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Business Partners

In Ayiza, a business partner is any person or organisation your company does business with. Rather than maintaining separate lists for customers and suppliers, Ayiza uses a single, unified master record for each party. A business partner can act as a customer, a supplier, or both, depending on how you assign it to your company codes.

What is a business partner?​

A business partner record holds the core identity of a person or organisation: their name, address, contact details, bank accounts, and tax information. This information is shared across your entire organisation, so you only need to maintain it once.

Whether someone is treated as a customer (you sell to them) or a supplier (you buy from them) is determined separately, at the company code level. This means the same business partner can be a supplier for one company code and a customer for another, or both for the same company code.

Key fields​

Every business partner has the following core information:

FieldDescription
BP numberA unique identifier assigned automatically based on the number range of the partner's category.
NameThe partner's name. Organisations typically use Name 1 for the company name. Individuals use Name 1 for the last name and Name 2 for the first name. Up to four name fields are available.
Legal personWhether the partner is a natural person (individual) or a legal entity (organisation).
CategoryA classification that groups partners and determines the number range used for new BP numbers (e.g., domestic suppliers, international customers).
External BP numberAn optional reference number from an external system, useful when migrating data.

For individuals, you can also record personal details such as date of birth, birthplace, nationality, gender, and preferred language.

Company code assignments​

A business partner on its own is just a contact. To actually do business with them -- send invoices, receive payments, post accounting entries -- you need to assign them to a company code as a customer, a supplier, or both.

Customer assignment​

When you assign a business partner as a customer for a company code, you set up:

  • AR control account -- the accounts receivable G/L account where customer invoices and payments are posted.
  • Payment terms -- the default payment conditions for this customer (e.g., net 30 days).
  • Payment method -- how you expect to receive payments from them.
  • Taxable -- whether transactions with this customer are subject to tax.

Supplier assignment​

When you assign a business partner as a supplier for a company code, you set up:

  • AP control account -- the accounts payable G/L account where supplier invoices and payments are posted.
  • Payment terms -- the default payment conditions for this supplier.
  • Payment method -- how you pay this supplier (e.g., bank transfer).
  • Withholding tax -- whether withholding tax applies to payments to this supplier.

Why this matters​

The company code assignment is what connects a business partner to your financial accounting. Without it, Ayiza would not know which G/L control account to post against when creating an invoice or processing a payment. If you try to create a supplier invoice for a partner that has not been assigned as a supplier in the relevant company code, Ayiza will block the transaction.

Beyond the core record, each business partner can have:

  • Addresses -- billing, shipping, and correspondence addresses.
  • Contacts -- named individuals with roles, departments, and notes.
  • Phone numbers -- landline, mobile, and fax numbers, with one marked as primary.
  • Digital addresses -- email addresses, websites, and other electronic contact methods.
  • Bank accounts -- IBAN, account number, bank, and currency details used for payment processing.
  • Tax identification numbers -- VAT numbers, tax registration numbers, and other tax IDs by country.
  • Withholding tax settings -- withholding tax types, exemption certificates, and rates per company code.
  • Attachments -- documents, contracts, and files linked to the partner.
  • Identity documents -- passports, national IDs, and other identification records.

Locking and sanctioning​

You can lock a business partner to temporarily prevent any new transactions from being created against them. Locked partners remain visible in lists and reports but cannot be used on new invoices or orders.

A sanctioned partner goes further: it marks the partner as a sanctioned entity (e.g., for trade compliance reasons). Sanctioned partners are blocked from all transactional use.

Next steps​