The Associates table in Business NXT is a shared table for customers, suppliers, employees, and any other companies or individuals you are in contact with. The same company or person can often have several functions in a company, and collecting these roles in one table ensures you do not need to maintain addresses, phone numbers, and similar information in multiple places. An example of an associate is a customer. 

To create and maintain customers, go to Sales > Base data customer > Customers. 

In this screen, you will see an overview of your customers. The screen shows only customers because a filter has been set in the Associates table to display only customers. 

 

How to create a new customer 

In the screen Sales > Base data customer > Customers, you can search for an existing customer or create a new one. 

 

 

This brings you to the following view: 

A new customer number is assigned by clicking “+” in the customer number field on the next available line. The “+” button will select the highest customer number registered in the Associates table so far, plus 1. If several customer number series exist, you must choose the correct series based on the customer type. Once selected, Business NXT will automatically assign the next available number in that series. 

You can also enter a customer number manually. The number cannot already exist in the system. If it does, a red box appears with the message “Value is already in use”. 

How much information you wish to register for each customer depends on how you want customer follow-up to be handled. Standard parameters from Company Information will apply unless you override them in the Associates table. 

To send electronic invoices, it is important that general information such as Customer No., Name, and Addresses is filled in. It is also helpful to enter an email address and an AutoInvoice email address. For international customers, Country/Language/Currency must be specified for correct invoicing and payment handling. 

The Document Delivery Method determines how documents are distributed to the customer. By double-clicking this field, you will see information related to both customer (order) and supplier (accounting). 

To send invoices through AutoInvoice, the AutoInvoice option must be enabled on the invoices. You will also have the option to send order confirmations, interest notes and purchase orders through AutoInvoice. By setting the delivery method on the customer, the system will remember this setting and use the selected delivery method for the next distribution. As a user, you will not need to consider how documents are distributed if this is configured directly on the customer.