Account Note - An account note can be added to the customer account on the bottom of the Account Detail Screen. You can have multiple account notes to document things related to the customer account such as days when they are closed, information regarding their payment policies and procedures, or other important information to be shared internally with other credit and inquiry users.
Action Alerts - Also called Credit Class Rules, Action Alerts trigger activities that are either automatically managed by the software or activities assigned to credit representatives based on parameters defined for the Action Alert.
Action Code – Action Codes (ActionCode) are setup in Admin > Masterfiles > Action Code maintenance. The Action Code defines an action that is either manually or automatically created for an assigned credit user to designate what the user needs to do. Action Codes include an Action ID to define a code for the action, a priority (with 1 being the highest priority compared to lower-numbered priorities), an Issue Description used as the Issue or Task subject; and a communication note to tell the user what they need to do and why. For example, an Action Code may be defined as Call2 (Action ID) with an Issue Description of Second Collection Call and a Communication Note set as “Second Call 15 Days Past Due.” Action Codes are used with Credit Class rules to define what happens at a specified point in the collections process. Action Codes can be related to a report template and/or email template in cases where a specific mail merge report or email should be sent to customer accounts based on the credit class rule and action codes defined. Action Codes may also be marked to attach invoices where the credit class rule is set to automatically email communications to customer accounts with a PDF copy of the invoices attached to the email communication. Note that this feature is only available with invoice-based rules and not for account-based rules. Action Codes may also be defined as a Customer Contact (CustContact) as explained in Customer Account Contact Frequency.
Action ID – The Action ID is the unique identification of each action code in the software. See Action Code for more information.
Alert Description – There are two types of Actions in the software – customer actions which are created by the credit class rules engine and system actions or user alerts which are displayed in the Actions Tab in the User Actions section and in the User Actions Inquiry. The Alert Description (AlertDesc) field is a system field describing each pre-defined user action. For example, Customer Message (from Portal), Mail Not Read, Error Sending Email, Follow-Up Past Due, etc.
Activity - An activity within the software defines the type of communication that occurred with a customer account. The software includes six standard activities: Account Note (AcctNote), Disputed Invoice (Dispute), Email Received (EmailRcd), Email Send (EmailSend), Expected Payment (ExpectPay), or Phone Call (Phone). Custom activities can be created based on any of these six standard activities. For example, you may want to create a special activity for New Customer Calls to differentiate new customer calls from normal collection calls. Or you may want to create a special activity to define different types of account notes. Activities are defaulted in actions created for users based on credit class rules. For example, the credit class rule to make a second phone call may be tied to an Action Code of Call2 with an activity of Phone.
Activity Assigned To - The user assigned to the activity is identified with this field (ActivityAssignTo). Activities can be assigned to the credit representative assigned to the customer account or to any other credit user (for example, activities can be assigned other users for escalations or disputes).
Activity Complete - This field (ActivityComplete) is used to mark an activity as being completed. The activity may be completed even if the issue or task is not marked as resolved.
Activity Complete Date - The date that a collections activity was completed is displayed in this field.
Activity ID - The unique identification number for the collections activity is displayed in this field (ActivityID).
Activity Note - The Activity Note field contains the notes from a communication activity as entered by the credit user. For example, the results of a phone call made to a customer are entered into the notes field and users may enter notes describing other types of activities they’ve completed such as disputes, emails, etc.
Actual Amount - The Actual Amount field (ActualAmt) is used to track the actual amount of a payment received against a customer promise to pay as set in a communication activity on the payments tab. It is used to compare the promised payment amount for an expected payment to the actual payment amount received.
Actual Date - The Actual Date field (ActualDate) is used to track the actual date that a payment was received against a customer account promise to pay as set in a communication activity on the payments tab. It is used to compare the promise date for an expected payment to the actual date the payment was made by the customer.
Actual Pay Days - Actual Pay Days (ActualPayDays) displays the number of days between a promise to pay date and the date the payment was received by the customer. For example, if a customer makes a promise to pay on 1/3/2015 and the payment is received on 1/5/2015 then the Actual Pay Days is 2.
Add Customers To This User - In Admin > Master Files > Sales Rep you can click the Add Customers To This User button to associate customer accounts to sales representatives which are typically inquiry users in the software.
Address Lines - The software supports up to five lines for customer account addresses (AddrLine1, AddrLine2, AddrLine3, AddrLine4, and AddrLine5). Address information is typically synchronized from the ERP business system.
Admin User - At least one credit user in the software is required to be setup as an Admin User. This is set in Admin > Master Files > User by checking the Admin checkbox. Any and all credit users in the software can be setup with Admin credentials here. Admin users are granted special access to system administration settings such as most of the Admin menu options to setup or change system setup parameters. Further only admin users can run the Age Accounts and Generate Actions tasks.
Advanced Sync - The software allows a single connection to an ERP database or CSV file location with each license of the software. The Advanced Sync module is optional and enables the setup of multiple database sync schedules. For example, a global company that has a single ERP database would need Advanced Sync if they want to generate the sync for specific companies in their ERP database during different times of the day based on the geographic location of the users. Further, a company that has multiple ERP databases would require an additional Advanced Sync license for each additional ERP data source. Advanced Sync may also be purchased to provide credit users with access to sync on demand where they can be setup in Admin > Master Files > User with sync access to run a database sync manually to check for payments or to bring in new information on demand rather than waiting for the next scheduled database sync to occur.
Age Accounts - You can manually age accounts in the software in Admin > Age Accounts. Note that accounts are automatically aged within the software when the database sync is executed (see Sync Setup). As such, you may only need to age accounts if you are synchronizing with your ERP system less frequently than every day.
Age Current - Age Current (AgeCurrent) is the total numeric value of open accounts receivable for the customer account excluding past due balances and future aging representing the total amount of invoices that are within credit terms as defined on each invoice. Current aging is displayed in the Home Currency from the ERP system and based on the invoice creation date from the ERP system (not the invoice due date). For example, an invoice created January 1, 2015 that has Net30 terms is considered current from January 1, 2015 through January 31, 2015.
Age Future - Age Future (AgeFuture) indicates future due balances that are not current or past due but due at some point in the future. For example, an invoice in the ERP system dated for June 1, 2015 would be included in the AgeFuture Bucket on January 1, 2015 since the invoice is not current or past due but rather due in the future. This is common in some industries such as cases where recurring invoices may exist in the ERP system for monthly subscriptions or an annual renewal invoices.
Age Unapplied Transactions - A checkbox in site options (Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options > Options Tab) allows you to decide whether or not you want to age unapplied transactions. This is setup as unchecked (or do not age) but can be changed by administrative users should you choose to age unapplied transactions from your ERP system.
Age Unit - The age unit defines the unit of measure in time used for account aging values. It is typically defined in terms of days but could be defined in months.
Aging Unit Values - Aging buckets are user defined in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options > Options in the Aging Unit Values section for four date-based ranges. These are typically setup for traditional 30, 60, 90, 120 day periods but can be defined as different values depending on your specific business and industry requirements. Labels for Aging Buckets use the defined settings in grids and throughout the software based on these ranges (e.g., Aging 31-60 Days, Aging 61-90 Days, Aging 91-120 Days, and Aging 121+ Days). Aging value units can be different than those defined in your ERP software. There are two sets of values defined for aging value units – the first set (Age) is based on the invoice creation date from the ERP system. The second set (Due Age) is based on the invoice due date from the ERP system. For example, an invoice created January 1, 2015 with Net60 Terms would be due on March 2, 2015. Assuming the Age and Due Age value units are both defined as 30, 60, 90, and 120 days then on March 15 the invoice would be 73 days old based on the invoice creation date and would appear in the Age 2 bucket (aged 60-90 days). The invoice was due March 2, 2015 so it is only 13 days past due and would appear in the Due Age 1 bucket (aged 1-30 days based on the invoice due date). Many smaller companies use the Age buckets (invoice creation date) when they have invoices with common credit terms. Companies that have variable credit terms by customer account or by invoice are likely better off using Due Age in the software based on the due date of the each individual invoice. A checkbox is provided in setup options to select which aging to use on the dashboard – By Invoice Date (Age) or By Due Date (Due Age).
Alerts - Alerts (Advanced Alerts) are setup using grids throughout the software to provide email notifications to users based on filters within the grids. Alert settings allow you to define the filters for the grids and which users will receive the email notifications. You can click the Process button to manually send notifications or you can define a schedule for notifications when saving alerts. Email notifications will be sent to users if there is data in the grid for users that they are responsible for managing (as defined by assigned customers for credit representatives or inquiry users). The email notification will include an Excel file with the related data as well as a hyperlink that the user can click to access the live and updated information online within the software. For example, you can setup an alert to be sent to sales reps notifying them that they have customers that have an open invoice dispute by filtering the Invoice Inquiry grid to display invoices where the InDispute checkbox is checked and the Resolved checkbox is unchecked. The alert can be named such as “Weekly Dispute” and defined to run every Monday at midnight for selected inquiry users. Users will receive the alert notification via email weekly if they have customers that have open disputes.
Amount - The amount field for invoices shows the amount of the invoice.
Amount Home Currency - AmountHC. See Home Currency for more information.
Anytime Docs - Anytime Docs is a PDF Utility available for use with the collections software. It is available in two editions – Basic and Advanced. The Basic Edition allows users to print batches of invoices through Anytime Docs to generate PDF copies of individual invoices that can be synchronized to cloud data storage providing online access to PDF invoices for software users. Further, PDF copies can be attached manually or automatically to customer account email communications and viewed by customers in the secured online customer portal. The Advanced Edition is designed exclusively for companies using Sage 500 ERP with additional document management capabilities. Companies who already have a document management system that supports PDF copies of invoices do not typically need Anytime Docs.
Assign Customers To This User - This button is available in Admin > Master Files > User to define which customer accounts are associated to each credit representative. Action alerts will be created for this user unless the credit class rule contains an override user in the parameters.
Assign Users to This User - You can setup credit teams and reporting hierarchies by assigning users to other users in the software. This is available in Admin > Master Files > User. This feature will allow a credit user to log-in and perform their tasks and activities with the ability to view tasks and activities for others on their team. They can also perform tasks for their team members if needed.
Assigned User ID – Assigned User ID (AssignedUserID) identifies which credit user is assigned to each credit or collections activity or task within the software. This may be the same as the user assigned to the customer account or to another user in the case of escalations. For example, a second phone call may be created by the software to contact a customer account a second time regarding past due invoices. The issue an activity to make the call can be assigned to a credit user or escalated to a different credit user or manager to complete the task. Activities scheduled will display on the assigned users’ Actions as well as on the user’s calendar in Inquiries > By User > Follow Up.
