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Customer Document Help

The Customer document is used to add or maintain information for all persons, companies, groups, etc. that are to be billed for items or services provided by an organization within the university. 

  • Customer codes are system-assigned and are NOT unique to your organization.
  • Before adding a new customer record, use the Lookup screen to make sure Customer record is not already in KFS.

General Information

  • Navigate to the KFS Accounts Receivable channel > Reference section > Customer Document.
  • Search for the Customer: Use wildcards to search for existing customers (see Tips and Tricks section below) to ensure they do not already exists. If no search results, then add the Customer by clicking on the create new button in the upper right corner.
  • Customer Details: Enter a customer name, and select a Customer Type by clicking the drop-down arrow. The type of customer drives what other fields are required. The customer name for an individual should generally be entered as First Name followed by Middle Name (if applicable) and Last Name. 
  • Tax Information: Entering Tax information is optional (UCD PPM 320-22), and should ONLY be entered in appropriately identified fields. The FEIN and SSN are encrypted in KFS; once entered, other KFS users won’t be able to “see” this data.
    • Check the Tax Exempt Indicator and complete the Resale/Tax Exempt Number field, if the customer is exempt from paying sales tax. Tax information should NOT be entered in the NOTES section of the Customer document or other fields.
  • Alternative Contacts: If there is a different contact person from the Customer, complete the Contact Name and Contact Phone Number fields. Enter at least one address for the Customer; if only one address is indicated, it should be identified as Address Type of Primary. If editing an existing Customer record, you can add additional addresses, but you should not create a new Customer record if all you need to do is add a new address for a Customer already in KFS.

Tips and Tricks

  • Search using wildcards: The customer’s name as you know it may not be entered that way. For example, if you know your customer as AMPAC and you just searched AMPAC, you wouldn’t find it because it is entered as AMPAC FINE CHEMICALS LLC. If you use the wildcard (*), as in *AMPAC*, you should find it.
  • Search the Customer Name field AND the Customer Address Name field: Some customers are part of a larger organization. For example, STATE OF CALIFORNIA has many departments. The Customer Name is STATE OF CALIFORNIA but the Customer Address Names are the departments (e.g., DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE). If you searched for DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE in the Customer Name field, you wouldn’t find it. However, if you searched the Customer Address Name field, you would.
  • Create versus Edit: If a customer does not exist in KFS, then click the Create New button. If the customer exists but not the address you need, or if a modification is needed, then click the Edit link. This is important because if you create a new record when you really only need to add another address, General Accounting can’t approve your document because doing so would create a new customer number.
  • Use standard abbreviations: For U.S. addresses, standard abbreviations include ST for Street, AVE for Avenue, and STE for Suite. Using standard abbreviations speeds the approval process. If you don’t know the abbreviations, it’s okay; General Accounting will modify your request before approving. A good place to verify address abbreviations is on the USPS Lookup screen.
  • Do not override existing records: If a customer has moved to a new address, use the Edit function to add an additional address and to complete the Address End Date field for the existing address. Do NOT write over top of the existing address. Use the Explanation or Notes and Attachments field to indicate that the customer moved from the existing address to a new address.
  • Attention Lines: If you need to address a customer invoice to a specific person in the company, enter it into the Attention Line Text field on your Customer Invoice document. You can also use the Header Text field on the Customer Invoice document. The only time you should include an attention line in your Customer document is when it’s a standard attention line that the customer always wants included on mail (e.g., ATTN: Accounts Payable).
  • Duplicates: If you find multiple customer records for the same customer, contact General Accounting. They will update one record so that it contains all of the valid addresses from the other records, and then inactivate the records that will no longer be used.  
  • Don’t include PO Box and Street address in the same address: If your customer has a PO Box and a street address, enter them as separate addresses on your Customer document. The PO Box usually has a 4-digit extension for zip code. For example, if the usual zip code is 95618, PO Box 2040 would be 95618-2040. PO Box 188 would be 95618-0188. A good place to verify a zip code is on the USPS Lookup screen.
  • Name changes: If a customer is changing names, contact General Accounting and explain the change. They will create the document to update the record to ensure that one address still contains the old name for auditing purposes.

Routing

Document routes to A&FS  for review and approval.