Advanced Credit Control Module Administrators Guide DOCUMENTATION. Phone: Fax:

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1 Advanced Credit Control Module Administrators Guide DOCUMENTATION Phone: Fax:

2 CHANGE HISTORY ORIGINAL DOCUMENT AUTHOR: MICHELLE HARRIS DATE: OCT 2010 AUTHOR DATE CHANGE MICHELLE HARRIS DEC 2012 REVIEWED AND UPDATED MICHELLE HARRIS NOV 2013 AMENDMENTS MICHELLE HARRIS SEPTEMBER 2014 UPDATE TO V9 Chapter: Change History 2

3 CONTENTS Change History... 2 Overview... 4 PE Collect Set Up... 5 Credit Codes... 5 Credit Controllers... 6 Dunning Process... 7 Dunning Letters... 8 Credit Controller Dashboard... 8 Credit Control Events... 9 Partner Dashboard... 9 Client Credit Control Dashboard Unpaid Fee Search Cash targets Permissions Technical Info Chapter: Change History 3

4 OVERVIEW This document has been written to provide further information regarding the Advanced Credit Control module that is available within Practice Engine. The module provides additional functionality and automation in the credit control and collection management process for a company. It allows for a dunning process to be created and run automatically on a daily schedule and then provides the assigned Credit Controllers with the information that they require through a dashboard view. It is designed to provide greater control over the collection management of DRS. The module consists of Dashboards for Credit Controllers and Partners; pages to create Credit Codes, the Dunning Process and set up of Credit Controllers; an update feature to allocate specific credit controllers to partners portfolios and a facility to print Dunning Letters in bulk. Chapter: Overview 4

5 ADVANCED CREDIT CONTROL SET UP The set-up of the advanced credit control module revolves around the definition and creation of Credit Codes, Credit Controllers and the Dunning process. The first step in this process, before the creation of any codes is to define the steps that will make up the dunning process. CREDIT CODES Credit codes are used to classify the debt by coding Clients and Invoices for the dunning process. They refer to the client credit status and invoice collection status as found in the client s DRS/Collection details and the Invoice collection details respectively. The credit codes create a Red, Orange, Green traffic light system. There are two system required codes which flag the client and invoices as Collect Normally. These codes are CHASE as the client collection status and COLL as the invoice collection status. New clients are set with a default client collection status of CHASE. Additional codes can be added to suit the business and dunning process requirements. New codes are added through the Credit Codes page on the Credit menu. This page lists all existing codes, what the code applies to and a brief description of the code. Clicking onto any of the existing codes will open the Credit Codes Detail page where the code details can then be amended. Clicking onto the New button will open a blank Credit Codes Detail page where the following information can be entered: Field: Code Applies To Code Order Category Highlight Colour Title Description Description Enter an alphanumeric code to categorise the credit code. Defines what the credit code will be applied to. The options that are available are None, Invoice, Client or Group where this refers to a client group. Dictates the order in which codes will be listed. Used for reporting purposes. This is a category (Credit Codes Category) that can be defined in the Categories etc section of the Admin menu and can then be used to write reports based on the categories associated with the credit codes. A colour coding system to categorise credit codes on the credit controller and partner dashboards. The available colours are None, Green, Orange and Red. These cannot be added to or amended. The name of the credit code. A description of what the credit code is and how it will be 5

6 Action Notes Days Action Class used. Any notes that may be relevant regarding the action to be taken for this credit code. For reference purposes only This is the credit control event action that should be assigned to the credit code. The credit control event that defines the available actions is set within the Transaction settings. The list of available actions attached to that event can be defined within Categories etc > Categories > Credit Control Actions Assigns a class relating to the selected action to the credit code. The list of available classes attached to the action can be defined within Categories etc > Categories > Credit Control Class (if being used) Note: Coding a client to anything other than CHASE will override any codes applied at the Invoice level. CREDIT CONTROLLERS The Credit Controllers page allows for specific staff to be designated as credit controllers within the system. These credit controllers can then be assigned to individual clients via the DRS/Collection page in the Client menu and individual partner s portfolios through the Partner Controllers page. The Credit Controllers page displays a list of any existing credit controllers. Clicking onto the name will open the Credit Controller Details page for editing. To add a new credit controller click onto the New button. The Credit Controller details page will be displayed. Click onto the binoculars icon next to the Staff field and search for the staff member that you would like to add as a credit controller. Select the Manager check box if this credit controller is to be a credit control manager. This will allow this credit controller to view other credit controller s portfolios. Select whether there should be a designated Stand In Controller. This will display a list of all other credit controllers and the option of None. This is generally used when a credit controller is away on leave and their portfolio needs to be managed by another credit controller. Check the Active check box to indicate that this credit controller is an active credit controller. Note: Existing credit controllers cannot be deleted if they are connected to either a client or a partner. Disable them by marking them as Inactive. 6