Attach Invoices - The software can be setup to automatically attach a PDF copy of invoices to email communications that are sent through the Credit Class rules for automated email communication. This option is defined in Admin > Master Files > Action Codes and is dependent on the PDF copies of the invoices being available or uploaded to cloud data storage. See Document Options for more information.
Attachment - An attachment can be made to communication activities and emails within the software in the Communication screen on the Attachments tab. Attachments can be made by browsing to the local or network file location and uploading the attachment to the communication. Communication activities that have attachments will display with a paperclip icon in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen. Attachments may also be related and stored against an email communication which will display as an attachment in the Mail box and other areas of the software.
Auto Close - This option is available in credit class rules to automatically close an issue related to the rule when the rule parameters are no longer valid. See Auto Close Issues & Activities for more information about global auto close options.
Auto Close Issues & Activities - Most companies want the software to close issues and activities that are open but no longer require their attention. For example, the software may create a phone call for a collector to contact a customer when an invoice is past due. If the collector does not get to the activity that day and a payment in full is received then the system will recognize that the issue and activity are no longer valid and this setup option will automatically close the issue and activity removing it from the assigned users work queue or actions list. This is also useful if you are setting up scaled workflow within credit class rules. For example, if the first phone call only applies when the invoice is between 1-10 days past due then the issue and activity will be automatically closed if the invoice ages beyond 10 days as the next state in the collections process will be triggered by the system. Auto Close is maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab
Available Credit - Available credit is calculated using the total aging for a customer account compared to the credit limit for the customer account as defined within the ERP business software. Values are numeric represented in the Home Currency set in the ERP business software. For example, a customer account that has invoices totaling $10,000 US Dollars may have a credit limit set of $15,000 US Dollars. Their Available Credit would therefore be $5,000 US Dollars.
Average Days Amount Total - The total number of days for transactions included in average days late calculations is provided in this column (AvgDaysAmtTotal). It is not useful for collectors but used strictly to calculate the Average Days Late and Average Days Late Weighted by amount metrics.
Average Days Late - Average Days Late (AvgDaysLate) or ADL is calculated for every customer account representing the average number of days they are late on paying any invoice (regardless of invoice size). This is typically a positive number meaning the customer always pay later than their invoice due date but it can be a negative number indicating that they pay before the due date. This metric is used in the Days Late chart on the dashboard and by customer account in the Customer Info pull down tab providing a view of the average days late for the previous 6 month period. See also Average Days Late Weighted. Below is an example of how average days late is calculated using the average days and weighted by amount late.
Average Days Count Total - The total number of transactions included in average days late calculations is provided in this column (AvgDaysCountTotal). It is not useful for collectors but used strictly to calculate the Average Days Late and Average Days Late Weighted by amount metrics.
Average Days Delinquent - See Average Days Late
Average Days Late Difference - The difference between the Average Days Late and the Average Days Late Weighted (by amount) is provided in this field (AvgDaysLateDiff).
Average Days Late Trend - The Average Days Late Trend graph is available for display on the dashboard. It provides a six month trend of the average days late and the weighted average days late by amount. This graph is only displayed if Average Days to Pay is selected in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab in the Dashboard Options panel. Alternatively, a trend graph will be displayed for days sales outstanding (DSO) for the previous six months.
Average Days Late Weighted - Average Days Late Weighted (AvgDaysLateWeighted) is calculated for every customer account representing the average number of days they are late on paying any invoice (regardless of invoice size) but weighted based on the amount past due. This metric is used in the Days Late chart on the dashboard and by customer account in the Customer Info pull down tab providing a view of the average days late weighted by amount for the previous 6 month period. See also Average Days Late.
Average Days to Pay - Average Days to Pay or ADP is the average number of days it takes a customer account to pay an invoice in full. It is sometimes referred to as average days delinquent (ADD) or days beyond terms (DBT). The software uses ADP instead of ADD or DBT because ADD and DBT both suggest that customers pay beyond terms while ADP shows how long a customer takes to pay (early, on time, or late). ADP is calculated based on either the invoice creation date (if using By Invoice Due Date as the default aging method) or more commonly calculated based on the invoice due date (if using By Due Date as the default aging method). Average Days to Pay can be defined for up to 7 ranges of invoice sizes using the invoice amounts in the home currency. These ranges can be user defined in site options or they may be automatically and dynamically calculated based on the invoice data synchronized from the ERP system.
Average Days to Pay Total - The average number of days it takes a group of customer accounts or a specific customer account to pay invoices (regardless of invoice size) is provided in this field (AvgDaysToPayTotal). See Average Days to Pay for more information.
Balance - The balance field for invoices shows the balance due from the ERP system which subtracts credit memos or payments applied against the invoice amount.
Balance Home Currency - BalanceHC. See Home Currency for more information.
Batch Report Email Subject – You can set the subject line for automated emails in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab in the Options panel. This email subject will be included in all automated email communications with a unique task id to identify the associated issue within the software so that inbound email responses from customers are associated to the correct issues. For example, you can set the Batch Report Email Subject to “Important Account Information” and the email subject will look something like this: “Important Account Information IssueID:0000002939.”
Best Fit - The Best Fit icon in major grids will resize the grid columns to fit the selected data.
Blind Carbon Copy Address - An email address in the BCC or blind carbon copy field in an email communication (BCCAddress) indicates an email address copied on an email communication.
Body Text - The body or main content area of an email is stored in the Body Text field (BodyText).
Broken Promise - The software will track broken promises (Broken) from customer accounts when the Promise to Pay checkbox is marked on an Expected Payment within the Communication screen on the Payments tab. If an expected payment has been flagged as a promise and the payment was not received for the amount promised or it was not received by the expected payment date – then the system will record a broken promise to pay against the customer account. A system alert triggers an action for the assigned user notifying them that they have broken promises that require their follow-up. This is triggered when the data sync runs pulling in payments and invoices from the ERP business system for invoices with a promise to pay that still have an open balance due. A summary of the total number of broken promises is provided by customer account in the My Accounts grid and in the Customer Info tab showing the number of broken promise over time (Broken Promise 90 Days, Broken Promise 6 Mnths (Months), Broken Promises 1 Yr (Year), and Broken Promise 2 Yrs (Years). See also Promise to Pay.
Calendar - A calendar of working days can be maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Calendar tab. Here you can define business or working days each week excluding weekends, holidays, and other non-working days. The software will not schedule tasks or activities on non-working days and the number of days provided for collectors to complete tasks will not include non-working days. For example, if a collector is assigned a task on Friday and given three days to complete the task, and they do not work on Saturday and Sunday, the task will be required for completion on Wednesday the following week (Friday, Monday, and Tuesday – excluding Saturday and Sunday). Users may also access assigned task using a calendar view in Inquiries > By User > Follow-Up by clicking on the Calendar link at the top of the grid.
Calendar Interval - You can set the default time interval for calendar views in minutes in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab.
Carbon Copy Address - An email address in the CC or carbon copy field in an email communication (CCAddress) indicates an email address copied on an email communication.
Chat Options - Customer Chat Options are maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options tab in the Customer Portal panel. Here you define your LiveChat account, chat activity id (what type of activity type do you want to save chat conversations to), and a chat save keyword to help identify live chat conversations. For example, you can setup a LiveChat account which will create a note activity containing the keyword “LiveChat.” When customers access their online statements in the secure customer portal they will have the option to chat with credit and collections users in the software to inquire about invoices, payments, etc. The chat conversation is then saved as a communication activity with the software. Note that you must be logged into Live Chat in order to participate in chat conversations with your customers online.
Check # / Reference - The check number for a customer account payment is provided in payment inquiries in the software.
ClientCare - ClientCare is an annual maintenance and support plan provided to companies who purchase a perpetual license for the collections software. It provides access to customer support and product releases and updates. Companies who purchase a perpetual license must have a ClientCare plan for the first year but do not have to renew the ClientCare agreement in future years so long as they are hosting the software themselves. ClientCare is included in subscription licenses. See also Perpetual License and Subscription License for more information.
City - The city the customer account is located in. This can also be a borough, village, or other municipal or geographic location.
Clear - The Clear icon in grids allows you to deselect all previously selected records.
Client Prerequisites - When using older versions of the software with the Windows Client, you may need to install prerequisite software applications to support the Windows Client. These can be installed under Admin > Settings & Utilities > Client Prerequisites. This is not required when using newer versions of the software which are accessed within the web client.
Closed - The Closed field is related to an invoice dispute and indicates that the dispute was marked as Resolved.
Closed Date - The Closed Date field (ClosedDate) is related to an invoice dispute and indicates the date that the dispute was resolved.
Closing Transaction Date - This field (ClosingTranDate) is the date that an invoice was fully-paid or closed changing the status of the invoice from open.
COC Balance - The Credit APR % is used to calculate the COCBalance field which is the Cost of Credit. The Cost of Credit is the daily dollar amount for carrying your customers AR balance based on the Credit APR % set within Site Options. The Credit APR % is set by default to 10% and should be updated within Site Options based on the rate your bank has set for your short term lending rate.
Comment - There are two comment fields in the software. One of the comment fields originates in the ERP business system and is related to comments or note on the invoice. The second comment field is related to customer account payments which is also typically entered in the ERP business system. The payment comment provides notes regarding the payment transaction.
Company ID - The Company ID (CompanyID) or company identification field identifies the company from the ERP or accounting database related to specific customer accounts. For example, a company using Intuit QuickBooks may have two companies setup – Acme Distribution Inc. (CompanyID = ADI) and Acme Services (CompanyID = ASI). The CompanyID field shows which customer accounts belong to ADI vs. customers of ASI.
Company Options - You can maintain several system options by company in Admin > Master Files > Company. Here you can define the default user and whether online payments are permitted for this company with information related to how online payments are handled.
Contact Address - Each customer account contact may have an address which may be different than the customer account in cases where the person is not physically located in the same location as the corporate office where invoices are sent via mail. There are two address lines available (CntctAddrLine1 and CntctAddrLine2).
Contact City - The city associated with a customer account contact address (CntctCity).
Contact Comment - A note or comment about a customer account contact. This information can come from the ERP business software or may be maintained in the collection software to provide information about the contact. It is useful for making notes about roles and responsibilities, documenting work hours, or for personal information such as birthdays or other information useful in building relationships with customer contacts (CntctComment).
Contact Country - The country associated with a customer account contact address (CntctCountry).
Contact Email Address - The email address associated with a customer account contact (CntctEmailAddr).
Contact Frequency - Customer Account Contact Frequency defines the number of days allowed between automated customer communications. For example, contact frequency is defined by Credit Class ID such as 3 Days so that the software will not send automated communications until three days after the previous communication date to ensure that you are not sending too many communications to customer accounts too frequently. Contact frequency is defined by Action Code so that not all actions will count toward frequency calculations (e.g., making an account note would not normally count toward a customer communication).
