Preliminary configuration
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration
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# Preliminary configuration
About preliminary configuration
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/about-preliminary-configuration
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You need to perform the following steps before you start setting up customer accounts:
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# About preliminary configuration
You need to perform the following steps before you start setting up customer accounts:
Visma Net provides multiple tools that you can use to successfully interact with your customers and to maintain accurate and up-to-date information about these customers.
Before you begin entering customer accounts, you need to perform certain planning and configuration tasks. In this topic, you will read about the steps you should perform before you start setting up customer accounts.
## Overview of the preliminary configuration process
1. You plan customer accounts and the supporting entities. During this step, you will not yet act upon your plans; you are gathering information and making decisions that will affect configuration.
1. You set up the entities you need for successful management of customer accounts.
1. You set up the customer classes that will make it easier for users to set up accounts.
1. You adjust the settings of the Customer ledger workspace to ease the entry and maintenance of customer accounts.
After you have finished the preliminary configuration, setting up customer accounts is a quick and easy process.
Related pages
Concepts
Windows
Visma Net entities needed for customer account setup
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/visma-net-entities-needed-for-customer-account-setup
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Before you start setting up customer accounts in Visma Net, you need to configure the entities that will ease the processes of customer account creation and maintenance.
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# Visma Net entities needed for customer account setup
Before you start setting up customer accounts in Visma Net, you need to configure the entities that will ease the processes of customer account creation and maintenance.
Before you start setting up customer accounts in Visma Net, you need to configure the entities that will ease the processes of customer account
creation and maintenance.
As you configure these entities, you should use the information
that you gathered when you planned customer accounts.
In this topic, you will find the list of Visma Net entities you need to configure to ease the processes of customer account creation and maintenance. Some of these entities are required, while others are optional, as indicated in the list.
## Needed Visma Net entities
The needed entities in Visma Net may include the following:
+ Customer identifiers (optional): You should make sure that the segmented key used as a template for identifiers of customer accounts suits your needs, and adjust the **BIZACCT** segmented key (or the **CUSTOMER** key) if needed.
+ General ledger accounts (required): You need to create the general ledger accounts and subaccounts (if applicable) to be used to record sales and cash discounts, unless you plan to use accounts and subaccounts that already exist. You will need to select these already-defined accounts when you create customer accounts. For details, see: [Add an account to the chart of accounts](/visma-net-erp/help/general-ledger/manage-chart-of-accounts/add-an-account-to-the-chart-of-accounts/).
+ Statement cycle (required): You need to set up at least one statement cycle that will be assigned to a customer class (and therefore to all customers that are assigned to this class). For details, see: [Statement cycles - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/statement-cycles/statement-cycles-overview/).
+ Payment methods (required): You need to define at least one payment method to be used for customer payments. For details, see: [Manage payment methods - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/cash-management/manage-payment-methods/managing-payment-methods-overview/).
+ Payment terms (optional): You should set up each needed set of payment terms that will define the due dates of documents. When you set up customer classes, you can assign the appropriate payment terms to classes, which in turn will cause the payment terms to be assigned by default to all new customers of this class. For details, see: [About payment terms](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/payment-terms/about-payment-terms/).
+ Overdue charges (optional): You can set up overdue charges, which define additional charges that customers will incur for open documents that are past due and assign the charges to a customer class (which causes them to be assigned by default to all new customers of this class). For details, see: [About overdue charges](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/overdue-charges/about-overdue-charges/).
+ Mailings (optional): You can set up multiple mailings to notify customers about their balances, invoices, sales orders, and other information you want to send to customers on a regular basis. For details, see: [About mailings for customers](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-mailings/about-mailings-for-customers/).
## Next steps in preliminary configuration
When you have finished creating the entities mentioned above, you should proceed with
setting up customer classes, which are a key entity in Visma Net. Customer classes are used to provide default values, thus speeding the creation of
customer accounts and other customer classes.
See [About customer classes](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/about-customer-classes/) for details about how to determine which classes you want to create, how to create these classes, and what default values they provide.
