User's Guide - System Administration

This user's guide is for System Administrators. It introduces you to the areas in Collect! that give you access to system tasks.

Introduction

The System Administration menu is accessed by selecting the SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION option in the Main Menu.

System Administration menu

System administration comprises a number of areas.

Setup and Configuration
Use this option to access setup areas for all the configuration features of Collect!

Database Maintenance
Use this option to access system maintenance functions.

Systems administration tasks may appear mundane, but they are necessary when you first set up your system, and then when controlling access rights to the system by various members of your staff, and finally for ensuring security and accuracy of your data.

You may wish to assign the responsibility of administering your system to a trusted person within your organization who is familiar with computer operations.

You may alternatively wish to assign some aspects of system administration such as assignment of access rights and list maintenance to an office manager, while relegating the routine data backup and database maintenance to a technically inclined individual.

Setup And Configuration

The System Setup menu shows options for all the setup areas in the system.

System Setup menu

Plans and Reference Tables
Use this option to set up contact plans, transaction types, debtor status codes and account matching criteria.

Company Details
Use this option to enter your company information and default global settings for commission rate, tax rate, accounting and credit reporting.

Reports and Printing
Use this option to enter global printing settings, modify existing reports and letters or to create new ones, and to change printer control codes.

Security and Aliases
This option lets you control user access to screens and menus, and to modify operator and security settings.

Database Preferences
This option lets you set global defaults for several system and network settings.

Credit Bureau Reporting
This option lets you enter details necessary for reporting to credit bureaus.

Auto Dialer Setup
This option lets you configure the Auto Dialer to suit your preferences.

Options, Sounds and Colors
This option allows you to set options for several messaging, printing, sorting and debugging functions, and to control how dates are displayed and printed in Collect!.

Database Maintenance

The Database Maintenance menu displays options for all maintenance functions.

Database Maintenance menu

Maintenance
Device, Database and Type are maintenance settings that will be used when you press START to run maintenance. Select the ADVANCED button to adjust these settings.

Snapshot
This option enables you to quickly capture a snapshot of your core database files. Collect! saves the zipped snapshot file in the CV11/snapshot folder.

Rebuild Lists
This option rebuilds Collect!'s internal meta data tables. Import definitions, printable information and access rights lists are rebuilt.

UID Check
This option checks the integrity of your database.

Tools Menu

The Tools menu gives you access to many administrative tasks and utilities.

RECALCULATE
In the Tools menu, the Recalculate option enables you to Recalculate Totals.

Recalculate Totals

Calculate Interest and Fees
This function scans through all debtors and processes those with interest switched on. Interest is calculated for all debtors with an interest rate and an interest calculation Start Date defined.

Recalculate All Debtor Totals
This function will recalculate all debtor balances for accounts with ACTIVE mode. Closed accounts are not recalculated.

Recalculate Client Totals
This function will recalculate accounting totals for all clients. You may recalculate debtor totals at the same time, or switch that off and just recalculate the client totals.

Recalculate Daysheet Totals This function will recalculate all daysheet totals or a selected range of daysheets. Recalculating daysheets updates the totals calculated for each date.

This is important when you print your daily reports. You must have all daysheets up to date before printing your daily reports or your totals may not be correct.

SORT ACCOUNTS
Debtors are automatically sorted in the master lists, but not in the client lists. The Tools menu, Sort Accounts option enables you to sort the accounts in your database so that they are sorted in all lists.

Sort Accounts

The Sort Accounts command lets you choose between sorting only new debtors or all debtors in the system. New debtors may be sorted on a day by day basis as they are entered. This will keep every client's debtor list in order.

All sorts all accounts in the database.

New sorts only accounts listed today.

You are given the option of sorting by name or account number.

Sort by Name or Account Number

Account sorts by the debtor's Acct number.

Name sorts by the debtor's Name.

You can sort a single client's debtor list by opening the Client form before selecting the Tools menu, Sorting Accounts option.

UTILITIES
The Tools, Utilities submenu has many other functions that you can use to maintain your system and your accounts.

SCHEDULER
Also available from the Tools menu is the Task Scheduler. As a System Administrator, you will want to familiarize yourself with this very convenient utility that enables you to schedule tasks to run automatically at times that you set. Please refer to Help topic, Scheduler for details.

System Menu

The System menu permits setting system wide information.

