CHAPTER 3: CUSTOMER MASTER FILE
3.5 Updating the Customer Master File
Frequently checking and refreshing data is crucial. When users lose confidence in the validity of information, they stop using the database. Regular maintenance provides data correction, completion of missing information, and elimination of duplicates. For example, customer addresses frequently need to be updated. Mergers and acquisitions may mean that previously separate customer records should be linked. Updates should be entered in a timely fashion. Accounts should be reviewed for sales activity on a yearly basis to find and flag inactive customers. To avoid inactivating customers that regularly purchase only once a year, make sure to check at least a rolling 13 months of history as a minimum. A more proactive approach than mere inactivation would be to have the sales team use the information on lack of activity to seek more orders. Many customers do not have a good way to remember what company they bought a certain product from, so you could be missing reorders. When an account is deactivated, make sure to retain the records (preferably electronically) for the legal period of time, based on your country’s requirement. Finally, a regular clean up can yield ideas for process improvement or streamlining. The last step in a customer master file clean up should be a review of challenges met and lessons learned, to yield ideas for process improvement.
3.6 Entering and Securing CMF Data
Those who enter or update customer master data must protect the data, as it contains confidential information. This protection includes logging off the system when you leave your desk, even if only for a moment. Employees whose jobs require access to the customer master file information should be able to view only the information they need. For example, marketing department staff would have no legitimate need for customers’ credit card numbers and should not be able to access them. Permissions should be assigned as necessary. Access, when there is a legitimate business purpose, should be read-only and limited to the information needed (e.g., customer name and order history or date of last activity). Each employee who has access to confidential information, like credit card numbers or bank accounts, should sign a confidentiality contract every year, not just when they are hired. This confidentiality contract is commonly referred to as a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). As an added protection, pre-hire and routine background checks can reduce fraud. Once confidential information is entered, another level of security can be provided by data encryption for sensitive data such as credit card numbers and tax identification numbers, where only the last four digits can be seen in the system. Finally, both network and internal firewalls should be used. If an intruder breaks through the network firewall, the internal firewall protects this data.
At the Reynolds Company, for example, data is secured by limiting read/write access to the customer module.
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THE ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION PROGRAM E-TEXTBOOK
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