Contact Name - The name of a customer account contact. Contacts can be synchronized into the collections software from the ERP business system or maintained within the collections system. You can have multiple contacts per customer account.
Contact Postal Code - The postal code or zip code associated to a customer account contact address used for mailing (CntctPostalCode).
Contact Primary Address Fax - The fax or facsimile number associated with the primary contact for a customer account (CntctPrimaryAddrFax).
Contact Primary Address Phone - The phone number associated with the primary contact for a customer account (CntctPrimaryAddrPhone).
Contact State - The state, province, or county associated with a customer account contact address (CntctState).
Cost of Credit - Cost of Credit (COC) is the estimated cost of a customer account based on the Credit APR % setup in the system. The Cost of Credit calculation uses the APR % multiplied by the open balance of each invoice and the number of days the invoice has been open (TransDateDays) to provide a total cost of credit for each customer account. Cost of Credit is useful for identifying which customers are costing the most money by carrying their balance on credit terms and can be useful for price and contract negotiations, for credit scoring, or for prioritizing credit and collection activities. The total cost of credit for a customer is provided in the COCBalance field in the software.
Count - Several grids in the system provide a count or sum of the number of records included in the grid. For example, the User Actions Inquiry provides a list of actions by user with a count for each type of action. User Donna Dryer may have Followup Past Due Actions in the list and there could be a count of 10 Followup Actions meaning that she has 10 past due follow-up actions on her list. Other grids simply provide a count of the records or rows in the grid.
Create Date - The creation date of a pending payment transaction (CreateDate) is stored in this field.
Create Date Days - This field (CreateDateDays) provides the number of days from the current business date compared to the pending payment creation date in the system. For example, if a pending payment was created on January 15, 2015 and today is January 18, 2015 then the Create Date Days value would be 3 for the pending payment transaction.
Create Followup - In credit class rules you can define an action to occur with a followup for either the assigned credit representative or another user and the number of days after the action for the follow-up date. For example, an automated email sent to customers reminding them of a past due balance can be defined with a follow-up three days after the email has been sent to the customer. The Followup Days for Create Followup sets the follow-up date three days after the original action has been created.
Create If Exists - This option in credit class rules will always create the action even if the same action was previously created and is still open. This option is useful if you always want to create an action such as when a customer is severely delinquent and you want to continually remind the credit representative that the issue is still open so they do not forget to follow-up.
Credit APR % - The Credit APR % is setup in Admin > Site Options on the Options tab and in the Options panel. It is used to define the annual percentage rate for the Cost of Credit (COC) calculation. The value is displayed as a whole number representing a percentage. For example, a value of 8 represents 8% Credit APR. The APR % is typically the annual percentage rate that you would have to pay if you would borrow money from your financial lending institution for a short-term loan. APR percentage rates vary by country, by industry, and other factors but are typically between 4% to 12% for most businesses.
Credit Class ID – The software and workflow engine are setup using a Credit Class ID (CreditClassID). Customer accounts can be assigned to a credit class and the credit class can have multiple sequences of events that occur to create actions for users in the software. For example, you can define one sequence of events for established customers and a completely different sequence of events for new customers.
Credit Hold - A customer account may be flagged as on credit hold within the ERP business software. The credit hold checkbox will be checked if the customer is on credit hold or not checked if the customer is not on credit hold.
Credit Issue - A credit issue (also known as Credit Task) is a task that requires a credit user to do something to resolve the issue. Issue can be created manually or automatically by the credit class rules system for such things as first call, second call, email reminder, new customer welcome call, credit review, etc. Issues or tasks are open until they have been fully resolved or completed by the credit user by performing activities such as making phone calls, sending emails, managing disputes, etc.
Credit Limit – Credit Limit (CreditLimit) is defined in the ERP software as a numeric value representing the maximum amount of credit available to a customer account. It is typically evaluated in the Home Currency as defined in the ERP business system.
Credit Manager - A credit manager is a special type of credit user in the software. Credit Managers have the same access to customers and information in the software as credit users and can have customers and users assigned to them but they have a special privilege to view dashboards for each of the users in the software that are assigned to them. Credit managers can be setup in Admin > Master Files > User. Note that Credit Managers are sold and licensed as credit users.
Credit Team - Users may be assigned to each other to create credit teams whereby a credit user can work on behalf of other team members on collection activities. See Assign Users to This User and Unassigned User for more information.
Credit User - A credit user license to the software provides unlimited access to manage a portfolio of assigned customer accounts. Credit users, also called collectors, may perform any activity assigned to them and may have administrative, data sync, and credit manager rights granted to them. See User for more information.
Credit Score - The software includes a field to store a Credit Score for customer accounts. The credit score can be synchronized from the ERP business system or other sources or it can be manually input. Credit scores can also be calculated using any of the customer account data in the software such as average days to pay, broken promises, third party credit bureau scores, etc. Custom credit scoring calculations require a custom stored procedure to be developed to calculate the credit score for customers. Credit Scores are maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Credit tab. Here you can define up to three different credit bureaus to track for each customer account as well as ranges of credit scores which can be alphanumeric and color-coded. Customers with credit scores that fall within certain ranges will be highlighted in the selected color on the top of each screen indicating their current credit risk.
Country - The country that the customer account is located.
Currency ID - The software supports two currency designations for financial transactions – Home Currency (HomeCurrID) and Customer Currency (CurrID) as defined in the ERP business system. Currency ID represents the currency used for customer transactions such as invoice values as opposed to home currency which is used for aging invoices in a single currency. The customer currency will be named such as USD for United States Dollars, CAD for Canadian Dollars, PES for Mexican Pesos, EUR for Euros, YEN for Japanese Yen, etc.
Customer - The customer name is included in the customer field synchronized from the ERP business system. The term customer and account are used throughout the software interchangeably. There is a separate field called Customer ID that is a unique identification for each customer account. See Customer ID for more information. Customer accounts can be viewed in Admin > Master Files > Customer where you can filter a grid containing all customers and then click the Edit Selected button to update customer records. For example, if you want to set all customers in a customer class (from the ERP business system data) to a credit class in the collections software you would filter the customers in the grid to the customer class, click the Edit Selected button, and then select the corresponding credit class. You can do the same thing to mass update two other settings for customers – assign user and allow online bill payment.
Customer Class ID – The Customer Class ID (CustClassID) is typically defined in the ERP business software as a way to group similar customers. Customer Class does not have to be the same as the Credit Class used to define workflow for a group of accounts although it often is the same.
Customer Contact - The software allows you to define what activities count as a customer contact in respect to contact frequency. Customer Contact is defined in Action Codes. For example, making an internal note on an account probably wouldn’t count as a customer contact but making a phone call or sending an email probably would count as a contact. See Frequency for more information.
Customer ID - The Customer ID (CustID) or customer identification is a unique identification for each customer account. In most ERP systems this is a numeric value but can be a unique abbreviation. The CustID could be 123456789 or an abbreviation of the customer name such as GEHITACHI (both identifying a unique customer account – General Electric Hitachi) but must be unique across customer accounts within the same ERP company.
Customer Info (drop down) - The Customer Info drop down is available to view information for a selected customer account if the account is selected from the search field at the top of the screen or the account is selected automatically from the Account Detail or Communication screens. The Customer Info is organized in five tabs – Credit, Info, History, Contacts, and Transactions. The Credit tab includes information about the customer account credit including date established, terms, days past due, credit limits, credit hold, credit scores, and more. The Info tab includes general information about the customer account including mailing address, sales representative, ERP company, credit representative, and account-level user defined fields. The History tab displays the customer account average days late, historical broken promises and disputes, and aging. The Contacts tab lists contact information that is synchronized from the ERP business system as well as contact information for contacts setup in the collections software. Contact information includes name, title, email, phone, address, and other important information such as the primary contact and whether to include the contact in automated email communications. The Transactions tab includes lists of recent payments (most recent first) and open invoices (oldest first). The Customer Info drop down is very useful for accessing important information before, during, and after collection calls.
Customer Name - The Customer Name (CustName) is the actual name of the customer account. The terms customer and account are interchangeable and used throughout the software. The customer account name is typically not numeric but alphanumeric and the actual legal name of the customer account. E.g., General Electric Hitachi Nuclear.
Customer PO Number - The Customer Purchase Order number (CustPoNo) is displayed in this field from the invoice data synchronized from the ERP business system. Note that in many companies missing purchase order information may be the cause of over 60% of invoice disputes. As a best practice, you can setup a user defined field for each customer called “Require PO” and mark customers that require a PO on invoices in order for them to remit payment. You can then setup a credit class rule to trigger an action for credit users every time that an invoice is synchronized from the ERP business system that does not include a PO number for customers that “Require PO.”
Customer Status - Customer Status (CustStatus) defines the status of a customer from the ERP business system. Values for this field are typically Active, Inactive, Out of Business, etc.
Customer User - A customer account may be setup with a customer user license with a dedicated or defined user name and password to access a secured online customer portal where the customer can view a statement of their accounts, PDF copies of invoices, account and invoice documents, and where they can pay their bills online. The customer user is maintained in Admin > Master Files > User. Alternatively, customers may access the secure customer portal from a guest user hyperlink which does not require a dedicated user license, user name, or password. See Guest User for more information.
Dashboard - The dashboard in the software displays key performance indicators and information for each user based on how the system was setup for them. For example, a credit user’s dashboard may display only the information related to their assigned accounts and activities while a credit manager would have access to information for all of their assigned users. Further, sales reps and other inquiry users can be restricted to only their assigned accounts. Note that you can create custom dashboards using inquiry user licenses. For example, a global company may setup inquiry users for different territories such as Americas, Europe, and APAC (Asia Pacific Region) if they want to view metrics across companies and users for a specific geographic region.
Dashboard Options - You can set dashboard chart options in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options tab in the Dashboard Options panel. Here you can define 7 ranges for invoice sizes to use for the Average Days to Pay graph or you may choose to have the system automatically calculate the ranges based on the data. See Average Days to Pay for more information.
Dashboard Prior 6 Months - This field available is set in Site Options on the Option tab in the Dashboard Options section and controls which graph to display for users. You can choose to display either a six month trend of days sales outstanding (DSO) or a six month trend of the average days to pay (ADP). The ADP graph shows two trends – the average days to pay across all invoices on the dashboard and the average days to pay weighted by dollar value.
Database Utility Setup - This utility is used for PREMISE INSTALLS only and will create the Premise Database.
