PRE-IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE VERSION 1.0

Transcription

1 PRE-IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE VERSION 1.0 FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 1 OF 22

2 Created and Published by Advanced Professional Solutions Pty Ltd Level 7, 65 Berry Street North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia ACN A RECKON company All Rights Reserved Copyright 2012 Advanced Professional Solutions Pty Ltd Copyright No part of these materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, without written permission from Advanced Professional Solutions Pty Ltd. Disclaimer Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information in this manual. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error, the material contained within this book is supplied without representation or guarantee of any kind. The publisher and authors are not responsible for any errors or omissions or the result from the use of such material. This document should not be relied on as a detailed specification of any Advancesoftware or services provided by Advanced Professional Solutions Pty Ltd. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 2 OF 22

3 Table of Contents Copyright... 2 Disclaimer Revision History Project Contacts Purpose of this Document Agenda for the Pre-Implementation Meeting Background Definitions and Terms Credit Management Console The Credit Centre Transactions Actions Manage Process Debt Letter Generation Effective Task Management Due Dates Mail Merge Fields User Access Rights Information Gathering General Checklist Debtor Type Checklist Due Date Checklist Mail Merge Checklist Additional Mail Merge Fields Step 1 - Definition of the Practice Credit Process Step 2 - Define Required Actions Project Plan Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 3 OF 22

4 1 Revision History Version Date Author Comments /10/2011 Tracy Edmonds Creation 1.1 4/4/2012 Tracy Edmonds Final Version 2 Project Contacts Consultant to provide client project names and details. Contact Position / Company Project Role Phone / APS Consultant Client Primary Contact Client Technical Contact 3 Purpose of this Document This Pre-Implementation Guide for Credit Management is designed to: Provide an Agenda for the Pre-Implementation Meeting Provide you with Credit Management specific background information, concepts and configuration options that are available. Raise awareness about any specific decisions you will need to make and advise you of any practice specific information you will need to provide our Consultants with, during the implementation Provide a place for the Consultants to capture and document this information Understanding and completing as much of the information as possible prior to the Pre-implementation Meeting will help to achieve a painless, expedient and most of all successful Implementation. 4 Agenda for the Pre-Implementation Meeting Estimated time required: 2 hrs 4 hrs There are 6 distinct parts to this meeting as defined below. Key Meeting Outcomes: Finalised Project Plan Draft System Design Responsibilities Part 1: Review the Current Internal Processes Discuss and review the current Credit Management process, including a review of the Information Gathering Questions. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 4 OF 22

5 Part 2: Develop Draft System Design Discuss and review the System configuration, including a review of the Configuration Checklist. Part 3: Define Implementation Roles and Responsibilities Client Team Name APS Team Name Project Management Finance Manager Credit Controller Practice Manager IT Administrator Credit Management Consultant Part 4: Infrastructure Discuss the current set up and what is to be done before Implementation starts. Part 5: Project Planning Discuss the Proposed Project plan, including the timing for training and installation. Part 6: Review and Meeting Close 5 Background Advance Credit Management allows you to set a credit policy across the practice for the management of credit terms and introduces the concept of Actions for the management of collection activities. Credit Management is integrated within Practice Management, therefore any information presented in the Credit Centre is soured in real time and other relevant client information is only a click away. Actions allow you to track the credit collection process by introducing better centralised control for your credit manager as well as the workflow tools to manage de-centralised parts of the function, such as assigning tasks to key individuals. Open Item Invoices Debt Transactions Statements Credit Centre Contact Management Credit Contact Relationship & Address Data Review Phone Number Select Debtors Design Layout Action Debt Letters Task Management Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 5 OF 22

6 Why Credit Management? Growing Debtor Days and Cash flow is an increasing issue in the current economic environment Tighter management of Debt Collection processes Holistic view of Debtors for decision making Need for efficiency / transparency of collection activities within your practice IDEAL SCENARIO REAL WORLD SCENARIO Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 6 OF 22