Related pages
Concepts
About customer classes
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/about-customer-classes
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A customer class groups customers that have similar characteristics.
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# About customer classes
A customer class groups customers that have similar characteristics.
A customer class groups customers that have similar characteristics.
You can divide customers
into classes based on the types of goods or services the customers buy or on other properties,
such as the customers' currency and payment methods.
You specify a customer class when you create a customer account, which causes the system to fill in the values of the class for the customer. Any of these default values can be overridden.
Generally, the first customer class you define is the default customer class.
When you create
a customer class, the values of the default customer class are automatically filled in, but any
of them can be overridden. The default customer class is initially specified as the customer
class for a new customer account, but you can change it to any other class.
In this topic, you will read about the default customer class, customer classes in general, and the default values provided by customer classes. Separate sections describe the currency and printing settings that are provided by the customer class.
## Default customer class
When you set up customer classes, we recommend that you first create the default customer class: the customer class that has values that are shared by most customer classes and customers. You define the default customer class (and all other classes) in the [Customer classes (AR201000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-classes-ar201000/) window, and then specify the class as your default customer class in the [Customer ledger preferences (AR101000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-ledger-preferences-ar101000/) window.
When you create a new customer class, the elements of this class will be automatically populated with the values specified for the default customer class, which speeds data entry. You can override these values as needed.
## Other customer classes
You also create non-default customer classes by using the
Customer classes window.
As mentioned above, when you create a customer class, it is initially
populated with the values of the default customer class, any of which can be overridden.
In addition to using the default customer class, you can create a new customer class based on
an existing customer class by using commands from the **Edit** menu in the
Customer classes window.
You can copy the settings of a particular customer class and
paste them to create another class, or you can create a template for multiple similar customer
classes.
## Default values provided by the customer class
Customer classes provide default values for individual customer accounts, so users can create customer accounts more easily.
When you create a customer class, you must specify the class ID and description, and you can decide which additional elements to specify for the class, including the following:
+ General settings: The country of customers, the taxation settings (including the VAT zone for the class), and the salesperson responsible for dealing with customers of the class
+ Delivery elements: The carrier whose services will be used, and the shipping terms
+ Credit verification settings: The credit verification rules and the credit limit
+ Financial settings: The Payment info from AutoPay payment terms, the statement cycle, the payment method, the overdue charges, and the currency
+ Print and email details: The statement type; whether customers' documents should be sent electronically or by postal mail
+ General ledger accounts: The accounts from the chart of accounts and the subaccounts (if any) to be used to record your operations with the customers of the class
+ Mailings: The list of mailings to which you want to subscribe customers of the class
When you create a new customer account by using the [Customers (AR303000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customers-ar303000/) window, by default, the elements of this window have the values that
were specified for the default customer class. If the new customer should be assigned to a more
specific class, select the class, which changes the default values to those that were specified
for the selected class.
You can override any value provided by the class.
With customers, as with classes, you can use the copy-and-paste functionality to create
similar customer accounts.
If you have to override many values of the customer account similarly
for multiple customers, consider creating a new customer class with those values specified.
## Default currency settings
A customer class can hold the default currency and the default currency rate to be used for
customer accounts.
We recommend that you select a foreign currency for a customer class only if
most customers of the class use this currency.
By default, users may not override the currency
on customer documents, to reduce the chance of input errors related to currency choice. If some
customers may use a non-default currency and non-default rate type on individual documents, you
can allow currency and rate overriding for those customers by selecting the **Enable currency override** and **Enable rate override** check boxes in
the Customers window.
If want to allow override of the currency and the rate by default for all customers of the class, select these check boxes in the Customer classes window for the customer class.
## Default printing and emailing settings
A customer class can provide the default settings that permit or deny mass-printing and
emailing of invoices, notes, and statements. Settings that control printing and emailing
preferences of customers are located under the **Print and email settings**
section on the **Invoicing settings** tab of the Customer classes window. For instance, if you want to be able to print at once the invoices for all customers of
a customer class by using the Send invoices window, you must select the
**Print invoices** check box for the customer class. This makes the
documents of these customers available for mass-printing.
