Modifier

Customer attributes

  • Article

We extended the attribute framework in Headquarters to support attributes for customers, customer orders, cash-and-carry transactions, and call center orders.

Note

The attributes are read-only. However, in the case of customer or order attributes, you can edit and set values at the level of the individual customer or order.

The new customer attribute framework lets you use configurations to add new fields to the customer master record. Those fields then automatically appear on the Customer add/edit or Customer details screen in Point of Sale (POS) or Headquarters. After you configure the customer attribute group in the Commerce parameters, POS and Headquarters automatically show the new attribute. No code change or customization is required. You can also use the screen layout designer to configure the customer card on the POS transaction screen so that it shows the customer attributes.

Why and when you should configure customer attributes

If you want to add new fields to the customer master record, and capture the information in POS or Headquarters, you can use this feature. Previously, to add a new field to the customer master record and show it in POS and Headquarters, you had to create a new extension table in Headquarters and the channel database, and make inline modifications to Commerce runtime (CRT) and POS code. You had to write code in CRT and POS to read/write to the extension fields and show them in POS. You had to handle this in various POS views and scenarios, such as the Customer details screen and the Customer panel on the transaction screen. In addition, in CRT, you had to handle all insert, select, and update operations. However, the new functionality lets you complete all these steps through configuration so you don't have to write any code or create custom extension tables.

The first version of this functionality doesn't support datetime and reference attribute types. For those attribute types, you should use extension properties and custom controls to show the details in POS.

Configure customer attributes in POS and Headquarters

Define attribute types

  1. Select Product information management > Setup > Categories and attributes > Attribute types.

  2. On the Attribute types page, select New to add a new attribute type.

  3. Enter a name for the attribute type.

  4. On the General FastTab, in the Type field, select the type of data that can be entered for attributes that are assigned to this data type.

  5. If the attribute type is Decimal or Integer, select a unit of measure.

  6. To define a fixed list of values for the attribute type, select the Fixed list check box. Then, on the Values FastTab, add the list of values.

    Note

    The Fixed list check box is available only for the Text attribute type.

    Alternatively, to define a range of valid values for the attribute type, select the Value range check box. Then, on the Range FastTab, enter the valid range of values.

Define attributes

  1. Select Product information management > Setup > Categories and attributes > Attributes.
  2. On the Attributes page, select New to add a new attribute.
  3. Enter the name, friendly name, description, and any Help text that should be shown to the user for the attribute.
  4. In the Attribute type field, select the attribute type to assign to the attribute.
  5. Depending on the attribute type, in the Default value field, enter the value or the range of values that is shown by default when this attribute is assigned to a customer.
  6. Select Translate to open the Text translation page, where you can enter the name, description, friendly name, and Help text for the attribute in additional languages.
  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 to add more attributes.

Define an attribute group

  1. Select Product information management > Setup > Categories and attributes > Attribute groups.
  2. On the Attribute groups page, select New to add a new attribute group.
  3. Enter the name, and then, on the General FastTab, enter the friendly name, description, and any Help text for the attribute group.
  4. On the Attributes FastTab, select Add to add attributes to the attribute group. In the Default value field, you can enter a default value for the selected attributes.
  5. Select Translate to open the Text translation page, where you can enter the description, friendly name, and Help text for the attribute group in additional languages.
  1. Select Retail and Commerce > Headquarters setup > Parameters > Commerce parameters.
  2. On the General tab, in the Customer attribute group field, select the attribute group that should be shown in POS.

Run the distribution jobs

  1. Select Retail and Commerce > Retail and Commerce IT > Distribution schedule.
  2. Select the Customers job (1010), and then, on the Action Pane, select Run now. When you're prompted, select Yes.
  3. Select the Global configuration job (1110), and then, on the Action Pane, select Run now. When you're prompted, select Yes.

View customer attributes

Headquarters

  1. Select Retail and Commerce > Customers > All customers.
  2. On the Action Pane, in Retail and Commerce, in the Attribute section, select Retail attributes to view or edit the attribute values.

POS

  • Start POS, and then either open the Customer Add/Edit screen to set or update the attribute values for the customer, or open the Customer details screen to view the configured attributes.

Show customer attributes in the POS transaction screen

Headquarters

  1. Select Retail and Commerce > Channel setup > POS Setup > POS > Screen layouts.
  2. On the screen layout page, select New to create a new screen layout, or select an existing screen layout.
  3. Enter the ID and name for the screen layout.
  4. On the Layout sizes FastTab, select the Add button to add new layout sizes for the POS.
  5. In the Name field, select the POS screen resolution.
  6. On the Layout sized FastTab, select the Layout designer button.
  7. If you're prompted, select Yes to download and install the Retail Designer Host by using the Install/Run button.
  8. When you're prompted, enter the Microsoft Dynamics 365 user name and password to start the designer.
  9. After the designer is started, drag the Customer card anywhere in the screen layout designer.
  10. Right-click the Customer card, and then select Customize.
  11. When the page for the Customization - Customer card appears, select the required attributes in the Available columns section, and then select the right arrow button (>) to move them to the Selected columns section. You can move the attributes up or down by selecting the Up or Down buttons.

[!NOTE]

The Customer attributes are legal entity-specific, which means that the screen layout designer fetches the customer attribute that is specific to the legal entity (Company) configured for the user signed in to System Administration > Users. If you configured attributes for a different legal entity, the screen layout designer may not show those values.

  1. When you've finished, select OK to save your changes.
  2. Close the screen layout designer by selecting Close (X) in the upper-right corner. When you're prompted, select Yes to save your changes.
  3. Select Retail and Commerce > Retail and Commerce IT > Distribution schedule.
  4. Select the Registers job (1090), and then on the Action Pane, select Run now. Select Yes. .

POS

  1. Start POS, and add a customer to a transaction.
  2. Open the transaction screen to view the attributes that have been added.