7 5.1 Definitions and Terms Term Actions Credit Centre Credit Terms Transactions Letter Templates Grouping Name (Optional) Available Resolutions (Mandatory for at least one) Available Sub-Actions (Optional). Creation Rules (Mandatory) Default Owner (Optional Default Priority (Mandatory) Default Status (Mandatory) Definition Any Action taken during the Debt collecting process and defined by the firm. Work centre console where Actions are performed and specific scenario views are created for selecting and action. Days after invoice date when payment is due. Transaction page replace the old Debtor page as it has the same plus additional information and functions. Templates based on Practice Standards to be used for due letters If a Grouping Name is specified, then the Credit Centre page shows one column containing the most recent date that any instance of an action with that Grouping Name was created for each client. If more than one Action has the same Grouping Name, then only one column is created showing the most recent date of any of those actions for each client. A list of possible final outcomes (once Action status is closed ) available to that action. This assist in completing action lists quickly. Sometimes a single action moves through a number of distinct steps of a process. If Sub-Action steps are configured, then these will appear in the Sub- Action dropdown for selection when an action instance is created / modified. Indicate how a particular action can be created. Please indicate one or more of: a. Individually against Debtors and / or invoices e.g. Most actions other than correspondence ones b. In bulk against Debtors (action only without correspondence) e.g. A Tasks c. In bulk against Debtors (action and merged correspondence document, either print or ) e.g. A Debt Letter. When you select (c) above, a dropdown choice of merge sets will appear, with the ID of the first available merge set automatically selected. This will either be an individual fee earner, or the word PARTNER or MANAGER The Priority set when this instance of this action is created one of the following options: Immediate > High > Medium > Low > Optional The default Status when an instance of this action is created one of the following options: Active > Closed > Deleted > On Hold Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 7 OF 22

8 5.2 Credit Management Console Within the Central Console, there are 4 new sets: Credit Centre Actions Credit Terms Transactions The Credit Centre At the heart of Credit Management is the Credit Centre. As well as standard ageing, the Credit Centre holds a variety of information about the debtors and your management process. Key features include: View client attributes such as family group, partner or custom attributes next to each debtor Group by any column to see totals for each group, sort and specify additional criteria for any column View Unallocated Transactions, Un-posted Transactions, Future Receipts and value of Invoices currently in dispute Users can create, store and easily apply custom filters that determine which clients are shown in the Credit Centre. Choose from any Client and Matter level criteria, as well as balances and transaction level fields, such as Due Date. Previously created Actions can also be filtered on. Use Filters to create specific views into your debtor book and use these to drive your collection process View key client contact details such as address and phone number next to the debtor no need to move away from the Credit Centre to make calls. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 8 OF 22

9 Selecting a row in the Credit Centre changes the focus of the entire Central Console to that client. Performing tasks such as updating contact details or Addresses, viewing Attributes or Relationships are therefore only one click away Transactions The Transactions page shows a list of all transactions for the currently selected debtor. The Central Console s custom layout feature can show the Transactions and Credit Centre pages together on the screen, making account reviews quick and easy. The Transactions page also shows whether an Invoice is in dispute and displays the Invoice Due Date Actions Manage Process Credit Management Actions allow you to track virtually anything happening with a debtor. This includes generic things such as phone calls, follow ups or notes as well as custom Action Types that you can configure yourself. Custom Action Types can closely align with your specific credit management process to track things such as whether work has stopped, details about payment plans, client review meetings or specific escalation points. Actions also record which clients were sent or ed debt letters. Key features include: Actions can be linked to either Debtors or Invoices A complete history of all changes to actions is stored, providing an audit trail Actions can be created in bulk by ticking one or more debtors in the Credit Centre Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 9 OF 22

