To add a new Collector Group, from the Collections File Maintenance, select #2 Collector Group.

Click Add New (F10).

Select the Type: Internal or External, enter a Group ID and enter a Group Name. Press Enter to confirm and then Enter again to save changes. Example Residential Collection Group:

Repeat this step for all the Collection Groups needed for both Internal and External Collections.

Create Standard *Default Group IDs

To Create the Standard Default Groups for both Internal and External Collections, from the Collections File Maintenance, select #22 Crt *DEFAULT Group IDs in LtrMstr.

This option will create a Type I and E *Default Group Id in the Collection Group Master File.

Outsource File ID – Internal & External Collections

The Outsource File ID is used to determine what to name any of the outsource files that are created during the Collections process. This file is not company specific. The file is separated by Type – Internal and External. The Internal File Id entry will relate to the Collection Letters and the External File ID will relate to the Collection Agencies. Since the format of a Collection Letter Outsource File is different than that of a Collection Agency Outsource File, the Internal File Id name and the External File Id names must be different. For example, if there is a File Id of “RESFIL” with a type of “I”, there cannot be a File Id of “RESFIL” with a type of “E”.

The File Id’s are entered into the Letter Setup Master. The Internal File Id’s are only necessary if the collection letters are going to be sent to a third party for printing rather than generating letters to be printed in-house.

As part of the Collections Module, collection letters can be generated in PDF format. PDF Collection letters are available for:

§  Print PDF Collection Letters

§  Email PDF Collection Letters (Note: Email option only available if using the Email Billing Module).

® A PDF Collection Questionnaire will need to be completed when using PDF Collection letters and will be provided by a Soft-Pak representative.

® If a logo should display on the PDF collection letter, please provide to Soft-Pak.

A Soft-Pak representative must activate PDF collection letters. Please contact Soft-Pak at Support@Soft-Pak.com.

After the PDF collection letters have been activated, or using the system standard letters, please proceed to Letter Body setup.

Letter Body – Internal Collections

The Letter Body only needs to be set-up if Printed or PDF Letters will be generated. The Letter Body determines what the letters will look like, and the Letter Set-up will determine when the letter is sent.

The Letter Bodies are by Company/Cycle and a Letter Id. Therefore, the user can have different wording on letters generated for customers who are 31-60 days past due than they do for the letters generated for customers who are 61-90 days or over 90 days past due. This master file is the actual body of the Collection Letter. The user would enter all wording that comes in between the “DEAR CUSTOMER” and the “SINCERELY” lines.

From the Collections File Maintenance, select #5 Letter Body.

 Select Add New (F10).

From the Collections File Maintenance Menu, select #6 Letter Setup.

 Select Add New (F10):

 Enter a Company, Cycle and Description that this Letter Setup will be used for.

 Internal Collections Section

In the Internal Collections section, setup the following fields. At least one aging category must be setup.

• Minimum # of Days - The number of days between letters. The default is 30 days. This means, if the customer receives a 31–60-day letter, they will not be eligible to receive the next letter (61–90-day aging) until at least this many days has passed since the generation of the 31–60-day letter (or record in the outsource file). Example, if Minimum #of days is set to 30, on the 31st day after the letter was generated the next letter can be generated.
• Call File – Creates a record in a file from the Collections menu # 5 Collector Calls Review. This file will list the customer by selected sort sequence for the user to easily make and track collection calls.
• Printed Letter ID – Select the Letter from the Letter Master file that was created for the appropriate Aging Bucket. The user must include a Final Notice Letter.
• Outsource File ID - When Collection Letters are run and a customer is found to be delinquent (based on the setup in this master file), an Outsource File will be created. The actual file name created will be FILEID+SEQ# (0001-9999). Example, if the File ID = RESFIL, the Outsource File created will be called RESFIL0001, RESFIL0002, etc. Each time the Collection Letters are run a new file will be created with the next available sequence#.
• Minimum $ - Dollar amount to exclude customers that have the dollar amount or below from receiving a letter. This amount would be based total amount of the associated aging bucket and any aging bucket older than that.
• Note Code – Note code that will be added to the customers’ account for tracking of letters received by that customer. Once letters are generated this code will automatically be added to the customer’s notes.
• Action Code – Action code that will be added when customer reaches applicable aging.
• Sz/Cg – If used, this Size and Charge code will be used to create a work order at the time the letters are generated. Recommended use: to create container removal work orders.
• Route – If used will populate the Route code on the work orders created from the collections process. If left blank, the default W/O Route from the Customer profile will be used.

