Customer FAQs
This page contains documentation, Frequently Asked Questions and technical notes about the Customer database and concepts, including Taxing, Customer Item Substitutions, Customer Evaluation, Notes Everywhere, and Campaign Manager applications of DDMS and DDMS software.
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New! Multiple Merchant ID - Customer Account (pdf) Implementing a new merchant ID no longer requires multiple General Ledger locations to be set up in DDMS. In DDMS 10.2 and higher, you can apply orders to different merchant IDs by Customer. You can now set up a four-character merchant ID for an individual customer account on the Order Entry 2 tab. This field is only enabled if you have a Merchant ID in the (+VI) Approval Link Id Setup screen where the new Type field is set to C. This capability is helpful for members of is.group, AOPD and other trade associations to win accounts that demand strategic sourcing such as government contracts, educational institutions, and large corporations!
See also New! Multiple Merchant ID - Order Type (pdf) Implementing a new merchant ID no longer requires multiple General Ledger locations to be set up in DDMS. In DDMS 10.2 and higher, you can apply orders to different merchant IDs by Order Type. Orders can be applied by order type as set for the customer account on the Order Entry 2 tab. The four order types are web (W), commercial (C), retail (R) or blank (default for all other credit card transactions including accounts receivable payments, etc.). With this capability, you can improve your credit card rates!
New! Multiple Merchant ID - Location (pdf) A third — and older — method to set up multiple merchant IDs for credit card processing is by setting up multiple General Ledger locations, each with a different merchant ID. While setting up multiple merchant IDs by location is an option, it is not the recommended option. See also setting up multiple merchant IDs by customer account or order type.
Customer Price Plans (pdf) The graphical Customer Price Plan application makes it easier to create, configure, and analyze customer contracts with functionality that was not available in the text-based Contracts application (ET screen). Learn how to create, edit, and refigure contracts and price plans using the graphical application, as well as how to mass add and substitute items on your contracts. Make the most of advanced features such as exporting and importing price plan spreadsheets.
New! Changing Tax Percentages Tutorial When customer Shipto sales tax rates change, create a new tax district, while you retain old rates for credit or reporting purposes.
Electronic Billing and Order Confirmation (pdf) In DDMS 8.24 and higher, the (TR) [M] Send Invoices Electronically function to let you send invoices to multiple contacts. The new Order Confirmation enhancement lets you automatically send electronic confirmation back to a customer when an order is placed. With just a few steps you can set up your system to automatically fax or email order confirmation to a default contact or to multiple contacts. You can also tie an attention to a contact and automatically send them order confirmation.
Setting Up Address Taxability (pdf) Sales tax rates vary not only from state to state, or city to city, but even within a zip code or city limits. The challenge is to keep up with local sales tax district rates for your nationwide customers' many remote locations. By default in DDMS, if you needed to change a tax rate, you had to create dozens of new tax districts and mass change your customers just to ensure your history would retain the original tax amount while new tickets reflect the new rates. Switching to the Address Taxability module allows you to more easily update tax tables on a regular basis. You can set up each tax authority (state, county, city, zip+4) with its own easy-to-maintain rate. You can set up individual items to be taxed correctly where they are only taxable in a specific jurisdiction. Item taxability is no longer tied to the general ledger department or item SIC code — eliminating double-use of these fields, and freeing you to use item departments and SIC codes for other purposes.
If you wish to use the SQL tables to maintain Address Taxability, it will require authorization with no additional charge from ECi DDMS Support. If you wish to automatically populate address-specific tax tables using CCH Tax Import subscription — instead of creating your own — please contact ECi Sales.
Installing AutoComm II (pdf) Learn how to set up the revamped fax/email server software for DDMS that eliminates the need for third-party software. AutoComm II introduces a new graphical wizard-like interface that simplifies setup of DDMS server information, backgrounds and attachments, fax settings, and email settings. The Autocomm II service runs in the background while its workstation is on, so there’s no need to launch it manually or even log in for the system to process emails and faxes.
Using AutoComm II (pdf) Learn how to send faxes and emails from both graphical and text-based applications using the AutoComm™ II fax/email server software for DDMS. This document includes instructions on sending invoices from Order Entry, purchase orders from P/O Entry, and customer statements from Accounts Receivable. It also includes instructions for monitoring faxes and emails, and sending mass or batch messages.