10 The screenshot above demonstrates how the list of actions for a client can be shown together with the Credit Centre for quick review. Also note the columns on the Credit Centre that show which Debtor has which Actions and when the most recent one was created Debt Letter Generation Credit Management can generate bulk Debt Letters from within the Credit Centre. Select a filter to identify who should be sent a letter then tick the checkbox next to all or some of the debtors. Key Features: Create your own Word Templates to customise your branding Credit Management permanently stores a copy of each letter against each client for future reference or to a folder location specified by you Letters can either be produced for print or ed Effective Task Management Credit Management Actions that require someone to perform a task such as Phone Calls can be created by the credit team and assigned to anyone in your practice. The Actions page on the Personal console shows each user the actions that are assigned to them. As each task is completed, Credit Management records the outcomes of each task. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 10 OF 22

11 The Personal Actions page (shown above) allows users to view/edit actions, create related actions, close actions and specify a resolution once the action is complete. The grid also shows contact details next to each action to make contacting the client easy. Users with the necessary JOE rights will also be able to see other user s Actions here. This is useful for the finance team who can use this page to track which staff members have Actions due / overdue Due Dates Credit Management now automatically calculates Due Dates against Fees and Invoices. Credit terms can be set at the practice level as well as overridden at the debtor level. Due dates can calculate either relative to the date of the Invoice or the end of the debtors period. Since all Invoices will now have Due Dates, these can be reliably used as criteria for filters on the Credit Centre to not just filter clients based on balances, but also on specific overdue Invoices Mail Merge Fields The list of available merge fields to choose from is shown below, the ability to add up to 5 Custom Fields for merging has also been made available. Bookmark Name INVOICETABLE INVOICEID MAILINGADDRESS DEBTORMANAGER DEBTORPARTNER SORTNAME MAILINGNAME LETTERDATE SALUTATION CUSTOM1 CUSTOM2 CUSTOM3 CUSTOM4 CUSTOM5 Description Merges a table of outstanding invoices into the document. The column Reference returns the Reference field from Debtors transactions. Use this field when you do not manually create Debtors Invoice batches or you use Interest Adjustments Merges a table of outstanding invoices into the document. The column Reference returns the transaction ID of the transaction. Use this field when you do sometimes create manual Debtors Invoice batches or if you do not use Interest Adjustments The address of either the Debtor or the Individual identified as the Credit Contact person if that relationship if exists The Mailing address of either the Debtor or the Individual identified by the Credit Contact relationship if this exists The Salutation of the Debtor s Manager The Salutation of the Debtor s Partner The Sortname of the Debtor Either the Debtor or the Credit Contact s MailingName as indicated by the relationship The date as entered / accepted in the Bulk Actions Wizard The Salutation of either the Debtor or the Individual identified by the Credit Contact relationship if this exists Designed to allow consultants to add new merge fields as required by clients. Designed to allow consultants to add new merge fields as required by clients. Designed to allow consultants to add new merge fields as required by clients. Designed to allow consultants to add new merge fields as required by clients. Designed to allow consultants to add new merge fields as required by clients. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 11 OF 22

12 5.2.8 User Access Rights It is recommended that a number User Profiles be created and security settings standardised. An example of the types of Security rights might resemble the following: User Type Description U1 Credit Manager Users that have full access to the Credit Centre and can view, create filters, create actions, etc. An example of this type of user would be a Credit Manager. U2 Active Manager Users that have read only access to Credit Centre only that can create personal (not public) filters, and can edit but not create new actions. An example of this type of user might be a Manager that is able to use the Credit Centre to view his Debtors and current Actions. U3 Passive Manager Users that do not have any access to the Credit Centre, but that can access the Actions and Transactions page against clients, and Personal Actions to track work assigned to them. An example of this type of user might be a Manager that only needs to respond to a particular step of the Credit Process when actions are assigned to him/her, but performs no other Credit Function related work. U3 System Admin / Practice Admin A System administrator or Practice Manager that assists in configuring / changing credit processes on the recommendation of the credit team Information Gathering Please provide answers to the questions below and ideally communicate these to your APS consultant prior to the Pre-implementation Meeting. Why have you chosen Credit Management and what do you hope to achieve from the Product? How will you measure the success of reaching your desired outcome? (Reduced Debtor Days/Efficiency gains etc) What are your current Internal Processes for managing Client debt? Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 12 OF 22