Date Entered Days – This field (DateEnteredDays) displays the number of days between the current business date and the date that a communication activity was entered or created in the software. It is used primarily to determine how many activities have been entered or created in a specified period of time as a sort or filter option in communication related grids and reports.
Date Established - The Date Established (DateEstab) identifies the date that the customer account was created in the ERP business software. It is useful for determining business credit and can be used to create activities for collectors when new customers are created and synchronized into the software for the first time notifying the collector that they need to make an introductory call to review the first time customer invoice to ensure there are no issues.
Days Beyond Terms – See Average Days Late
Days Due To First Communication - This field (DaysDueTo1stCom) is used to compare the invoice due date to the date of the first communication that was tagged to the invoice. It is commonly used for analyzing invoices that are past due to determine how long it took for a credit user to make the first communication with the customer.
Days Due To Last Communication - This field (DaysDueToLastCom) is used to compare the invoice due date to the date of the last communication that was tagged to the invoice. It is commonly used for analyzing invoices that are past due to determine how long it has been since the last communication that was tagged to the invoice.
Days Due To Pay - The number of days between the due date and the Transaction Closing date.
Days First Communication To Pay - This field (Days1stComToPay) compares the invoice closing date (the date the invoice was paid in full) to the date of the first communication that was tagged to the invoice. It is used to evaluate how long it takes a customer account to pay the invoice after the first communication.
Days Last Communication To Pay - This field (DaysLastComToPay) compares the invoice closing date (the date the invoice was paid in full) to the date of the last communication that was tagged to the invoice. It is used to evaluate how long it takes a customer account to pay the invoice after the last communication.
Days Paid Late - The number of days that invoices with an established Payment Schedule was late (DaysPaidLate) is tracked for analysis and reporting. This could be a negative value if the invoice was paid before the due date.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) - Days Sales Oustanding (also called DSO and days receivables) is a calculation used by a company to estimate their average collection period. It is a financial ratio that illustrates how well a company's accounts receivables are being managed. DSO is equal to the result of total Accounts Receivable divided by Net Credit Sales multiplied by 365 days.
Days Since Closed Activity - The number of days since there has been a closed activity for a customer account is provided in this field (DaysSinceClosedActivity). It is typically used for information only or for definition of alerts, reports, or credit class rules.
Days Since Open Activity - The number of days since there has been an open activity for a customer account is provided in this field (DaysSinceOpenActivity). It is typically used for information only or for definition of alerts, reports, or credit class rules.
Days To Respond - The Days to Respond (DaysToRespond) field defines how long the credit representative has to complete the activity. Days to Respond can be setup as a system-wide default in Admin > Site Options on the Options Tab in the Options section. You can override the system default by setting specific Days To Respond by Credit Class rule. Lastly, you can also define specific Days to Respond by customer account in the Customer Info drop down tab on the Info tab if you want to contact some customers sooner or later than the default setting on the credit class rule. If the Action is created on January 9, 2015 and the Days to Respond is three days then the Action will show as past due on January 12 unless you’ve defined non-working days in the calendar within that timeframe (see Calendar for more information).
Dedicated Hosted Database - The software is typically installed as a hosted application on Microsoft Azure. By default, the data is stored in a multitenant shared database. Larger companies may choose to have their data hosted in a dedicated database containing only their data. A small fee is charged for dedicated hosted databases based on the then current price as set by Microsoft Azure. See also Multitenant Hosted Database for more information.
Default Credit Class - Customer accounts can be assigned manually to a credit class within the software. You can set a default credit class in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab to ensure that new customers synchronized into the software are assigned to a credit class for base workflow automation. You can then manually move customer accounts into other credit classes as needed.
Default Days to Respond - You can set a system-wide default for days to respond in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab. This can be overridden by either a credit class rule or days to respond defined for specific customer accounts in the Customer Info tab on the Info tab. See Days to Respond for more information.
Discount Amount - Some ERP systems support invoice discounts for early payment. The discount amount will be displayed in this field (DiscAmt) from the ERP business system. This amount will be in the customer’s currency which may be different than the home currency.
Display - The display column in invoice and other grids provides a PDF icon which, when clicked, opens a PDF copy of the original invoice. The PDF copy of the invoice is either created from your ERP business system or by using Anytime Docs. The PDF invoice copies are then synchronized to a secure online storage location and made available for viewing within the software and can be automatically or manually attached to customer communication and available online in the secure customer portal.
Dispute Amount - The Dispute Amount (DisputeAmount) field is set by the user to indicate the amount of an invoice dispute. Dispute amounts are managed within Communication activities by clicking on an invoice number to access the disputed invoice detail.
Dispute Code Date - This field stores the date that the invoice dispute code was added to a disputed invoice. It is useful for comparing an invoice dispute date to the date that the reason code was defined.
Dispute Date - The Dispute Date (DisputeDate) field is set by the user to indicate the date that an invoice dispute occurred. This is not a default creation date but rather a date set by the user since the dispute could have occurred in the past. Dispute dates are managed within Communication activities by clicking on an invoice number to access the disputed invoice detail.
Disputed - The disputed field will display a question mark icon in the Communication History grid if a communication has an invoice dispute identified for one or more invoices.
Document Options - Document options are maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options in the Options tab on the Documents & Attachments panel. Here you define whether PDF copies of invoices should be accessed locally or uploaded to a cloud location. Note that only files stored on the cloud are available for customers to view online in the customer portal and locally stored documents cannot be automatically attached to email communications. Document options also allow you to define the base path for accessing documents and attachments (example: http;//anytimecollect.com/images) as well as a dynamic path and the dynamic invoice name which can include masking.
Due Date - The invoice due date is stored in this field. The date originates from the invoice in the ERP business software.
Due Date Days - The Due Date Days (DueDateDays) field is a critical field within the software. This calculated field displays the number of days in respect to the invoice due date and the current business date. For example, if today is January 7, 2015 and an invoice is due on January 10, 2015, the DueDateDays will be -3 (or three days before the due date). An invoice due on January 15, 2015 would have a Due Date Days value of 5 meaning that it is five days late. Due Date Days is important for companies that have variable credit terms by invoice or by customer account so that invoices are handled properly in relation to their actual due date and not based on the invoice transaction or creation date. For example, you may have one invoice with NET10 terms and another with NET30 terms. If both invoices were created the same day then in 20 days the first invoice is 10 days late and the second invoice will be due in the next 10 days. For this reason, most companies implementing credit class rules for invoices will use DueDateDays within credit class rule filters to define when the action should be triggered for the assigned credit representative.
Due Future - The invoice amount due in the future is displayed in this field. See Age Future.
Due Now - The invoice amount due now is displayed in this field.
Due Total - The total balance due for a customer account or a group of customer accounts.
Duration - This is maintained in the Inquiries > By User > Follow-up > Calendar View and indicates the duration of the scheduled Follow-up
Edit Form - The Edit Form button is available to launch the report designer for mail merge documents within Admin > Master Files > Report.
Edit Filter - Credit Class rules are typically based on a filter or definition of the conditions when the rule should generate an action. First select whether the rule should be based on the View Type for customers or invoices and then click the Edit Filter button to define the conditions when the action should be triggered for the credit user. For example, you can setup a reminder email for customers by selecting the invoice view and then setting filters to look for invoices that have a balance > 0 and where the duedatedays (number of days to the due date) is -3. This action will be triggered for all invoices that have a balance greater than $0 where the due date is three days of the current business date. Note that you can preview the results of the filter settings to ensure that you have the filter setup properly by reviewing the resulting records in the preview grid below the filter settings.
Email Signature - You can maintain email signatures in several places within the software. Globally, a default email signature can be set in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Mail Settings Tab for Outgoing Email. This signature will be used as a default if an email signature is not defined for users. User email signatures are maintained in Admin > Master Files > User for each credit user in the system.
Email Template - Email templates can be maintained in Admin > Master Files > Email Template. Email templates are used with automated communications as defined within credit class rules using the email template for the associated Action Code. Email templates are also available to use from the Communication screen. Note that if you want to include a mail merge message with email then you will not use an email template but rather, you will associate a report template to the Action Code. Emails that do not include an email template will embed the merged report template into the body of the email.
Entered - There are several fields throughout the software displaying the date that a transaction was entered into the software. The Entered field here is related to user follow-up activities and represents the date that the user follow-up was created by the system (automatically) or by the user (manually).
Entry User ID - The user identification is stored in this field (EntryUserID) for pending payment transactions processed from the online customer portal or by credit users within the software on the account statement screen. User ID will only be populated for credit and inquiry users or customers that have a dedicated user name and password to log-in to the software. Guest Users accessing the customer portal from a hyperlink in an email are not identified by user identification number or name but the transaction is recorded against their customer account.
Entry User Name - The user name is stored in this field (EntryUserName) for pending payment transactions processed from the online customer portal or by credit users within the software on the account statement screen. User Name will only be populated for credit and inquiry users or customers that have a dedicated user name and password to log-in to the software. Guest Users accessing the customer portal from a hyperlink in an email are not identified by user name but the transaction is recorded against their customer account.
Exclude from Aging - An invoice dispute may be valid, meaning that the dispute could be the fault of your company. For example, maybe you shipped the wrong quantity of products or billed the customer a higher hourly rate. In these cases you can use Exclude from Aging (ExcludeAging) to indicate that the amount in dispute should be excluded from the aging and credit class rules engine in the software (not excluded in your ERP business system) so that the amount does not trigger new actions for the credit user. For example, if the customer was accidentally billed an extra $10 and you define an invoice dispute to exclude $10 from their aging, then the system. If the customer has a balance of $10 on their account the system will ignore this and will treat the account as if they have a $0 balance.
Exclude Invoices Before - Some companies implementing the software have changed their credit and collections policies and procedures and may want to exclude invoices used in the average days to pay (ADP) calculations before a specified date. This field is set in Site Options on the Option tab in the Dashboard Options section.
Expected Pay Days - Expected Pay Days (ExpectedPayDays) displays the number of days between the current business date and the expected payment date as defined on an Expected Payment which is set on the Payments tab in a Communication activity. For example, if the expected payment is tomorrow then as of today, the Expected Pay Days is 1 (or 1 day until the expected payment).
Export to Excel - All major grids in the software can be exported to Microsoft Excel for analysis and reporting by clicking on the Export to Excel icon.
Export Date - The date that a pending payment is exported from the collections software is recorded in this field (ExportDate) as a way to identify which pending payments have already been exported for manual entry or import into the ERP business software. Export files are provided in the Messages section of the software at the top right of the screen.
Expected Payment - An expected payment may be recorded on the Payment tab in Communication to indicate that the credit user expects a payment of a specified amount (ExpectAmt) by a specified date (ExpectDate) as part of the communications activity. Expected payments are displayed as a payment icon in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen. Expected payments may also be defined as a promise to pay (Promise). The actual payment amount and actual payment date will display with the expected payment on the Payment tab as well.