Using the EnsiteEBS Utility Program (pdf) Beginning with Version 8.11, several DDMS applications work primarily with data in a SQL database. Before you can use Customer Price Plans, Price Modeling, and so on, your DDMS data must be initially validated, corrected as needed, and imported into the SQL database. After this initial processing, your data will be automatically synchronized thereafter. Use the EnsiteEBS Utility program to confirm SQL connectivity to the server, ensure your data is valid before attempting to import it, and then import the data required to use the new applications.
Price Modeling (pdf) Like its predecessor (SG) [J], you can use the new Price Modeling application to measure the profitability of past sales as compared to initial pricing. But now you have amazing spreadsheet ability for modeling pricing and profitability. Using actual sales statistics, you can create new pricing models and directly compare the results against initial and historical pricing models. You can apply numerous filters to past sales journals, contracts, and inventory files to target a very specific item or customer sales history. Flexible on-screen display lets you choose fields and types of totals to display. Once a satisfactory price model is created, the on-screen end results can be saved as a new contract or exported to an Excel® file.
Customer Marketing Tools (pdf) Your DDMS system offers more ways than ever to optimize your customer base. This overview class looks at Campaign Manager, Customer Evaluation, Volume Discounts, and Notes Everywhere and how these tools can help you increase sales and improve customer satisfaction.
Customer Xtensions (pdf) Learn about Advanced Contracts, Customer Evaluation, and 10 Salespeople per Customer.
Campaign Manager (pdf) New in Version 8: parameters to help coordinate with Microsoft Exchange Server. In tandem with Notes Everywhere and the system's email capabilities, Campaign Manager lets you create automated marketing tasks based on customer’s status, such as new customers or growth customers. You can send emails to both internal and external customers. For example, if a customer hasn’t made any purchases recently, you might email their salesperson internally to notify them. You could also email marketing flyers or perhaps a discount offer. Campaign Manager lets you automatically recognize and react to customers who haven’t purchased recently. You simply set up the campaign and limit to the customers that fit your criteria.
Notes Everywhere (pdf) New in Version 8: parameters to help coordinate with Microsoft Exchange Server. Once you set up Notes Everywhere, the Notes Everywhere dialog box can be set to automatically launch each time you open DDMS. This dialog box remains on top of other windows, so you can easily view notes for the selected customer, vendor, or invoice. What’s more, the selected customer or vendor is automatically recognized and the notes display for you when you retrieve a record.
Customer Evaluation Module If you have product packages B, C, D, or Platinum, you can access the Customer Evaluation dialog box from the Customer database or Order Entry. The Customer Evaluation dialog box allows you to view the customer's complete buying history quickly and easily. Viewing this screen allows you to evaluate your customer in every aspect of their buying history from sales to delivery. You can view pie charts and graphs by customer sales, categories, service, or credit.
Taxing Enhancements Learn to use three new tax enhancements: tiered sales tax districts, nesting combined tax districts, and tax rates that vary by category. We created these enhancements to cover the new Tennessee tax laws, but they can be useful to dealers in other areas as well. (file: TaxTierCombo.pdf)
Updated! Third Party Carrier (3PC™) Manifests (pdf) 3PC™ is the interface between your shipping manifest program and a third party shipping service, designed to help you streamline your shipping and billing processes, and better track your customers’ packages. You can charge the customer for freight charges. You can determine the method by which to ship the order: overnight, ground, and so forth. You can set separate default shipping methods and freight settings for each customer in the Customer window. Using pick ticket information exported from your (TS) Shipping Manifest or your (TR) Order Entry Reports, 3PC automatically determines the package’s weight, the method by which to ship the package, insurance information, and freight charges. It also also automatically prints your shipping labels. When you then import third party carrier data back into DDMS, the 3PC software attaches delivery information to the invoice, and it can be viewed in Order Entry.
ShipTo-Based Tax Rates Learn how to link the tax district to a customer’s shipping address, using fields in the (AX) Customer Attentions screen and the Customer Shipto/Attention Tab, released in Version 6.
Customer Specific Item Substitutions (pdf) Item substitution lists, released in Version 5, let you set up a list of items to substitute with another item for specific customers. Learn to create item substitution lists, and assign these lists to individual customers or groups of customers. This is especially helpful if you are an authorized JWOD distributor and have customers in government agencies who must comply with the Javitz-Waggoner-O'Day Act in purchasing items from wholesalers' NBN and NISH catalogs.