Add a customer
You will have a customer record you can pick on bookings and invoices, with its address and tax registration ready to print, a credit limit to watch, and an opening balance carried in from your old system.
Add a customer once, before the first booking for them. The record carries the billing name, tax registration and address onto every LR and invoice, and its balance tells you what they still owe. Field labels on this form can be renamed per company, so the names below are the defaults.
Before You Start
- The company’s own TRN and Currency are set under Settings › Company, so tax on the customer’s invoices is worked out correctly.
- If you are carrying balances over from another system, have the amount owed by the customer on the day you start (the Opening Balance) and the date it applies to.
Steps
- Open Customers and click Add.
- Enter the Customer Name exactly as it should print on invoices. This is the only required field in the first block.
- Enter the TRN (tax registration number: GST, VAT or the equivalent in your country), Email and Phone. Email and phone are used for invoice sharing and reminders.
- Tick RCM Applicable only if tax on this customer’s invoices is paid by the customer under reverse charge. When on, the invoice form offers Apply RCM and the tax is shown but not added to the amount to receive.
- Fill Address Info: Address, City, State, Country and Zip Code. State and Country are required; they decide the place of supply on tax reports.
- Fill Credit Info: Credit Period in days and Credit Limit in your currency. Leave both blank for a cash customer.
- Enter the Opening Date and Opening Balance if the customer already owed you money when you started. Enter the net amount owed to you as on that date.
- Click Save. The customer appears in the list and in every Paying Customer, Consigner and Consignee pick list.
Fields On This Screen
Field | What to enter | Required |
|---|---|---|
Customer Name | Legal or trading name as it prints on invoices | Yes |
TRN | Tax registration number (GST, VAT or equivalent) | No |
Address for shared invoices and statements | No | |
Phone | Contact number, with country code | No |
RCM Applicable | Tick when the customer pays tax under reverse charge | No |
Address, City, Zip Code | Billing address lines | No |
State, Country | Place of supply for tax | Yes |
Credit Period | Days allowed to pay after the invoice date | No |
Credit Limit | Maximum balance you allow the customer to carry | No |
Opening Date | The date the opening balance applies to | With Opening Balance |
Opening Balance | Amount owed by the customer on the opening date | No |
What This Changes
- A ledger named after the customer is created under Account Receivables in Books › Chart Of Accounts.
- An Opening Balance posts an opening entry (prefix OB) to that ledger on the Opening Date, so the Current Balance on the Customers list and Amount to Receive start from it.
- The Total Customers tile on the dashboard goes up by one.
- The customer appears in the Paying Customer, Consigner and Consignee lists on the booking form and in the Customer Name list on the invoice form.
- Document types mapped to customers in Settings › Document Mapping appear for this customer under Document Tracking › Customer with status Unknown until uploaded.
Tips
- Use the credit period that is on your contract, not the one you hope for. The Customer Invoice Aging Report and Age Days on invoices are read against it.
- If a customer has several branches that are billed separately, add one customer per branch and put the branch in the name.
- Have a long list? Use AI › AI Data Import › Customers and bring in names, addresses and opening balances in one go.
Frequently asked questions
Need Help?
Chat with the NShine ERP support team on WhatsApp at +91 79950 87755, or ask from inside the app. Last checked 9 November 2026 against app.nshineerp.com.