Customer definitions entity
The Customers definitions entity supports creating and updating customers; and includes the most common fields for a typical customer.
When to use this entity
Use the Customer definitions entity as the default entity for importing customers as long as it contains the necessary fields, or the missing fields can be added from the existing data sources, and when performance is a high priority.
Summary
| Type | Name |
|---|---|
| Data management entity name | Customer definitions |
| OData public entity | CustomerBase |
| OData public collection | CustomersBase |
| Related menu items | Accounts receivable / Customers / All customers |
| Related entities | Customers V3, Customer details V2 |
| Performance pattern | Multiple threads supported – Recommendation is to set Import threshold record count to 1000 and set Import task count to 8. For more information, see Parallel imports. |
| Application Object Tree (AOT) name | CustCustomerBaseEntity |
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| CUSTOMERACCOUNT | Specifies the primary key. The autogenerate mapping option can be used to use the next default value. This field is required. |
| ADDRESSCITY | Specifies a foreign key to the Cities entity. |
| ADDRESSCOUNTRYREGIONID | Specifies a foreign key to the Country/regions entity. This field is required when the ADDRESSDESCRIPTION is included. |
| ADDRESSCOUNTY | Specifies a foreign key to the Counties entity. |
| ADDRESSSTATE | Specifies a foreign key to the States entity. |
| ADDRESSZIPCODE | Specifies a foreign key to the Postal codes V3 entity. |
| CUSTOMERGROUPID | Specifies a foreign key to the Customer groups entity. This field is required. |
| DEFAULTDIMENSIONDISPLAYVALUE | This field isn't supported. Use the Customer details V2 entity instead. |
| INVOICEACCOUNT | This field isn't supported. Use the Customer details V2 entity instead. |
| NAME | Specifies the customer's name if PARTYTYPE is Organization. It's ignored if PARTYTYPE is Person. This field is required, even when the PARTYTYPE is Person. |
| PARTYTYPE | Specifies the type of the customer. The allowed values are Organization and Person. If this field isn't specified, the default value is Organization. |
| PAYMENTMETHOD | Specifies a foreign key to the Customer payment method entity. |
| PAYMENTTERMS | Specifies a foreign key to the Terms of payment entity. |
| PERSONFIRSTNAME PERSONMIDDLENAME PERSONLASTNAME |
These fields specify the customer's name if PARTYTYPE is Person. One of these fields is required if PARTYTYPE is Person. |
| SALECURRENCYCODE | Specifies the default currency. Specifies a foreign key to the Currencies entity. This field is required. |
| SALESTAXGROUP | Specifies a foreign key to the Sales tax groups entity. |
Issues and considerations
The Customers definitions entity, when combined with the Customer details V2 entity, supports most of the same functionality as the Customers V3 entity. The highest performance can usually be achieved by using a combination of the Customer definitions and Customer details V2 entities. In most cases, using one of those other entities, or even using both of them, one after the other, will outperform using the Customers V3 entity.
The Customers definitions entity is compatible with the Customers V3 entity for most fields, except that ORGANIZATIONNAME is renamed to NAME for the Customers definitions entity.
The Customer definitions entity shouldn't be customized to add more data sources.
Example: Customer that is an organization
The following fields are required to create a customer that is an organization.
CUSTOMERACCOUNT
PARTYTYPE
NAME
SALESCURRENCYCODE
CUSTOMERGROUPID
Example: Customer that is a person
The following fields are required to create a customer that is a person.
CUSTOMERACCOUNT
PARTYTYPE
PERSONFIRSTNAME
PERSONMIDDLENAME
PERSONLASTNAME
SALESCURRENCYCODE
CUSTOMERGROUPID
NAME
Note
Only one of the person name fields is required.