Customers

A customer represents a client who buys services from you. Each customer account tracks their contact details, billing settings, and payment history. Customers can have numbers and features attached, with one-off, recurring, and usage charges.

Key Features

• Store contact details, billing addresses, and payment methods
• Attach numbers and features to build up service records
• Track account status from active through to dropped
• Manage billing cycles, VAT rates, and credit limits

Field Reference

Customer Account Page

The customer account page has two sections:

• Left (or top): Customer details
• Right (or bottom): Summary information like phone numbers and invoices

In enhanced mode, you’ll see tabs with more details about numbers, invoices, payments, and other customer information.

Customer Details

The platform stores different types of customer information. You’ll see this information in sections when you add, view, or edit a customer.

Contact Details

This section includes:

• Name
• Address
• Contact numbers
• Email address

The customer’s name and address appear on their invoices.

Email Addresses

The system uses this email address to send bills. You can:

• Change the email address when sending bills manually
• Add multiple email addresses separated by commas

Account Details

Find your account settings here, including:

• Payment method
• VAT rate
• Account manager

Account Number

The platform creates a unique account number for each new customer. You can override this with your own number, but remember — each account number must be unique.

Billing Cycle

The billing cycle controls when the system creates invoices during billing runs.

Common cycles:

• Monthly: Invoice every month
• Quarterly: Invoice every three months
• Manual: No automatic invoices (you create them manually)

You can always create manual invoices regardless of the billing cycle.

Payment Terms

Payment terms set how many days customers have to pay their invoices.

How it works:

• Set specific terms for this customer
• Leave blank to use the default for their payment method
• Override by setting a due date when creating the invoice

Special options:

• Fixed day of month (e.g., 15th)
• Negative numbers count from month end (-1 = last day)

VAT Rate

Set the VAT rate for this customer. The system:

• Applies this rate to new transactions
• Updates transactions on Unsent and unapproved invoices if you change the rate
• Does not update transactions on approved invoices — see Correcting VAT on an Approved Invoice

Customer’s VAT Number

Enter the customer’s VAT number here. It appears on their invoices when required.

Customer Status

Customer status controls billing:

• Active: Normal billing
• Dropped: No billing, no charge accumulation
• Active - Do Not Bill: No automatic billing, but charges accumulate
• Final Bill: Bills remaining charges, then automatically drops the account when paid

Your system administrator can customise how these statuses work.

Dropped / Reinstated Date

Set this date when you drop or reinstate a customer. It tells the system when to stop or restart charging fees.

See Dropping Customers and Reinstating a Customer for more details.

Frontend Access

Control what customers can see in their self-care portal:

• Deny all access
• Allow access to specific reports
• Enable bill downloads
• Mix and match permissions as needed

Billing Details

Configure how this customer receives bills.

Empty or Low Invoices

What happens when charges are very low or zero?

Your options:

• Create an invoice anyway
• Roll charges forward to the next period
• Add a Low Usage Charge

Note: Final Bill customers always get an invoice, even if it’s empty.

Bill Style

Choose which brand to use for this customer’s bills (if you have multiple brands set up).

Bill Lengths

The system creates three versions of each invoice:

• Short: Summary only
• Long: More detail
• Full: Everything including graphs and itemisation

Configure which version to use for:

• Email attachments
• Downloads from MyAccount
• Printed bills for posting

Example: Email the short version but let customers download the full version from MyAccount.

Annual Increase Profile and Reference Date

When the annual-increases module is active, two fields track the customer’s annual price increase schedule:

• Annual Increase Profile: The type of increase that applies to this customer: CPI, RPI, Fixed Amount, or None.
• Annual Increase Reference Date: When the next annual increase is due.

These fields are for reference and reporting. They don’t trigger price changes automatically. See Price Increases for full details on applying increases to tariffs and standard features.

Credit Limit

Set a credit limit to manage financial risk. View all customers’ credit status in the credit limit report.

