Alpha Key Maintenance for Vendors and Customers
Each customer and vendor can have multiple alpha keys.
The alpha key is the search key used to locate a customer or
vendor during a search by name. Typically, by default,
the alpha key is the first few letters or the customer or
vendor name, but the alpha key can be maintenanced as
desired. The maintenance programs also have an option
on the toolbar, accessed via the
icon that
will let you maintenance alpha keys. This means that
you can have multiple search keys for each vendor and
customer.
You cannot edit the primary alpha key in the Alpha Key Maintenance window. That alpha key can only be changed on the main customer maintenance or vendor maintenance screen. When the primary alpha key is changed, Answers automatically stores the old alpha key as a search key too. It will also automatically store old alpha keys when numbers are converted. This means that if customer ABC Distributing is bought out by customer XYZ Company and you merge the two accounts together in Answers, Answers will store both alpha keys and show both alpha keys in the search window so that regardless of how you search for the customer, you will find them.
Users can maintenance alpha keys through the Alpha Key Maintenance window and delete old alpha keys if desired, add alpha search keys, and edit alpha keys. The customer and vendor will show up in the searches based on the alpha keys, but their account is only on file one time, as there can only be one of any given account number.