratulations!
You have successfully navigated Creating and Managing Customers.