Default Tariff Details

Default tariffs set on the customer are inherited by all their numbers. Numbers can override these values individually. See Numbers for number-level settings and Call Tariffs for full details on how rating works.

Per-Class Markup

When a tariff has no rate for a particular call type, the platform can apply a percentage markup instead. Each call class (Inbound, National, Mobile, etc.) has its own markup field. The platform uses the best available cost base (suggested retail price, CDR cost, or carrier cost) to calculate the charge. Values set here act as defaults for all numbers on the account. See Rating priority for how this fits into the overall pricing chain.

Fallback Markup

If a call has no tariff rate and no per-class markup, the platform applies a fallback markup at billing time as a last resort. The fallback applies across all call classes. The platform checks for a fallback on the tariff first, then the number, then the customer. See Rating priority for the full chain.

Finding Customers

Viewing a Customer’s Details

Click any customer link to view their details. Customer links appear throughout the platform when viewing numbers, features, invoices, and other related items. Links are colour-coded to show the customer’s status.

In enhanced mode, hover over any customer link to see a summary tooltip. This lets you confirm you have the right customer without opening the full record.

Customer links also appear in reports that reference that customer, such as invoice reports.

Finding a Customer

To find a specific customer, use either SmartSearch or QuickSearch.

SmartSearch

The SmartSearch box appears in the left-hand menu on every page.

1. Enter your search terms (account number, customer name, company name, or a number on the account)
2. Press Enter or click the SmartSearch button

Results:

• Single customer match: Takes you directly to that customer
• Multiple customer matches: Shows a list. Click the customer you want.
• Single number match: Takes you to that number. Click the customer link in the left menu.
• Multiple number matches: Shows a list with customer links. Click through to the customer, or visit a number first to confirm it’s the right one.

QuickSearch

QuickSearch offers more search options than SmartSearch. Access it from the left-hand menu, the Index option, or the main menu.

1. Enter your search criteria. You can filter by account manager, billing cycle, payment method, and more. You can also search for numbers.
2. Click Search
3. Browse the results and click a customer link to view their details

If the customer you need isn’t listed, click Modify Search or the New Search link in the context menu.

Adding a New Customer

1. Optional: Check the customer doesn’t already exist using SmartSearch or QuickSearch
2. Click Add New Customer from the main menu
3. Optional: Load a set of default values using Default Values > Load in the menu bar
4. Enter the customer’s details. You don’t need to fill in everything at once. Missing details (such as an email address) can be added later. Make sure all details are complete before the first invoice is produced.
   • See the Field Reference section for details of the fields available.
5. Click Save. The customer details page appears so you can confirm everything is correct.
6. Optional: Add numbers that belong to this customer
7. Optional: Add features that belong to this customer but aren’t linked to any numbers

Default Values

Some fields (including billing cycle and payment method) are pre-filled when you add a new customer. You can save and manage multiple sets of default values to speed up data entry. See Managing Default Values for full details.

Editing a Customer

1. View the customer and click Edit
2. Make the changes you need
   • See the Field Reference section for details of the fields available
3. Click Save

What happens:

• If you changed the VAT rate, transactions on Unsent and unapproved invoices are updated to match. Approved invoices are not affected — unapprove them first if they need correcting.
• Optional: Recreate or resend any invoices if you changed the customer’s contact details

Dropping and Reinstating Customers

To drop or reinstate a customer, use the Actions menu on the customer view. The platform provides dedicated actions for this, each with their own form:

• Actions menu > Final Bill Customer: The standard way to cancel a customer. Sends a final invoice and closes the account once all payments are received.
• Actions menu > Drop Customer: Immediately stops all billing. Use when you need to stop charges straight away.
• Actions menu > Reinstate Customer: Reactivates a dropped account, with the option to restore numbers and features.

See the Dropping Customers and Reinstating a Customer sections for step-by-step instructions.

Note: These instructions use the default customer statuses. If your statuses have been customised, adjust accordingly.

