The New Customer Wizard guides you through the steps required to create an order for a new customer. Search and browse capabilities are provided for locating the services/features you want to add the customer's order.
Note
If you choose to browse for a service/feature, only those services, features, products, packages, pricing plans, contracts, and product folders that are active (they do not contain a Discontinue Date that has occurred in the past) are displayed in the Browse form.
To add a new customer:
On the Applications menu, click Customer Management > New Customer. The Order Information form is displayed.
Note
You can save your work without submitting the order at any time during the wizard, by clicking the Actions button and selecting Save Order. This action saves your information in the database and changes the Order Status to On Hold.
Select Standard Order from the Order Type drop-down list. If you have Guided Assignment enabled for an order, the screens will vary. Please see the Guided Assignment section for additional information.
Note
When adding an order for the first time, the following fields cannot be modified - Order ID, Description, Order Status, Entered, and Completed.
Select the Source Code (promotional code) from the drop-down list, if applicable.
Enter a Sales Channel. Enter the sales code in the first field, if applicable. If you do not know the sales code, enter the sales name in the second field. Use * as a wildcard.
Note
The Sales Channel button is disabled, if more than 1000 records are detected. You must enter either an exact match of the sales code or sales person. The text field turns yellow when a match is found.
e you enter data, the Sales Channel button is enabled. Click the button to view the Sales Tree.
Select a Sales name from the list and click OK.
Select the Order State, which further explains the Order Status, from the drop-down list.
Enter an Estimated Completion Date, if applicable.
Click Next. The Customer Information form is displayed.
Note
After entering the required customer information, you can submit the order from the Customer Information form by clicking the Actions button and selecting Submit Order. This option is available on all New Customer Wizard forms, except for the Order Information form (because you have not yet entered a Customer).
The Customer Information form provides the following input fields:
First / Mi. / Last Name
First name, middle initial, and last name of the subscriber associated with the account. This may be an individual or company name.
Note
These are free-form text fields. You may enter any letters, numbers, punctuation marks, or special characters.
Company Name
Name of the company associated with the account.
Service Address
Physical location where service is provided, which may be different from the primary customer contact and/or primary billing contact addresses. The New Customer Wizard uses this address as the default service address throughout the remainder of the wizard.
Note
Service addresses are only assigned to services. If you close the New Customer Wizard without assigning a service to this service address, the service address is dropped and there is no association between this customer and this service address.
Select the desired service address from the drop-down list. If the desired address does not appear in this list, you can add the address to the list in one of the following ways:
Click the selector button
to the right of this field and select Find Existing Address. Search for and select the service addresses you want to add (see Finding an Existing Service Address). The selected service addresses are added to the drop-down list. If there is only one service address in the updated list, that service address is displayed in this field and the Primary Customer Contact fields (Street 1, Street 2, Street 3, City/State/Zip, Country). Otherwise, you must select the desired service address from the updated drop-down list. Click the selector button
to the right of this field and select Create New Address. Create the new service address you want to add (see Adding a Service Address). The new service address is added to the drop-down list. If it is the only service address in the updated list, the new service address is displayed in this field and the Primary Customer Contact fields. Otherwise, you must select the new service address from the updated drop-down list.Once an address is displayed in the Service Address field, you can edit that address by clicking the selector button
to the right of this field and selecting Edit Address (see Editing a Service Address). Following the edit, this field is updated to include the modified service address. The Primary Customer Contact fields are not changed.Note
If the service address differs from the Primary Customer Contact address, the following confirmation message is displayed when you exit the Service Address field:
Click Yes to change the Primary Customer Contact address to match the service address.
Click No to leave the Primary Customer Contact address as it is.
Street 1
Street address of the subscriber's Primary Customer Contact for this account.
Street 2
Additional street address information, if applicable. Use this field for suite numbers, apartment numbers, or other address that does not fit in Street 1.
Street 3
Additional street address information, if applicable. Use this field for address that does not fit in Street 1 and Street 2.
City / State / Zip
City, state, and zip code where the subscriber's Primary Customer Contact is located.