• Calling Collector Group - This is a required field based on the Collector Group ID (#2 from Collections File Maintenance Menu). This would be the Collector Groups with a Type = I. This is the group id that can be assigned to all the customers found in this Company/Cycle when they are delinquent. Someone within you organization can be assigned responsibility for this Calling Group. They will get a list of these customers. They can then make phone calls to request payment. This process is explained later in this document.
• Signature Name, Signature Job Title, and Contact Phone# and Extension fields - all relate to the Printed and PDF Collection letters. This is the information that will be printed at the bottom of the letter after the body of the letter.
• Print Restart$ Footer - also relates to the Printed and PDF Collection letters. This is what will be printed at the very bottom of the letter to inform the customer how much of a payment they need to send before their service will be restarted. Check the box if this should be included on the collection letters and then check/enter what additional amounts to include in that dollar amount. The customer’s balance due, credit limit, and an additional amount (or any combination of these three) can be included on the collection letter.
• Remit To Name, Address, and Phone# - only relates to the Outsource File. If the Remit to information is populated in the Letter Setup, this is the data that will be written to the Outsource file. If the Remit to information is blank in the Letter Setup, the Remit To information found in the Company Master file is used. Therefore, only populate the Remit To information in the Collection Letter Setup if it is different than the Company Master File Remit to information.

 External Collections Section

The External Collections section will only display if the Company Master is set to use External Collections. Populate the following fields:

• Send After Notice – At what stage in the collection process should the customer be sent to a Collection Agency. Whichever option is selected, the corresponding section in the internal collections must be populated. For example, if Final Notice is selected, the Final Notice section in the Internal Collections within this letter setup must be populated.
• Min$ – Minimum balance due to send to collection agency.
• Note Code – Note code to add to account when customer is sent to collection agency.
• # Days After – The number of days after the last notice the customer received before sending to an agency.
• Collection Agency ID – The Collection Agency ID is required and comes from the Agency ID Master file. This is the Collection Agency that any of the customers that fall in this Company/Cycle will be sent to.
• Agency Review Collector Group – Required field and is found in the Collector Group ID Master with a Type = E. This is the group ID to assign all customers found in this Company/Cycle to when they are ready to be considered for sending to a Collection Agency. Someone within your organization is assigned responsibility for this Agency Review Group. They can get a list of these customers and review the Customer Profile, Sales, A/R, Notes, etc., to decide whether they need to be sent to a Collection Agency at this time. This process is explained later in this documentation.
• Agency Outsource File ID – The Agency Outsource File ID is required and is found in the File ID Code Master with a Type = E. When the “Send to Collections” option is processed, an Outsource File will be created in the Outsource folder. The actual file name created will be FILEID+SEQ# (0001-9999). If the File ID = JJMAC, the Outsource File created will be called JJMAC0001, JJMAC0002, etc. Each time this option is run, a new file will be created with the next available sequence#. This is only for those companies set up to use “O” (Other) Collection Company in the Company Master File. If the Company Master is set up to use “C” (C2C Company), the file name created will be (C2C+MMDD+SEQ# where SEQ# is 001-999). If using C2C, the File ID field will be defaulted to C2C.
• New Action Code – Action Code to be added to customers' accounts at the time the “Send to Collection Agency” option is processed. Must be a valid Action Code found in the Action Code Master. If this field is blank, no change will be made to the customer’s Action Code.
• New Cycle Code – The customer’s Cycle code will be updated with this Cycle at the time the “Send to Collection Agency” option is processed. This must be a valid Cycle Code found in the Cycle Code Master for this company. If entered, it must be of the same Accounting Type as the Letter Setup cycle. If this field is blank, no change will be made to the customer’s Cycle.
• Populate Stop Date – If the Populate Stop Date field is checked, when the customer is sent to a Collection Agency their Stop Date will be populated with the date they were sent. This update will occur at the time the “Send to Collection Agency” option is processed.

Customer Collections Information

Once the Collections process has been started and the first letters have been generated the system will update the customer’s Additional Information. The Letter Status will identify what part of the collections process the customer was included in, the date the letter was generated , the Balance due at the time the letter was generated, the Letter ID as reference to what type of letter the customer received, Outsource File used (optional for internal collections) and the last date a customer made a payment.

