Customer Files Module

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Click to Return to Introduction

Customer Files Module

A ColorDesigner module that allows you to ﬁnd and create

paints from formulas saved to individual customer accounts.

What Is the Customer Files Module? . . . .H-2

The Customer Files Screen . . . .H-3

How to Use the Customer Files Module . . . .H-4

How to Backup and Restore Customer Files . . . .H-10

Networking Customer Files . . . .H-12

Hints and Tips . . . .H-14

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What Is the Customer Files Module?

The Customer Files module is the ColorDesigner feature to use when an

existing customer wants to re-order a paint you created for them

previ-ously. When you create formulas in other ColorDesigner modules (such

as Formula Book or Fandeck Match), you have the option of saving the

formula information to a customer account.

For example, if one of your customer is Bulldog Painters, you would

create a customer ﬁle for them. Every time they ordered a new paint,

you save the formula to their customer ﬁle. When somebody from

Bulldog Painters requests a paint you previously created for them, you

can go to the formula directly and create the paint from within the

Customer Files module.

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The Customer Files Screen

Module Name Tag

Shows the title of the ColorDesigner module in use. In this case, “Customer Files”

Icon Area

Shows icons that represent functions for working with customer ﬁles. When you click an icon, a screen opens for that function. For example, you can click Formula Code to search for a customer ﬁle by formula code.

Work Area

Shows the title of the current function, a short description, and the buttons and ﬁelds for per-forming the function.

Paint Can Area

Shows the paint formula associated with the cur-rent customer ﬁle.

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How to Use the Customer Files Module

Follow this procedure to retrieve paint formulas associated with your customers. You can then edit the formulas, edit the customer ﬁles, and make paint.

1 Go to the Customer Files

module.

On the ColorDesigner Main Menu, click Customer Files.

The Select a Customer File screen appears.

2 Select a customer ﬁle.

You can select a customer ﬁle two ways:

• By Customer Name. The Select a Customer File screen appears by default, but you can click the Customer Search icon at any time to return to the screen. Begin typing in the Account/ Last Name, First Name, or

Phone Number ﬁeld. If the ﬁrst letters or numbers match an existing name or number, a button appears for that account

[A].

Click the button.

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Click to Return to Introduction • By Formula Code. Click the

For-mula Code icon and the Select a Formula Code screen appears. Begin typing the formula code in the Formula Code field. If the first numbers or letters match a formula that has been saved to an exiting customer file, a button with the customer’s name or account appears [B].

Click the button.

The Customer File Management screen appears.

Tip: Note that the Icon area at the top of the screen changes [C]. Six additional icons appear for various customer ﬁle and formula functions. Tip: To search for another customer ﬁle, you can click Customer Search or

Formula Code at any time.

Tip: The paint formula that was saved to the customer ﬁle appears on the can [D].

Tip: The Customer File Management screen appears by default, but you can click the Formula File icon at any time to return to the screen.

Continued... ...”How to Use the Customer Files Module”

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3 Manage the customer ﬁle.

A customer ﬁle is a customer name, contact information, and paint and formula information. • To edit a customer name and contact information, click Edit. The Edit Customer File screen appears.

C

Make changes and click Save to save and return to the Cus-tomer File Management screen.

• To make changes to the for-mula ﬁelds, select the ﬁeld and type the new information. As you type, a Save button appears

[E].

C

Click Save to save changes. • To remove the current formula

from the customer record, click Delete [F].

• To view the next formula, click the right arrow [G].

• To view the previous formula, click the left arrow [H]. • To search for a formula by

creation date, color descrip-tion, job descripdescrip-tion, or formula code, click the needed binocular icon [I].

A Search Results screen appears.

C

Click a button to display the needed formula.

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4 If needed, edit the formula.

Some customers may want to adjust the color of the formula. To do this, click the Edit icon.

The Edit Formula screen appears.

You can make changes to the formula two ways:

• Type new numbers in the col-umns and click Apply Changes.

• Type a number in the Per-centage ﬁeld and click either Lighter or Darker.

A message appears: “Do you want to update the customer ﬁle?” • If you want to change the

formula, click Yes. The original formula is replaced with the new formula.

• If you want to keep the original formula, click No.

Tip: When you click Yes to save changes, the formula automatically updates on the paint can [J]. If the formula color appears in the paint can [K], the color is not updated.

5 If needed, change the paint

can to a bigger size.

You may want to adjust the

increments in which you will be making paint to a bigger size. To do this, click the Can Size icon.

The Select a Can Size screen appears.

Click the button for the paint can size you need.

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Click to Return to Introduction Tip: If you select a new can size, the

formula automatically updates on the paint can [L] and the new size appears at the bottom. [M]

6 If want to create the paint

and your system has an auto

dispenser, create the paint

automatically.

Click the Tint icon. The software for the auto dispenser takes over and creates the paint using the current formula.

7 If needed, print labels.

You may want to print labels to attach information to a custom-er’s paint container or to use as a reference if you have a manual dispenser. Click the Print icon.

The Print Formula Label screen appears.

You can print two types of labels: • To print a Formula Label, click a

button for the number of labels you want to print and click Print Formula Label.

• To print a Custom Label, edit the information in the Custom Label ﬁeld [N] if needed and click Print Custom Label.

Tip: The Account/Last Name, First Name, and Phone Number appear by default in the Custom Label field. Tip: There is no limit to the number of characters you can use in the Custom Label field. However, ColorDesigner will size the message to fit a label. So the more you type, the smaller the letters will be on the printed label.