You can override this setting for
individual customers of the class, if needed.
## Preferred locale setting
You can group the customers who prefer the same language to one customer class.
For this
class, you specify a locale that is associated with the language in the
**Locale** field of the Customer classes window.
> [!NOTE]
> The system will assign the locale to the new customer accounts automatically when you select the customer class for the account in the Customers window. For existing customers, you need to manually select the preferred locale for each account.
Assigning a locale to a customer account allows you to print documents for the customer in preferred language.
## Next steps in preliminary configuration
Once you have defined the default customer class and all other customer classes that will be used to ease the entry of new customer accounts, you have defined all the Visma Net entities that you need to set up before you begin creating customer accounts. Next, you need to consider Customer ledger settings as they relate to customer management and make any needed adjustments, as described in [About adjusting customer ledger preferences](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/about-adjusting-customer-ledger-preferences/).
Related pages
Concepts
Tasks
Windows
About adjusting customer ledger preferences
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/about-adjusting-customer-ledger-preferences
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Initial configuration of the Customer ledger workspace was performed during implementation.
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# About adjusting customer ledger preferences
Initial configuration of the Customer ledger workspace was performed during implementation.
Initial configuration of the Customer ledger workspace was performed during
implementation.
This topic describes settings in the
[Customer ledger preferences (AR101000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-ledger-preferences-ar101000/) window that you should reconsider because they control customer settings and
your interactions with customers. You should review these settings, which are described
below, and change them as needed before you begin setting up customer accounts.
## Speeding data entry
To help make data entry easier and more error-proof, you can use the following settings in the Customer ledger preferences window:
Default customer class ID
: Here you specify the customer class whose values are shared by most customer classes and customers. Then when you create a new customer class or a new customer account, the corresponding elements in the window will be populated with the values of the default customer class automatically, thus speeding data entry. (You should have already specified the default customer class, as described in Customer classes, and used it to ease the creation of other customer classes.)
Combine sales sub. from
: In this field, you can specify the rule to create the default sales subaccount (if subaccounts are used in your system) for use on customer ledger documents. This default subaccount can have its values for different segments taken from different subaccounts related to the document. For each segment of the resulting sales subaccount, you can specify from which subaccount, such as the company's branch, customer location, stock item, or employee account, the segment value should be copied. For details, see: [About combined subaccounts](/visma-net-erp/help/general-ledger/manage-subaccounts/about-combined-subaccounts/).
Balance write-off reason
: and **Credit write-off reason code**: In these fields, you specify the reason codes to be used by default for writing off credits and balances. The system will fill in the reason codes specified here in the **Reason code** field in the [Write-off balances and credits (AR505000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/write-off-balances-and-credits-ar505000/) window when you select the type of write-off operation, as well as in the [Customer payments (AR302000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-payments-ar302000/) window. For details on write-off functionality, see: [Write-off methods - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/write-off-methods/write-off-methods-overview/).
## Managing credit policy
To configure the options related to implementing your company's credit policy for all customers, you can specify the following settings:
Hold document on failed credit check
: You select this check box if you want new invoices and notes to be placed on hold for customers that have failed the credit check. If the check box is not selected, new documents can be saved and processed regardless of the credit check result, although the system warns the user about the customers that have failed their credit check. For details on credit verification, see [About credit verification](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/about-credit-verification/).
Age credits
: You select this check box if you want the balances of credit notes and open payments to be taken into account when a customer statement is generated. For details, see [Statement cycles - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/statement-cycles/statement-cycles-overview/).
Set default overdue charges by statement cycle
: You select this check box to use the overdue charges specified for the statement cycle assigned to a customer account instead of the overdue charges specified for the customer class that is also assigned to the customer account.