Collection Letter Status – Exclude Customer from Collections Process

From the Additional Information screen, the Letter Status field will display the Collection status for the customer. The Letter Status is automatically set based on the Letter master and the customer aging balances at the time of letter generation.

This is also the field that can be used to exclude the customer from the collections process. Populate the letter Status with an N for Do Not Send Collection Letter to prevent the customer from receiving any collection letters or being included in the collection process altogether.

Note: If a customer’s Letter Status is set to N – Do Not Send Collection Letter, when the Collection Letters are generated, they will print on an exception listing AC0603P3.

Internal Collections Processing

From the Accounting Menu, #12 Collections Processing, the Collections Processing Menu will display.

The Internal Collections section is used to generate collection letters as well as manage the customer in the collection status through the Call Files.

Collection Letters Edit

The Collection Letter Edit allows the user to review all the customers that will receive a letter when collection letters are generated. This can be used to determine if there are any customers that need to have their Collection Letter Status on the Additional Information screen updated to N – Do Not Send Collection Letters (see above).

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #1 Collection Letters Edit.

The collection letter date screen will display. Enter the date that should be printed on the top of the letter; this will also be the date that will be displayed in the ‘date letter sent field’ on the Additional Info screen of the customer’s account. Then select Confirm (F11).

Note: Collection Templates can be created from the Collections File Maintenance Menu, #7 Collection Templates.

On the company selection screen, check the box beside each company that should be included. Then select Confirm (F11).

The Cycle selection screen will now display. Check the box beside each Cycle that should be included. Then select Confirm (F11).

A screen will display that will allow the user to save the selections as a Template for future use. If Templates are not being used, leave the Template name blank and press Enter to continue.

Confirmation that the process has been submitted will display, select OK to continue.

Collection Letter Edit Reports

The following Reports will be generated detailing the customers that will receive letters and those that will not.

AC0603P2 – Collection Letters Due/Final Notice: Accounts that will be receiving a final notice when letters are generated.

AC0603P3 – Collection Letters Due/Marked as Do Not Send: Accounts that will not be receiving a collection letter because they have an ‘N’-Do Not Send in the Letter Status field on the Additional Information screen.

AC0603P4 – Collection Letters Due/Already Received Final Notice within Last 30 Days: Accounts that will not be receiving a final notice when letters are generated because they have already a Final Notice in the past 30 days (Letter Status on these accounts would be F – Final Notice Letter Sent).

AC0603P5 – Collection Letters Due/Past Due Accounts Already Sent to Collection Company within the Last 30 Days: Accounts that will not be receiving a collection letter because they have already been sent to an External Collection Agency (Letter Status on these accounts would be EC – Sent to Collection Company).

Generate Collection Letters

Once the edit lists have been reviewed and any additional changes to the customers have been completed, the next step would be to generate the collection letters.

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #2 Generate Collection Letters.

The collection letter date screen will display. Enter the date that should be printed on the top of the letter; this will also be the date that will be displayed in the ‘Date Letter Sent field’ on the additional info screen of the customer’s account. Select confirm (F11) to continue.

Note: This is also the date that is used to compare to the last letter date – to check if the minimum # of days has passed since their last letter. Therefore, be aware that if a date is selected in the future, a letter may be generated even though one was just generated.

On the Company Selection screen, check the box beside each company that should be included. Then select Confirm (F11).

The Cycle Selection screen will now display. Check the box beside each Cycle that should be included. Then select Confirm (F11).

A screen will display that will allow the user to save the selections as a Template for future use. If Templates are not being used, leave the Template name blank and press Enter to continue.

Confirmation that the process has been submitted will display, select OK to continue.

 Collection Letter Reports

In addition to the Collection Letters, summary reports will also be generated detailing the number of collection letters sent. If Print and Email PDF Collection letters are being used the summary report will detail the number of printed and email PDF letters that were generated.

AC0604P3 – Collection Letters Totals Report: A summary report indicating the totals for residential aging, residential final notice, commercial aging, and commercial final notice letters.

AC0641P1 – Collection Letter Outsource Files Created: If Outsource files are being used a summary report will generate detailing the number of records in each outsource file.

AC0604ER – Work Orders Not Generated: Listing of Work Orders that could not be generated due to errors. If errors are found, the report will detail the cause of the error.

