Customers

The customer record contains information about the customers for whom you perform maintenance or repair work. Your customers may be other departments, cost centers, owner-operators, other companies, or any other entity that is billed for work completed. Setting up the customer file allows markups to be applied for services rendered or items sold. Once the customer file is set up and in use, customer billing information and various reports can be generated quickly and easily.
Even if you don't have external customers or billing needs, you should still consider adding customer records for each of your department records in order to take advantage of the many reports available in RTA that allow sorting by customer.
If you're planning to bill customers for maintenance and repair work, set the "Use Customer Billing" switch to YES, REQUIRED , or NO as needed (SSM, switch 31). If a vehicle belongs to a specific customer, it's a good idea to specify the customer number in the vehicle record (MVM). Then, when a work order is created for that vehicle, the customer number automatically comes up as the default.
As items are posted to work orders or fuel transactions are input, any applicable markups set in the customer records are applied and added to the work orders and fuel transactions.

Adding a Customer

The customer record consists of four windows: 1) the main window, 2) account information, 3) account codes, and 4) markups and rates. It's not necessary to enter information in all four windows. We recommend initially entering information in the main window and markups and rates. To add a customer record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Customer > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MCM).
  2. Enter a customer number and choose Add. The customer number is a text field allowing up to ten characters.
  3. Enter the customer information.
  4. Save the record.

Customer Record Field Descriptions: Main Window

  • Customer Number: (Text field) Enter up to ten characters for the customer number or name.
  • Abbreviation: Enter up to ten characters for the customer abbreviation.
  • Contact: Enter the name of the main contact person.
  • Shipping Information: Enter the customer name, address, and phone number.
  • Billing Information: Enter the billing address and information or choose Copy to use the shipping information. This information is printed on customer work order billing and fuel billing reports.

Customer Record Field Descriptions: Account Information Sub-Window
The Account Information sub-window contains additional information about the customer for your benefit; most of the data is not used by the RTA system. This information isn't required when adding a new customer. If you would like to enter additional account information, you can do so by selecting Edit > Account Info from the menu or by clicking on the Account Info icon in the toolbar.

  • Customer Codes: Enter the account codes (up to ten characters) for parts, labor, tires, shop supplies, tax, and outside. The codes entered here are printed on Standard work orders.
  • Financial Information: These fields store the customer's credit limit and terms. Indicate whether finance charges will be assessed on outstanding balances; the RTA system does not calculate finance charges. The remaining four entry fields in this section-Current Statement total, Current Finance Charge, Last Activity Date, and Date Created-are used internally by RTA; no entry can be made in these fields.
  • Miscellaneous Information: You can enter up to two characters to identify the customer type. You also have up to 40 characters in which remarks or notes about this customer can be made. The Counter and Number Purchased entry fields are used internally by RTA; no entry can be made in these fields.

Customer Record: Account Codes Sub-Window
Additional account codes can be entered by selecting Edit > Account Codes from the menu or by clicking on the Account Codes icon in the toolbar. You'll be required to create the account codes before the Customer Account Codes sub-window is displayed. This information is also not required when adding a new customer. The codes entered here are for your benefit and are not used by the RTA system. They're useful if more than ten characters are needed for account codes. Several extra lines are provided for additional information you wish to track for this customer. You may enter up to 35 characters as needed for each code.
Customer Record Field Descriptions: Markups and Rates Sub-Window
To enter customer markups and tax rates, select Edit > Markups/Rates from the menu or click on the Markups and Rates icon in the toolbar. As items are posted on work orders or in the fuel transactions, the RTA system checks the customer record and automatically charges any applicable markups. The markups need to be entered in decimal format (i.e., enter .15 to charge a 15% markup).
A Set Customer Markup program is available in the Utilities 2 add-on package that enables you to quickly set or modify markup percentages for a range of customers (SIMM). Contact RTA for more information about this option.

  • Parts Markup: Enter the markup for parts. Part records contain two prices: the average price (your cost) and the selling price (your cost x individual part markup). Select a radio button to indicate if the parts markup will be applied to the part's average price or selling price when sold.
  • Max: Enter a maximum parts markup if desired to limit the amount of possible markup.
  • Labor Markup and Tires Markup: Enter the markup for labor and tires.
  • Outside Labor and Parts: Enter the markup for outside labor and outside parts.
  • Max: Enter a maximum outside markup if desired to limit the amount of possible markup.
  • Fuel Markup: To markup fuel, choose Set Fuel Markup. Fuel markups can be applied in one of three ways: 1) an Additional amount can be added to the current fuel price per gallon, 2) a Flat price per gallon can be charged, or 3) a markup Percentage can be applied to the current fuel price. Determine which fuel markup to use and then enter either the additional amount, flat amount, or percentage to be charged.
  • Motor Pool: This one character entry field is used to indicate the customer pricing level in the Motor Pool add-on option. The pricing level entered here helps to determine which rate code is used in the Motor Pool module when this customer is charged for a rental. Enter a code to indicate the pricing level or leave this field blank if you don't have the Motor Pool option. Contact our sales department for more information about Motor Pool.
  • Shop Supplies and Tax Shop Supplies: Many shops apply this fee to recoup costs for non-chargeable items such as grease, lubricants, nuts, bolts, and disposal and environmental fees. If you wish to apply overhead charges by customer rather than by facility, set the "Overhead Fac/Cust flag" switch to CUSTOMER (SSM, switch 34) and then enter the percentage to charge here. The additional amount charged is calculated by multiplying the total (inside) labor cost posted on work orders by the specified rate. Select the Tax Shop Supplies checkbox to include shop supply costs in the base amount when tax and/or GST tax is calculated.
  • Tax Rate and Tax Outside Parts: Enter the tax rate. This rate is multiplied to total parts, outside parts (if applicable), tires, and shop supply costs (if applicable) posted on work orders. Select the Tax Outside Parts checkbox to include outside part costs in the base amount when tax and/or GST tax is calculated.
  • Labor Tax: Enter the labor tax rate. This rate is multiplied to total (inside) labor costs posted on work orders.
  • GST Tax and Calculated Method: Enter the goods and services tax rate (Canadian and Australian customers). Select a radio button to indicate if the tax is to be calculated using the Linear or Compounding method. The GST rate is multiplied to total labor, parts, tires, warranty, outside, and shop supply costs (if applicable) posted on work orders.
  • Labor Rate: Enter a labor rate that can be used instead of the individual employee labor rate when jobs are performed for this customer.
  • Use Labor Rate: Check this box to allow the custom labor rate entered above to be selected when posting labor on work orders.

TIP: When editing a customer, you can click the ADD DEPARTMENT button at the bottom of the screen. This will create a matching department record. In many fleets, the departments ARE customers. This utility feature reduces data entry time in setting up the same record in both lists.

Changing a Customer

To change a customer record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Customer > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MCM).
  2. Enter a customer number or press F1 to select a customer from the lookup list.
  3. Make the changes as needed.
  4. Save the record.

TIP: When making changes to markup rates, you may be able to save time by using the Set Customer Markup program available in the Utilities 2 add-on package. This program allows markup percentages to be modified globally for a range of customers (SIMM).

Deleting a Customer

To delete a customer record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Customer > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MCM).
  2. Enter a customer number or press F1 to select a customer from the lookup list.
  3. Select Edit > Delete Customer from the menu or click on the Delete Customer icon in the toolbar.
  4. Choose Yes to confirm the deletion.
  5. Enter password level 3.

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