Managing Your Contacts (Customers & Suppliers)

Contacts are the people and businesses you deal with — your customers who buy from you, and your suppliers who sell to you. This guide covers everything you need to know about managing contacts in IntelliFlowERP System.

What You'll Learn

• How to add customers and suppliers
• How to view and edit contact details
• How to import contacts from a file
• How to manage customer groups
• How to view a contact's ledger (transaction history)
• How to record payments

Understanding Contact Types

💡 About "Both" / Barterer: When you save a contact with the type Both, the system treats them as a Barterer — a trading partner you both buy from and sell to. They appear in a dedicated Contacts → Barterer menu (in addition to being filterable as a customer or supplier in their respective lists).

How to Add a New Contact

1. Go to Contacts from the left sidebar.
2. Click Suppliers, Customers, or Barterer depending on what type you want to add.
3. Click the Add button (+ icon) at the top right.
4. Fill in the details:

Basic Information

• Contact Type — Choose Customer, Supplier, or Both
  • Choosing Both turns this contact into a Barterer (a partner you trade with in both directions). The same contact will then be visible under Contacts → Customers, Contacts → Suppliers, and Contacts → Barterer.
  • You need both Add Customer and Add Supplier permissions to see the Both option.
• Business Name — The company name (optional for individual customers)
• Name Prefix — Mr, Mrs, Ms, etc.
• First Name — The contact's first name
• Last Name — The contact's last name
• Mobile — Primary phone number
• Email — Email address
• Contact ID — A unique code (auto-generated or enter your own)

Tax & Business Details

• Tax Number — VAT/GST/NTN number (if applicable)
• Pay Term — Payment terms (e.g., 30 days, 60 days)
• Opening Balance — If this contact owes you (or you owe them) from before you started using IntelliFlowERP System
• Credit Limit — Maximum amount you'll sell to them on credit

Address

• Address Line 1 — Street address
• Address Line 2 — Additional address info
• City, State, Country, Zip Code

5. Click Save to create the contact.

📸 [Screenshot: The Add Contact form with key fields highlighted]

💡 Tip: You can add custom fields if you need to track extra information. Ask your administrator to set these up in Business Settings.

How to View and Edit Contacts

1. Go to Contacts → Customers (or Suppliers).
2. You'll see a list of all contacts with key details:
   • Name, mobile number, total purchase/sale, and balance due
3. Click the Actions button next to any contact.
4. Choose Edit to modify their details.
5. Make your changes and click Update.

📸 [Screenshot: The contact list with the Actions dropdown visible]

How to View a Contact's Ledger

The Ledger shows a contact's complete transaction history — every purchase, sale, payment, and outstanding balance.

1. Go to Contacts → Customers (or Suppliers).
2. Click the Actions button next to the contact.
3. Select Ledger.
4. You'll see a timeline of all transactions with this contact:
   • Sale or purchase amounts
   • Payments received or made
   • Running balance

📸 [Screenshot: A contact's ledger showing transactions and running balance]

💡 Tip: Use the date filter to see transactions for a specific time period.

How to Record a Payment

Receiving Payment from a Customer

1. Go to Contacts → Customers.
2. Click the Actions button next to the customer.
3. Select Pay (or go to Sale → Pay Customer).
4. Enter the payment details:
   • Amount — How much is being paid
   • Payment Method — Cash, Card, Bank Transfer, Cheque, etc.
   • Payment Note — Any reference information
5. Click Pay to record the payment.

📸 [Screenshot: The customer payment popup with amount and method fields]

Paying a Supplier

1. Go to Contacts → Suppliers.
2. Click the Actions button next to the supplier.
3. Select Pay (or go to Purchases → Pay Supplier).
4. Enter the payment details.
5. Click Pay to record it.

📸 [Screenshot: The supplier payment popup]

How to Import Contacts from a File

If you have a large list of contacts in a spreadsheet, you can import them all at once:

1. Go to Contacts → Import Contacts.
2. Download the sample file by clicking the template link — this shows you the correct format.
3. Fill in your contacts using the same column layout as the sample.
4. Save your file as .csv or .xlsx format.
5. Click Browse and select your file.
6. Click Submit to start the import.
7. The system will show a summary of how many contacts were imported.

📸 [Screenshot: The import contacts page with the file upload area]

⚠️ Important: Keep contact data in the columns shown in the template. The first 33 columns are imported; any additional columns are ignored. Customer groups named in the Customer Group column are created automatically if they do not already exist for your business. New groups start with a 0% discount.

Managing Customer Groups

Customer groups let you organise customers into categories (e.g., "Wholesale", "Retail", "VIP") and offer group-specific pricing.

How to Create a Customer Group

1. Go to Contacts → Customer Groups.
2. Click Add at the top right.
3. Enter:
   • Group Name — e.g., "Wholesale Buyers"
   • Calculation Percentage — A discount percentage for this group (e.g., 10% off for wholesale)
4. Click Save.

📸 [Screenshot: The Add Customer Group form]

How to Assign a Customer to a Group

1. Edit the customer's contact details.
2. Look for the Customer Group field.
3. Select the appropriate group from the list.
4. Click Update.

Contact Map

If your contacts have addresses, you can view them on a map:

1. Go to Contacts → Contact Map.
2. You'll see pins on the map for each contact with a valid address.
3. Click any pin to see the contact's name and details.

📸 [Screenshot: The contact map view with location pins]

Settings & Options

Common Questions

Q: Can I delete a contact? A: You can only delete contacts that don't have any transactions. If a contact has transactions, you can make them inactive instead.

Q: How do I find a contact quickly? A: Use the search bar at the top of the contacts list. You can search by name, phone number, or contact ID.

Q: What does "Opening Balance" mean? A: This is the amount a contact owed you (or you owed them) from before you started using IntelliFlowERP System. It helps you track your complete payment history.

Q: Can I export my contacts list? A: Yes! Look for the Export buttons (CSV, Excel, PDF, Print) above the contacts table.

Tips & Best Practices

• 📌 Always enter an email address — it's needed for sending invoices and notifications
• 📌 Use Customer Groups to easily apply wholesale vs. retail pricing
• 📌 Set Credit Limits to prevent over-selling on credit
• 📌 Review the Ledger regularly to follow up on overdue payments
• 📌 Import contacts from a spreadsheet when first setting up — it saves hours of manual entry