AC0604WO – Work Orders Generated: Listing of all Work Orders generated based on the Letter Setup.

PDF Collection Letters

The Collection Module includes an option to print collection letters in PDF form. In addition, if using Email Billing, the PDF Collection Letters will be emailed to those customers enrolled in email billing (both email PDF and email notifications). Please contact Soft-Pak to activate PDF collection letters.

From the Collections Processing Menu, please see Process Collection PDF Files section. #14 Email PDF Collection Letters

#15 Print PDF Collection Letters

#14 Email PDF Collection Letters – Right Click and Select to process.

#15 Print PDF Collection Letters – Right Click and Select to process.

Spool File Collection Letters

If not using PDF collection letters, collection letters will generate in the user’s spool file who selected to run the collections process.

PDF Collection Letters will generate based on the Letter Setup. Each type of collection letter will be separated by their current aging, for example, Current – ends in 01, Over 30 – ends in 30, Final Notice – ends in F. Example list of potential collection letters.

Example Spool Collection Letter:

Field #      From?

1.            Collection Letter Date

2.            Attention to Line from Customer Profile

3.            Customer Billing Name

4.            Customer Billing Address

5.            Company Name Account is held in

6.            Customer Billing Name

7.            Letter body (text from the Letter Body master).

8.            Collections Contact Info (from the Letter Setup master).

9.            

Restart Footer (from the Letter Setup master).

Additional Information – Letter Status Updated

From the Additional Information screen of the customer’s account, the Internal Collections section will be updated after the Collections process has completed.

Letter Status - Indicating which letter was generated.

Status Date – Collection letter date.

BalDue at Time – Balance due on the customer’s account when the letter was generated.

Letter ID – Type of letter sent to the Customer. Outsource File ID – Optional for Internal Collections. Last Payment Date – Customers last payment date.

Customer Notepad

The Collections process will also update the customer’s Notepad. In this example, a note was added to indicate the collection letter was sent and a note was added to show that the account was placed on a locked status. The Collection Process Letter Setup determines what will display in the Notepad.

Reprint Collection Letters

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #3 Reprint Collection Letters to reprint a group of collection letters.

The letters can be reprinted by Company, Letter Cycle, Letter ID, and Letter Date. Select Confirm & Print (F11) after selection criteria has been entered.

The reprinted collection letters will display in the user’s spool file with the original collection letter report names as seen below.

Reprint Individual Collection Letter

From the Additional Information screen on the customer’s account, select Collect Ltr Reprint (F5) to reprint the most recent collection letter for this customer.

The reprinted collection letter will display in the user’s spool file.

If using PDF Collection Letters, the user will be presented with an option to email the PDF Collection Letter or Print it. If an email address is entered the reprinted collection letter will be emailed to the customer, if the email field is left blank the PDF Collection letter will display on the screen.

Internal Collection Reports

There are three Internal Collection Reports available from the Collections Processing Menu.

Collector Calls Activity

From the Collections Processing Menu, #11 Collector Calls Activity – will generate reports for a single Calling Group ID or for ALL Calling Group ID’s. The report can be generated in Summary, Detail or both. Leave the fields blank to pull all.

Note: Report will automatically complete and can be retrieved from spool file, no confirmation displays.

AC0632P1 – Collection Activity Register: Detail

AC0632P2 – Collection Call Activity Register: Summary

Do Not Send Status

From the Collections Processing Menu, #12 Do Not Send Letter Status – this report will list all customers with an internal collection status code of N indicating they have been flagged to not be included in the internal collection process. Select the Companies and Cycles that should be included in the report after Date and Template selections.

ACO609P1 – Customers Marked as Do Not Send Letter.

Final Notice Sent Status

Final Notice Sent Status – this report will list all customers with an internal collection status code of F indicating that a Final Notice has already been generated.

AC0608P1 – Internal Collections Process – Final Notice Sent

Day End Report – Internal Collections

Each time Day End is processed, the system will generate an additional report indicating which customers have had their Internal Collection status flags reset due to payments being received.

AC0615P1 - Internal Collection Status Fields Cleared

External Collections

The purpose of the External Collections processing is to produce call files, edit report listing of all customers that will be sent to external collections and to create files that can be sent to an external

collection agency. The External Collections process will also update the External Collections status flag on the Additional Information screen to indicate the customer was sent to a collection agency.