System Menu

Change Password
This option displays the Change Your Password form where the operator who is signed in may enter a new password to use the next time they sign in.

Company Details
The Company Details option lets you modify your company name and address, the representative's name that is printed by default on most letters, global rates for commission and tax, and other global financial settings for your company.

Rights
This choice enables you to access several areas where options are set for Operators, User Levels, Access Rights and other security features.

Layout and Languages
This choice takes you to several areas where form, field and list properties are configured.

Financial Settings
This option takes you to setup areas for Transaction Types, Payment Posting, Commission Rate Plans, Payment Plans and Credit Bureau.

Contact Management Settings
This option takes you to setup areas for Status Codes, Contact Plans, Work In Progress, Account Matching and Auto Dialer.

Network and Environment
This option takes you to Network, Archiving and Database Change Logging configuration, Web Host Security settings and Messaging.

Diagnostics
This option enables you to view the Application Log, Credit Bureau Log and other system information for tracking and troubleshooting.

Software License
This option displays the details of your licensing agreement.

Send Database via FTP
This option enables you to send database files to Collect! for technical support.

Preferences
This option opens the System Setup menu which gives you access to all the configuration areas from one central menu.

Plans And Reference Tables

The Plans, Tables and Defaults menu provides access to setup tables for Collect!'s financial and account management operations.

Plans, Tables and Defaults menu

Transaction Types
Transaction types are used for grouping transactions and payments in several financial reports. You can define your own types or use the default list in the system.

Payment Posting Options
Payment Posting Options set actions performed when a payment is posted to an account. You may select contact plans to run, for instance, when an account is paid in full, or a promised payment is missed. Automatically close accounts, manage promised payments, administer payment plans and set other related options.

Commission Rate Tables
Commission Rate Tables allow you to quickly specify a sliding scale for the Commission Rate charged Clients for funds collected from Debtors. Several default plans show various criteria that may be used to determine the sliding scale, such as Listed Date, Paid To Date and Remaining Balance.

Payment Plan Setup
Payment Plan Setup stores default values and transaction types that apply to payment plans. You can set an initial charge amount, discount, payment amount, late payment fee, down payment amount, interest rate, number of payments, payment period and a contact plan to run when you start the plan for an account.

Status Codes
Debtor Status codes provide a short description of the status of an account. The Debtor Status list contains various default codes. You may use these or create your own as needed.

Contact Plans
Contact plans are used to create your own letter series schedules and phone contact schedules. You can edit existing contact plans and create new ones. You use contact plans with the Action field on the Debtor form.

WIP Options
WIP Options stores many settings used to control the behavior of your Work In Progress (WIP) List. The settings determine what displays in the WIP List and assist in managing your contact scheduling. The WIP Options settings are enabled only when accounts are worked through the WIP List.

Account Matching Setup
Account matching automatically detects matching accounts and groups these accounts together. Account Matching Setup stores default settings for Collect! to use when matching accounts.

Company Details

The Company Details form stores name and address information about your company, as well as global settings for commission, tax and other accounting options.

Company Details

Press F1 when you are viewing the Company Details form and you will see detailed help about each of the form's fields.

Reports And Printing

The Report and Printer Setup form enables you to configure settings used for the printing process in Collect!.

Report and Printer Setup

Print via Device Context
When you select this option, you can print documents containing images and graphics.

Print via Browser
This option prints using an HTML page and your Internet browser.

Default Printer Stream
This setting is for backward compatibility with older versions of Collect! so you can continue printing your older reports accurately in a familiar format. This setting cannot print images and graphics.

Edit Reports
You can edit the existing reports and letters or create new ones.

Printable Information
When you define a report, you need a way to tell Collect! what information you want to print. The Printable Information list contains codes for all fields in the system. You will use these codes in your reports.

Edit Style Sheet
This option opens your default System Style Sheet in your Internet browser. You can edit this HTML style sheet or create a new one for an individual operator. The style sheet is used when you Print via Browser.

Printer Setup
This option shows you a list of all the printers you are using with Collect!. Printers only show up in this list after they have been used to print from Collect!.

Printer Control Codes
This list of codes controls how Collect! communicates with your printer. You can edit these codes in case you have a non standard printer or printer setup. There is a set of codes for each available type of printer - DC, Dot Matrix, Laser, Ink Jet and HTML.