Calculate on overdue charges documents
: You select this check box if you want overdue charges to be calculated on overdue charge documents as well as on invoices.
Apply payments to overdue charges first
: You select this check box if you have enabled automatic payment application for a customer account or you have selected the **Auto-apply payments** check box in the [Customers (AR303000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customers-ar303000/) window and want new payments to be applied first to overdue charges and then to outstanding invoices. For details on the processing of overdue charges, see [About overdue charges](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-credit-policy/overdue-charges/about-overdue-charges/).
## Printing and emailing documents
To make the printing and emailing of invoices and notes a required step before these
documents are released, you should select the following check boxes: **Require invoice/note printing before release** and **Require invoice/note emailing before release**. When you create an invoice for a customer that
prefers to receive a printed copy of the documents or the **Print invoices** check box is selected for the customer in the Customers window, the invoice is created with the
**Pending print** status.
After you have printed the invoice, its status is changed to
**Balanced** and you can release it. To print customer ledger documents, use the [Send invoices (AR508000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/send-invoices-ar508000/) window.
## Preparing consolidating statements and dunning letters
Depending on the policies established in your company, you can prepare a single
consolidated statement for each customer or prepare multiple statements for each branch of
your company.
To prepare consolidated statements for all customers, select the
**Consolidate statements for all branches** check box, and in the **Statement from branch** field, select the branch that will be specified as the sender.
You can prepare consolidated dunning letters as well.
To prepare consolidated dunning
letters for all customers, select the **Consolidate dunning letters for all branches**
check box, and in the **Dunning letter from branch** field, select the branch that will be
specified as the sender.
## Managing mailings
To inform your customers of past-due invoices, purchase debit notes, and overdue charges, you can
configure the sequence of dunning letters on the **Dunning settings** tab of the [Customer ledger preferences (AR101000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-ledger-preferences-ar101000/) window.
You can specify the sending criteria for
each letter in the sequence.
Also, you can define the number of days you offer a customer to
settle the due document before the next letter is sent.
If a customer account has at least
one due document that meets the specified criteria, you can prepare and send a dunning
letter. Note that you need to configure a corresponding mailing to be able to prepare and
send dunning letters.
For details, see [Manage dunning letters - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-dunning-letters/manage-dunning-letters-overview/).
To inform your customers of new invoices, their balance, and the expiration of a credit
card, you can configure multiple mailings. The list of predefined mailings is available on
the **Mailing settings** tab of the [Customer ledger preferences (AR101000)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-ledger-preferences-ar101000/) window.
On this tab, you can modify the list of mailings as it to be copied to a new customer class
and configure the basic settings of each mailing. Also, if the Inventory workspace is
activated, the mailings listed on the **Mailing settings** tab of the [Sales order preferences (SO101000)](/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-order-preferences-so101000/) window are also copied to a new customer
class.
For details on configuring mailings, see [Manage mailings - overview](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-mailings/manage-mailings-overview/).
## Proceeding with customer account setup
Now that you have finished with the preliminary configuration steps, you can easily and efficiently create customer accounts, as described in [About customer account setup](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/about-customer-account-setup/).
Related pages
Concepts
Windows
Add customer locations
/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/manage-customers/preliminary-configuration/add-customer-locations
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# Add customer locations
1. Go to the [Customer locations (CR303010)](/visma-net-erp/help/customer-ledger/customer-ledger-windows/customer-locations-cr303010/) window.
1. Click  to select the customer you want to add a location for. The main location defined in the **Customers** window is displayed in the window.
1. Click  to add a new location for this customer.
1. In the **Location ID** field, enter an ID for the new location. You can use both letters and numbers.
1. On the **General information** tab, deselect the **Same as main** check boxes if you want to enter new information in the **Location contact** and the **Location address** sections.
1. Fill in the other optional fields that you want to use for this specific location.
1. Go to the **General ledger accounts** tab and specify the general ledger accounts if necessary. Deselect the **Same as default location** check box to change the accounts.
1. Click .
Related pages
Concepts
Windows