Customer and Supplier Classes
A price list written for "every wholesale customer" should not need editing each time a new wholesaler is added. That is what the grouping files are for: you define a handful of groups once, put each customer or supplier in the right group on its own file, and then write price lists, offers and restrictions against the group instead of against individual customers. A new customer joins the group and inherits all of it on day one.
Nama ships seven such files for customers and one for suppliers. They are small master files — a code, Arabic and English names, and in three cases a few settings — and they mean whatever you decide they mean.
The screens and where they are used on the party
| Screen | Menu | Extra fields | Field on the customer / supplier file |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customers' Class | Sales → Master Files → Customers' Class | Down Payment Percentage, Default UOM, Price List Default Price | Customers' Class (customerClass) |
| Customers' Class 1 … Customers' Class 5 | Sales → Master Files → Customers' Class 1 … 5 | none | Customer Class 1 … 5 (customerClass1 … customerClass5) |
| Customer Category | Sales → Master Files → Customer Category | Price List Default Price | Customer Category (customerCategory) |
| Suppliers' Class | Purchases → Master Files → Suppliers' Class | Default UOM | Supplier Class (supplierClass) |
All of the customer fields sit together in the Basic Information group of the customer file, and the supplier class on the supplier file's Main tab — see Customers, Suppliers and Other Parties.
Customers' Class is the one with settings
The numbered classes 1–5 and the category are pure labels. Only Customers' Class carries a down payment, a default unit and a price column, so if you only need one grouping, use that one.
What the extra fields do
Down Payment Percentage (downPaymentPercentage) — used by the glass job order. When you pick the customer on a Glass Job Order, the order's down payment percentage is taken from the customer's own Down Payment Percentage, or from its Customers' Class when the customer has none. See Specialized Scenarios.
Default UOM (defaultUOM) — the unit a line takes when you enter an item by its code on a document that has a customer or supplier: the item's Base Unit(Smallest), Reporting Unit 1, Reporting Unit 2, Default Sales Unit or Default Purchase Unit. A barcode that already names a unit keeps that unit. The customer's (or supplier's) own Default UOM wins; when it is empty the class's value is used, then — for a customer — the paying customer's, and finally the default sales or purchase unit set on the warehouse.
Price List Default Price (priceListDefaultPrice) — a price list line holds several candidate prices (default, minimum, maximum, custom and N1–N5). This decides which of them becomes the unit price. Nama walks a fixed chain and stops at the first one that names a column: the customer → the document term → the Customer Category → the Customers' Class → the invoice classification → the price classifiers → the supply-chain configuration. If nobody names one, the default price is used. The company-wide end of the chain is described in Pricing and Price Lists.
Where the groups are read
| Where | Which groups it accepts |
|---|---|
| Price List and Sales Offer — the customer they apply to, and the pricing ranges inside them | A customer, Customers' Class, Customer Category or Customers' Class 1–4. A document's customer matches a line written for itself, its Customers' Class, its Class 1–4, its category, its group or its paying customer. |
| Item Customer Link, and Limit To Customer on the item | A customer, Customers' Class, Customers' Class 1–5 or a group — see Creating and Maintaining Items. |
| Item Supplier Link, and Limit To Supplier on the item | A supplier, Suppliers' Class or a group. |
| Purchase Price List | One supplier or a whole Suppliers' Class — see How a Purchase Price Is Decided. |
| Limit Sales Qty | Customer Category and Customers' Class — see Sales and Purchase Operations Documents. |
| Periodic Monthly Sales Offer — candidate customers | Customers' Class, Customer Category or Customers' Class 1–4. |
| Post Sales Offer — candidate customers | A customer or a Customers' Class — see Pricing, Offers & Coupons. |
Because every class is an ordinary reference field on the customer or supplier, it is also available as a list filter, a report parameter and a criteria field, and Customers' Class is one of the default filters on the customer list.
Class 5 is not offered on price lists and offers
The customer field on price lists, sales offers and the periodic monthly offer lists Customers' Class 1–4 only. Customer Class 5 is still matched by item–customer links and item limits, so keep it for groupings you need there.