Every customer and supplier has one owner. A user assignment gives another colleague extra access to a customer or supplier without changing the owner. The page calls the assigned person a data input user. The administrator uses this screen, usually when a sales or purchase manager asks for a colleague to work with an account they do not own. For example, a sales assistant enters orders for a salesperson's customers, or a buyer covers a colleague's suppliers during a holiday.
An assignment does not change the owner and does not give any new page rights. It only adds the account to what the colleague (and the people above them in the reporting line) can see on pages that respect assignments.
Before you start
You need the SYSTEM › Account Owner - View tick in Role Master to open the page, see the lists, assign and remove. No Create, Update or Delete tick is needed.
To see the menu link, you also need SYSTEM › AdminMember (List Members) - View.
After your role changes in Role Master, sign out and sign in again.
The colleague must exist as a user in Members.
The customer or supplier must exist in Customer DB or Supplier DB. Its status does not matter: closed and inactive accounts are listed too.
To open the page, go to System Settings › Members › User Assignment. The page opens with the title Data Input User Assignment.
The System Settings menu with the User Assignment link under Members
Note: The Owner Assignment link below it is a different page. It changes the owner of an account. This page does not.
The screen at a glance
The Data Input User Assignment page as it opens
Search By panel: choose the colleague in SELECT USER FOR DATA INPUT USER ASSIGNMENT and the kind of account in SELECT MODULE (Customer or Supplier).
Two tabs: Assigned (n) shows the accounts this user already has. Not Assigned (n) shows every other account of the chosen kind. The number is the count of rows.
Action buttons: a green Assign (n) button appears on the Not Assigned tab and a red Unassign (n) button on the Assigned tab as soon as you tick rows. The round arrow clears all filters.
Above the list: choose 10, 20, 50 or 100 records per page (20 when the page opens) and use Search. A filter row sits under the column headings. Click a column heading to sort.
Step by step
See which accounts a user already has
In SELECT USER FOR DATA INPUT USER ASSIGNMENT, start typing the colleague's name and choose it.
In SELECT MODULE, choose Customer or Supplier. Both lists reload.
Click Assigned.
The list shows every account of that kind assigned to the user. If the user has none, the list is empty and the button reads Assigned (0).
Give a person access to a customer or supplier
Choose the user and the module.
Click Not Assigned. This list holds every account of that kind not yet assigned to the user, including accounts other people already have.
Find the account. Type part of the name in the company name box under Name and press Enter, or use the Region, Owner and Status filters.
Tick the box at the start of each row you want. The green button now reads Assign (1), with the number of ticked rows. The tick box in the heading ticks every row on the current page.
Click Assign (n).
The Not Assigned tab filtered on a name, showing the matching suppliers
After ticking a row, the green Assign (1) button appears
The message Assigned successfully appears, both lists reload and a popup opens. Tell the colleague that the account is now available.
Check the popup about other users
Straight after every assignment, a popup lists the other users who already have the same accounts, grouped by account. Use it to take the account away from them at the same time, for example when work moves from one assistant to another.
Read the list. Each grey band is one account. The rows under it are the other users who have it, with Assigned On.
If nobody else should keep the account, tick their rows (or the box in the heading for all) and click Unassign.
Otherwise click Close.
The popup listing other users who already have the account
Warning: The popup always shows a red warning line, even when nobody else has the account. It can also list users who have a customer with the same internal number as the supplier you assigned, or the other way round. Pressing Unassign on those rows changes nothing, even though the message says Unassigned successfully. Check the account name in the grey band and the side you are working on before you unassign.
Remove access
Choose the user and the module.
Click Assigned.
Tick the accounts to remove. The red button reads Unassign (n).
Click Unassign (n).
The assignments are deleted at once. There is no confirmation question and no undo. If you remove the wrong one, assign it again. The message Unassigned successfully appears and both lists reload.
Find an account
Company name box (under Name): part of the name. On the Not Assigned tab press Enter to search. On the Assigned tab the list reloads with every key you type.
Region: pick a country from the list, or type an exact country code or country name in the box below it.
Owner (Not Assigned tab only): only accounts owned by that person.