13 What are the challenges you face with the current process? What changes or improvements, if any, would you like to make to the current process? Does your Practice have Multiple billing Entities and if so, do you chase your Debt by Entity separately. Or do you chase your Debt at a Client level, irrespective of what billing Entity the Debt is on. (please note, the Credit Management system is designed to split Debt by billing Entity) If you currently use the Notes area in PM to record Debt Collection information, is it going to be a problem these Notes will not be imported into the Credit Management System? Do you intend sending Debt collection letters to your clients and if so, who manages the Debt collection template/s? Please send a copy of your template/s prior to the CM training. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 13 OF 22

14 Please advise the network location of you current Debt Collection Templates, this needs to be configured in CM. If you intend sending Debt letters to clients, where would you like to save the Client Debt Letters. (If you use ADM within APS with Client Managed Folders, the letters can be saved automatically to the client folder. Otherwise, you can nominate a central location for all letters to be saved to) Are there any other issues with your current Debt Collection process? What is your current Infrastructure environment? (Pre-requisite is PM ) Please take a screen shot of your APS versions, to do this, log into APS, from the main menu, near the bottom of the list, under Tools click on About Advance - please paste a screen shot of that screen in this section Who will manage the Software Installation on PC s that require it? Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 14 OF 22

15 5.3 General Checklist Of the following checklist please complete as much as possible and return to your APS Consultant prior to the Pre- Implementation meeting. Please read each Question and apply the relevant answer in the Outcome/Decision column. Ref Question Reason Outcome / Decision (Document Here) 1 In the Credit Centre, do you want to see your ageing relative to today s date or in line with Debtors periods 2 Do you have an existing Relationship Type in Advance that you would like to use to indicate the primary credit contact ie. To whom credit related communications are directed? If System SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Ageing Column Creation By" = Debtors Period then Ageing will be aligned with debtors periods, if setting is Transaction Date, it will age relative to today s date If this already exists, then modify system SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Credit Contact Relationship Type ID to hold that ID number. If a suitable relationship type does not exist, then create one first in the Relationship Types System admin console. Select one of the following: Debtors Period Ageing Or Transaction Date Ageing For example: Relationship Type called: Credit Contact If no, discuss this at your Pre- Imp meeting. Status (A)waiting info (I)nfo Provided 3 Which attribute do you wish to use as the primary address for bulk debt letters? 4 Which postal address attribute do you wish to use as the primary address for bulk printed debt letters? 5 Which phone number attribute do you wish to use as the contacts primary phone number. (Allowable Attribute IDs are 708, 709 or 710) These are: 708: Client Details Phone 709: Client Details Fax 710: Client Details Mobile Note: the relationship type must be set up with suitable Relationship Assignments in the Client Types console. System SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Bulk Object ID should be set to the ID of the desired attribute. This will default to 231 ie. attribute unless configured otherwise. System SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Bulk Mail Address ID should be set to the ID of the desired address attribute. This will default to 16 for postal address unless configured otherwise. System SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Phone Number Object ID should be set to the ID of one of the following phone number attributes (708, 709 or 710). This will default to 708 for phone number unless configured otherwise. Refer to PM and advise the name of the field where your Primary details are located. The system will use the Postal Address by default, advise otherwise. Refer to PM and advise the name of the Phone field you would like the Credit Centre to default to, ie Business Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 15 OF 22

