Customers

Customers is the organisation's shared record of the companies and people it works with: who runs each relationship, who to talk to there, what has been said, and what is owed back. It is also the starting point of the commerce journey — from a customer you draft a quotation in Finance, create a contract, send it for signature and, finally, invoice. Every other module that names a customer (Projects, Contracts, Finance, Bookings, the Customer Center) shows up as a tab on that customer's page.

Where to find itCopy Anchor Link

Open Customers from the sidebar's app row or All apps. The module's sidebar then shows:

The foot of the sidebar shows the number of Overdue follow-ups at all times.

If Customers is not installed you see "Customers is not installed here"; if it is installed but you hold no role in it you see "You do not have access to Customers".

Main workflowsCopy Anchor Link

Add a customerCopy Anchor Link

1. Open All customers and press Add a customer (needs customer.create).
2. Answer Is this a company or a person? and enter a Name. A name is enough to save.
3. Optionally add blocks: Address, Email, Phone number, Social media, Tax details, E-invoicing, Note, Tags, Contact person, Bank account, Terms and More about them (status, account manager, colour, language, legal name, tier).
4. Leave the number empty to have one allocated from the organisation's sequence.
5. Save. The customer opens with the breadcrumb Customers › <name>.

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1. 1Is this a company or a person?A company is asked for its name, a person for salutation, title, first name and surname.
2. 2NameA name is enough to save.
3. 3AddressOne of the optional blocks; the buttons beside it add email, tax details, contacts and more.
4. 4Customer numberLeave it empty to have one allocated from the organisation’s sequence.
5. 5Add itSaves the customer and opens it.

Find and filter customersCopy Anchor Link

1. Use All customers, My accounts or Prospects in the sidebar.
2. Search by name or code, pick one or more statuses, choose an owner, or use Add filter for Tier or Tag.
3. Remove a filter chip, or press Clear all. When nothing matches, the list says "No customer matches" and Clear filters resets the search and every filter at once.

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1. 1All customersAll customers, My accounts and Prospects each open a list of their own.
2. 2Name or codeSearches by name or code.
3. 3StatusPick one or more statuses.
4. 4Account managerShows the customers one person runs.
5. 5Add filterFilters by Tier or Tag; remove a chip or press Clear all to undo.

Work with one customerCopy Anchor Link

1. Open a customer. The header shows status, tier, owner, last contact and open follow-ups.
2. Switch between the tabs. A tab exists only when its module is installed or you may use it:
   • Overview, Contacts, Activity, Files — always.
   • Projects (Projects installed), Contracts (Contracts installed), Appointments (Bookings installed), Finance (Finance installed), Customer Center (Customer Center installed).
   • Settings — only with customer.manage.
3. The selected tab is kept in the address, so a link you send opens on the same tab.

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1. 1CustomersThe breadcrumb leads back to the list.
2. 2Open follow-upsThe header shows status, owner, last contact and open follow-ups.
3. 3Log an entryRecords a call, an email, a meeting or a note.
4. 4TabsOne tab per installed module; the selected tab is kept in the address.

Log what happened and set a follow-upCopy Anchor Link

1. On a customer, press Log an entry (needs customer.note.write).
2. Choose What kind (Note, Call, Email, Meeting), fill in In a line, What happened and When.
3. Optionally pick With whom (one of the customer's contacts) and Come back to this on.
4. Press Log it. A follow-up date lands on your own agenda that day.
5. Close it later with Mark it done on the Activity tab or on the Follow-ups screen.

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1. 1What kindNote, Call, Email or Meeting.
2. 2In a lineA short summary; What happened and When follow below it.
3. 3Come back to this onOptional; the follow-up lands on your own agenda that day.
4. 4Log itSaves the entry to the customer’s log.

Work through follow-upsCopy Anchor Link

1. Open Follow-ups in the sidebar and choose Mine or Everybody's.
2. Entries are grouped as Overdue, Today, This week and Later.
3. Press Mark it done once you have come back to them, or Log an entry to record a new one.