7 DUNNING PROCESS The Dunning Process defines the actions that will be taken when DRS amounts reach a certain age. The steps that are defined on this page automate the process. Existing steps can be modified by clicking onto the number of days. Click onto the New button to create a new dunning process step. The Credit Dunning Process Details page will be displayed where the following information can be entered. Field: Days Split Amount Task type Class/ Letter Action Description The number of days that the invoice/ DRS amount has been outstanding to trigger the dunning process. The amount of the DRS that will define the action to be taken. The task that will be created if the DRS amount is over or under the split amount. The options available are: None, Task, Letter or Action. The option selected here will dictate the available options for the class and the action. Task will create a Credit Control Event. Letter will identify that one of three standard dunning letters should be sent. Action will place the client on stop which will mark the client as Suspended. The event class or letter to be associated with the task type. The event action associated with the selected class OR the action of Place On Stop if Action has been selected as a Task type. If Place On Stop has been selected the client s status will be changed to Suspended. This only applies to clients who have a collection status of CHASE. These processes are applied to all clients who have the Interest checkbox ticked on their DRS/ Collection details and who have an outstanding amount. The dunning process will also suspend the client if the client has exceeded their credit limit. When a client pays the system will reactivate the client. The dunning process will also complete/ close any open events when the outstanding invoice has been paid. The dunning process requires a SQL Job running the stored procedure pe6_creditcontrol_dunning_process to be run on a nightly basis shortly after midnight. This will identify all clients that should be included in the dunning process and make the necessary calculations regarding the number of days that the DRS amount/ invoices have been outstanding. The periods that the stored procedure calculates against are defined within tblcreditcontrolageing. It is possible to define up to 9 ageing bands. These are entered directly within the table. 7

8 DUNNING LETTERS The Dunning Letters page is an administration page where the current list of dunning letters can be viewed and printed. The letters can be listed by Credit Controller and Engagement Partner. It can then be further filtered by Letter Type. Against each entry is a check box that allows the entry to be selected for printing or deletion. Once the entries have been selected they can either be Printed, Marked as Printed or Marked as Deleted. Letters that have been selected to be printed are printed via the Print button. This will then create a pdf document of all letters that have been selected. The Letter List will provide a report listing all dunning letters that are available for printing. Note: The Dunning Letters are four standard letters. They can be found within the Client Reports folder on the Practice Engine server. If you require customisation of the letters please talk to Support. CREDIT CONTROLLER DASHBOARD The Credit Controller Dashboard can be accessed from the Credit menu. The dashboard provides an overview of the credit controllers assigned clients with links to any events that are overdue. If the credit controller is also a credit control manager then the dashboard provides a managers view. The top section of the dashboard shows the number of overdue events assigned to the credit controller, the overdue amount linked to the overdue events, the normal debt % (being items categorised as COLL and PROM, days as a % of assigned debts, all net of provisions), the monthly cash target for the credit controller, any cash received within the period, the days cash and the percentage of the monthly cash target that the credit controller has reached. The cash targets are imported from an Excel spreadsheet through the Cash Targets page. An excel template can be obtained from Support for use with this page. The spreadsheet holds the office code, office name, staff index, partner name, contindex, client name, cash target. The overdue events and the overdue amount can be drilled into to display the credit control events that make up the totals. The lower section of the dashboard displays a summary of the debt for the credit controller broken down by the Total Client Debt and My Assigned Debt. Total Client Debt shows all of the outstanding DRS for all clients that the credit controller is linked to. My Assigned Debt shows the outstanding debts that the credit controller has been assigned to. 8

9 These debt summaries are then categorised by the debt banding that is determined in tblcreditcontrolageing. Clicking onto any of the underlined totals navigates through to the Credit Control Dashboard Details page which provides a breakdown of the clients that make up the total. The Manager View gives a summary of the Total Group debt and Assigned Clients debts. The Total Group Debt shows the debt for all credit controllers that are assigned to the manager. The Assigned client s debt shows the debt for all clients that the manager is attached to. The lowest section of the dashboard provides a summary of debts categorised by their status. Clicking onto the underlined total will display the clients that compose the total. It is also possible to navigate to other pages in the system that relate to the credit control process: Events, Client Search, Dunning Letters and Reporting. CREDIT CONTROL EVENTS The Credit Control Events page displays the active events for the credit controller. It is also possible to view the events for different credit controllers by selecting the staff member from the drop down selection at the top. Right clicking onto any existing event will display a context menu with the actions of Edit Event Details, Complete Event and Credit Control Dashboard. PARTNER DASHBOARD The partner dashboard provides a credit control dashboard for the logged in partner. It can be filtered by Organisation and/ or Office and shows a summary of overdue events, cash received, the months cash target as well as a summary of the Total Debt, Assigned Client s Debt and the WIP on Assigned Clients. The NCC summary line provides information regarding clients that have been marked as not part of the credit control process. Clients can be removed from the credit control process by unchecking the Interest tick box on the DRS/Collection page of the client. The dashboard functions in the same way as the Credit Controllers Dashboard. Please refer to the section above for further detail. 9