Filter - All major grids in the software can be filtered by accessing the filter icon on the grid. Filters can be saved as Grid Settings for future access.
Follow Up - The follow up field in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen will display as a calendar icon if the communication had a follow-up date defined. If the communication is not yet completed and not due the calendar icon will display in blue. If the follow-up date is past due the calendar icon will display in red. If the follow-up activity was completed before the due date the calendar icon will display in green.
Follow-Up Date - The date for a follow-up activity is defined in the follow-up section on the Communication screen.
Follow-Up Date Days - This field (FollowUpDateDays) provides a value for the number of days between the Follow-Up Date on a communication activity and the current business date. It is used primarily to determine if a follow up is late.
Follow-Up Description - A note or description (Followup Desc) for the follow-up activity can be defined by the credit user.
Follow-Up Respond By Date - The last date the Follow-up should be responded to and is set based on the Response Days default which set in the following order: Action Alert, Customer, Site Options or user input in a manual communication
Folders - Folders are provided for Customer Accounts and Invoices to store documents and files. Customer Account folders are accessible on the top of the screen from the folder icon next to the customer account name or from the folder icon on the Communication screen. Invoice documents and files are accessible in invoice and financial grids containing invoices such as the Statement of Accounts grid on the Account Detail screen and the invoice grid in Communications. Both folders (Customer and Invoice) include system directories for internal and external documents and files. Internal documents and files are not made available to customers from the online customer portal. External documents can be viewed by the customer in the online customer folder. Customers logged in to the customer portal or accessing the portal from a guest hyperlink can view their account documents from the Documents menu and they can view invoice documents by clicking on the documents icon in the invoice grid. A guest link can be sent to customers using a code snippet in email templates and communications providing direct access to customer-level documents and files such as credit applications, contracts, and general customer documents available in the external folder directory.
Freeze Columns - You can freeze columns in a grid similar to the Freeze Panes option in Microsoft Excel so that the first columns in the grid remain frozen or in place as you scroll through grids that contain more information. This is very useful to keep the customer account name, selection checkbox, and other information in the grid view as you scroll to review additional data in the grid.
Frequency - You can control how often customers are contacted by setting the frequency to a number of days in Admin > Master Files > Credit Class. Frequency (or Customer Contact Frequency) uses the Customer Contact setting from Action Codes to determine the last valid customer contact to prevent the software from sending too many emails to customers. For example, if the Frequency is set to 3 days for a Credit Class and the last Customer Contact was yesterday, the software will delay the transmission of an automated email for 2 days ensuring that customers are not contacted too frequently which can have a negative impact on the success rate of automated email communications.
From Address - The From Address (FromAddress) field indicates the email address associated with the sender of an email communication.
Generate Actions - The Generate Actions task allows you to manually run credit class rules to generate actions and activities for users. This is available in Admin > Generate Activities. Note that this task is not required if you establish a schedule for action generations in Admin > Master Files > Credit Class where the actions will be automatically generated on a predefined schedule. When manually generating actions, you have the option to generate followup activities using a specific date and for specific credit classes (or for all credit classes). You can also generate a preview of the actions which will be provided in the Messages section of the software accessible at the top right of the screen. It is strongly recommended that you preview actions before generation to ensure that actions were configured properly in credit class rules. You can then return to this menu to generate actions when you have reviewed the preview.
Grids - Grids are available throughout the software providing a list of related records. For example, you will find grids for My Accounts, Account Detail (Statement of Accounts, Communication History, and Account Notes), and in Action lists and Inquiries. Grids can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking on one of the data columns in the grid. Most major grids have standard toolbars with options to filter the grid, export data to Microsoft Excel, refresh the data, select all records, clear the selected records, apply a best fit for column widths, save grid settings, create alerts, and freeze columns. You can also right click on the grid heading to sort the grid, remove columns from the view, or to group records (or ungroup records).
Group – A group defines the license for the software and each company within the license which is maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Main tab. For example, a large company may purchase or subscribe to a single license of the software. Within that license they may setup multiple database synchronization schedules to pull in data from multiple ERP systems and for multiple companies within those ERP systems. The Group is the top-level entity related to all of the data within the software. A group will have an associated identification name and description as well as an address. The related companies will be listed below the group information. Here you can define the default Home Currency for each company as well as the default assigned credit user for each company. For example, within one group you may have a subsidiary in the USA and another subsidiary in Mexico. In this case you would likely want to setup the default home currency for the USA subsidiary in US Dollars and the Mexican subsidiary in Pesos. You would also probably want to have different credit users assigned as a default to any new accounts synchronized into the software depending on their associated company in the ERP database.
Guest Link Options - Options for the customer portal are maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab in the Customer Portal panel. Here you define the number of days that a guest link expires or the number of guest link clicks before the link expires. For example, a Guest Link is created when sending customer accounts an email with a hyperlink to view their statement online. The settings here control when the link will expire based on the number of days from the link creation or the number of times the customer clicks the link. This is a built in security control. You can use both settings at the same time so the guest link can be set to expire in 10 days or 10 clicks – whichever comes first.
Guest User - A guest user is a customer account user granted access to view their online statement via the secured customer portal without a dedicated customer user license. Guest Users click a hyperlink sent to them via email. The hyperlink takes the user directly to their online statement. See Guest Link Options for more information. Guest Users are not licensed users in the software and do not require a user license nor a user name or login.
Home - The first screen you see when you log into the software is the Home screen. Here you can get updates on the software available by clicking on the rotating banners or by reading recent news in the news feed at the bottom of the screen.
Home Currency - The software supports two currency designations for values – Home Currency (HomeCurrID) and Customer Currency (CurrID) as defined in the ERP business system for financial transactions. Home currency is a single currency used to age accounts within the software. The Home currency will be displayed using the currency name such as USD for United States Dollars, CAD for Canadian Dollars, PES for Mexican Pesos, EUR for Euros, YEN for Japanese Yen, etc. For invoices, the amount due in the home currency is displayed in the AmountHC field and the remaining invoice balance (amount minus payments or applied credits) is displayed in the BalanceHC field.
Image - An image library can be maintained within the software to include company logos for use on mail merge reports or for photos of users to link to their user profiles in the system. You can access the Image library from the Report or User menus under Admin > Master Files > Report (or User).
In Dispute - The In Dispute checkbox (InDispute) indicates if an invoice is being disputed by the customer. It is set by clicking on the invoice number within a Communication activity and available throughout the software in inquiries and grids to indicate if an invoice is in dispute.
Inquiry User - An inquiry user license is a limited user license available with the software. Inquiry User licenses were sold as Sales User licenses in previous versions. The Inquiry User must have a valid user name and password to access the collections software. They can view information for customer accounts that are assigned to them but they cannot do most credit and collections activities. The only two things they can do are to make a note on the customer account (at the bottom of the Customer Detail screen) or they can make a note on an invoice on the Customer Detail screen by selecting an invoice and then clicking on the Make a Note button. Inquiry users are typically associated with executives such as owners, presidents, chief executive officers, and top financial managers who need access to credit and collections information but who are not directly involved in the process. Inquiry users are also popular for keeping sales representatives, customer service, and others updated using built-in alerts which can be sent directly to their email with reports and a hyperlink to log-in to the software to view additional information that may require their input.
Invoice - The invoice field (TranID) displays the invoice number from the ERP business software or other external data source. The transaction date for the invoice is also available (Tran Date).
Invoice Comment - An invoice may have a comment originating from the ERP business system. This may appear in multiple fields – this field (InvoiceCmnt) or a comment field (Comment).
Invoice Date - The date an invoice was created or invoiced is provided in the software. This date is used for account aging unless the system is setup to use the Invoice Due Date. See Aging Unit Values for more information about aging options.
Invoice Due Date - The invoice due date (Due Date) is typically included for each invoice from the ERP business system based on either the customer account credit terms or for special terms by invoice. The invoice due date can be used for aging within the software. See Aging Unit Values for more information about aging options.
Invoice Status - The invoice status (Status) comes from the ERP business system and is used to identify if the invoice is open, paid or closed, etc.
Issue Complete - the Issue Complete field can be marked as complete manually by the credit representative or automatically if the credit class rules are set to automatically close issues where the condition that triggered the rule is no longer valid. For example, if the issue or task is created when an invoice has a balance due and is late – the credit class rule can automatically close the issue if payment is received and the issue no longer requires the credit user to make a call or to send an email.
Issue Complete Date - The date that the issue or task was completed is identified in this field.
Issue ID - The unique identification for an issue or task is displayed in this field (IssueID).
Keys - There are several system fields that may appear when exporting some grids within the software. The Task Key (TaskKey), Task Activity Key (TaskActKey), Activity Key (ActivityKey), User Key (UserKey), Group Key (GroupKey), and Messaged User Key (MgdUserKey) are not useful for users to utilize for reports, alerts, or any other purpose.
Language - The software is available in multiple languages. Users select their language when they login to the software. Language codes are provided with reports, templates, and grid settings to view information in different languages. Languages available include US English (EN-US), British or Anglicized English (EN-GB), Spanish (ES), Portuguese (PT), and Hebrew (HE). Call for availability of other languages.
Last Activity - The Action Code from the last customer account activity is displayed in several grids, alerts, and reports throughout the software to indicate the last activity created for the customer account. For example, if the last activity was Call2, you can quickly see that the last activity was a second phone call.
Last Activity Date - The date the last activity was completed for a customer account. Very useful in reporting, alerts, and credit class rules to ensure that customer accounts are contacted frequently.
Last Activity Days - The number of days since the last activity was completed for a customer account is provided in this field (LastActivityDays). It is useful for reporting, alerts, and credit class rules.
Last Activity Note - The note or description of the last activity completed for a customer account. Useful to understand the last communication that occurred.
Last Activity User ID - The User ID associated with the last completed activity for a customer account. Typically used in reporting and analysis.
Last Payment Date - The Last Payment Date (LastPmtDate) field displays the date of the last payment for a selected invoice.
Late Days - The software supports to methods of aging invoices (see Aging Unit Values). One of these methods is related to aging based on the invoice due date (also called a late aging). The software includes five fields to summarize invoice balances based on the values defined in the Aging Unit Values. For example, if the Late Aging (also called Due Age), is setup as 30, 60, 90, 120 then you will see the following five fields for customer accounts – Late 1-30 Days, Late 31-60 Days, Late 61-90 Days, Late 91-120 Days, and Late 121+ Days. Late Days is related to both the customer account aging and invoices.
