DBD: Customer Setup

The Customer Setup screen serves as your central hub for creating, managing, and reviewing customer accounts within the system. Once a customer record is accessed or created, the main dashboard provides a comprehensive grid of multi-column shortcuts—allowing you to quickly jump into specific configurations, default data rules, payment parameters, and detailed transaction histories.

Accessing the Customer Screen

💡 Before you begin: Please confirm your company's internal customer vetting process before adding any new customer record to the system.

Navigate to DB Distributor > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Customers.

Enter the Customer Code to bring up an existing record.

Note: The Customer Code can be up to 8 alphanumeric characters; this size is configured at initial system setup by your company.

If the code does not match an existing customer, an Add prompt will appear:
Click Yes to add the new customer. This creates the account and automatically opens the Customer Constant Data screen for entry.
Click No to return to the main Customer screen without saving or adding a record.

Alternative Search Options (Top-Right Buttons)

If you do not have the standard Customer Code, you can use the four shortcut buttons located in the top-right corner of the screen to search for and pull up a customer record:

Inv Lookup: Use this if you have a specific invoice number.
Zip Lookup: Use this to search for customers by their zip code.
Ord Lookup: Use this if you have an active or historical order number.
3p Ord Lookup: Use this if you have a third-party order number that was imported directly into the system.

Options Overview

Once a customer is selected, you have access to the following sub-screens and settings to manage the account.

Column 1 (Left Side)

Option	Description
Customer Constant Data	Used for setting up default customer information such as billing addresses, tax info, and salesperson assignments.
Open Invoice Inquiry	Displays all open invoices (those with an active balance or those that dropped to a zero balance since the last period-end processing). Shows the original balance and all subsequent activity; double-click any line for deeper details.
Open Order Inquiry by Item	Functions just like the standard Open Order Inquiry, but automatically groups and sorts the results by item code.
Invoiced Order History by Date	Specifically breaks down past order history that has already gone through the invoicing process.
Ship-to Location Setup	Allows you to configure and manage multiple shipping points for a single customer.
Comment Printing Setup	Setup standard, recurring comments to print on customer documents like Invoices, Purchase Orders, Packing Lists (Warehouse Releases), or Statements. Each item can have one standard comment associated with it.
Credit Card Information Setup	Safely stores credit card details on file for the customer.
Setup DBE Records	Used to configure the required buyer and data replication filter records for customers utilizing DB Enterprise.

Column 2 (Middle Column)

Option	Description
Credit Analysis	Used for setting up credit contact info, payment rules, and viewing a high-level overview of the customer's financial trends.
Invoice History Inquiry	Shows paid invoices that have officially moved to history. It functions exactly like the Open Invoice Inquiry panel, including the double-click detail view.
Order History by Order Number	Look up historical info for both open and closed orders using either the internal order number or the customer's PO number.
Statistical Data Inquiry	Displays historical context (by year and period) for Sales, Gross Profit, Number of Invoices, Bookings, and Booked Profit. Note: The specific statistics visible here depend entirely on your main AR parameter settings.
Customer Message Setup	Use this to add custom alert messages (up to 3 lines of 60 characters each) that pop up whenever this customer is selected in Order Entry, RFQ Entry, Invoice Entry, Cash Receipts, or AR Customer Setup.
Special Pricing	Allows you to establish a standard gross profit percentage template for the account.
Change Customer Status/Delete	This area typically displays that your customer account is "Active." If necessary, you can use this section to delete a customer while preserving their historical data, or completely purge both the customer and their data from the system.

Column 3 (Right Side)

Option	Description
Customer Default Data	Controls how this customer behaves across other areas of the software (e.g., Order Entry defaults, Print Management settings, Summary Bill options).
Open Order Inquiry	Displays a list of active, open orders. You can sort by clicking any column header or narrow the list down by ship-to code and/or order type.
Order History by Item	Displays historical open and closed order data, organized by item code.
Custom Item Setup/Inquiry	Links directly to the custom item setup screen normally found in Order Processing or Print Management, automatically locked to your active customer code.
Item Management Fiscal Year	Used to set up the specific fiscal year boundaries for Print Management customers.
Contact Management Setup	Links directly to Contact Setup. If a contact code is already established in the Customer Constant Data area, it will pull up their contact record automatically.
Budgets	If your company has purchased the Budgets module, this option allows you to configure specific budgets by location.