16 5.4 Debtor Type Checklist If your Practice using Balance Forward Debtor types, additional configuration will be required prior to Credit Management being Implement, please answer the questions below: Ref Question Reason Outcome / Decision (Document Here) 1 Does your practice have Balance Forward Debtor Type clients? Not all features of Credit Management are supported for Balance Forward debtors. It is recommended that debtors are converted to Open Item as part of the Credit Management implementation process. Credit Management had been designed to work best with Open Item Debtors. Even though a mixture of Open Item and Balance Forward is supported in the software, there are some limitations for Balance Forward Debtors: 1) The Outstanding column on the Transactions page will not be visible for Balance Forward debtors 2) You should not set up Credit Centre filters for Individual Transactions with criteria on any of the following fields: a. OutStanding b. OutStanding Current c. OutStanding 30 Day d. OutStanding 60 Day e. OutStanding 90 Day This is because for Balance Forward debtors it is not possible to derive the outstanding amounts for any individual transaction, and any filters relying on these fields will give unpredictable results. Yes or No Status (A)waiting info (I)nfo Provided 5.5 Due Date Checklist The following questions will help determine whether the system will calculate Duet Dates for your Invoice and if so, how the Due Date will be calculated. Ref Question Reason Outcome / Decision (Document Here) Status (A)waiting info (I)nfo Provided 1 Do you want Advance to calculate Due Dates on Invoices for you? 2 If answer to 1 is yes, do you want your due dates to always fall on a date relative to the end of your debtors period (eg. 20 th of month) or do you want your due date to calculate relative to the date of the Invoice? 3 What are your practice s standard Credit Terms (in days)? If SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Default Invoice Due Dates" = True then the system will calculate these. If set to False, then it will not. Set SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Due Date Relative to period" = True to make the credit terms (days) relative to the end of the debtors period. Set this to False to calculate relative to Invoice Date. Depending on answer to 2, set SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Practice Credit Terms (Days)" = either no of days since Invoice Date or no of days from end of Debtors Period of the Invoice. The default is 14. Yes or No (this will not affect your Invoice layout) Choose between: Due Date relative to Period or Relative to Invoice Date 14 days is the Global default, please advise if different Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 16 OF 22

17 5.6 Mail Merge Checklist If you intend using Credit Management to create Debt Collection letters in Bulk, the questions below will determine how and where your the Client letters will be saved. Ref Question Reason Outcome / Decision (Document Here) 1 You must nominate a default network path (preferably UNC format) for storage of generated debt letters (this location can be overridden by 2 and 3 below, but the default path must exist also for CM to work) 2 Do you want to save bulk generated debt letters and s into Client level Managed Folders? 3 If answer to 2 is yes, do you want to force every client that you create bulk communication for to have a Client level Managed Folder? Set SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Default Merge Path" = desired path. Note: the last character must be a backslash - ie. \ Set SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Use Managed Folders" = True to save into managed folders. If False, then system will save to CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Default Merge Path. Set SUPS setting CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Enforce Managed Folder to True to enforce it, False to use it if it exists for a client, and CREDIT MANAGEMENT, Default Merge Path where it does not. Please advise network location for Client Debt Collection letters to be stored if you don t want to use Client Managed Folders Yes or No (Available only if you use ADM with Managed Folders) Yes or No Status (A)waiting info (I)nfo Provided 5.7 Additional Mail Merge Fields Aside from the standard Mail Merge fields available (refer to Page 12) are there any other fields you would like to use on your Debt Collection letters. Field 1 Field in APS Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 17 OF 22

18 5.8 Step 1 - Definition of the Practice Credit Process Before Actions can be configured, the client s Credit Process must be known / documented. It might help to illustrate this process in something like the below fashion: (Examples are given in italics) Trigger / Condition (Will turn into a Credit Centre Filter) Filter Name (the Credit Centre filter that will provide this list) What happens (The step of the credit process that kicks in) Action Code / Name (the action that will be created against clients that meet this condition) Sub Steps of the process step (Will become Sub Actions) Possible Outcomes of this process (Will become the list of Resolutions) Who performs the work? (will determine default Owner Ie. Credit team? Client Partner / Manager? Etc) Any follow up activities or notifications required (eg. BPA alerts) Client has one or more invoices >$5K that have just fallen overdue Client Manager should ring the client as a courtesy phone-call None Client has not received the Invoice Client intends to pay Client cannot pay Client Manager Depending on outcome, resend Invoice, set up payment plan or do nothing. Client has balances > 30 days Credit Department sends 30 day credit letter (Mail Merge Template X) None Letter Sent Credit Manager None Client has balances > 120 days, or manually determined Initiate STOP WORK process Final Phonecall Partner Approval Stop Work Work Stopped Stop Work Abandoned Partner (Initially) Credit Mgr (for actual Stop Work component. If work has stopped, numerous notifications to business units Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 18 OF 22