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1. 1Mine or Everybody’sWhose follow-ups to show.
2. 2OverdueEntries are grouped as Overdue, Today, This week and Later.
3. 3Mark it doneCloses the follow-up once you have come back to them.
4. 4Log an entryRecords a new entry.

Manage contactsCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the Contacts tab and press Add a contact (needs customer.contact.manage).
2. Enter name, role, email and phone; tick the primary option for the one to ask first.
3. A contact never gets an account. Also a colleague only links a contact who already works here.
4. Send for signature next to a contact with an email address starts an envelope for them (see Signing).
5. For data-protection requests use Export data or Erase personal data.

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1. 1Add a contactName, role, email and phone; a contact never gets an account.
2. 2PrimaryThe contact to ask first; the Overview tab shows them.
3. 3Export dataAnswers a data-protection request for this contact.
4. 4Erase personal dataRemoves the contact’s personal data; needs the organisation-wide permission to erase people.

Start the commerce journey from a customerCopy Anchor Link

1. Quotation — on the Finance tab press New quotation. A draft quotation for this customer is created and the quotation editor opens at /finance/offers/<id>. New engagement beside it starts an engagement instead. See Finance.
2. Contract — once the quotation is accepted, press Draft a contract on the quotation's page; the contract is filed under this customer. Without a quotation, press New contract on the Contracts tab (needs contract.create). See Contracts.
3. Signature — on the issued contract press Send for signature; the signed result is filed as its countersignature. Send for signature on the Contracts tab starts an envelope for any other document. See Signing.
4. Onboarding — on the Customer Center tab press Assign an onboarding (needs portal.manage). See Customer Center.
5. Invoice — hours booked in Time become invoice drafts under Finance › Billing; the Finance tab lists this customer's documents and what they owe.

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1. 1FinanceThis customer’s documents and what they owe.
2. 2New quotationCreates a draft quotation for this customer and opens the quotation editor.
3. 3New engagementStarts an engagement instead.

Attach filesCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the Files tab and press Upload a file or Attach a file (needs customer.file.manage).
2. From chat, mail, Projects, Contracts or Finance documents you can also use File with customer.
3. Detach removes the link only; the file itself is never deleted.

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1. 1Upload a fileUploads a new file and attaches it to the customer.
2. 2Attach a fileAttaches a file that has already been uploaded.
3. 3Attached fileDownload it, or send it to Lexware.
4. 4DetachRemoves the link only; the file itself is never deleted.

Roles and permissionsCopy Anchor Link

Roles are granted per organisation and apply to every customer; there is no per-customer membership. Nobody can read customers until they hold a role.

Delete for good is not a grantable permission: only the organisation owner may delete a customer, and only while no project, contract, rate or appointment names it. Erasing a contact's personal data also needs the organisation-wide permission to erase people.

Administration and settingsCopy Anchor Link

• Roles are managed with every other module's roles at /admin/access/roles (the Open roles link on the Administration screen).
• Who can read customers on the Administration screen repeats the rule above: nobody reads customers by default; grant Viewer to let somebody read them.
• Customer numbers (Administration, customer.admin): Prefix, Next value and Padding; the preview shows the next number. A number is never reused.
• Per customer, the Settings tab holds The record, How they are invoiced, Addresses, Room, Archive and Delete for good.

TipsCopy Anchor Link

• Archive rather than delete: everything pointing at an archived customer keeps working, and Put them back restores it.
• Set a status deliberately — Prospect, Active, Dormant, Former — nothing changes it on its own.
• Mark one contact and one address per kind as primary; the Overview tab shows those.
• Fields you may not see (for example payment terms without customer.financial.read) are left out, not blanked.
• ⌘K finds any customer by name — type two letters of it. The same palette opens My accounts, Prospects and Follow-ups (type follow).

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Contracts
• Signing
• Customer Center
• Mail
• Finance