Late Over Days - Late Over Days shows the cumulative amount past due over a specified number of days based on the invoice due date. If the Aging Unit Values for the Late Aging (also called Due Age), is setup as 30, 60, 90, 120 then you will see the following five fields for customer accounts – Late Over 30 Days, Late Over 60 Days, Late Over 90 Days, and Late Over 120 Days. For example, any invoice that is more than 60 days past due (based on the invoice due date) will be included in the Late Over 60 days calculation (including invoices that are 60, 90, and 120+ days past due). Late Over Days is related to both the customer account aging and invoices. See Aging Unit Values, Late Days, and Over Days for more information.
Logout – The logout link at the top of the screen will log the user out of the software.
Logs – You can access log files in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Logs. Here you can view system log files for account database sync, client login sessions, document upload, action generation, and email.
Mail Retrieval – You can view a summary of Mail Retrieval in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Mail Retrieval. Here you can view the date and time of the last email retrieval, error counts, and mail retrieval logs. See also Logs.
Mail Setting Options – Email setting options are maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Mail Settings tab. Here you can define the subject tag to include in outbound email (see Batch Report Email Subject for related information). You can also define the frequency or interval in seconds to poll the email server for received email. Email can be stored in various formats defined in the Save MIME To drop-down box. Options include IMAP, Database, and File System. You will also maintain outgoing and incoming SMTP and IMAP settings here including server names, ports, default sent as email address, user name, user password, user domain, authentication method, connection timeout, retrieval timeout, and whether to use SSL and TLS. This screen also allows you to maintain default Email Signatures and to test both incoming and outgoing email settings. Note that Email Signatures can be setup here as a global default or maintained by user in Admin > Master Files > User.
Messages – System messages are accessed by clicking the Messages button at the top right-hand side of the screen. Messages include notifications that data syncrhonizations completed, that actions were generated, or that files were prepared for export with an attached csv formatted file.
Multitenant Hosted Database - The software is typically installed as a hosted application on Microsoft Azure. By default, the data is stored in a multitenant shared database. Multitenant means that data for a license is stored in a shared database with other companies. This is typical of software as a service (SaaS) business applications. There is no charge for utilizing a multitenant database. Larger companies may choose to have their data hosted in a dedicated database containing only their data. See Dedicated Hosted Database for more information.
My Accounts – A list of customer accounts assigned to you is available on the My Accounts screen accessed from the main menu. Here you can view all of your customers, define filters to view specific groups of customers, and drill-into Account Detail for specific customers. This grid also provides access to special inquires for the selected customers and the ability to create mail merge documents manually for selected customers.
My Profile – Your software license profile is provided in Admin > My Profile. On the Account tab you can view your account contact information, authorized support contact details, and information about your software license including the edition, expiration date, and number of credit and inquiry users. This is also where you can allow support agent access so that authorized software support agents are granted permission to log into your account to troubleshoot issues or to review system setup and parameters. The User Settings tab allows you to view the system administrator user login and contact information.
Notes – Notes are related to communication activities and include a summary of the communication from the credit representative. Account Notes are different and related to the account.
Number Over Due Invoices - The number of Overdue Invoices (NoOverDueInv) identifies the count of invoices that are currently past due by customer account.
Oldest Due Date Days - This field (OldestDueDateDays) displays the number of days since the oldest due date for an open (not completed) customer account activity compared to the current date. For example, if an open activity has a due date of 1/15/2014 and the current date is 5/7/2014, the oldest due date days would be 112 days.
Oldest Issue Date – The date of the oldest issue or task associated with a customer account. Used to identify issues that remain open and unresolved. Can be used in reporting, alerts, and credit class rules.
Oldest Issue Description - The description of the oldest open issue or task for a customer account. Useful to identify what the task was about.
Online Payment Option – This field (OnlinePmtOption) designates whether the customer account is enabled for online bill payment via credit card or ACH within the secure customer portal.
Open Activity Count – This field shows how many open activities are related to a specific credit issue or task in the system and is displayed in the Communication Inquiry available under Inquiries > By User.
Open Issue Count – The Open Issue Count (OpenIssueCnt) is a sum of the total number of open issues or tasks for the selected customer account. It is typically used for reporting or for workflow automation.
Oldest Transaction Date Days – The number of days since the oldest invoice transaction (from the ERP business system or external data source) is displayed in this field (OldestTranDateDays). It represents the oldest open invoice transaction in the software for the customer account and can be used for reporting, alerts, or credit class rules.
Original Due Date - This field (OrigDueDate) is used to identify the original invoice transaction due date for invoices that have payment plans.
Original Transaction Amount – This field (OrigTranAmt) is used to identify the original invoice transaction due amount related to invoices that have payment plans.
Original Transaction Amount Home Currency - The original invoice amount represented in the home currency as defined in the ERP business system is displayed in this field (OrigTranAmtHC) for invoices that have payment plans defined in the software.
Over Current – This field (OverCurrent) is cumulative providing a total of the invoice balances over the current (not past due) period and includes anything that is considered late no matter how late it is. It is used frequently in reporting, alerts, and credit class rules for workflow definition.
Over Days – Depending on how the aging buckets are defined (see aging value units), you will see three fields that provide a cumulative view of invoices that are late based on the number of days late. For example, in a popular 30, 60, 90, 120 day aging bucket setup, you will see three fields called Over 30 Days, Over 60 Days, Over 90 Days. The values in each of these are cumulative so Over 60 Days means that anything over 60 Days is included in this calculation (including balances over 90 days, and over 120 days past due).
Override User - Credit class rules create actions for the credit user assigned to each customer account in the software by default but you can define an override user for any credit class rule or action alert to assign an activity to another credit user in the software. This is ideal for escalating more serious credit issues to a credit manager or for aligning responsibility for specific tasks to specific employees such as having one credit user responsible for managing all disputes or another credit user assigned to all credit review activities.
Parent ID – The Parent ID (ParentID) or parent identification field identifies the parent account as related to subsidiary accounts in a parent-child or national accounts scenario where products or services are provided to a subsidiary but billed to and paid by a corporate parent. For example, you may sell to GE Hitachi Nuclear (customer account) which is a subsidiary of the parent customer account, GE Corporate, as defined in the ERP system. You can use the Parent ID to group multiple subsidiaries together for reporting or create specialized rules and alerts for managing parent-child accounts. Invoices from the ERP system may show both the sold to (child) as well as the billed to (parent).
Payment Amount – The amount of a customer payment (or pending payment) is provided in the software (PaymentAmt). The payment will typically be in the customer’s currency as defined by the ERP business system.
Payment Count – A count or sum of the payments (PmtCount) is provided to show how many payments are related to applied to a specific invoice since an invoice could be partially paid by several payment transactions or credit memos.
Payment Date – The Payment Date (Pmt Date) is provided for customer account payments and shows the actual date the payment was posted or received.
Payment Date Days – This (PmtDateDays) is the number of days from the current business date compared to the actual payment date. For example, if a payment was made yesterday then the payment date days would be 1 today and 2 tomorrow.
Payment Due Days – This field compares the current business date to the statistical or projected payment date of an invoice. See Projected Payments for more information.
Payment Schedule – An invoice may have an associated payment schedule (PaySched) where the invoice is broken down into multiple payments with different amounts due on different dates. This is common for managing invoices with special terms (such as 50% NET30 and 50% NET90) or for customers who ask for a payment plan. Payment Schedules may be setup by users with admin security rights from Account Detail in the Statement of Accounts grid by clicking on the invoice number to access payment plans. When payment plans are created, the software ignores the original balance due and the original due date and tracks the defined payment amount and dates going forward. See Original Due Date and Original Transaction Amount for more information.
Payment Terms ID – The Payment Terms ID (PmtTermsID) field identifies the customer account payment terms or the payment terms for a specific invoice. Values are synchronized from the ERP business system and may be alphanumeric such as Net30 or 2%NET10, etc.
Pending Payment - A credit card or ACH payment made online by a customer using the online customer portal will be flagged as a pending payment (IsPendPmt) for payments that have been confirmed within the collections software as being processed successful until the payment is matched to a corresponding payment in the ERP business software to ensure that the payment is fully recorded. For example, if a customer pays their bill online you will see a pending payment in the collections software. The payment will need to be recorded in the ERP business system – either manually or through integration of the merchant provider or bank system to your ERP business system. The data synchronization will run and the payment recorded in your ERP business system will be uploaded to the collections software where it will be matched to the corresponding pending payment.
Pending Payment ID – The unique transaction number for a pending payment (PendPmtID) identifies the pending payment transaction in the software. See pending payment for more information.
Percent Paid - The percent paid (PercentPaid) field displays the percent of the invoice paid compared to the original invoice amount and is commonly used in reports, alerts, and credit class rules.
Perpetual License - The collections software is sold as either a perpetual license or as an annual subscription. Perpetual license means that the company buys the software modules and users and owns the right to access the software through the purchase. Perpetual licenses can be used in either a hosted or on premise deployment of the software. However, perpetual license customers must have a current maintenance and support plan (ClientCare) to access the software in a multitenant environment and to access product releases and updates. Perpetual license customers who have an expired maintenance and support plan may pay a small fee to have their software and database moved to a dedicated hosted Microsoft Azure database (that they setup and maintain) or to a premise installation of the software on their own servers. See also Subscription License.
Personal Contact - A contact that can be added that is not customer specific and can be accessed and added within a communication - this is user specific and will only show under the user who created the Personal Contact
Phone Call - The phone call field is used to display a telephone icon for communication activities related to phone call activities. If the communication included a phone call the phone call icon will display in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen. The telephone call will display in blue if the call was scheduled for the credit user and is not past due but has not yet been completed. The telephone icon will display in red if the scheduled phone call activity is past due or if it was completed but was unsuccessful (meaning that you didn’t reach the customer contact) and it will display in green if the call was completed and you spoke to the customer (identified by checking the Spoke to Customer checkbox in the communication screen).
Post Date - The post date (PostDate) for a payment is available to show when the customer account payment was posted to the ERP business system. An invoice record will also have a post date indicating the date the invoice was posted to the system.
Postal Code - The postal code or zip code for a customer account address used primarily for mail.
Premise Email Option - The software is available in three editions. Each edition supports different email configuration scenarios. The Basic Edition uses embedded email to send email communications to customers using a noreply email address and does not support custom email integration with other hosted or premise-based email systems. The Enterprise Edition can be configured to work with either a hosted email provider (such as Google, Outlook.com, Yahoo, Office 365, etc.) or with a premise-based email system (such as Microsoft Exchange/Outlook or Lotus). Most companies implementing the Standard Edition will configure a hosted email service for sending and receiving email with their customers. This is often setup as a subdomain of their main domain. For example, ar.yourcompany.com sent from a single email address such as credit@ar.yourcompany.com. Integration with either a hosted or premise email system is supported at no additional charge for Enterprise Edition licenses. Companies with a Standard Edition license that require integration with their existing on-premise email system (Microsoft Exchange/Outlook) may optionally purchase the Premise Email Option to enable the configuration of the software with their internal email system.
