This form enables the location of a company for whom a quotation is to be created, by inputting sufficient descriptive text to identify the appropriate record. The text to be input can relate to either the company or the target name. If a record is not found then the facility is given to create a new marketing record.
Selecting the ellipsis (...) button immediately to the right of the Customer field gives access to the Marketing Customer Search form. This form is divided into a number of discrete areas which are as follows:
Contains two mutually exclusive option buttons which allow a customer search by either Company or Target.
There are three mutually exclusive option buttons which enable the search to be carried out in the following three separate ways:
- Magic Number
Each customer or target record has its own unique sequentially generated "magic" number. If this option button is selected a magic number may be entered in the field immediately to the right in order to directly access the customer/target record.
- Word Search
Selection of this option button gives access to a field that permits searches on up to three separate words (a minimum of three and maximum of eight characters long) which can be entered to identify the company or target concerned. Words are only searched on stem basis, and not on a contains basis i.e. if looking for a company or companies called Alpha Cars with an address in London, the operator can enter ALPHA in the first word and LOND in the second word, and expect the system to retrieve any matching records.
What cannot be entered are PHA and DON, as these are not the stems of the words ALPHA and LONDON. Words can be entered in any order, and the search is not case sensitive, so to find Alpha Cars in London, it is acceptable to enter LON followed by ALP. The following data is present in the word search index so far as marketing companies are concerned:
Company name, Address lines 1-5, Post code and the (up to) four phone numbers (Home,Work, Mobile and Fax).
- Short Name
Selection of this option button enables a quick search to be carried out on the on the first few characters of the shortname, initials, telephone number or postcode. Having selected the option button the appropriate four fields become available for entering the quick search criteria. The question marks denote "wild card" characters.
Confirms input of the above Details for Search criteria and proceeds with the search to locate the required customer displaying the results in the Search Display Window.
Initialises and clears the display of any search criteria entered so far.
Provides online access to context sensitive Help form.
If, when entering text to locate a company, no records are found which match the input selection criteria, then the input text is highlighted and the Create command button becomes available for selection. On selection a blank Customer Review form is presented prompting input of the appropriate details, via the Post Office Address Lookup File, which are then saved back to the Marketing module.
Once the shortname or wordsearch criteria have been entered and the Search command button clicked, the system displays a list of matching records meeting the selection criteria within the Search Display Window.
If the search has been performed against the company then a list of matching company names are displayed (if more than one records meets the selection criteria). To the left of the company name is a small square containing a "+" sign that denotes the company has one target or more linked to it. A single-left-click on the square expands the display to show all the targets linked to that company. Select the appropriate target with a double-left-click of the mouse and both the customer and target information are returned to the primary Quotations form.
If the search has been performed against the target then a list of matching target
names are displayed (with the company name immediately to the right) which meet the
selection criteria. Select the appropriate target with a double-left-click of the mouse
and both the customer and target information are returned to the primary
Quotationsform.
To search again, select the Clear command button to initialise the display and re-enter the selection criteria.