Please note that there are User Security Settings and Master File settings that affect External Collections. If these were not already setup, please review the External Collection settings in the following sections of this document before attempting to use External Collections.

USER SECURITY AND MASTER FILE SETUP

☐      User Security – On the Accounting Tab set the External Collections security level. Please see the following section (User Security – collections Processing) of this document for more details.

☐      Company Master File – On the Accounting Tab, in the Collections Setting, set the External collections setting as detailed in the following section of this documentation (Company Master File Set-up).

☐      Collections File Maintenance – See the following section of this document (Collections Master File Set- up – Collection File Maintenance ) to ensure all External Collections Master File setup is completed; Collection Agency, Collector Group, Outsource File ID, Notepad Code, and Letter Setup.

Additional Information – External Collections Status – Exclude from Collections

The External Collections section on the Additional Information indicates the current External Collections status.

Collections Status: Indicates current External collection Status. Update the Status to ‘N’ Do Not Sent to collections to exclude the customer from the External Collections Process.

External Collections Edit – Begin External Collections Processing

To proceed with the External Collection Processing: Accounting, #12 Collections Processing, Collections Processing Menu.

External Collections Workflow

☐      #21 Collections Agency Edit – Run this option after Internal Collections have been completed. The Collections Agency Edit, will generate reports showing which customers will be considered for external collections, which customers have already been marked to send, which customers have been marked as do not send and which customers have already gone to external collections.

☐      #22 Create New Agency Review File – Creates a work file that can be used throughout the month, listing out customers who meet the criteria to go to external collections based on the Letter Setup.

☐      #23 Collection Agency Review – These are the accounts that were added to the Review process in the previous step. Users will come here throughout the month and mark those customers that should go to external collections as Send.

☐      #24 Prepare for Sending – The Prepare for Sending option can be run as needed throughout the month and will place customers at a Pending status for External Collections.

☐      #25 Send to Collection Agency – When it is time to send customers to External Collections this option will take all customers with an External Collections Status of ‘P’ Pending and add them to an External Collections File that can be sent to a 3rd Party Collection Agency.

☐      #26 – Send Payments to Agency – If using C2C as External Collection Agency, this option can be used to create a payment file to send to C2C of any customer that has been sent to external collections.

Begin with #21 Collections Agency Edit. The purpose of the Collections Agency Edit, is to allow the user to review all the customers that will be included in the file to be sent to the collection agency. If there are customers that are found on the list that should not be sent, the External Collection Status can be updated to ‘N’ on the Additional Information Screen (see above).

Enter the date the file will be sent to the collection agency; this will also be the date that will be displayed in the ‘Status Date’ field on the Additional Info tab of the customer’s account. Select Confirm (F11) to accept and continue to the company selection.

Check the box beside each Company that should be included. Select Confirm (F11) to accept and continue to Cycle Selection.

Check the box beside each Cycle that should be included. Select Confirm (F11) to accept and continue.

If using Templates enter the Template Name to save or leave blank and Press Enter/Save to continue.

Confirmation that the job has been submitted to batch will display. Select OK to continue.

External Collections Agency Edit Reports

AC0623P1 – External Collections Process - Meets Criteria to be Sent to Collection Company: Indicates the accounts that are ready to be included in the next ‘prepare for sending’ option.

AC0623P2 - External Collections Process - Already Setup to be Sent to a Collection Company: Indicates the accounts that are at a ‘pending’ status to be sent to a collection company (External Collections Status of P).

AC0623P3 - External Collections Process: Already Sent to Collection Company Within the Last 30 days: Indicates the accounts that are not being sent to a collection company because they have already been sent (External Collections Status of S).

AC0623P4 - External Collections Process-Marked as DO NOT SEND: Indicates the accounts that are not being sent to a collection company because they are flagged to not be sent (External Collections Status of N on Additional Information screen).

Create New Agency Review File

This option will create a work file that will be used throughout the month. The file will contain customer records for customers who meet the criteria to be sent to a Collection Agency (based on the Letter Setup Master information) and will be grouped by Agency Review Collector Group ID.

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #22 Create new Agency Review File.

A warning message is displayed when this option is selected to advise the user that the existing Agency Review will be replaced. Select F11 to Confirm the creation of the new Agency Review file.