Primary Sales Person Name - The primary sales person (PrimarySperName) is provided for each customer account. This may have originated from the ERP business system or can be set and maintained in Admin > Master Files > Sales Rep.
Priority – A priority can be set for each activity type. The priority is defined for credit class rules and display in the credit user Action List in order of priority so they can work on higher priority activities first – such as last attempt phone calls or demand letters that require legal recourse.
Procedures – Procedures are instructions for the credit representative related to an Activity. They are maintained in Admin > Master Files > Activity. Procedures may provide a checklist of things that to do when making a new customer welcome call; instructions on how to handle specific types of invoice disputes; or they could include call scripts or talking points for making various collection calls. A Procedures button will be available to the credit user in the Communication screen for Activities that have a defined Procedure Note.
Processor Account ID - Your account number with your credit card processor will be stored in this field to identify pending payments made by your customers via credit card through your merchant provider.
Processor Account Name - The name (ProcAcctname) of the merchant provider or bank will be stored in this field for pending payments to identify the credit card merchant or bank related to the transaction.
Processor Account Type - The type of processor for pending payments will be stored in this field. Values may vary depending on your merchant or bank.
Processor Status - The status (ProcStatus) of a request for funds related to a customer’s online bill pay via credit card or ACH may have a status to identify if the process was completed or if there were errors. Each merchant and bank system will have their own codes to identify the status of a payment transaction which will be identified in this field.
Processor Status Message - A message (ProcStatusMsg) from the merchant provider or bank may be passed back to the collections software for online payments via credit card or ACH and will be stored in this field. For example a transaction that fails may have a message that states, “Timeout occurred while waiting for payment information” to help identify reasons for failed payment transactions.
Processor Reference Number – A reference number will be returned to the software for pending payments from the merchant provider or bank system and stored in this field (ProcRefNo) as a way to track the online credit card or ACH transaction in the software to the merchant or bank system.
Projected Payment Date - The statistical, projected payment date calculated by the software for an open invoice using historical data is stored here (Proj Pmt Date). See Projected Payments for more information.
Projected Payment Due Days - This field (Proj Pmt Days) is used for statistical, projected payment forecasts using historical data. It represents the number of days that the payment should be paid in respect to the invoice due date. For example, if a customer statistically pays their bills 10 days late then the value in this field will be 10. If the customer statistically pays their bills 5 days before the due date then the value in this field would be -5.
Projected Payments - The software calculates projected payments (or Projected Cash Receipts) by evaluating customer account payment history from the ERP business software. For example GE Hitachi may historically pay $5,000 to $10,000 invoices 3 days late. The software will see that GE Hitachi has an open invoice of $7,000 and will calculate an projected payment for that invoice 3 days after the invoice due date. Project payment dates will be calculated for every open invoice in the software for every customer. A sum of the projected payments is provided on the dashboard and in several grids for projected payments in the next 7 days (Proj Pmts 7 Days), 14 days (Proj Pmts 14 Days), 21 days (Proj Pmts 21 Days), 28 days (Proj Pmts 28 Days), and 35 days (Proj Pmts 35 Days). Projected amounts are summarized cumulatively providing a statistical view of cash flow from the next 7 to 35 days based on actual customer account payment history.
Promise to Pay – An expected payment recorded on the Communication screen in the Payments tab can be flagged as a promise to pay (Promise) indicating that the customer promised to make a payment of a specific amount by a specific date. The software includes a system user alert that will notify users if a customer breaks a promise to pay so the user knows which accounts they need to contact about the broken promise. Broken promises (Broken) are tracked automatically in the software with a count of broken promises provided in the Customer Info tab on the History tab showing how many times a customer has broken a promise in the past 90 Days, 60 Months, 1 Year, and 2 Years.
Promise to Pay Amount – The amount that a customer promises to pay (PromiseToPayAmt) as defined in Communication activities on the Payments tab.
Promise to Pay Date – The date that a customer promises to pay by (PromiseToPayDate) as defined in Communication activities on the Payments tab.
Reason Code – Reason Codes are available from the invoice number hyperlink within the communication screen. Reason codes are typically used to identify reasons for invoice disputes such as wrong price, wrong quantity, missing purchase order, etc. Reason codes are maintained in Admin > Master Files > Reason Codes. They are very useful for setting up custom workflow in credit class rules for escalating different invoice disputes to other users. Reason codes can also be used as another way to track information related to an invoice.
Received Email - Email received back from the customer and associated with the originating collection software activity will display in the Communication History grid as an envelope with a down arrow.
Reconcile Date – The date that a pending payment was reconciled with the actual payment in the ERP business system is stored in this field (ReconcileDate).
Reference – A reference field is available at the customer account level to store additional information about the customer account. This is typically used as a description of the Customer Class ID from the ERP business system. For example, a Customer Class may be coded as COM or GOV and the Reference field used to describe the class in more detail as Commercial or Government.
Refresh – A refresh icon or button is provided in most grids and in the Actions tab to refresh data. This is typically used when completing or resolving issues to remove them from your task list or for refreshing grids after a manual data sync (sync now).
Report Base – The software includes four mail merge templates – Statement, Open Invoice, Past Due Notice, and Collection Letter. You can create any number of mail merge documents using one of these standard reports. For example, you can create multiple collection letters using the Collection Letter as the Report Base. Each new collection letter can then be tailored to your specific needs such as translation into other languages or changing the wording to match the severity of the issue.
Report Manager – The software includes a report manager to create and edit mail merge documents. The Report Manager is accessed in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Report Manager. The Report Manager is a Windows-based application that is downloaded to your desktop where you can modify existing reports or create new report templates to be used with the software.
Report Name – A report in the software is a mail merge template used to provide customer accounts with information about their account. There are four standard report templates which may be copied and modified to create as many mail merge templates as you may need. Standard report templates include Statement, Open Invoices, Past Due Notice, and Collections Letter. Reports are maintained in Admin > Master Files > Report and can be linked to Action Codes and manually created from Communications. Note that if you want to include a mail merge message with email then you will not use an email template but rather, you will associate a report template to the Action Code. Emails that do not include an email template will embed the merged report template into the body of the email.
Resolved – Indicates that an issue or task was marked as resolved by the user (or automatically by the software) and is no longer open.
Resolved Date – The date that an issue or task was marked as resolved (ResolvedDate).
Respond Due Days – The Respond Due Days field (RespondDueDays) displays how many days remain from the current business date to the date that a follow-up activity is required to be completed. This value is typically used for sorting date and selecting certain communications that need attention. Additionally an alert could be created driven off this as well. Respond Due Days is driven by the Respond Date on the communication follow-up. The Respond Date is calculated by adding the days to respond to the follow-up date. This date calculation follows the work calendar (see Calendar for more information) such that if there are non-working days in the time frame the date might be later. Days to Respond is set on the communication in the following manner:
If the Communication is generated from an action then the action has a Days to Respond Value >0 then it will be set to that value OR If the customer has a Days to respond > 0 then it will be set to that value OR if the Site Options default Days to Respond is > 0 then it will be set to that value OR the Respond Due Days will be set to the same date as the Follow-up Date.
If the Communication is manually created by the User in Communication then it is set by the user but will be defaulted using the same logic as the generated action communication (except user action is not applicable). For example, if the response days is 4 and the follow-up date is 1/1/15 the response is due 1/5/15. If today is 1/3/15 then the RespondDueDays is 2. You have 2 days left to respond to this follow-up.
Sales Person ID – The Sales Person ID (SperID) is the primary sales person associated with a customer account. Some ERP systems only support a single sales person per customer. The collection software allows for the definition of multiple sales representatives against any customer account through the admin menu option – Admin > Masterfiles > Sales Rep.
Sales Person Name – The Sales Person Name (SperName) identifies the name of the sales representative assigned to a customer account. This can come from the ERP business software or it can be maintained within the collections software through the admin menu option – Admin > Masterfiles > Sales Rep.
Sales Territory – The sales territory is sometimes available from the sales representative module within the ERP business software and can be synchronized with the collections software. Sales territory is only used for analysis, reporting, and alerts.
Sales User – See Inquiry User.
Schedule Credit Class Rules – You can define a schedule to automate the generation of credit class rules for each credit class you setup in the software. The schedule will then process actions based on the established schedule. Smaller companies may want to generate actions weekly while larger companies will typically generate actions daily.
Select All – The select all icon in grids allows you to select all records. This is useful when updating multiple records or selecting records for export to Microsoft Excel.
Sent Date – The date that an email was sent or received (SentDate). It is the transaction date of the email transaction.
Sent Email – The Sent Email field in the Communication History grid on Account Detail will display as an envelope for communications that included an outbound email sent to the customer.
Sequence Number – The Sequence Number (Seq No) indicates the numeric value of an action within the credit class rules. Defined using a numeric value, sequence numbers are often defined in multiples such as (010, 020, 030, 040, etc.) to show what actions are evaluated in order within the credit class. For example, sequence 010 may define reminder emails sent to customers when invoices are due in the next five days followed by sequence 020 to send a past due notice the day the invoice is due followed by sequence 030 to make the first call when the invoice is 5 days past due. Note: sequence numbers do not physically impact when the credit class rule is enacted by the system but rather, are typically used only as a way to list activities in the order they will typically take place to help make sense of more complex credit class rules with dozens or hundreds of sequences.
Setup Wizard – A setup wizard is available in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Setup Wizard. It is a step by step guide to setting up base system parameters and is useful for very basic system configuration. Setup Wizard options vary by product edition. For example, the Basic Edition is designed specifically for configuring the software to work with Intuit QuickBooks. The setup wizard options for Standard and Enterprise Editions are designed only for base system configuration. More detailed setup is managed within other Admin menu tasks.
Severity – Reason codes can be assigned a severity rating in Admin > Master Files > Reason Code. Severity ratings are primarily used for creating credit class rules to define workflow for credit users. For example, you may have three reason codes that relate to customer shipment problems. You could define a severity code of 1 and then build a credit class rule to escalate all shipping disputes to a credit user responsible for managing all invoice disputes related to shipments.
Single Sign On ID (SSO ID) – A single sign on identification may be setup for users in Admin > Master Files > User. Single sign on allows users to access the software without logging in if they are logged into a system that can pass the SSOID to the software to validate the user credentials. For example, some companies use an intranet or customer portal. Users access these sites for information and the sites may be configured so that the user can click a link to access the collections software bypassing the login screen since the link contains the single sign on identification.
