Most companies are not missing customer data. They have two sets: sales’ contacts hold “can owe, needs samples, who decides”; finance holds “invoice name, tax ID, days of terms.” When they miss, it is not sloppiness. The work entry split from day one. The system lets both sides see slices of one customer card — they do not each maintain their own.
Sales sees
- Follow-up, last price, open work orders
- Contract window, sellable scope, whether credit is allowed
- ATP on this order, locked not shipped
- Whether a complaint blocks a new order (read-only)
Finance sees
- Invoice name, tax ID, invoice email
- Terms, credit limit, used limit
- A/R balance, overdue, prepay
- Allowance, warranty hold, statement status
Must be the same: customer code, contract number, settle currency, price-list ID, and which contract this order belongs to. Two code sets will not meet at month-end.
The same data is not the same screen
Sales does not edit the tax ID. Finance does not edit follow-up notes. Permissions cut by role: who sees price, who can release past terms, who can issue a credit — on the document, not verbal. Special discounts go through approval so you can see who released them. Audit can take that. See What the system does when you reconcile, audit, or a customer asks for a document.
A contract must tie cash nodes to the right to order
Project delivery splits a contract into milestones and acceptance; wholesale uses terms and ship limits. Either way, finance apply and the sales promise must read the same node. How order-to-cash cuts fights is in From order to cash: how a system cuts one more fight. If after-sales tickets do not count as customer risk, sales will keep shipping into an account that already complains. See After work orders close the loop, what changes in after-sales and quality.
The cost of two files grows when people leave
Sales leaves; the customer stays on finance’s books; follow-up sits in personal WeChat. The new hire asks “how did you used to settle?” One customer card belongs to the company, so handover has a list. See Why operations do not fall apart when people leave. Role-split spreadsheets still fork at scale. See Excel inventory breaks once volume grows.
Credit should reserve unshipped plus A/R — not invoiced only
If you only watch invoiced balance, sales ships first and invoices later — the limit is theater. Reserve locked-not-shipped, shipped-not-invoiced, and invoiced-not-paid. Over-limit blocks or goes to approval; finance does not discover it at month-end. It will change sales habit and turn a fight into a rule. A false stock match makes the limit false too. The base is still inventory. See How a system makes inventory match the books.
When DaXi Technology builds customers and contracts, we unify codes and contract fields first, then sales and finance views. Do not build two customer stores and “integrate later.” To line up your customer sheet and invoice sheet, go to Business systems service page and send the gaps. Visible efficiency starts as fewer reconciliation days. See The efficiency a business system can make visible. Terms promised in a group do not replace a contract field. Risk is in The risk of taking orders and shipping from WeChat groups.