Dropping Customers

When a customer leaves, you have two ways to close their account. Final Bill is recommended for most cases. Drop Customer is for when you need to stop billing straight away.

Important: Both options handle billing only. You still need to disconnect services with your provider.

Final Bill Customer (Recommended)

Sends a final invoice and closes the account once all payments are received. This is the standard way to cancel customers.

When to use: Customer cancellations, contract ends, business closures.

Steps:

1. View the customer
2. Click Actions menu > Final Bill Customer
3. Fill in the action form:

Required:

• Final Bill Date: The last date charges should apply

Optional:

• Cancellation Notice Given: The date the customer told you they were leaving
• Status Reason: Why the account is closing

4. Click Final Bill Customer

What happens:

• Numbers and features stay active but get an end date set based on the final bill date
• The platform adds charges up to the final bill date, or refunds if you’ve already billed beyond it. Usage charges after that date are also refunded.
• Usage charges continue if they fall within the active period of the call plans
• A final invoice is produced during the next billing run
• Invoices keep being produced each billing run until no new charges remain and the balance is cleared
• The platform drops the customer fully during the first billing run after the balance reaches zero
• Once dropped, no further usage charges are allocated, even for calls within the original active period

Example: Customer calls on 15th January to cancel on 31st January. Use Actions menu > Final Bill Customer and set the Final Bill Date to 31/01/2025.

Drop Customer

Immediately stops all billing. Use when you need to stop charges straight away and will handle any final invoice manually.

When to use: Urgent stops, non-payment, immediate cancellation needed.

Steps:

1. View the customer
2. Click Actions menu > Drop Customer
3. Fill in the action form:

Required:

• Drop Date: The last date charges should apply

Optional:

• Cancellation Notice Given: The date the customer told you they were leaving
• Status Reason: Why the account is closing
• Ignore Traffic Number Type: How to handle remaining call traffic on the account

4. Click Drop Customer

What happens:

• All active numbers and features on the account are dropped
• The platform adds charges up to the drop date, or refunds if you’ve already billed beyond it. Usage charges after that date are also refunded.
• No further usage charges are allocated to this account, even for calls within the original active period
• The platform does not produce invoices for dropped customers during billing runs. If a final invoice is needed, raise one manually.

Example: Customer calls on 15th January to cancel immediately. Use Actions menu > Drop Customer and set the Drop Date to 15/01/2025.

Reinstating a Customer

If a dropped customer returns, you can either create a new account or reactivate their old one. Reactivating restores their previous numbers and features from a date you choose.

Steps:

1. View the dropped customer
2. Click Actions menu > Reinstate Customer
3. Fill in the action form:

Required:

• Reinstate Date: The date you want to reinstate from

Optional:

• Status Reason: Why the account is being reactivated
• Also Reinstate Number/Features Dropped On: Set this to the date the customer was originally dropped, and the platform reinstates all numbers and features that were dropped on that date. Leave this empty if you don’t want to reactivate old numbers and features.

4. Click Reinstate Customer

What happens:

• The customer status changes to Active
• If you set the “Also Reinstate Number/Features Dropped On” date, all numbers and features that were dropped on that date are made active again with their end dates removed
• If the reinstate date is in the past, the platform adds back-dated recurring charges
• The customer is billed as normal from the next billing run

Tip: To bill any back-dated charges straight away, raise a manual invoice after reinstating.

Deleting a Customer

You can permanently delete a customer’s account and all their historical data. This is intended for accounts created by mistake (for example, accidental duplicates) or for data protection requests.

Important: Deletion removes all historical data and prevents simple reactivation. This action requires Data Protection permissions.

Before you start: Save copies of any invoices or correspondence you need. These won’t be available from the platform once the customer is deleted.

Steps:

1. Make sure the customer is dropped
2. Click Actions menu > Delete. If you can’t see this option, either the account is still active or you don’t have delete permissions.
3. The customer is marked for deletion in 30 days. During this period the deletion can be reversed. After 30 days, all data is permanently removed.