Customer Number

The unique number used to identify an external entity who purchases goods from you. 

Two types of customers can be defined: ship-to customers and bill-to customers.  Ship-to customers are customers who receive ordered goods but do not pay their own bills.  The only information required for a ship-to customer is the address, preferred shipping method, and the sales people and sales territories associated with the location.  You can also enter document information and user-defined fields for ship-to customers. 

In addition to being able to receive goods, bill-to customers also receive invoices.  Consequently, credit and billing information is defined for bill-to customers, in addition to sales information.  On each sales order, you must specify the ship-to location (where the goods will be shipped) and the bill-to location (where the invoice will be sent).  A bill-to customer can be specified as the ship-to or bill-to location for an order; a ship-to customer can only be specified as a ship-to location. 

Depending on the currency level selected on Reference File category 133, the customer number may be unique throughout the system, unique within one company, or unique within one company/location.  If customer numbers are defined at the company or company/location level (rather than globally), you will need to enter the company or company/location in addition to the customer number whenever you are entering or accessing customer information.