Customer Info Tab

The Customer Info tab is used to enter and maintain the following for an existing customer or a prospect:

• Basic customer account information

• Primary customer contact name, company, and address

• Primary billing contact name, company, and address

  (Show picture)

  

  The Customer Info tab provides the following input fields:

  Basic Account Information
  Customer Name	First name, middle initial, and last name of the subscriber associated with this account.
  Account #	Subscriber's account number. If you do not enter an account number, the system automatically assigns the next available account number to this subscriber. Once the account has been established only those with the appropriate permission can change the account number. AR3438
  Account Type	Rating and billing classification for this account. Business accounts are often charged different rates than residential accounts. 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 this account (such as Active, Disconnected, Suspended, etc.). Select the appropriate Account Status from the drop-down list. Notes: The default is "Active." The Account Status must be manually updated when the account status changes.
  Main Billing Number	Primary phone number used for LEC billing information.
  Language	Designates the customer's preferred language for personal contacts and printed bills. Note Bills printed in languages other than English require customization by your company.
  Disable E-Pay Notifications	Disables E-Pay Notifications on the customer's account (customer opts out of E-Pay Notifications). When the property is set, the account will be omitted from notifications that use the E-Pay Account Notifications or E-Pay Transaction Notifications data sources. The E-Pay Account Notifications and E-Pay Transaction Notifications data sources will omit accounts where the EPayNotificationOptOut property is set to true. Notification templates that use these data sources will not produce notifications to customer accounts that have opted out of E-Pay notifications.
  Disallow Checks/ACH	Lets you flag accounts with a history of bad check writing. Flagged customer accounts are not allowed to make ACH payments through IDI Desktop Client, Customer Care, and OnlineBill. These customers, can only use guaranteed funds for payments (i.e. cash or approved credit card transactions). This can help reduce returned check fees. Notes: The ability to toggle this setting can be restricted through a user's permission profile (Edit Disallow Payment Types permission under Applications > Customer Management > Customers). By default, this permission is enabled. Note Rather than toggling Disallow Checks/ACH manually on individual accounts, you can set up the system to automatically set it by account type. This is done enabling and configuring the Disable ACH/Checks setting in Customer Care. If you need to use this functionality but don't have access to Customer Care you'll need to request that IDI enable/configure this setting for you via Service Request. For more on disallowing ACH payments see . Limiting Payment Options for Bad Check Writers The Disallow Checks/ACH setting on customer accounts in Customer Care and IDI Desktop Client lets you flag accounts with a history of bad check writing. Flagged customer accounts are not allowed to make ACH payments through IDI Desktop Client, Customer Care, and OnlineBill. These customers can only use guaranteed funds for payments (i.e. cash or approved credit card transactions). This can help reduce returned check fees. Note: Identifying bad check writers is a manual process and establishing criteria is up to individual carriers. When the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is toggled, the action, including the user, is logged in Audit Log. You can toggle this setting manually on an individual account basis, or you can set up the system to automatically set it by account type. Both methods are described below. Restrictions on ACH Actions Once a customer account is flagged, any active E-Pay bank accounts will be deactivated and those customer accounts will be prevented from creating new ACH E-Pay accounts. Also, those deactivated E-Pay accounts cannot be reactivated while the customer account is flagged, and ACH E-Pay accounts that are non-recurring cannot be changed to recurring. IDI Desktop Client - POS In POS, when working with flagged accounts, customer service representatives (CSRs) will be unable to tender any transactions with the base tender type IDs of 4 (check) and 15 (e-check). Those tender types will not display in the tender screen so users won’t be able to select them by accident. Also CSRs will not be able to create new E-Pay bank accounts. IDI Desktop Client – Customer Management Flagged accounts will display an alert that lets users know why they are unable to perform check/ACH activities. Show Picture All ACH accounts are deactivated and cannot be re-activated while the account is flagged. Also for flagged accounts: CSRs will not be able to create new E-Pay bank accounts. If the ACH E-Pay account was the only recurring E-Pay account, it will no longer have invoice charges automatically processed. The customer will have to manually make their monthly invoice payment or add a new approved recurring E-Pay account. CSRs will not be permitted to resubmit ACH E-Pay transactions for flagged accounts. This is prevented in bulk from the E-Pay transaction search screen as well as on the specific E-Pay account transactions for the account. Note If Disallow Check/ACH status is removed on the account (checkbox un-checked), the ACH E-Pay accounts will not automatically re-activate. Users will need to manually reactivate them. Customer Care Customer Care provides functionality similar to IDI Desktop Client. Flagged accounts will display an alert that lets users know why they are unable to perform check/ACH activities. All ACH accounts are deactivated. The action buttons for reactivating and making payments are hidden as long as the account is flagged. Restricting OnlineBill Users Flagged customers with OnlineBill accounts will be unable to: create new E-Pay bank accounts. activate a deactivated E-Pay bank account. make a one time ACH payment with or without an ACH E-Pay account. change a non-recurring ACH E-Pay account to recurring. Note The user experience for accounts with Disallow Checks/ACH status will vary based on the configured Payment Provider. Different providers allow for varying levels of control. For some providers, the IDI platform can hide related controls in the iFrame to prevent ACH actions, while for other providers, the IDI platform must allow the controls to be displayed in the iFrame. In this case, users will be permitted to attempt ACH actions and then be shown an error indicating why the action cannot be completed. Manually