10 CLIENT CREDIT CONTROL DASHBOARD The Client s Credit Control Dashboard can be accessed from the Client s Financial dashlet on the main client dashboard by clicking on the green CC icon next to the debtors. Alternatively it can be accessed by drilling into the figures from the Credit Controllers dashboard and selecting a client. The credit control dashboard provides a summary of the credit control information and history of credit control actions for the client. The Client Information pane on the left hand side of the page provides basic credit control information as set on the client s DRS/ Collection page. The CC address, telephone number, contact name, fax and can be updated from here, but this will not update the information on the DRS /Collection page. The client status can be updated via the dunning process and will indicate a status with Auto next to it. If the client s status is manually set to Suspended then the Auto will change to show Manual. If the client reaches its credit limit the client s status will be changed to Suspended. The Chase History shows the last 10 credit control actions for the client. Clicking onto the Show History button will display all credit control actions recorded against the client. The Outstanding Transaction pane shows a list of all outstanding transactions for the client, the ageing of the transaction and their invoice code. Clicking onto the title OS Trans will navigate through to the DRS Trans page for the client. Invoices can be reprinted from the OS Trans section by clicking onto the printer icon. The Current Action pane allows for the recording of new credit control actions against the client. These actions are recorded by Task and the associated actions/ codes. The tasks that are available to be recorded against the client are explained in the table below. Task: Available Actions: Description Contact Code Client Phone Call Visit The available actions come from the credit codes that are set up on the Credit Codes page of the PE Collect module. These available actions are defined in the Categories Etc > Categories > Credit Contact Events section of the Admin menu. They are from a user defined category called Credit Contact Events. This will create an event against the client that can be then viewed through the Credit Control Events page. It is important to note that creating a new event for a client or an invoice will mark the previous event against the client or invoice as complete. This task allows for a credit code to be set or updated against the client. 10

11 Code Invoice Print Letter Letter 1 Partner The available actions come from the credit codes that are set up on the Credit Codes page of the PE Collect module. Letter 2 Letter 3 Letter 4 Client Statement Group Statement RFP Query Stop Notice This task will allow for the coding of a particular invoice or all outstanding invoices. This task will print the selected Dunning Letter or a statement. Letter 4 will create a letter that will pick up the wording from the notes section. This task will the partner with wording according to the action that has been selected. The wording and the actions are hard coded. UNPAID FEE SEARCH The unpaid fee search is a facility to search for a specific fee note using a variety of search fields. The available search fields are: Client Code Client Name Bill To Address Bill No Bill Date Total Unpaid Amount Client Debt Enter the required search criteria and use the tab button to move to another field. This will apply the search criteria and the results of the search will be displayed. 11

12 CASH TARGETS The cash targets page provides a mechanism to import the cash targets for a credit controller s clients into PE from a csv file. The csv file is in the format: Column: A B C D E F G Description The Office Code of the client. The Office description/ name. The staff index of the client partner. The Partner name. The cont index of the client. The client name The amount PERMISSIONS The following permissions are required for the PE Collect module. Menu section Taskpad pages Page/ Permission Linked pages/ Permissions/ Dashlets Credit Control CCTaskpad Credit Controller Dashboard CredConDash CredConDashDets CredConEvents CredConCliGroup CredConCliHist CredConCliDash CredconCliDashView Credit Codes CredCodeDets CredCodeList Credit Controllers CredConList CredconDets Partner Controllers CredConPart Dunning Process CredDunnProcDets CredDunnProcList Dunning Letters CredConDunPrint Cash Target CredConCashImport Unpaid Fee Search CredConFeeSearch 12

13 Partner Dashboard CredConPartDash CredConPartDashdets CredConEvents CredConCliGroup CredConCliHist CredConCliDash CredconCliDashView TECHNICAL INFO There are two stored procedures that should be run every night shortly after midnight in the following order: Pe6_Credit_Control_Dunning_Process this stored procedure will run the dunning process and update the ageing of all outstanding invoices. Pe6_Credit_Warehouse_Aged this stored procedure will build the warehouse tables based on the ageing from the dunning process. 13