The next screen will ask for a Date (defaulted to current date). This is the date that will be used to compare to the last date the customer received a delinquent notice (the Over 90 Day if sending to External Collections after over 90 or the Final Notice if sending to External Collections after Final Notice). The process will check if the # of days since that last notice until this entry date is greater than or equal to the “# of Days After” selection in the Letter Setup Master.

Select Confirm (F11) to continue.

Confirmation the job was submitted to Batch will display, Select OK to continue.

This process creates a file called COLAREVW. If there was an existing COLAREVW file with data in it, reports will be generated for that file before it is replaced.

Agency Review File Reports

There are five reports generated from the Create new Agency Review File process.

AC0662P1 – Collection Agency Review Activity Register – Detail.

AC0662P2 - Collection Agency Review Activity Register – Summary.

AC0663P1 – Customers Selected to be Excluded Report: Those customers that were excluded from going to a Collection Agency after review of account in the previous month.

AC0663P2 – Customers Selected to be Included Report: Those customers that were selected to be sent to a Collection Agency after review of account in the previous month.

AC0664P1 = Collections by Agency Report: Lists all customers that were sent to each Collection Agency after review of their account, the information that was added to the Outsource file, and prints in order of Agency ID.

After the reports are generated, the existing file will be renamed (only if data exists in it) to CLAG+MMDDYY. This will allow more queries to be run over the old files if needed.

After the existing file is renamed, the new file is generated adding the latest information for all the customers that meet the criteria to be sent to a Collection Agency. All of them are defaulted to “YES” for sending, except those with a Billing Name of RESIDENT (which will default to “NO” for sending).

Collection Agency Review

Throughout the month, users can go into the Collection Agency Review program to review customer activity and to decide whether to send them to a Collection Agency at this time.

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #23 Collection Agency Review.

The first screen asks for an Agency Review Collector Group Id to be entered. This is a promptable field. Only customers that fall into that Agency review Collector Group (based on the Letter Setup Master) will be displayed on the next screen. If not using multiple Collector Groups enter *DEFAULT into this selection field. Press Enter to continue.

The second screen is a scan of all the customers that were found to meet the criteria to be sent to a Collection Agency at the time this file was built. Use the Co-Cust# filter to position to a particular Company/Customer. The user can select a customer from the scan to review and they will be brought into the Customer Profile screen.

On the Customer Profile, the user can go into any Customer Service screen that they have access to and do any work needed (such as writing notes, comments, call back date, etc). Each time the user goes into the Customer Profile from the Collections Processing Menu option #22 Collection Agency

Review, the work file (COLAREVW created in the previous step) will be updated with the date & time of review and a # of reviews field will be incremented by one.

After reviewing a customer, select F3 Back to return to the Agency Review Customer Scan Screen. When you return from the Customer Profile, the YES/NO flag will be displayed in RED to show that the customer has already been reviewed.

The user can select to either Send or Do NOT Send a customer. To change a YES (to Send) to be a NO (do not Send), highlight the line or right click and select “Do NOT Send”.

To change a NO (Do not Send) to be a YES (Send), highlight the line or right click and select “Send”.

All customers who have been selected to Send (YES) will be sent to a Collection Agency when the next two options are run. If selected as Do NOT Send (NO), those customers will not be sent to a Collection Agency for this run. However, marking a customer as Do Not Send in this process will not update the External Collection Status on the Additional Information screen to ‘N’ for Do Not Send.

If a customer should be excluded from the External Collections process indefinitely without having to review them each month and mark them as Do Not Send, remember to update the External Collections Status field to an ‘N’ on the Additional Information screen on the customer’s account.

Prepare for Sending

Once the edit lists have been reviewed and any additional changes to the customers have been completed, it is time to Prepare for Sending. This option can be run as many times as needed to ‘prepare’ the customers, but the Actual Send option should only be processed once to ensure only one file is sent to the External Collection Agency.

The Prepare for Sending option will update customer’s External Collections Status with a “P” (Pending) to get them ready to be written to a Collection Agency Outsource File. This can be run one group at a time or many groups at a time. This will allow the “collectors” to complete their review at various times. A supervisor can then review the collector’s work and, if ok, prepare their customers for being sent and then wait for the next collector to complete their review process before preparing the next group of customers. If the customer was marked as Send (and is not marked with an “N” on their External Collection Status), the customer’s status will be updated to a “P”.

From the Collections Processing Menu, select option #24 Prepare for Sending.