Fax Setup
This option will take you to the Fax Setup form where you can enter default phone numbers to use when using the Print To Fax feature.

SMS Email Setup
This option will take you to the SMS Email Setup form where you can enter the phone numbers to use when using the SMS Email feature.

Letter Service Settings
If you are outsourcing your letters to a service bureau, you may want to set printing options for the Letter Service file that you produce. There are three settings that you may set in the Report and Printer Setup form. Please see Letter Service Topics for more information about using this add-on module.

Security And Aliases

The Security and Aliases menu takes you to the areas where you can control how users access various parts of the system.

Security and Aliases menu

Operators and Sales Teams
This option lets you create and edit collectors and other users, assign their name and phone number, password, access rights and experience level.

Access Rights and Aliases
This option lists all forms and menus in the system and shows which user groups are allowed to access them.

User Levels
This option creates user groups to which individual operators are assigned, User levels are permitted access to only specific parts of the system.

Password Settings
Password Settings stores security settings for user passwords. This allows to strengthen your system security with more control over who may access your system.

Database Preferences

The Database Preferences form sets global defaults for several system and network settings.

Database Preferences

Press F1 when you are viewing the Database Preferences form and you will see detailed help about each of the form's fields.

Credit Bureau Reporting

The Credit Bureau Setup form lets you enter details necessary for reporting to credit bureaus.

Credit Bureau Setup

Press F1 when you are viewing the Credit Bureau Setup form and you will see detailed help about each of the form's fields.

Auto Dialer Setup

The Auto Dialer Preferences form lets you configure the Auto Dialer to suit your preferences.

Auto Dialer Preferences

Press F1 when you are viewing the Auto Dialer Preferences form and you will see detailed help about each of the form's fields.

Options, Sounds And Colors

The Screen and Messages form allows you to set options for several messaging, printing, sorting and debugging functions, and to control how dates are displayed and printed in Collect!.

Screen and Messages

Press F1 when you are viewing the Screen and Messages form and you will see detailed help about each of the form's fields.

Transaction Types

The Transaction Type List

Transaction types are grouped in lots of 100. You can add change and delete these groups and individual types to suit your own requirements.

You should set up transaction types and groups BEFORE using Collect! in your business.

Please do not change codes 194 to 197 since these are used by Collect! to report standard accounting information for Original Principal and interest amounts.

To view details about the list of transaction types, press F1 when you are viewing the list.

Please refer to the Administration Guide for further information on the use of Transaction Types.

Debtor Status Codes

Debtor Status Codes

Default Debtor Status codes come with the system. You can add, change and delete these codes to suit your own business operation. Status codes are used for your own internal use to keep track of account status. You can run reports and perform other functions based on the account's Status.

Contact Plans

Contact plans are used to set up letter series, telephone calls, reviews, status changes, automatic notes and other activities which need to be scheduled for specific dates.

The Contact Plan form

Code
This is a short code for your reference.

Description
This is a brief description of the plan.

Prompt for Start Date
When setting up a contact plan, you may set this option to have Collect! prompt for a date to use for scheduling the events in the plan.

Delete all Pending Contacts
You may set an option to have Collect! delete any pending contacts or to prompt you before deleting.

Prompt Before Deleting
This option will cause Collect! to prompt if it is about to delete any pending contacts when the contact plan runs.

Event
This is a list of events scheduled for this plan. Press F3 to create a new Event.

The Event form

Type
This is the type of event - Letter, Phone, Review or other activity.

• Letter - Press F2 to choose a letter.
• Review - Enter the ID of the operator to review the debtor.
• Status - Press F2 to select the Debtor Status code.
• Note - Type the text of the note which will appear in the debtor's Notes along with the date and time the contact plan ran, the debtor's Status and the collector's ID.

Description
This is a description of the contact event. The behavior of the Description field changes depending on the Type of Event you are creating.

Delay
You may enter a Delay period between the time and day when you assign a contact schedule and when the given event is to occur.

Press F1 for more details about the Contact Plan and Event forms.

System Security

Collect! features a multi level password protection scheme which controls access to all parts of the system. Access to every form and menu can be controlled. User groups or 'Levels' are assigned various rights in the system. Individual users are then assigned a level which is determined by the duties they are expected to perform.

