Uploading Customers
Your customer data may reside in a separate file from that of your orders, which you want to upload directly into the application.
To upload customers, select the Configuration option from the main menu.
Select Upload Customers.
Click Choose File. A preview of the file is loaded and displayed.
Click the Upload button to proceed with loading customers into the application.
From the Customer Management menu options, users can add, edit or configure customer entries in the application through the user interface. Depending on internal processes and/or procedures, the Customer Management menu option may or may not be displayed within the website application.
Adding Customers
Select Customer Management > Add.
Enter the customer information into their respective input fields. Items marked in bold are required and must be entered.
Click the Save button to add the customer record.
Searching for Customers
From the main menu, select Customer Management > Search.
Enter the applicable search criteria and click the Search button. The Search Results - Customer page appears with the associated results in the event more than a single customer record matches the search criteria entered.
To edit a customer, click the pencil icon to display the Edit Customer page.
To geocode a customer, click the map icon to display the Geocode Customer page.
Editing Customer Information
From the Search Results - Customer page, click the pencil icon for the desired customer. From this page, users can edit the data for the customer, geocode the customer, and view the customer's location on a map. The top portion of the page displays buttons to access the Current information, History, and Fixed Route tabs. In addition, the user who created the customer and the date on which the customer record was created are displayed. If the geocode has been edited, the user information that performed the edit is displayed beside the Latitude field with the previous Latitude/Longitude information that was changed in the event it needs to be reverted.
The History tab displays data on changes to the current customer profile.
The Fixed Route tab is displayed when the Fixed Routes & Territories feature is active. It details the customer's fixed route group and route details. Users can choose columns, export, and print data.
Make the necessary changes and click Save.
Geocode Locked Indicator
Starting in version 25.07, the Geocode Locked feature indicates whether a customer’s geocode (latitude, longitude, GPS fence width) can be edited. When the lock icon is green and open, the geocode fields are unlocked and can be changed. When the lock icon is closed and red, the fields are locked, greyed out, and cannot be edited. To toggle the geocode lock, click the lock icon. This will switch between locked and unlocked, allowing you to protect or update the location as needed.
Tracking Customer Changes
The Latitude, Longitude, and GPS Fence Width values can be changed from the Edit Customer page. When a change is made, the previous value and the user who made the respective change are tracked and displayed.
To track customer changes:
From the Edit Customer page, change the value of a coordinate-related field (Latitude, Longitude, GPS Fence Width) and click the Save button.
The previous value is displayed. Additionally, you can see who made the change and the date/timestamp of when the change was made.
To restore the previous value, click Revert Previous Geocode/Revert Previous GPS Fence Width and Save.
Displaying Customers on the Map
Displaying a customer on the map allows you to see if the customer's placement is accurate and determine if the GPS Fence Width (if one exists for the customer) is sufficient.
To display the customer on the map:
From the Edit Customer page, click the Map Location icon () in the upper left corner.
The box around the customer location represents the GPS Fence Width that has been configured/set against the customer record. If the Latitude, Longitude, or GPS Fence Width was changed on the Edit Customer page and saved, you must click the Refresh button to display the respective change(s) on the map. Click the Close button to close the window.
Deleting Private Data
Some customers may want their data to be forgotten. A Descartes representative will configure the fields the customer intends to mask to configure this feature. A client_admin user can then search for a specific customer and click the Delete Private Data button to forget the data that was configured to be masked.
From the Edit Customer page, click Delete Private Data and click OK to the message.
The configured fields are masked.
Viewing Ungeocoded Customers
From the main menu, select Customer Management > Ungeocoded.
For the location you currently reside in, a list of all current customer location records that have not been geocoded is displayed.
Geocoding a Customer
From the Ungeocoded Customers page, select the
icon for a customer. The Geocode Customer page appears.
Edit the address information. Editing the customer information does not change the customer record itself. Changes are only made to locate a geocode for the record on the map.
Once the changes have been made, click Geocode to validate. A list of associated results will appear, with those with the highest percentage for a match will appear first.
The listed results also appear on the map, represented by blue pin drops with the corresponding result number. Once a result is selected (either on the map or the list), it will appear in bright pink.If the original customer information obtained during the import process must be restored, click Reset Fields.
If the customer’s current geocode information needs to be removed and the location coordinates need to be set to default, click Delete. This operation does not delete the customer from the system; it only deletes the current geocode values.
To remove any changes that have not yet been saved and close the window, click Cancel.
If the results given after geocoding are acceptable and one has been selected, click Save.
Geocoding Customers
From the main menu, select Customer Management > Geocode. The Geocoder page appears.
Select the region from the Region/Location. The right side of the page displays the map of the location. You can switch to the new map interface by clicking Try New Map. The upper left section allows the user to search for customers. The lower bottom section displays the list of ungeocoded customers and depots in its respective tab.
From the Ungeocoded Customers tab, right-click on a customer and select Geocode. The Geocode Customer appears. Users can edit the customer information from this window and copy and paste comma-separated latitude and longitude values (generated from other map applications) into the Latitude field. The system will recognize the comma and populate the Latitude and Longitude fields accordingly. Edits made in this window are only for geocoding purposes; the customer record has not been changed. The Reset Fields button will restore the default information for the customer record to the associated fields.
Click the Geocode button to run an attempt and geocode the customer. A list of results may appear where applicable. The listed results also appear on the map, represented as blue pin icons with the corresponding result number. Once a result is selected (either on the map or list), it will appear bright pink. The user can also manually change the geocode's position on the map by right-clicking and selecting Geocode Here at the desired location. This option will create a new icon on the map with the symbol ‘U’ (user-defined) and display the stop information in the results list.
Click the desired result to populate the latitude and longitude information automatically.
Click the Save button when finished. Clicking Delete removes the customer’s current geocode and sets the pre-existing coordinates to none. The Delete button only removes the geocode, not the customer record. Clicking Cancel removes any changes that have not been saved and navigates back to the list of ungeocoded customers.