8 If needed, copy the current

formula to a new or existing

customer ﬁle.

Click the Copy Formula icon.

The Copy Formula screen appears.

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Type the customer’s last name or account number in the Account/ Last Name ﬁeld. (The First Name and Phone Number ﬁelds are not mandatory.)

• As you type, the Create New Customer button appears [O]. Click it to create a new cus-tomer ﬁle.

A new Customer File Manage-ment screen appears.

• If the name matches an exist-ing customer name or account, a button with the customer’s name or account appears [P]. Click it to save the information to the existing customer’s ﬁle.

The Customer File Manage-ment screen for that customer appears.

9 Return to the Main Menu

At the upper right of the screen, click the Main Menu icon. ...”How to Use the Customer Files Module”

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How to Backup and Restore Customer Files

Follow this procedure to save all your cus-tomer files to a diskette or CD. If you lose your customer files or want to replace your customer files with a previously saved copy, you can use this procedure to restore the files from a backup copy.

1 Start ColorDesigner.

Double-click the X-Rite ColorDesigner icon on the desktop, or click Start, point to Programs, then X-Rite, and click X-Rite ColorDesigner.

2 Go to Housekeeping.

After the Main Menu appears, click the Housekeeping icon.

3 Enter the secure area.

In the Password ﬁeld, type your password and click Unlock.

Tip: The default password is 1234

4 Display the Customer Files

menu.

At the top of the screen, click the Customer Files icon.

5 Display the Backup/Restore

options.

On the Customer Files menu on the left side of the screen, click Backup/Restore.

The Manage File Backup and Restore screen appears.

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5 If needed, backup your

customer ﬁles.

Tip: Save a backup copy to a floppy disk and store the disk in a location away from the ColorDesigner com-puter. If the ColorDesigner computer or your paint area is damaged, you will have a backup copy to restore your valuable customer files. The backup location is listed in the backup location field. If you need to change the location, click the folder icon.

Browse to a different location and click OK.

Click Backup.

A message appears requesting you to insert Disk 1. Insert a blank ﬂoppy disk and click OK.

If the disk is not blank, a message appears asking to delete existing ﬁles. Either click No and replace with a blank disk or click Yes.

Tip: If the backup requires more than one disk, ColorDesigner requests that you insert them until the entire customer ﬁle database is backed-up. A message appears telling you the backup is done. Click OK.

6 If needed, restore your

customer ﬁles.

Insert the first backup disk in the floppy drive. Click the folder icon next to the restore location field, browse to the backup file, and click OK.

Warning: The backup customer ﬁle database will completely replace the current database. Make sure you want to do this before clicking Restore. Click Restore.

A message appears telling you the restore is done. Click OK.

7 Return to the Main Menu

At the upper right of the screen, click the Main Menu icon. ...”How to Backup and Restore Customer Files”

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Networking Customer Files

You can link customer files from multiple systems, in one store, therefore sharing one customer file database. Mainte-nance to the customer file (e.g. deleting records, backup/restore) can only be applied from the ColorDesigner system that hosts the database. The database could run on a seperate machine (without ColorDesigner), but then no maintenance could be done inside ColorDesigner.

1 Choose a system to be used as

a server.

Make a note of that computer’s name. The server system requires no modiﬁcation to work.

2 Select Housekeeping, from

the non-server system.

3 Select the Customer Files

button.

Tip: Networking customer ﬁles is intended for multiple systems in one store, but could be used across a WAN, assuming the customer sets up the network and handles security issues. Tip: To setup two or more

ColorDesigner systems to share one common Customer File database, a network hub is needed. A set of net-work cables will be used to “link” the ColorDesigner system.

4 Click the Location Button.

Several Customer Files selections will be available. A message will prompt you that the system is retrieving a list of available servers.

5 Click on the drop down arrow

to view available servers.

Select the name of the server computer.

Continued...

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7 Return to the Main Menu

At the upper right of the screen, click the Main Menu icon. Tip: ColorDesigner must be closed and reopened to initiate the network connection. The user will be prompted with a message.

6 Return to Housekeeping.

Select Customer Files. Only the Location button will be avail-able to the user: all administra-tive work (i.e. Backup/Restore, importing) is restricted to the server system.

All new customer ﬁle data will now be saved on the server. Except for this change, all other aspects of the Customer File feature are the same.

Note: By default, ColorDesigner is set to use the “Local” server (the database is located on the system’s hard drive.) In this mode, all Customer File options are available in Housekeeping.

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Hints and Tips

Links to Other ColorDesigner Documents

You can create new customer ﬁles and add formulas to existing customer ﬁles in several ColorDesigner modules. Here are some examples: • After creating a formula using Fandeck Match.

See the “Fandeck Match Module” document. • After selecting a formula using Formula Book.

See the “Formula Book Module” document. • After creating a formula using Home Visual-izer. See the “Home Visualizer Module” docu-ment.

Additional Support

Still have questions? Here are places you can go for help:

• Online support at http://MeasureItRite.com

• Set up a WebEx session with Customer Service. In the United States and Canada, call 1-800-248-9748, 8:00 am - 6:30 pm EST.

Paint Can Tag

If a formula was originally saved to a customer ﬁle from the Formula Book module, a “Formula Book” tag appears in the paint can.

If a formula was saved to a customer ﬁle from a module other than Formula Book (such as Fandeck Match), there is no tag. But the approxi-mate color of the formula appears in the paint can.

Toggle Formula Display Format

You can click on the formula in the paint can to change the display between columns and strings: