Customer templates

When you import customers from a webshop and create customer cards in Business Central, a customer template speeds up the process. It pre-fills standard values on each new card, such as the number series, posting groups, and payment methods.

Tinx Connector enhances this functionality with extended customer templates. Instead of one template for all new customer cards, you can assign different templates based on combinations of customer attributes. When Tinx Connector downloads a customer, it looks at fields in the customer record, such as the Country, to determine which template to apply. The values from the matching template are automatically applied to the new card. Because the template includes posting groups and VAT configuration, these settings are also applied when sales orders are created for that customer.

When you set up a new company and want to create customers in Business Central, use customer templates. Applying a customer template when creating a customer ensures that new customer records are set up consistently from the start.

You can configure which template applies based on any combination of the following criteria: Group ID, Sales Channel, Vat No. Available, Country, Region/State, Website.

You can set up mappings in the message definition that is related to the customer creation if you need to override template values.

To set up extended customer templates

1. Ensure that the appropriate customer templates are created in Business Central.

2. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter E-Commerce Integration Setup, and then choose the related link.

   If you don’t find E-Commerce Integration Setup in Search, change your role in Business Central to TINX E-Com Admin. Then on the Role Center, select Setup, and then choose E-Commerce Integration Setup.

3. On the E-commerce Setup page, on the Customer Templates FastTab, turn on the Use Extended Customer Template toggle. Then select the values you want to use to assign templates.

   The following screenshot shows the example setup.

   

4. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter Extended Customer Templates, and then choose the related link.

5. On the Extended Customer Template List page, define parameters such as Country Code. For each template combination, fill in the Sales Channel field and any other fields selected on the E-commerce Setup page.

   For example, if customers in different countries require different posting groups, you can configure a separate template for each country code. The following image shows an example of this setup.

   

   You can also apply different templates to customers in the same country by combining additional criteria. The following image shows an example of the Shopify Connector. Three templates apply to the same country, each with a different combination of Group ID and Vat No. Available.

   

   You can create as many combinations as needed, provided that each combination of values is unique.

6. Select the template in the Customer Template field for each combination of parameters.

   Tinx Connector applies the template to customers who match the defined parameters when the customer card is created in Business Central.

To apply the template based on the shipping country

By default, Tinx Connector applies the template based on the billing country. You can change this to use the shipping country instead.

1. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter Sales Channels, and then choose the related link.

2. On the Sales Channel List page, select the relevant sales channel, and then choose the Edit action.

3. On the Sales Channel Card page, on the E-Commerce FastTab, turn on the Customer Template Search on Shipping Country toggle.

   

4. Add the required fields in the mapping of the message definition that is related to the customer creation.

   Webshop	Synchronisation Dashboard	Message definition
   WooCommerce	WOO-IN-CUSTOMERS	WOO-008
   Magento	M2R_IN_CUSTOMERS	M2R-008 and M2R-008-1
   Shopify	GQL_	GQL-

   

   With this setup, Tinx Connector uses the correct template. Also, on the Customer Card page, on the TINX - E-Commerce Connector FastTab, the Shipping Country field is populated.

   

Reapplying customer templates when customer information is updated

When Tinx Connector updates an existing customer card in Business Central, you can configure it to reapply the customer template. Updates occur, for example, after a customer places a new order. This lets you update specific fields on the customer card automatically while leaving other fields unchanged.

For example, if a returning customer has moved from the Netherlands to Spain, you update the customer card to reflect the new country. Do this before processing the next order. Reapplying the template ensures that related fields, such as the VAT configuration and posting groups, are automatically updated to match the new location.

You can select which fields are reapplied and which remain untouched. This is useful when you want to ensure certain template values stay current on customer cards without overwriting all customer data with each update.

To enable reapplying customer templates

1. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter E-Commerce Integration Setup, and then choose the related link.

   If you don’t find E-Commerce Integration Setup in Search, change your role in Business Central to TINX E-Com Admin. Then on the Role Center, select Setup, and then choose E-Commerce Integration Setup.

2. On the E-commerce Setup page, on the Customers FastTab, in the Re-Apply Customer Template Implementation field select either Apply Customer Template Fields or Apply Customer Template.

3. Select Search (Alt+Q) in the upper-right corner, enter Sales Channels, and then choose the related link.

4. On the Sales Channel List page, select the relevant sales channel, and then choose the Edit action.

5. On the Sales Channel Card page, on the action bar, in the Sales Channel group, choose the Apply Customer Template Fields action to select which fields should be reapplied when customer cards are updated.

   The message definition that is related to customer updates must include the appropriate mapping to support template reapplication. Without this mapping, the feature does not work.

Related information

Synchronize customers
Customer and item matching
Sales channel
E-commerce Setup and Sales Channel: Where to set up the webshop
Synchronize orders
Key concepts in Tinx Connector
Troubleshooting checklist