User's Guide - Working Accounts
This user's guide is intended to help operators and
collectors to get familiar with the areas of Collect!
they will use each day as they work accounts.
Introduction
As an operator, you will use Collect! to perform
many tasks necessary for working your accounts
each day. The menus and forms that you will use
are described in this document.
Starting Collect!
Pictured immediately below is the first screen you see
when you start Collect!.
Collect! Splash Screen
Enter your valid ID and Password in the boxes provided
and select the OK button. Collect! will register your
Sign on information and display the Welcome To Collect!
screen.
Welcome To Collect!
Select START to begin. What you see next depends
on your settings.
Main Menu
The choices in the Main Menu are described in the
User's Guide - Administration.
Work In Progress
The Work In Progress ( WIP List) is your main starting
point for all your collection activities.
Daily Collection Activities
To start your daily collection activities select the
WORK IN PROGRESS button on the Main Menu, if you are
not already viewing the WIP List.
Collect! will scan through all debtors assigned to you
with pending contacts in the database, and will display
them in the WIP List shown below. Please wait a moment
while Collect! searches.
Work In Progress To Do List
Entering The To Do List
The list displays contacts scheduled to be worked today. It is
called your " To Do List." What you see in your list depends on
your settings. Typically, Reviews, Phone calls, Promises and
Other contact types are listed to be handled by you.
TO DO LIST COLUMNS
Type is the kind of contact this is. It may be
a Phone call, a Review or some other action scheduled for an
account. You can filter your To Do List by Type.
Priority is a value from 1 to 99 that indicates
how urgent this contact is, or it may be used to categorize
contacts within the same Type. For example, a 99 may alert
you to handle this right away, while a 20 may mean take a look
at this when you have time. Priority may be used however it
suits your business. You can filter your To Do List by Priority.
Debtor is the name of the debtor whose
account the contact refers to.
Status is the Status on the debtor's account.
You can filter your To Do List by Status.
Description gives more information about the
nature of the contact.
Date is the date the contact is due to be
handled.
Time may be used to make certain contacts
pop up through out the day at a given time.
Client is the Client Number for the debtor's
account.
Owing is the Balance on the debtor's account.
Time Zone is an integer indicating the Time
Zone for the account.
Select any column heading to sort the To Do List in
ascending and descending order.
You can choose different types of contacts. You could, for
example, view all your Phone contacts, or all your High
Priority contacts. These criteria may be set at the top of
the Work In Progress.
Put a dot in the Priority radio button or make a
selection from the Type, Client or Status pick lists by
selecting the down arrow next to one of the fields.
Selecting Contacts
From the To Do List, you can call and contact individual debtors
and track their status. Select an item in the list to view the
debtor's account.
When you select a contact from your work list, Collect! displays
the debtor to be contacted or reviewed.
Debtor Account
The yellow bar beneath the "Summary" field displays
information from the contact you selected in the To Do List.
Working With A Debtor
The Debtor form displays information about the debtor. On this
form you may enter date-stamped notes, access the debtor's
payment history, review the debtor's contact schedule and select
actions such as scheduling Dunning letters or future phone calls,
recording promises to pay, or sending the account to another
operator for review.
Viewing Account Information
Collection of accounts requires the maintenance of different
types of information. The main Debtor form contains much
of the information you will want to work with.
Additional information making up the debtor's history includes
contacts, notes, payment and transaction history, financial details,
cosigner and debtor details, and credit bureau reporting details.
This information is available to collectors through the fields and
tabs on the Debtor form.
Viewing Contact History
Select the CONTACTS tab to view a list of all contacts for
this debtor, regardless of whether or not they have been
completed.
Contact Schedule
Viewing Debtor Notes
A complete set of notes on the debtor may be viewed by selecting
the NOTES tab on the Debtor screen. Click into the Notes area
and scroll down to see all the notes for the account. Most recently
entered notes are at the top of the list.
Debtor Notes
Unlimited Debtor Notes may be entered. You may pick quick
notes from the action list of contact plans to minimize typing,
or write notes freehand.
Viewing Payment History
Select the TRANSACTIONS tab to view a list of payments made
by this debtor and any charges posted against their account.
Click into the Transactions area and scroll down to view the
complete payment history.
Debtor Payment History
Viewing Debtor Detail
Additional details about the debtor may be viewed by selecting one
of the other tabs on the Debtor form. Attachments, Cosigners,
Credit Bureau, and Group information is stored here.
Select the DETAIL tab to enter bank account information.
Debtor Detail
Select the COSIGNERS tab to enter cosigner information.
Debtor Cosigners
Depending on your access rights settings, some of
this debtor information may not be available for your viewing.
Writing Notes
When you contact a debtor, you may record any pertinent
information in the Debtor Notes.
Entering Notes
Select the NOTES tab and press F5 and begin typing. Collect!
automatically places the current date and time on the first line
of the notes you type.
Typing Debtor Notes
Press F8 to save your typing and exit the notes.
Setting Up Future Contacts
You may set up future contacts through the Last Action
field on the Debtor form. Your system administrator will
have entered the necessary setup information. You
simply type in the appropriate Contact Plan Code in
the Last Action field, according to the way your
organization conducts business. Collect! automatically
performs the actions set up in the plan. These may include
printing a letter, or scheduling a letter series, scheduling a
phone call or a review, changing the account status, writing
a line to the Debtor Notes, or closing the account.
You may also choose from the available list of
contact plans by pressing F2 in the Last Action field
or by selecting the ACTION button on the Debtor form.
Sending a Letter
Letters may be printed immediately or queued in the daily
batch, according to your needs. Select one of the Letter
contact plans to put the letter in the print queue.
L1 Letter Contact Plan
Letters may be printed using the Daily Administration,
Daily Batch Processes, Scheduled Batch Letters choice.
Scheduling a Phone Call
You can schedule future phone calls by selecting one of
the Phone contact plans. The contact will appear in your
To Do List on the day it is due.
C1 Phone Contact Plan
Scheduling a Review
You can send an account to another desk for review.
Select one of the Review contact plans. The contact will
appear in the collector's To Do List on the day it is due.
R10 Review Contact Plan
You may also schedule contacts from the
CONTACTS tab on the Debtor form. However, if your
system administrator sets up a set of plans to suit
your operations, this will speed up the process and
minimize user error.
Completing The Contact
When you move off the Debtor form, provided you are
working your To Do List, Collect! will ask if you are done
with the Contact you selected that brought you to the
debtor.
Prompt to Complete the Contact
Select MARK IT DONE to mark the contact as 'Done' and
remove it from your To Do List. Select LEAVE IN WIP LIST
to mark the Contact 'In Progress' and keep it in your
To Do List.
The Next Contact
When you leave the debtor, and there is no future contact
scheduled, Collect! will automatically ask you to schedule
a next contact. This depends on your WIP Options settings.
You may change the details that are displayed for you in
the new contact that Collect! creates.
Schedule the Next Contact
Press F8 to exit the Contact form or Page Down to select the
next contact in the list, or Page Up to select a previous contact.
Before you leave the debtor, be sure you have scheduled
a new contact.
Printing Scheduled Letters
When you want to print a letter, the letter may be printed
immediately or scheduled to print as a batch at the end of
your work day. This is described in the Daily Administration
guide.
In some cases, you may want to print a letter immediately.
To do this, use the Print menu, Reports and Letters option.
When you select Reports and Letters, a list of available
letters is displayed.
Printing a Letter Immediately
Select the report you want to print and press ENTER.
For more information on printing, please see
User's Guide - Printing Reports - Part 1 and
User's Guide - Printing Reports - Part 2.
See Also
- Topics Collections
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