Client Basics

The Client record is the uppermost record of your data set. A Client record may be used for a number of reasons, but there are a few very important functions that Collect! handles automatically, using the Client record. Once a Client record has been created, you can attach many debtor accounts to that client.

Will you need to generate a statement for yourself or another company you have financial obligations to?

Will you need to report debtors or accounts to a Credit Bureau, either for your own company, or another company for whom you have the responsibility of reporting their accounts to a Credit Bureau?

The two questions above will help you decide when to create a Client record to hold information about that client.

Client records can also be used for other reasons very effectively.

Perhaps you need to report to a head office about individual clients that you have entered as a group. Then you can create a Client record and make it a master client, allowing you to group multiple other clients together for reporting needs.

If you use outside attorneys or forward your accounts to other collection agencies, using the Client record along with some special Debtor fields, you will be able to print reports or compile information about debtors, while they are attached to the original Client record.

Some users need to enter Court or Municipal address information, or even departmental information. Using the Client record and a few special fields on the Debtor form, you can link common information to many debtors without having to retype information.

Some users will build two or more Client records for the same client. This way, they can attach closed accounts to the one client and reduce the size of the data set for invoicing or other general reports.

Credit grantors can use the Client record to manage different outlets of their business or departments of their organization.

Keep in mind the natural functions that Collect! uses these Client records for. But, if you need a very specific setup, you can ignore the natural function processes and simply acknowledge that these functions will need to be addressed via other means. For example, if you are not generating statements or reporting accounts to the credit bureaus, then the sky is the limit on what you can use your Client record for.

Client form

Accessing Client

The Client form may be accessed in many ways. Providing you have access to the various menus and forms, you can use one of the following ways to get to the Client form.

1. Using the menu bar at the top of Collect!, select Browse to display the drop-down menu. Select Client from this menu and the list of existing Clients will appear.

2. Or, you can also gain access to Client form through the Main Menu. Select the Daily Administration button to display the Daily Administration menu. Select the New Business button to display the New Business menu. Select the Clients button to display the list of existing Clients.

3. Or, while on ANY form that has a pulldown list to select a Client Name or Client Code, you can use the pick list arrow. The Clients list will display all the existing clients that are currently in the system.

When the Client form is displayed, you can press F1 for help on all the fields in this form.

See Also

- How to Enter a New Client