Epicor Kinetic · Master data
Epicor Kinetic customers, ship-tos, bill-tos and parent accounts
Applies to: Epicor Kinetic and Epicor ERP 10.2. Validate customer and ship-to defaults in Pilot before entering production orders.
Short answer
A customer record (Erp.Customer) holds the commercial identity: terms, credit, currency and billing details. Ship-To records (Erp.ShipTo) hold delivery destinations. Two separate concepts relate customers to each other: a bill-to customer (invoices go to another customer via Customer.BTCustNum) and a parent account (grouping, for example national accounts via Customer.ParentCustNum). Do not treat them as the same thing.
Keys
- Customer: Company + CustNum. CustID is the visible code and can be edited; CustNum is internal, integer-typed, and fixed. When writing BAQs, reports, or integrations, always join on CustNum.
- Ship-To: Company + CustNum + ShipToNum. ShipToNum identifies the delivery location for that customer.
Relationships
- Bill-to customer: points to another customer record that receives the invoices for this customer's orders.
- Parent account: links related customer accounts for corporate grouping and, where configured, credit consolidation.
What defaults flow to a sales order
Selecting a customer loads payment terms, base currency, and credit limits. If a Primary Ship-To is designated, it defaults to the order. Selecting an alternate Ship-To updates the physical delivery destination, which drives destination sales tax calculations, freight carrier (ShipVia), and assigned sales territory. Changing the customer master later does not automatically update existing Ship-To records. Each Ship-To holds its own tax region, territory and shipping values.
Destination-based sales tax
In jurisdictions that tax by destination, sales tax depends on where goods are delivered (the ship-to), not where the invoice is mailed. If an order uses an unmapped or ad-hoc address rather than a ship-to with the correct tax setup, tax can be miscalculated. Always map regular delivery destinations as Ship-To records with the right tax region. Note: this is ERP configuration guidance, not tax advice.
One-Time Ship-To
For deliveries to transient destinations (such as a temporary construction site), Kinetic provides a One-Time Ship-To (OTS) option on the Sales Order Release so you do not have to create a permanent Ship-To record in Erp.ShipTo.
FAQ
Can ship-to locations have different terms?
In standard Kinetic, payment terms belong to the debtor (Customer.TermsCode), not the delivery point (Ship-To). Terms can be overridden on the sales order header where authorized.
How should I join tables in reports?
Always join Customer to orders, shipments and invoices on Company and CustNum. Joining on CustID can fail or perform poorly.
Why did a tax rate not change?
Check whether the order is using the tax setup on the customer or on the ship-to.