Status: pick a status from the list.
Search box (top right of the list): looks in name, code, region, currency and owner name.
Click a column heading to sort. Click again to reverse. The round arrow clears every filter and reloads both lists.
Fields explained
Field | What to enter | Rules |
|---|---|---|
SELECT USER FOR DATA INPUT USER ASSIGNMENT | The colleague whose assignments you see and change. | Required. Opens with your own user chosen. Lists every user, including inactive users. Type to search. |
SELECT MODULE | Customer or Supplier. | Required. Supplier when the page opens. |
Assigned (n) / Not Assigned (n) | Click to switch lists. | n is the number of accounts. |
Assign (n) | Click to assign the ticked accounts. | Shown only while rows are ticked on Not Assigned. |
Unassign (n) | Click to remove the ticked accounts. | Shown only while rows are ticked on Assigned. No confirmation. |
Name | Part of the company name. | Not Assigned: press Enter. Assigned: reloads on each key. |
Region | A country from the list, or an exact country code or name. | All means no filter. |
Owner | Accounts owned by one person. | Not Assigned tab only. |
Status | Pick a status. | All, Lead, Lead - In Progress, Lead - Manufacturer, Lead - Generic Drug and Supplement, Lead - Future prospect, Onboarding - In Progress, Onboarding - Complete, Active, Inactive, Closed - Black Listed, Closed - Not relevant. |
Search | Free text. | Looks in name, code, region, currency and owner. |
The lists show these columns: Name, Code, Region, Currency, Owner, Owner creation Date, Assign To (every active user the account is assigned to), Created By, Created On and Status.
What happens after you save
There is no Save button. Assign and Unassign save straight away.
Assign records one assignment per ticked account, with your name and the date and time. Accounts the user already had are left as they were.
The owner stays the same. No page right is added. Nobody is notified.
From the next time the colleague opens or refreshes a list, they and everyone above them in the reporting line can see the account on pages that respect assignments. The colleague does not need to sign in again.
To check, ask the colleague to open a page that lists the account, for example Customer DB for a customer.
Unassign deletes the assignment at once. The colleague stops seeing the account on the next list load, unless they still see it another way: they own it, someone below them owns it or has it assigned, or they hold the See All Suppliers And Customers right.
No history is kept of who had access before.
Messages you may see
Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Assigned successfully | The assignment was saved. | Check the popup, then tell the colleague. |
Unassigned successfully | The assignment was removed. | Nothing. For popup rows of the other side, see the warning above. |
Please select at least on supplier/customer to assign | You clicked Assign with nothing ticked. | Tick at least one row on Not Assigned. |
Please select at least on supplier/customer to Unassign | You clicked Unassign with nothing ticked. | Tick at least one row. |
Failed to retrieve states. | The save did not work: no user chosen, your rights were removed, or your session ended. | Choose a user, sign in again and retry. If it repeats, tell your administrator with the time. |
Processing... stays on the list | A list could not be loaded. | Refresh the page, or sign in again. |
Access Denied page | You opened the page without Account Owner - View. | Ask your administrator for the tick, then sign in again. |
The message shown when Assign is clicked with nothing ticked
Good to know
Assignment is not ownership. Use Owner Assignment to change who owns an account. Use User Assignment to give someone extra access while the owner stays.
Not every page treats an assignment the same way. It makes the account visible in Customer DB and Supplier DB, in the pickers on orders and invoices, and in the follow-up task lists. Some document lists only show documents the colleague, or someone below them, created.
Give the Account Owner tick with care. Account Owner - View lets the holder see every user and account and assign or remove any of them, including for themselves. Give it only to administrators.
Note the list before a clean-up. Unassign has no confirmation and no history. Before removing many assignments, take a screenshot or copy of the Assigned list.
Remove access when a user leaves. Inactive users stay in the user box and keep their assignments. The Assign To column hides them, but the popup shows them.
Tick, then click. Ticks do not survive a change of page, filter or sort. Only the rows ticked on the page you are looking at are assigned or removed, even if the button shows an older count. Always choose a real user (not --Select--) first.