About user defined company flow down

You can choose to have one or more customer fields flow down from company (parent) records to linked (child) records. iMIS already flows down, or synchronizes, the main address, county, telephone, and company customer type fields. This feature adds additional information to flow down.

Note: Do not include the Name.EMAIL field as a company flow down field because data synchronization is not properly maintained.

How company flow down works

iMIS automatically passes down key company information (main address, telephone, and company customer type) to individual customer records when the existing data matches. For example, when you edit a company's main address, iMIS checks each individual or branch record associated with that company to determine whether the main address matched the company's main address before the change was made. When it matches, iMIS updates the individual's main address fields; when it does not, iMIS preserves the individual's main address. This flow down happens without any set up on your part.

The User Defined Company Flow Down field lets you identify extra customer data fields to be copied down automatically to the linked (child) records. This feature specifies fields in addition to the main address, telephone, and company customer type fields that iMIS inherently maintains. This feature minimizes data entry and allows you to broaden your search capabilities.

Note: If you are using list billing, do not enter Name.PAID_THRU in the User Defined Company Flow Down field since this may cause the parent and child records to not match.

The flow down of data to individual customers occurs whenever you edit a field in a company record that is specified in the synchronizing field.

Deciding which fields to flow down

Unlike the company name and address fields, a User-Defined Company Flow Down field will always be copied down, overwriting any existing data in the fields. Therefore, be sure to avoid selecting flow down fields that could cause you to lose data you meant to keep such as an individual's secondary address.

Note: Table names in iMIS are case-sensitive. When entering fields in the User Defined Company Flow Down field, make sure the case is correct. For example, Name_Demo.STAFF.

The following is the list of available fields from the Name table that you can specify to flow down from a company record to individual records.

Name.CATEGORY

Name.CHAPTER

Name.COMPANY

Name.DESIGNATION

Name.EXCLUDE_DIRECTORY

Name.EXCLUDE_MAIL

Name.FIRST_NAME

Name.FUNCTIONAL_TITLE

Name.GENDER

Name.INFORMAL

Name.JOIN_DATE

Name.LAST_NAME

Name.MAJOR_KEY

Name.MEMBER_STATUS

Name.MEMBER_STATUS_DATE

Name.MIDDLE_NAME

Name.PAID_THRU

Name.PREFIX

Name.SIC_CODE

Name.STATE_HOUSE

Name.STATE_SENATE

Name.STATUS

Name.SUFFIX

Name.TITLE

Name.US_CONGRESS

Name.WEBSITE

Note: If you enter Name.STATUS field in User Defined Company Flow Down, you must also include the Name.MEMBER_STATUS and Name.MEMBER_STATUS_DATE fields.

User-defined company flow down does not support the Work Phone, Home Phone, Fax, and E-mail fields. No error message displays if you specify these fields in the User Defined Company Flow Down field on the Customer Setup – Advanced window (from Customers, select Set up module> General, and click Advanced), but specifying these fields in the User Defined Company Flow Down field has no effect on user-defined company flow down. The Work Phone and Fax fields are part of automatic company flow down, which can be used separately or in addition to user-defined company flow down.