The Prepare Customers for Collections screen will be displayed. After reading the warning that this process will mark the customers with a Pending Status, select Confirm (F11) to accept and continue.

If using Templates, select the Template or leave blank if not using templates and then select Confirm (F11) to continue.

Check the box beside each Collector Group that should be included in the process, then select Confirm (F11) to continue to the Company selections screen.

The Company selection screen will only display companies that are set to use External Collections and those that the user has access to. Check the box beside each Company that should be include and then select Confirm (F11).

On the Cycle selection screen, check the box beside each Cycle that should be included in the process and then select Confirm (F11).

The final screen will ask if the Group, Company, and Cycle selections should be saved to a template. A template name can be entered or if a template is not being used, leave blank. Select Enter/Save to continue.

Confirmation that the process has been submitted to batch will display. Select OK to continue.

Prepare to Send Reports

AC0624P1 - External Collections Process - Customers Prepared for Sending to Collection Company: Indicates the accounts that have been flagged with an External Collections Status flag of ‘P’ for pending.

Send to Collection Agency

The Send to Collection Agency option will update the customer’s External Collections Status with an ‘S’ (Sent) and will create the Collection Agency Outsource File (as setup in the Letter Setup Master). Any customer with an External Collection Status of ‘P’ (Pending) on the Additional Information screen, will be included. The process will identify which Letter Setup Master the customer falls in and add the customer to the appropriate Outsource File. Details about the Outsource file are explained further down in this section.

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #25 Send to Collection Agency.

The first screen to display is a warning to let the user know they are about to update the customer External Collections status fields and create outsource files. Select Confirm (F11) to continue.

If using templates enter the name of the Template or select from Prompt, if templates are not being used, leave blank. Select Confirm (F11) to continue.

The Company selection screen will now display. Check the box beside each Company that should be included and then select Confirm (F11) to continue.

Check the box beside each Cycle that should be included, then select Confirm (F11) to continue.

The final screen allows the Company and Cycle selections to be saved to a Template. Enter the Template name if the selections should be saved and if not using templates leave the field blank. Press Enter/Save to complete the External Collection Agency process.

Notification that the process has been submitted to batch will display, select Ok to proceed.

If the Letter Setup Master has an entry in the “New Action Code” field, the customer’s profile will be updated with this new Action Code. If the master file has an entry in the “New Cycle Code” field, the customer will be moved to this new cycle. If the master file has the “Populate Stop Date” checked as “Y”, the customer’s stop date will be updated to the current date.

Send to Collection Agency Reports

This process generates three reports.

AC0625P2 - Letter Setup Master NOT Found Exception List: This will print any customers that should have been sent to a Collection Agency but could not be due to no Letter Setup Master being found. This should rarely happen, but it might if the customer was prepared for sending and then the Letter Setup for that customer was deleted or the customer was moved to a new cycle after going to pending but before being sent.

AC0625P1 – External Collections Process – Customers Sent to Collection Company: This report lists all the customers that were added to a Collection Agency outsource file. This information is also stored in the Customer’s Additional Information screen.

AC0651P1 - Collection Agency Outsource Files Created: This lists the names of all the outsource files created during this run and the number of records written to each file.

Send to Collection Agency Outsource File

The Outsource Fille will be added to the Outsource folder which can be accessed from the Accounting or Billing Menus.

The Outsource file name will begin with the File ID from the Letter Setup Master, and then include the date the file was created and sequence number if multiple runs are being processed. The file can also

be found in IWSB4XX (XX=Dataset) if using a different process for downloading the file. From the Outsource Files screen, select Download File to PC.

This will place a copy of the file on the user’s pc (C Drive) in the Billing folder.

Additional Information – External Collections Status

In addition to the updating of the Action Code, Cycle and Stop date if designated in the Letter Setup Master, the Additional Information screen will also be updated with the External Collections information. The External Collections Status flag will be set to a ‘S’, the Status Date will be updated with the date of the external collections file date, and the BalDue at Time field will be updated with the balance due for the customer at the time they were included in the file. In addition, under the Internal Collections section, the Letter Status flag will be changed to EC (for External Collections).

Customer Notepad

The External Collections process will also update the customer’s Notepad. In this example, a note was added to indicate the customer has been sent to external collections. The Collection Process Letter Setup determines what will display in the Notepad.