To access system security functions, select System from the top menu bar and then select Rights from the drop-down choices.

The System Menu - Rights

Operators
This option lets you create and edit collectors and other users, assign their name and phone number, password, access rights, and experience level.

User Levels
This option creates user groups to which individual operators are assigned. User groups are permitted access to only specific parts of the system.

Access Rights
This option lists all forms and menus in the system and shows which user groups are allowed to access them.

Password Settings
Password Settings stores security settings for user passwords. This allows to strengthen your system security with more control over who may access your system.

Operators

Select the OPERATORS option to open the list of operators. Select the one you want and press ENTER.

Operator form

ID
Enter a unique 2-6 character identifier for this individual. This is used when signing on to the system and when assigning debtors to collectors.

Name
Enter the name of the operator.

Title
Enter the title of the operator. This can be printed on letters and notices.

Email
Enter the operator's email address. This can be used to send and receive email through Collect!.

Phone
Enter the phone number of the operator, This can be printed on letters and notices.

Password
Enter a password, up to 8 characters, for this individual. This is used when signing on to the system.

User Level
Press F2 to select a user level for this person.

Detail
Select this tab to enter other information. Messaging determines how many messages and prompts are displayed. WARNING!! - If you select Expert, there will be no prompts before a record is deleted.

Press F1 for information about using the other fields on the Operator form.

User Levels

Select the USER LEVELS option to open the list of user groups. Select the one you want and press Enter.

The User Level Form

Code
Enter a short code for this user level.

Description
Enter a description of the level.

Operator Level Rights List
This list shows the forms and menus which this user group is allowed to view or edit.

Rights
This may be Full Access, Read Only, No Delete or No Access. The user will be informed when they try to access something to which they do not have access.

Form
This is the name of the form or menu which the line item refers to. Press F2 to pick from the list. Select one and then press ENTER.

Access Rights

Select the ACCESS RIGHTS option to open the list of forms and menus to which access can be controlled. Select the one you want and press ENTER. Each form, field and menu item is listed in the Access Rights table.

The Access Rights List

The Access Rights list may be refreshed by selecting the REBUILD button at the bottom of the list. You should rebuild this table when you receive a new release of Collect! or any time your operator rights seem to be askew. Don't rebuild this list if you are signed in as an operator using aliases! Please refer to Help topic Rebuild Lists for more information.

For each item in the list, you may assign users who are allowed to access the form, menu or field and you can determine if they can only read or read and write to the item.

The Access Rights Form

Name
The name of the form or menu.

Alias
The displayed name of the form or menu.

Pick List File
The pick list attached to the item. You should never attach a pick list to a menu item or a button.

Control File
The control file attached to the item. A control file may be attached to the whole form or to an individual field. You should never attach a control file to a menu item or a button.

Form Rights
The list of user levels and their rights.

Rights
These may be Full Access, Read Only, No Delete or No Access.

Level
The name of the user level assigned the given right. Press F2 To select a user level.

Alias
The displayed name of the item for the selected user level. Each level in the Form Rights list may have its own alias.

Adjusting User Rights

If you modify your user rights, you may encounter cases where you thought rights were assigned, but the users still cannot access a particular field in a form.

Each form has its own access rights. If you allow a user to edit a form, normally they would be able to edit all fields in the form. However, fields on a form may reference another form, one which the user is not allowed to access.

For example, you may allow a user to edit the Debtor form, but not the Client form. If the user tries to pick a client for the Debtor's Client field, Collect! will display a message indicating that the user does not have access to the form. To allow the user to pick from the Client list, give them Read Only rights to the Client form. Then the user will be able to pick a client for the debtor but is still prohibited from modifying the client information.

Cutting Your Operations Over

There are important points to keep in mind when you are switching your office to begin using Collect!. These include entering debtor information and creating an account history to prepare for generating client invoices.

Before you begin to reply completely on Collect!, we strongly recommend that you run Collect! in parallel with your existing system and compare results. This is particularly important when generating month end invoices, since you will have an opportunity to detect and correct any errors in your administrative procedures.

Debtor Information

The cleanest start is entering all your Client and account information into Collect!. If this seems like a daunting task, you may want to phase the change over a period of time. Important pieces of information that Collect! uses in its calculations and reports are described below.

We can assist you to import your information into Collect! if it is currently in a computer system.