19 5.9 Step 2 - Define Required Actions The following set of actions comes preconfigured with Credit Management. Ideally use the below tables to validate requirements with clients as it will facilitate easy creation / modification of Actions in the system. The Actions below should act as a starting point for deriving the required set for the practice. Re-use any existing actions where appropriate. Code / Display Name / Description Default list of Resoutions Description / Grouping Name Note Generic Note General Note StopWork Review A process Action for recording whether work has stopped / was abandoned or restarted. A flag to indicate which clients need to be reviewed and once closed records the outcome. Work Stopped Client Paid All OK Work Stop Abandoned Work Resumed Recommend Work Stop All OK Partner to Chase Recommend Payment Plan Terminate Relationship Phonecall Generic Phonecall Not able to contact Promise to Pay Cashflow Issues Dispute All OK PaymentPlan A generic status type action to record who is on what payment play, whether it s active, terminated, etc FirstLetter Generic 1 st Letter to client Letter Sent SecondLetter Generic 2 nd Letter to client Letter Sent PP Active PP Terminated Abnormally PP Terminated Normally PP On Hold Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 19 OF 22

20 Another example of how your Actions could be created is as follows: Sub Actions 3 Creation Priority 6 Action Display Name Grouping Name Available Default Default Default Note Code 1 Resolutions 2 Rule(s) 4 Owner 5 Subject Status 7 CM01 Statement Statement Sent Nil Bulk N/A Medium N/A Closed Statement sent to client Not Sent CM02 Letter Letter Sent Nil Bulk Comms N/A High N/A Closed Reminder Letter sent to client CM03 Phone Call Phone Paid Credit noted Alternative action Resolved sent Payment arrangement Call back required Client dispute Left message Review/further follow-up Unable to contact Individual Action N/A High N/A Active CM04 Final Demand FD Letter Sent Nil Bulk Comms N/A Immediate N/A Closed Final demand letter sent to client CM05 Debt Collections Agency Passed to Debt Collectors Not passed to Debt Collectors Payment arrangement Stop work Individual Action N/A Immediate N/A Active Sent Nil Individual Action Bulk Action Bulk Comms NOTE Generic Note Closed Credit Noted Paid Alternative Action STOP Initiate Stop Work STOP Worked Stopped Not stopped approval not granted Not stopped client paid Left message Review/further follow-up Promise to pay in full Promise to pay by arrangement Client dispute Individual Action Bulk Action N/A Immediate N/A Active N/A Medium N/A Active Individual Action N/A Immediate N/A Active Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 20 OF 22

21 Document here the set of Actions that are required to be configured for your Practice: Action Code Display Name Grouping Name 1 Available Sub Actions 3 Creation Resolutions 2 Rule(s) 4 Default Priority 6 Owner 5 Subject Default Status 7 Default Note Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 21 OF 22

22 5.10 Project Plan Week Project Stage Required Suggested Date 1 Scope & Planning Project Team 2 Software Installation APS / IT Configuration (Security, Actions) APS, Operations Champion User Training APS, Operations 3 Status Meeting Project Team 4 End User Training Optional 5 Support Ongoing 6 Post Implementation Review Project Team This will end the implementation, however the support and feedback will commence after project completed. Advanced Professional Solutions PAGE 22 OF 22