Note
For U.S. cities, you can enter just the Zip Code and the system automatically populates the City and/or State when you finish adding the customer account.
Country
The country where the subscriber's Primary Customer Contact is located.
The default is USA.
Note
If the country is Canada or Mexico, you must select certain tax exemptions at the customer level to prevent U.S. Federal Taxes and Surcharges from being applied to that subscriber. This is accomplished via the Edit Customer Info form, Additional Info tab, Tax Information section (click Advanced... button on Customer Information form).
Validation Result
The Validation Result icon describes the result of the automatic address validation.
A green check mark means the validation was successful and the Required and Actual validation types match.
A yellow check mark means the validation was successful but the Required and Actual validation types do not match.
A red X means the validation was unsuccessful and the attempt was bypassed.
Click Validate Now to validate the address immediately. The system validates the address and returns the result.
If you do not use this button, validation occurs upon leaving this form.
To see additional address information, click Additional Info and select one of the following: Parsed Address, View Phone / Email, or View Address Validation Info.
Service Address
Physical location where service is provided, which may be different from the primary customer contact and/or primary billing contact addresses. The New Customer Wizard uses this address as the default service address throughout the remainder of the wizard.
Note
Service addresses are only assigned to services. If you close the New Customer Wizard without assigning a service to this service address, the service address is dropped and there is no association between this customer and this service address.
Select the desired service address from the drop-down list. If the desired address does not appear in this list, you can add the address to the list in one of the following ways:
Click the selector button
to the right of this field and select Find Existing Address. Search for and select the service addresses you want to add (see Finding an Existing Service Address). The selected service addresses are added to the drop-down list. If there is only one service address in the updated list, that service address is displayed in this field and the Primary Customer Contact fields (Street 1, Street 2, Street 3, City/State/Zip, Country). Otherwise, you must select the desired service address from the updated drop-down list. Click the selector button
to the right of this field and select Create New Address. Create the new service address you want to add (see Adding a Service Address). The new service address is added to the drop-down list. If it is the only service address in the updated list, the new service address is displayed in this field and the Primary Customer Contact fields. Otherwise, you must select the new service address from the updated drop-down list.Once an address is displayed in the Service Address field, you can edit that address by clicking the selector button
to the right of this field and selecting Edit Address (see Editing a Service Address). Following the edit, this field is updated to include the modified service address. The Primary Customer Contact fields are not changed.Note
If the service address differs from the Primary Customer Contact address, the following confirmation message is displayed when you exit the Service Address field:
Click Yes to change the Primary Customer Contact address to match the service address.
Click No to leave the Primary Customer Contact address as it is.
Use for Billing Contact
Select this check box, if the subscriber's Primary Customer Contact address (Street 1, Street 2, Street 3, City/State/Zip, and Country) is the billing address for this account. Clear this check box, if the billing address is different.
Notes:
If you select this check box, the wizard displays the Customer-Level Features form when you click Next. If you clear this check box, the wizard displays the Customer Billing Contact form when you click Next. Enter your billing contact's name and address and click Next. The wizard displays the Customer-Level Features form.
You can also enter the billing address via the Edit Customer Info form, Customer Info tab, Primary Billing Contact section (click Advanced... button on the wizard's Customer Information form).
Zone
Click the ellipsis button to open the Choose Zone form.
Select the State.
Select the Zone.
Click Apply.
Account #
Enter the subscriber's account number. If you do not to enter an account number, the system automatically assigns the next available account number to this subscriber.
Account Type
A rating and billing classification for the account, since business accounts are often charged different rates than residential accounts (such as Residential, Business, etc.). Select the appropriate Account Type from the drop-down list.
Note
The default is the first account type in the drop-down list.
Account Status
Disposition of the account (such as Active, Disconnected, Suspended, etc.). Select the appropriate Account Status from the drop-down list.
The default is "Active."
Note
The Account Status must be updated when the account status changes (either manually or via a Task Plan).
Main Billing #
The primary phone number used for LEC billing information.
