Tuesday Tips – Part 2 of How to Rename Customer Fields & Customer Profile Codes

If you did your homework, then you have come up with some unique attributes that you would like to track about your customers using either Microsoft RMS Store Operations or NCR CounterPoint point of sale programs.

This is a bit more complex so please make sure that you have backed up your software database before making any changes. Remember, these new names for some of the customer fields need to be consistent and beneficial to you in regards to what unique information you want to track. You may want to review part 1 by clicking here.

We are going to start with Microsoft RMS Store Operations. In RMS Manager, you want to go to “file” and then “configuration” and then click on the “captions” button. You should end up with a screen looking like this:

From here you can just type in what you want to name some or all of the customer custom fields. Note that you can have 5 Text, 5 Numerical, and 5 Date fields. When you are done, click “OK”. Note that each POS station must be restarted in order for the changes to take place.

Now on to NCR CounterPoint. You need to make sure that you have:

1. Security permissions to make profile code changes
2. That Customer Profile Codes are turned "on" (so the tab appears in the customer information)
3. You are familiar with how the Data Dictionary works in NCR CounterPoint

Select Setup > Customers > Profile Codes to display the Customer Profile Codes window. This window allows you to define valid profile codes that you can assign to profile fields to further describe each of your customers. You can also use this window to specify the Code profile field(s) on the Profiles tab of the Customers window for which each profile code is valid.

Each customer profile code defines a characteristic or trait that you can assign to each customer record. For example, a sporting goods store might track the sport in which each customer is interested, using profile codes such as TENNIS, GOLF, FOOTBALL, SOCCER, and so forth.
Depending on your Customer Control settings, you can assign up to five profile codes to each customer, using the Code profile fields on the Profiles tab of the Customers window. The Data Dictionary window allows you to modify the labels for these fields to indicate the type of information you are tracking in each field.

You can also use profile codes to provide a YES or NO response to a customer-related question. For example, to track whether your customers wish to receive mailings from your store, you might use the label "Mailing list?" for one Code profile field and assign YES and NO profile codes as valid choices for the profile field.

To enable the Code profile fields on the Profiles tab of the Customers window, you must select the corresponding Use code profile check boxes on the Customer Control window.

So in NCR CounterPoint, you also need to make sure that the Code Profiles are clicked on (and you have security privileges to change/add Customer Profile Codes):

 

And related to the Data Dictionary Security Settings:

Customize Data Dictionary

Select this check box to allow users with this system security code to access the Data Dictionary window to modify custom data dictionary entries.

You must also click the "Enable Customizations" box in User Preferences as well:



You should grant this authorization only to those users who need the ability to configure field labels, settings, and behavior.
The Data Dictionary (Setup > System > Configuration > Data Dictionary) consists of the System Data Dictionary (which contains the default values supplied with CounterPoint SQL) and the Data Dictionary (which contains any user defined values and customizations).  

The System Data Dictionary form is read-only and allows you to view the default data dictionary settings for each of the tables and columns in the CounterPoint SQL database. This form also includes buttons that allow you to create custom data dictionary entries for selected tables, columns, or indexes.

The Data Dictionary from allows you to edit custom data dictionary entries for tables, column, and indexes. This form only displays the tables and columns for which you have defined custom data dictionary entries, making it easier for you to see the changes you have made.


As you can see, the process in NCR CounterPoint is more complex (and involves making changes within the database itself) – you can always contact our tech support team for more detailed instructions or they can make the changes for you as well. I can't stress enough making a backup before starting to make any of these changes.

Next week we will look at how to run reports using these Customer Fields and Customer Profile Codes that you have named. 

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.