Send Payments to Agency

If using C2C for External Collections, the Collections Processing Menu option #26 can be used to create a payment file to send to the collection agency. This file will include any customers that have been sent to external collections and have received a payment. The process will only include those payments that have not previously been included in the payment file.

Note: This menu option only works when the External Collection Agency is set to C2C is the Company Master File (not to be used if External Collections Company is set to Other).

A warning message will display confirming that the payment file will be created. Select Confirm (F11) to continue.

Enter a date range for which payments should be included, then select Confirm (F11).

A confirmation window will display, detailing the file name. The file can be retrieved from the Outsource folder. Select Enter to continue.

From the Accounting or Billing Menu, select Outsource File (F22).

The file will begin with C2C, then the date the file was created and the sequence number if multiples were processed. Select Down File to PC.

The file will download to the C drive into the Billing folder.

Send Payments to Collection Agency Report

In addition to the Outsource file that is created from the Send Payments to Collection Agency option, a report will also be generated as seen below.

ACC0665P1 – Payments to Collections

External Collections Reports

Collector Agency Activity

From the Collections Processing Menu, select Option #31 Collector Agency Activity.

This allows reports to be run for a single Agency Review Collector Group or for All Agency Review Collector Groups. Multiple reports can be selected.

1)      Collection Agency Review Activity Register (Detail)

2)      Collection Agency Review Activity Register (Summary)

3)      Customers to be Excluded Report (those customers that the Agency Review Collector decided did not need to go to a Collection Agency yet).

4)      Customers to be Included Report (those customers the Agency Review Collector decided should be sent to a Collection Agency now).

5)      Customers Sent to Collections (by Agency) = lists all customers that have already been sent to a Collection Agency since the Agency Review work file had been created for the month and prints in order of Agency Id and lists the information written to the Outsource File.

The Collector agency Activity report option prints all the same reports that get generated when a new Review file is created except that it uses the current data in the current file. Please see the following section for the list of reports generated from this menu option: Agency Review Reports

Do Not Send Status

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #32 Do Not Send Status.

This report will list all customers with an External Collection status code of N indicating they have been flagged to not be included in the external collection process. This allows selection of companies and cycles (either by using an existing template, creating a new one or leaving blank for no template) to include on the report.

AC0629P1 – External Collections Process – Customers Marked as DO NOT SEND to Collection Company.

Ready to Send Status

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #33 Ready to Send Status.

This report will list all customers with an external collection status code of P indicating they are ‘pending’ being sent to the collection company. This allows selection of companies and cycles (either by using an existing template or creating a new one) to include on the report.

AC0627P1 – External Collections Process – Pending: Ready to be Sent to Collections

Sent to Agency Status

From the Collections Processing Menu, select #34 Sent to Agency Status.

This report will list all customers with an external collection status code of ‘S’ indicating they have been included in the file sent to the collection company. This allows selection of companies and cycles (either by using an existing template or creating a new one) to include on the report.

AC0628P1 – External Collections Process – Sent to Collections Company

Day End Reports

Each time Day End is processed, the system will generate an additional report indicating which customers have had their External Collection status flags reset due to payments being received. The system will only clear External Collection Statuses of ‘P’ for Pending. The External Collection Status ‘S’ for Sent must be manually cleared.

AC0615P2 - External Collection Status Fields Cleared

Collections Processing Commonly Asked Questions & Troubleshooting

How to use Collections Processing for the purpose on locking customers only?

The collections process can be used to lock customers only. The collections setup still needs to be completed such as setting up the Company Master Internal Collection Settings and the Collections File Maintenance masters Letter Body and Note Codes. When the user selects to generate the collection letters, they would just delete them. In this example below, accounts over 60 days past due will have their Action code changed to L for Locked.

Why did my letters not generate?

The Letter Setup Master on the Collections File Maintenance Menu determines the number of days that must elapse for a customer to receive the next collection letter. Usually if a letter was not generated for a customer, it is due to not enough days elapsing between the last letter and when the next letter was selected to be generated.

Example: Min# of days is set to 30, letters were generated on August 1st, the next letters can be generated on September 1st.

Customer was not included in collections process but is not set to N = Do Not Send, Why?

Customers enrolled in recurring payments (Auto Pay RCC or EFT) are excluded from the collections process. Ideally a customer enrolled in recurring payments would never have a past due balance and if they do, it may be because they just enrolled in recurring payments.