Flagging Individual Accounts You only need to flag the account in one application or the other (i.e. flagging the account In Customer Care also flags the account in IDI Desktop Client and vice versa). You can restrict which users can toggle this setting in both applications. In IDI Desktop Client the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is available on the Customer Info tab when you add or edit a customer. The setting is unchecked by default (ACH actions are allowed). Show Picture You can restrict/grant access to this setting in IDI Desktop Client, by toggling the Edit Disallow Payment Types permission under Applications > Customer Management > Customers in the user’s permission profile. By default, this permission is enabled (allow toggling of Disallow Checks/ACH setting). Show Picture In Customer Care the Disallow Checks/ACH setting is available in the Basic Information section when you add or edit a customer. The setting is unchecked by default (ACH actions are allowed). (Show Picture) The ability to toggle this setting may be restricted by adding the Disallow Checks/ACH setting to the Customer Field Configuration, and then specifying which Groups should be restricted. Automating Disallow ACH/Checks by Account Type Rather than toggling Disallow Checks/ACH manually on individual accounts, you can set up the system to automatically set it by account type. This is done enabling and configuring the Disable ACH/Checks setting under MANAGE > Settings Payment Restriction in Customer Care. Two system-defined triggers are created when you enable this setting: Customer Created - Anytime a customer is created and their account type is one of the account types selected through configuration, this trigger will set the Disallow Checks / ACH check box in both IDI Desktop Client and Customer Care. Customer Modified - Anytime a customer is modified and their account type is one of the account types selected through configuration, the trigger will set the Disallow Checks / ACH check box in both IDI Desktop Client and Customer Care. The exception is when switching from one configured account type to a different configured account type. In this case the trigger will not re-evaluate since Disallow Checks/ACH will already be set.  These triggers use an action called Update Payment Restrictions. This action uses the UpdatePaymentRestrictions end point to set the Customer ID, and the base tender types of Check and E-Check in the restriction database. Setting these values in the database automatically sets the Disallow Checks /check box. Neither the triggers nor the action require any further setup. You can view the triggers in Workflow by searching on system-defined triggers. Show Picture Note If you need to use this functionality but don't have access to Customer Care you'll need to request IDI to enable and configure this setting for you by submitting a service request.
  Market	Each subscriber is assigned to a market for purposes such as billing, POS location, General Ledger subcodes, customer region and customized reporting. Select the appropriate market from the drop-down list. Note: The default is the first market in the drop-down list.
  Zone	Click the ellipsis button to open the Choose Zone window. Select the State. Select the Zone. Click Apply.
  Bill Cycle	Billing sequence assigned to this subscriber's account for invoicing purposes. Note This field cannot be modified.
  Establish Date	Indicates when the subscriber's account became active (when you created the new account). The default is the current date. You can override the default, if desired.
  Disconnect Date	Date the account is disconnected.
  Sales Channel	Identifies the member of the sales staff who is responsible for the sale to this subscriber. This information is used for computing and reporting commissions. If you know the sales code, enter it in the first field. If you know the sales name, enter it in the second field. You can use * as a wildcard. Otherwise, click the Sales Channel button to display the Sales Tree win Select a name from the list and click OK. Note The Sales Channel field in this window is different than the Sales Channel field in the New Customer Order Wizard. The field in the New Customer Order Wizard is applicable at the order level, while the Sales Channel in this window is applicable at the customer level.
  Currency	Currency used by this subscriber. Select the appropriate currency from the drop-down list.
  Primary Customer/Billing Contact
  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	Primary Customer/Billing Contact's company name.
  Street 1	Primary Customer/Billing Contact's street address.
  Street 2	Additional street address information for the Primary Customer/Billing Contact, if applicable. Use this field for suite numbers, apartment numbers, or other address information that does not fit in Street 1.
  Street 3	Additional street address information for the Primary Customer/Billing Contact, if applicable. Use this field for address information that does not fit in Street 1 and Street 2.
  City / State / Zip	Primary Customer/Billing Contact's city, state, and zip/postal code.
  Country	Primary Customer/Billing Contact's country. If the invoice is sent to a country other than the USA, enter the correct country name. Note 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 Tax Information section on the Additional Info tab.
  Validation Result	The Validation Result icon indicates the result of the automatic address validation. Green check mark: the validation was successful and the Required and Actual validation types match. Yellow check mark: the validation was successful but the Required and Actual validation types do not match. Red X: 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 window.
  	To see additional address information, click Additional Info and select one of the following: Parsed Address, View Phone / Email, or View Address Validation Info.
  Same as Customer	Select/check this check box if the Primary Billing Contact and Primary Customer Contact are the same person. Notes: If you check this check box, all Primary Billing Contact input fields are disabled. If you don't check this check box, the Validate Now and Additional Info buttons are also available for the Primary Billing Contact.

Permissions

• Edit Account Number:

  • Enabled: Lets you edit a subscriber's account number on the Edit Customer window. Note: The Customers > Edit permission must also be enabled.

  • Disabled: The Account Number field in the Edit Customer window is read-only.

• Edit Account Status:

  • Note

    Lets you edit a subscriber's account status via the Edit Customer window. : The Customers > Edit permission must also be enabled.

  • Disabled: The Account Status field in the Edit Customer window is read-only.

See also:

Address Validation Results