Listed Date
The Debtor's Listed Date is used by Collect! for various purposes. When you create new debtors and press F2 on the Listed Date, Collect! displays a calendar defaulted to today's date. The Listed Date is generally the date that the debtor was originally listed with your office.

Financial
You will want to ensure that Collect! has the correct values for Original Principal and Interest, and current amount Owing. This is achieved by entering an Original Principal transaction and by entering relevant Interest Details when you list the account. Any payments may be entered by selecting the TRANSACTIONS tab on the Debtor form. Use the RECALC button to refresh the debtor's balance owing.

Payment Date is important for billing purposes and for financial tracking.

Notes
Notes can be entered in free form.

Invoices

Invoices can be generated by Collect! at the end of every month. During the calculations, Collect! analyses the payments and account adjustments that occurred during the last month. Collect! also looks at the invoices from last month and the payments received from clients.

To ensure that generated invoices are correct, please make sure that all transactions, commissions, taxes and client payments are entered for the month.

Recalculating Your History

To update your complete financial history, you may recalculate all client and debtor totals and then all daysheets to account for any transactions that you entered for historical dates.

Select Tools from the top menu bar and then select RECALCULATE. There are several choices.

Calculate Interest and Fees Only
Flagging this field will tell the system to only calculate the interest and fees when recalculating all records.

Recalculate All Debtor Totals
Flagging this field will tell the system to calculate the Debtors' totals only.

Please be aware that account Mode determines whether or not accounts are recalculated. Only ACTIVE accounts are Recalculated. This is set in the Mode field in the Debtor form.

Don't Calculate Debtors
Flagging this field will tell the system to ignore all Debtor records when recalculating.

Recalculate Client Totals
Switch this ON to tell the system to recalculate all Client totals when recalculating.

Recalculate Daysheet Totals
Switch this ON to tell the system to recalculate all daysheets when recalculating.

Batch Debtor Assignments

Using Collect!'s Batch Processing features, you can quickly assign a review to any number of debtors and assign the accounts to a given collector.

Batch Scheduling Contacts

We use the Edit Search Criteria function to filter the list of debtors and then run a contact plan to schedule a review for each debtor.

1. Creating the Contact Plan

We will create a contact plan to schedule a Review. contact for the new operator.

1. Select System from the top menu bar and then select Contact Management Settings, Contact Plans, View.

2. Select the NEW button when the list of Contact Plans is displayed.

3. Type a unique code for your plan.

4. Enter a Description for the plan, such as Schedule Review.

5. Select the Event section and say YES to create an new Event.

6. In the Event's Type field, select Review from the pick list.

7. In the Description field, enter a brief comment. This will display in the operator's WIP List.

8. Put a dot in the radio button next to 'Assign to Specific Operator' and select the new operator from the list.

9. Press F8 to save the Event and press F8 again to save the contact plan.

2. Tagging a Number of Debtors

1. Select Browse from the top menu bar and then select All Debtors from the drop-down choices.

2. Press F6 to display the Edit Search Criteria form.

3. Enter the criteria to use to filter the list of debtors.

4. Select SEARCH to begin the search and select YES to tag the debtors that are found.

3. Running the Contact Plan

1. Select Tools from the top menu bar and then select Batch Processing.

2. Select ' Run contact plans" and then select NEXT.

3. Select 'Tag records' and then select NEXT.

4. Select the contact plan to run and select NEXT.

5. Select START to run the contact plan.

Assigning The Collector

We now want to assign the debtors to the collector so that when transactions are recorded, the proper collector ID is assigned to the transaction.

1. Select Tools from the top menu bar and then select Batch Processing.

2. Select 'Assign Accounts to Operators' and then select NEXT.

3. Select 'Tag records' and then select NEXT.

4. Select the OLD operator in the FROM and TO fields and select NEXT.

5. Select the NEW operator and select NEXT.

6. Select START to run the contact plan.

7. If prompted to update any other contacts in the system, say YES.

Backing Up Your Database

It is imperative to establish and use a plan for backing up your database files. If your machine or power fails, or a program crashes, your data may become corrupted. A recent back up enables you to restore your files and quickly recover and get back to work.

If you have no backup, you could lose your whole business!

Comtech Systems Inc. assumes no liability for lost, invalid or corrupted user data.

BACKUP YOUR DATA OFTEN!