Customer vs Company

[Retracile]

On Tuesday 01 April 2003 10:07 am, you wrote:
> Retracile <retracile at earthlink.net> writes:
> > 1) s/customer/customer company/ and s/vendor/vendor company/ in the menus
> > and dialogs.  This makes it clear that customers and vendors are all
> > companies. It is _not_ clear now unless you have already made that
> > assumption, and many people won't.  I recognize that this is more
> > cumbersome, but it is less confusing.  And that is more important.
>
> The problem is that some of the labels are shared between customers
> and vendors (and, employees, which makes it really weird!) so I was
> trying to find a single term that would apply to all three.  Obviously
> this needs a bit more work.
>
> However, I did try using "Customer Company" and "Vendor Company" but
> the labels just get to be way too long (IMHO).
>
> Something Generic would be a Good Thing....

'cumbersome' == 'way too long' :)
Yes, they are too long.  Even so, I think they're better than the status quo.  
(IMHO, ugly is better than confusing, though neither is desirable.)
I'll try to come up with something shorter to suggest, but I don't have any 
ideas at the moment. :/

> > 2) Add an explanation that all vendors and customers are companies to the
> > documentation.  (I need to look again, but I don't remember a 'small
> > business intro' section.)
>
> First we NEED some small-business documentation.  Care to write it? ;)

I'll try to take notes as I set up my wife's business in gnucash and post 
them.  They may be a bit rough, but hopefully I can get the ball rolling.  
Part of my motive for digging into GnuCash is to make it more 
self-explanitory. :)

> > 3) IFF companyname == contact name, suppress one of them when printing
> > the address.  (Are there occasions when double-printing the name is
> > correct, and single printing the name isn't?)
>
> I think I can do this relatively easily.  Can you file an RFE so I don't
> forget?

Gladly. :) Done.
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109753

> > 4) Add a help message if the user tries to leave either the company or
> > name blank when creating a customer company that explains that all
> > customers are companies, and to enter an individual, just enter the name
> > in both fields and gnucash will Do The Right Thing(tm).
>
> I think I can do this, too, relatively easily.  Can you file another
> RFE?

And done.
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109754

> > And a couple of things that are partly related:
> > 5) Add a 'list customer companies' report.  I use regex's on a daily
> > basis, but I really don't want to have to explain them to my wife before
> > she can find a customer.  She's bright, but I'd like to make the
> > transition as easy as possible, and it's just one more thing.  A complete
> > list can also be helpful in getting an overview, or making sure you
> > entered all the customers.
>
> I'm not sure what this means.  What is a "list customer companies"
> report, and what information would be reported?  How is it any
> different than performing a search?  Or the A/R aging report (to see
> what customers have been invoiced and how much).

I'd like to be able to get a list of all customers.  Nothing more.  I can 
search for non-matches to '?' since none have that in their name.  But there 
is not a direct way that I can see to just tell me who all the customers are.  
(To be honest, that is what I expected from the 'Customer Report': just a 
list of all customers.)

Basicly, 
Business -> Customer -> New Customer
Business -> Customer -> Find Customer
needs
Business -> Customer -> List Customers
- OR -
Reports -> Business Reports
needs
Reports -> Business Reports -> Customer List

and s/Vendor/Customer/ (and s/Employee/Customer/, if applicable.)

That reminds me....
When there is no customer selected, the message is "No Valid Company 
Selected", which to a new user, isn't very helpful, particularly if they are 
expecting a list of Customers.  I'd much rather see something like "This 
report gives information on a selected customer.  Use the Options button to 
select the desired customer."  It would need to say vendor (or employee?) 
instead of customer, as appropriate.

Come to think of it...  Can we say 'customer company' and 'vendor company' 
here?  It would at least give a clue about the 'everyone is a company' 
premise.

Thoughts?

> > 6) Is there a reason to have the user give the customer ID?  I'm assuming
> > it is supposed to be a (unique) database key.  If so, why not use a
> > monotonically increasing number and hide it from the user completely? 
> > (When I first used it, I entered the individual's name into that field,
> > and things went downhill from there.)
>
> The original concept was that it would be a global ID, but then I
> realized that different organizations are going to use that field
> differently.  Also, I was convinced to just use internal GUIDs for the
> unique ID.  Basically, it's a leftover from a long time ago that never
> left, but it does allow you to have a short-cut to find a particular
> item.
>
> Basically, you are allowed to enter the invoice id yourself if you
> wish, but if you leave it blank then then system will automatically
> generate one for you -- a monotonically-increasing number.  Hover your
> mouse over the ID entry and read the pop-up message.

Hmm....  Then I'd be of the opinion that it should be removed.  Add 
auto-completion or something if you want a shortcut.  But I think having this 
field adds complexity for the user for little-to-no gain

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this.  :)  As time permits, I'll try to 
lend a hand.

HTH,

Eli