Solid Know How™

Answer: Customer Route Groups (CRG) are numbers that can be assigned to customer records to group them together for purposes of sales, reporting, routing, and many other grouping needs. By assigning a single Customer Route Group to a mobile unit record, for  example, only customers belonging to that CRG will be visible on route sales person’s handheld computer, which speeds up how quickly they can find the stop that they’re at from within their customer list. Multiple CRGs can be assigned to a single mobile unit record and a single CRG can be assigned to multiple mobile unit records, allowing for great amount of flexibility in assigning customers to route sales people. To learn how to create and assign new CRGs read the instructions below for the Solid Route Accounting business system being used.

Customer Route Groups can also be used to report on all customers assigned to them by various reports throughout Solid Route Accounting business systems. They're also useful for assigning groups of customers to Special Price Lists for seasonal sales, permanent discounts, or item exclusivity through an Approved Product List for Enterprise Edition users. For more information regarding using CRGs in this way, view the tutorials or read further information about these features, for the Solid Route Accounting business system being used.

Enterprise Edition Users:
To create a new Customer Route Group:

1. In Solid Business Central, navigate to [Datafile / Customer / Route Group], and use the [Insert] key to add a new record.
2. Enter in a ‘Code’ for this CRG, as well as a ‘Description’. If this is all the information needed, use [CTRL+END] to save this new record.
3. If using the General Ledger, an ‘Account’ for this CRG can be given, or it can be blocked from integration to the General Ledger by setting the ‘Integration Block’ field to Y.
4. Optionally, the ‘Print Information’ field is where a message can be written to print on special invoice types I1, I2, S1, and S2, which will print above and to the right of the company name.

1. In Solid Business Central, navigate to [Datafile / Customer / View] and view the desired customer record.
2. Use [F2 – Edit] to make changes to this record, and in the ‘RT’ field enter in the desired CRG number. Save the change with [CTRL+END].

To view these steps via Video Tutorial, click here to view Datafile Entry – Customer Records, and view the ‘Route Groups’ section.

To control what customers show on the handheld computers by assigning CRGs to mobile unit records:

1. In Solid Business Central, navigate to [Datafile / Cost Center / Mobile] and view the mobile unit record that needs to be adjusted.
2. Use [F2 – Edit] to make changes to the record, and find the ‘Customer Groups to Load’ field at the top, mid screen. Beneath this text is the field where CRGs can be specified.
   • To load all CRGs onto this mobile unit record, the word ‘ALL’ can be simply entered here.
   • To specify a single group, simply enter in that CRG’s number (ex: ‘001’).
   • To specify a range, separate the beginning and end number for the range with a dash (ex: ‘001-004’).
   • To specify multiple individual groups, separate them with commas (ex: ‘001,003,004’).
3. Once entered, use [CTRL+END] to save any changes, and sync the handheld computer to apply them to Solid Sales Pro.

To assign existing customers to a CRG:

1. In the QuickBooks Company file, from the customer list edit the desired customer record.
2. In the ‘Additional Info’ tab, if a ‘RouteGroup’ field does not already exist in the ‘Custom Fields’, click on [Define Fields].
3. As a ‘Label’, enter in ‘RouteGroup’ (capitalization and no-space matter), and put a checkmark in the ‘Customers:Jobs’ check box before clicking on [OK] to add this new custom field.
4. Back in the ‘Edit Customer’ window under the ‘Additional Info’ tab, the new ‘RouteGroup’ field should now be available for all customer records.
5. For each customer record, enter in a three digit Customer Route Group number for them to belong to, and use [OK] to apply it.

To view these steps via Video Tutorial, click here to view Session#1 QuickBooks Preparation, and view section ‘c. Customer Route Groups’.

To control what customers show on the handheld computers by assigning CRGs to mobile unit records:

1. In Solid Mobile Central, navigate to [Mobile / Information] and view the mobile unit record that needs to be adjusted.
2. In the ‘Customer Routes’ field set the route groups to load.
   • To load all CRGs onto this mobile unit record, the word ‘ALL’ can be simply entered here.
   • To specify a single group, simply enter in that CRG’s number (ex: ‘001’).
   • To specify multiple individual groups, separate them with commas (ex: ‘001,003,004’).
3. Once entered, [Apply] any changes, and sync the handheld computer to apply them to Solid Sales Pro.

Microsoft GP Dynamics Edition,
Dynamic 3i Edition,
FACTS Edition,
Eyewear Genetics Edition,
Integration Edition Users:
The required layout information is provided by the office accounting system. Please contact a Solid Innovation Product Specialist for further information regarding what Customer Route Group options may be available for this accounting software.