Start Date
Enter/select the date the subscriber is scheduled to be active.
This defaults to the current date.
Note
When you assign start and end dates to accounts, services, and features you need to consider the scenario as well as your business practices. Refer to the article on start/end date guidelines in the IDI Knowledge Center for details.
Market
Each subscriber may be assigned to a market for purposes involving billing, POS locations, General Ledger subcodes, customer regions and customized reporting. Select the appropriate market from the drop-down list.
This field may be disabled depending on the Market configuration. See Default Market Configuration zzz.
The default is the first market in the drop-down list.
The lock icon indicates whether or not a system change can be made to the market. See Changing a Market and Market Locks
Bill Cycle
Billing sequence assigned to this subscriber's account for invoicing purposes. Select the appropriate Bill Cycle from the drop-down list.
Typically bill cycles are set up such that bill periods occur on a monthly basis with the start and end dates both set to the bill cycle’s specified Day of Month. However, in practice bill periods run from the specified day of month in a given month up to one day before in the next month (for example, 7/15 to 8/14). In other words, a monthly bill period starting on the 15th does not include the 15th of the next month. It actually ends on 14th.
Bill cycles set up for your use are viewable via the IDI Desktop Client > Tools > References > Bill Cycles Table.
Note
The Bill Cycle for Corporate Accounts cannot be changed.
Invoice Format
Select the invoice format from the drop-down list (HTML Reports, Business Landscape, Residential, etc.).
Click this button to enter additional information related to this subscriber account. The Edit Customer Info form is displayed (see Editing Customer Information).
Accounts Receivable Group
Select the appropriate accounts receivable group from the drop-down list.
Finance Group
Select the appropriate finance group from the drop-down list.
Aging Group
Select the appropriate aging group from the drop-down list.
Assign Customer-Level Features
Select this check box, if you want to assign features to the customer. Clear this check box, if you do not want to assign customer-level features.
Note
If you select this check box, the wizard displays the Customer-Level Features form when you click Next. If you clear this check box, the wizard displays the Add Services form when you click Next.
Enter the appropriate information into the Customer Information form.
Note
From any form within the New Customer Wizard, you can view the service and service address associations defined for this customer by clicking the Actions button and selecting Service Address Associations. See Service Address Associations for more information.
If you need to enter additional account, primary customer contact, primary billing contact, reporting, tax, and/or credit information, click the Advanced... button at the bottom of the form. The Edit Customer Info form is displayed. Make the desired changes and click OK (See Editing Customer Information for more information). You are returned to the Customer Information form.
Note
The system automatically validates the Customer address, the Primary Customer Contact address, the Primary Billing Contact address, the Service Contact address (not Service Address), and Shipping Contact address to determine the appropriate tax jurisdiction. If the address cannot be validated, you can choose to correct address information and attempt to validate the address again or to Bypass validation. See Address Validation Results.
Click Next. If you checked the "Assign Customer-Level Features" check box, the wizard displays the Add Customer-Level Features form. Otherwise, the wizard skips this form and displays the Add Services form.
Select the features you want to add to this customer.
Click Next. The Add Services form is displayed.
Note
From this point forward, the New Customer Wizard forms are the same forms that are used in the New Catalog Item(s) Wizard. See Adding Services in the Adding Features and Services for additional information regarding the functioning of these forms.
For each service you want to add to this customer, specify the Quantity, Start Date, Zone and Service Address. Then select the actual service you want to add.
Note
In any of the New Customer Wizard pages that are displayed from this point forward (including the Add Services form), you can view the service addresses associated with a particular service by right-clicking on that service in the Order section of this form and selecting Service Address Associations. See Service Address Associations for more information.
Click Next. The Service Details form is displayed.
Enter the appropriate information for each service.
Click Next. The Add Service-Level Features form is displayed.
For each service, select the feature(s) you would like to add to that service.
Click Next. The Order Options form is displayed.
Select the desired option.
Click Finish. The following confirmation form is displayed.
Click OK. The Customer # form for the customer you just added is displayed.
Permissions