Maddie Evangelisti D365 ERP Implementation Senior Consultant (Senior Staff)

avoid using Person-type Customer accounts. We’re requesting your input on the feasibility of an alternate solution that leverages GAB contacts.

We proposed an approach where each user accessing the Online Store would be associated with a Customer account (Type = Person). These Person-type accounts are linked to their respective Invoice Accounts (Type = Organization) via the Customer hierarchy. Delivery address, lead time, and auto-charge logic are driven by values defined on the Organization-type Customer account.

We do not want to create separate Person-type Customer accounts, as they believe this would:

• Introduce data clutter and confusion in their CRM
• Conflict with their existing customer/contact structure

They are proposing an alternative:

• Use contacts from the Global Address Book (GAB) linked to Organization-type customers
• Map these contacts to Commerce identities (based on email)
• Let users select a delivery address during checkout, and base lead time/charge logic on that selection rather than the user’s customer record

Idea:

1. Commerce Identity Mapping
2. Can GAB contacts be authenticated in D365 Commerce as B2B users without being Person-type Customer accounts?
3. Lead Time & Pricing Logic
4. Is it technically feasible to:

• Use delivery address selection at checkout (regardless of user record)
• Drive lead time and charges logic based on the selected address, not the logged-in entity

1. Commerce Limitations
2. What, if any, limitations would we face in using contacts instead of customer accounts for:

• Storefront login and access
• Order history visibility
• Address validation and delivery charge logic