Defining Bill-to, Ship-to, and Ordered-by Customers

When you enter an order, you can specify three types of customers:  an ordered-by customer (who placed the order), a ship-to customer (where the goods will be delivered), and a bill-to customer (where the invoice will be sent).  This relationship is shown below.  The bill-to and ship-to customers are required; the ordered-by customer is optional.  Note that the same customer number can be used as the ordered-by, ship-to, and bill-to locations for a sales order.  If you enter a bill-to customer and leave the ship-to blank, then the ship-to customer field will default to the bill-to customer.

Bill-to, Ship-to, and Ordered-by Customers

Ship-to Information Required for All Customers

Any customer in the system can be specified as a ship-to customer on an order.  Therefore, the basic information that must be defined for all customers is referred to as the "ship-to" or "sales" information.  Any customer for which ONLY this information is defined is referred to as a "ship-to customer."  The basic ship-to information includes the customer address and shipping methods.  It is entered on the Sales Information screen in the Customer Master Maintenance conversation and is stored on the Ship-to Customer File (ARADDRP).  This file is sometimes referred to as the Address File.  The Sales Information screen (AR630S03) is shown in the following figure.

WILLIAMS                 CUSTOMER MASTER MAINTENANCE                   6/03/94

 DSP01                        SALES INFORMATION 1                        DETAIL

                                                                              

 Customer        AC             Name            ANDERSEN CONSULTING          

 Search          ANDERSEN       Address Line 1  69 W.WASHIINGTON ST.         

 Status          ACTIVE         Address Line 2  ROOM 2033                    

 Creation Date   05/17/94       City  CHICAGO           State IL Zip 60602   

 Last Maint Date 05/17/94       Country    USA  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA     

 Language Code      Order Ack Y Terms           LH   TEST SHIPPING TERMS     

 BO Priority     AA Fill Code   Route           N1   SHIP ROUTE DESCRIPTION  

 Customer Disc      .00000      Ship Via        S1   SHIP VIA CODE 1         

 Price Code         0           Default Co/Loc  001  BRU   Default Whs BEL   

 SA No                          Zone CHICAGO               Cust Drives Dt Y  

 Sales Contact      MIKE TAYLOR                 Phone          312  507 7535 

 Slspsn1       JD   JOHN DOE                    Ext                          

 Slspsn2       NED  NED BRADDEN                 Fax            312  507 1043 

 Slspsn3       PBS  SALESPERSON 001DW1XXXXXXX   Carrier   BANVAN             

 Slspsn4       PB4  SALESPERSON 001GES          Shipment Leadtime     3      

 Territory 1   TER2 AMERICAN REGION             Primary Bill-to   AC         

 Territory 2   TER3 ASIAN REGION                Primary Ord-by    AC         

 Cust Exempt Flag   Y  Ship-to City Indicator 1 Ship-to Geocode   888888888  

 F2=Command          F3=Exit             F4=Prompt           F9=Inquiry      

 F10=Function Select F15=Rekey Data                                          

                                                                             

     Customer Sales Information

When you specify a ship-to customer on an order, the address defined on the Customer Master File is brought in as the default ship-to address.  However, you can change the ship-to customer name and address on the order header screen.  The ship-to address can be changed up until the time the order is shipped.  This feature allows you to change such information as the name of the person to receive the shipment or the dock location for a particular order.  It can also be used to create a single customer number to be used for all one-time sales.  Note that using such "generic" customer numbers limits your ability to query information by ship-to customer location.

If you wish, you can also define the ship-to customer at the time you enter a sales or quote order.  On the Sales Order Entry and Maintenance Function Select screen, you can press a function key to go directly to the Sales Information screen in Customer Master Maintenance.  This allows you to enter information for the new customer, then continue entering the order for that customer.  This feature allows you to ship goods to a new customer location very easily.

Additional Information Required for Bill-to Customers

Sales information must be defined for each bill-to customer.  Additional information (such as credit information and payment terms) must also be defined for a customer before it can be specified as the "bill-to customer" of an order.  When this information has been defined for a customer, it simply means that the customer CAN be used as the bill-to customer for an order.  It can also be used as a ship-to customer on an order when another company is specified as the bill-to customer.  The additional required information is entered on the Billing Information screen of the Customer Master Maintenance conversation.  It is stored on the Bill-to Customer File (ARCUSTP).  The Billing Information screen (AR630S04) is shown in the following figure.

WILLIAMS                 CUSTOMER MASTER MAINTENANCE                   6/03/94

 DSP01                        BILLING INFORMATION                        DETAIL

                                                                              

 Customer          AC            ANDERSEN CONSULTING                          

 Corporate Cust                  Cust Type      HO   HOME CUSTOMER            

 Paid-by Cust      AC            Cust Class     001  STANDARD                 

 Related Vendor                  SIC                                          

 Allow Discounts Flag        Y   Recv Entity                                  

 Allow Partial Payments Flag Y   Payment Terms  P2   15.000 % 015  NET 020    

 Allow Underpayments Flag    Y   Payment Type   CK   CHECK                    

 Allow Transactions Flag     Y   Fin Charge                                   

 Stmt Type-Open Item Flag    Y   Form Types     IN  1   DC  1   DC  1   CA  1 

 Prt Dunning Message Flag    Y   Statement Cycle             0                

 Validate PO Number Flag     Y   Default A/R Code           A1                

 Consolidate Invoice Flag    N   Default Bank Code          B1                

 Home/Export Flag            H   Invoice Document Format    P                 

 Bill-to/Ship-to Rel Req     N   Invoice Release Code       I                 

 S/M Currency Option         S                                                 

 Currency Code             USD                                                

                                                                              

                                                                              

 F2=Command          F3=Exit             F4=Prompt           F9=Inquiry       

 F10=Function Select F15=Rekey Data                            

Files Containing Customer Information

Customer information is stored on the two files mentioned above.

The two files together make up the complete Customer Master File.  The fields on both files are maintained through the Customer Master Maintenance menu option.

Validation for Ordered-by Customer

Reference File category 447 determines whether the Ordered-by Customer field is validated for a given selling company/location.  Note that this flag applies only if an ordered-by customer is entered.  The Ordered-by Customer field is always optional.  If the field is validated, the customer must exist on the Ship-to Customer File.  In other words, sales information must have been defined for the customer number.

The validation for the Ordered-by, Ship-to, and Bill-to customer fields is summarized below.

       How Ship-to and Bill-to Customers Can Be Used