Site Configuration – Several options are maintained for your site license in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Configuration. Here you can define the company logo image to display on the top of the screen when accessing the software. You can view DSO settings here. If you are enabling your customers to access the online customer portal you can set a Portal Image Rotator Link and News Feed so that customers who log-in will see information branded to your company.
Sold To ID – The Sold To ID field (SoldToID) relates to the parent-child account relationships which is similar to national accounts. For example, you may create an invoice which is sold to a subsidiary but billed to a corporate parent. If this is the case, the SoldToID would indicate that this invoice was sold to the subsidiary where the SoldToId is the ID from the ERP system for the subsidiary customer account even though this invoice is displaying as part of the corporate parent customer Account Detail because the corporate parent is responsible for paying the bill. If you sell to Acme North Carolina which is a subsidiary of Acme Corporate then the SoldToID would be Acme North Carolina but the invoices would be paid by Acme Corporate.
Sort Order – Many grids in the software can be sorted by clicking on column headers or headings. The sort order field displays the current sort order for the grid setting.
Standalone – A credit class rule can be established so that it is either evaluated in sequence order or standalone meaning that it is evaluated and created independent of the credit class rule sequence. For example, collections workflow will normally follow a sequential order: send a reminder, send a past due notice, make the first call, send a collection letter, make a second call, etc. However, some actions such as contacting a new customer or conducting an annual credit review should happen regardless of a sequence of events.
State – The state, province, or county a customer account resides in. The terminology used will vary depending on country.
Status – The status field is related to a pending payment transaction received from an online payment made via credit card or ACH bank transaction. The status may display with a value of declined if the transaction was unsuccessful, no response if the transaction was successful but has not been reconciled with a payment within the ERP business system, or reconciled if the transaction was successful processed and matched to a payment in the ERP business system. Reconciled transactions do not appear in the Pending Payments views as they are hidden when the actual payment is received and verified in the ERP business system.
Subject – The subject field on an email communication.
Subscription License - The collections software is sold as either a perpetual license or as an annual subscription. By default, a subscription license provides access to the software for a 12-month subscription that can be renewed annually. The software is not owned outright and subscriptions must be renewed for continued access to the collections software. Subscription licensing includes access to product releases and updates. See also Perpetual License.
Successful – A phone call marked as “Spoke with Customer” will be flagged as successful indicating that the call was made and a conversation was held with the contact. Successful phone communication activities display as a green icon in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen.
Support – Support for your software is provided on the main menu by clicking the Support menu option. Here you can access the embedded support portal which includes videos, tutorials, access to a knowledge, frequently asked questions, the software user community, and the ability to submit (and manage) support cases or to chat live with a software support agent.
Sync Now – Sync Now is accessed from Admin > Sync Now. It is only available if the Advanced Sync module has been purchased and the user has been setup with sync rights. See Advanced Sync for more information.
Sync Options – Data synchronization options can be maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Sync With ERP System panel. Here you set whether contacts are synchronized from the ERP system to the collections software, if all contacts are synchronized or just the primary contact, and if all customers are synchronized or just customers that have open invoice transactions (this is useful to prevent older, inactive customers from synchronizing into the collections software).
Sync Setup – Synchronization with your ERP business system or other external database sources is maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Sync Setup. Here you can define the settings to connect to each database source as well as the schedule for future database synchronization activities.
System Alert – Default settings for Credit Class rules, actions, and activities are flagged or checked as system alerts meaning that they are system defaults that come with every installation of the software compared to actions and activities that have been added by the user.
Tag Count - Tag Count (TagCount) represents the sum or total of the number of Communication activities that have been tagged or related to a specific invoice. For example, if the credit user tags invoice 123 to a phone call and later makes a second phone call and again tags the activity to invoice 123 then the tag count would display as 2 meaning that two activities were tagged or related to the invoice. This is useful when viewing invoices throughout the system to identify related communication activities with more detail of the history of the selected invoice.
Tagged Amount Home Currency – The total amount of all tagged invoices for a communication activity is displayed in this field (TaggedAmtHC) in the home currency as defined within your ERP business system.
Tagged Invoices - Invoices may be tagged or related to communication activities. For example, a credit class rule based on invoice-level data may trigger the creation of a phone call to the customer. The rule can tag or automatically relate the phone call activity against one or multiple invoices that violated the rule showing the credit representative which invoices they need to call to discuss. Invoices may also be tagged manually against communications. All tagged communications for specific invoices can be accessed from the View Activity field provided for invoices. Tagged invoices are displayed with a tag icon in the Communication History grid on the Account Detail screen if invoices were tagged or related to the communication. See View Activity for more information.
Tender Type – The Tender Type for a customer account payment is provided in payment inquiries to show how the payment was made. Tender types typically include check, credit card, ACH, and other types of payments.
To Address – The To Address (ToAddress) field indicates the email address associated with the receiver of an email communication.
Total Age - The total aging for a group of customer accounts or for a specific customer account. The total aging includes amounts current, past due, and future.
Total Past Due – The total past due is the sum of all invoice amounts that are past their invoice due date (excluding current invoices or future invoices).
Transaction Date Days – For invoices, the Transaction Date Days (TranDateDays) field represents the number of days from the current business date in relation to the invoice transaction or creation date from the ERP business system or external data source. For example, an invoice created on January 2, 2015 will have a value of 13 transaction date days on January 15, 2015.
Transaction Type – The Transaction Type (TranType) field is related to customer account payments and typically indicates how the payment was received such as wire, cash, etc.
Type – The type field is related to the transaction type which is typically defined within the ERP business system as an invoice (IN), credit memo (CM), or other type of transaction such as payments, finance charges, etc.
Unapplied Amount - The Unapplied Amount (Unapplied Amt) for a customer payment is available in this field to indicate an amount from a payment transaction that has not been applied to invoices in the ERP business system. Unapplied amounts are handled differently in various ERP systems but typically show as unapplied credit memos on customer accounts.
Unassigned User – The software includes a generic Unassigned User with every software license and subscription. Any customer account that is not assigned to a specific credit user is automatically associated with the Unassigned User. You can assign the Unassigned User to credit users in the software providing them with access to manage any unassigned customer account. For example, some companies implement a strategy where they assign the top 20% of their customer accounts to specific credit users so that their top customers have a consistent point of contact. However, if the remaining 80% of customers only generate 20% of your revenue then you may want to leave these customers assigned to the Unassigned User and let your entire team manage smaller, unassigned accounts as they have availability in their work queues. This strategy works very well for large companies who need to focus on strategic accounts where personal relationships have a significant impact on resolving issues, improving customer satisfaction, and getting invoices paid faster.
Unread Mail – Email received back from the customer that is retrieved from the email server will be flagged as Unread Mail (UnreadMail) until the credit user opens the email. Unread email can be accessed through the user Actions tab or from Inquiries > By User > Mail.
Unreconciled Online Payment Alert After X Days – This setting is maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the Options Tab and allows you to define when you want to notify the credit user when a customer has made an online payment (pending payment transaction) that has not been reconciled or matched back to a payment in the ERP business software. See Pending Payments for more information.
User – A user is a person who is authorized to access the collections software. There are several types of users available. A credit user has full rights to the software and can manage a portfolio of accounts with the ability to send and receive email and to make phone calls. An inquiry user has limited access to the system. See also Credit User, Inquiry User, Credit Manager, and Customer User for more information.
User Action – The Actions tab and Actions list for each user tells the user what actions are assigned to them. There are two types of actions in the software – Customer Actions which are related to activities such as sending emails and making phone calls and User Actions. User Actions include notifications such as Broken Promises, Past Due Follow-Up Activities, Customer Messages from the Customer Portal, Error Sending Email, Mail Not Read, Mail Not Filed, and other notifications. User Actions are set by default as system parameters but the description and priority of User Actions (how they appear in the Actions list) can be maintained in Admin > Master Files > User Action.
User ID – The User ID field (UserID) indicates which user a task or activity is related to in the software. This can be a credit user or inquiry user.
User Defined Fields – User Defined Fields (UDF) are provided for all major records within the software to store and track information not available in existing fields. UDF fields maintained in Admin > Settings & Utilities > Site Options on the UDF tab for Customer, Sales Person, Sales Order, Invoice, Invoice Line, Payment, Payment Application, and Contact records. Each UDF type includes 10 UDF fields. The first five (UDF1, UDF2, UDF3, UDF4, and UDF5) can be populated from data stored in the ERP business system or other external data sources. The last five UDF fields (UDF6, UDF7, UDF8, UDF9, and UDF10) are maintained within the software. Note that UDF fields may not be available for Invoice Line or Sales Order depending on your ERP business system.
View Activities – This field provides a view of all activities tagged or related to a specific invoice. For example, if there were 5 phone calls and 3 emails sent to a customer for Invoice 123 then the View Activity link would show all 8 related activities. See Tagged Invoices for more information.
View Settings – View Settings is provided in major grids throughout the software. Here you can view the grid settings or you can maintain grid settings such as saved setting names, default settings by user by grid, custom column descriptions, etc. For example, a credit user may always want to see a list of Parent Accounts that have a balance due. They can easily set a filter on the My Accounts grid to list only Parent accounts with a balance greater than $0. They can customize which columns to display in this grid, the order of the columns, and other settings and then save the grid setting as a default and to display as a tab so they can access this ad-hoc inquiry time and time again.
View Type - Credit class rules can be established by creating rules based on either a Customer View or Invoice View. Rules using the customer view are typical when evaluating customer account aging, date established, credit hold, or other account-level information. Invoice View rules are typically setup for invoice-level information such as an invoice missing a purchase order, invoice amounts, or project or job codes related to invoices, etc.
Windows Client – Previous versions of the collections software were launched from the web as a traditional desktop application using Microsoft click-once technology. Legacy customers who still use the desktop application can launch the desktop application through Admin > Settings & Utilities > Windows Client. Note that customers may utilize both the Windows Client and the Web Client but settings are very different between the two systems and will require duplicate setup. As such, it is recommended that new customers use the Web Client and that Windows Client customers migrate to the Web Client which has many advanced features not available in the Windows Client.– The software allows a single connection to an ERP database or CSV file location with each license of the software. The Advanced Sync module is optional and enables the setup of multiple database sync schedules. For example, a global company that has a single ERP database would need Advanced Sync if they want to generate the sync for specific companies in their ERP database during different times of the day based on the geographic location of the users. Further, a company that has multiple ERP databases would require an additional Advanced Sync license for each additional ERP data source. Advanced Sync may also be purchased to provide credit users with access to sync on demand where they can be setup in Admin > Master Files > User with sync access to run a database sync manually to check for payments or to bring in new information on demand rather than waiting for the next scheduled database sync to occur.