New Features - 12-7

Welcome to Collect! Version 12.7. This latest version has several new features and functionality, as well as several optimizations and enhancements to existing features.

The full revision history is available to Members via the Member Center.

Security

Implemented Column Level Encryption using Microsoft's 'Always Encrypted' method.

Implemented client security. This will behave the same as debtors if the applicable Security, Strict, and Lock Out fields are selected. Individual operator IDs can be in the Operator, Assign Accounts to Operator, or Assign Accounts to Sales operator fields. If using a Sales Team, the team's ID must be put in the Client Operator field.

Added a 'required' checkbox to the access rights so users can define their own required fields.

Moved the location of the dialstrings folder to the from the global folder to the config folder for security reasons as the dialstrings function can call web pages.

Added a check to the 'Verify on exit' command to make sure the field data has changed before prompting the user if they want to accept the changes.

Report Writer

Added the ability to prompt for a single date in the report writer.

Removed the 3 blank lines from the top of Quick Print when printing to spreadsheet.

Added SQL Table ID to the collect data table report under the Print menu.

Added a 'Skip empty email addresses' switch on the Print Report form when email is selected. When selected, it will allow users to send out batch emails without being prompted to enter an email address for accounts with no email. They will be skipped.

Updated the @SQL command to return SQL dates as Collect! dates.

Updated string variables in the Report Writer to support 4096 characters.

Added a switch to to the prompt variable to cap the input size to 160 characters for SMS.
SYNTAX: @tvarPrompt* = ?# Your question here.
Where the '#' symbol will tell Collect! to cap the size.

Added report optimizations. Before a report is printed, it is pre-processed, including headers and footers. Printable information fields are now fully cached when accessed for the first time. The cache is only invalidated when lists are rebuilt or an alternate report library is loaded. To disable report optimizations, users can start Collect! with the /OR switch.

When upgrading from older versions of Collect!, Collect! will run a comparison on the printable information codes to see if any have changed. If any have changed, Collect! will update the reports and control files.

Added Bit Value to the Collect! Data Table function which will output the bit value of a check box or radio field stored in the database.

Added a new text format command to the report writer: <sp>
SYNTAX: @de.zi<sp>
This command will strip all spaces from the output, leaving all other characters in place.

Added support for Variables in the second argument of the @MICR command in Report Writer.

Letter Service

If 'Print summary on last page' is selected for Letter Service, Collect! will now create a TXT file with the summary instead of creating a blank contact. Contacts that are not associated to Clients or Debtors don't display in the WIP list, so the legacy method was ineffective. The date-stamped log file is located in the CV12\Log Files folder.

Added 'Letter Service Custom Format' to the 'Report and Printing Setup' form. When selected, Letter Service output is not processed by Collect!. The output in the report body is output as is. This switch overwrites the functionality of the 'Don't use Ontario Format' switch, so selected both will only invoke the functionality of the Custom Format.

Added the @lsn<> report code to print the current letter number counter to a report.

Added the NCOA counter in the letter service module to the output section.

Importing

Disabled the 'Load all fields for this record' each time you create a new record definition in an import map.

On the import form, when selecting a client, it will now fill the 'Run plan on new accounts' with the contact plan from the client settings, if it exists. If the import map has a contact plan associated with it, the map's plan will take precedence over the client settings.

Added a 'Last line contains footer' switch to the Import Options form. When selected, Collect! will not import or process the data in the last row.

Added a new flag to the import field options that skips all remaining references to the referenced field. This was needed because the 'fail cancels field option' only fails the single import field reference, not all of the field references.

Added an optimization to the Import module by connecting the record to its owner on creation instead of connecting it to its owner after creation.

Added a switch to the Import Field Specification form called 'Exact match only,' which, when enabled, will perform an exact match search on fields that have the 'Use key to find existing' option enabled.

WARNING: Switching this on will automatically enable 'Use key to find existing' even if you don't select the box.

Financials

Added the ability to do Judgement Principal adjustments.

Display And Environment

Added an 'Inactive' switch to the Client form. When enabled, navigating client lists will filter out the Inactive Clients.

Added a 'Listing reversals' switch to the Debtor Status form and the Day Sheets. When enabled, reversals will display differently on the Day Sheet record.

Added a new menu next to the Help menu called 'Find Debtor' that replicates the Find by menu.

Added a switch to the Screens and Messages form called 'Copy attachments to global' that, when enabled, will automatically copy to file attachments to the global folder without prompting users.

Added a switch to the Screens and Messages form called 'Don't copy attachment to global' that, when enabled, will automatically copy the full file path to the file field on the attachment without prompting users.

Added an 'Exclude reversals from Recalc' switch to the Client Settings form.

Updated some messaging on loading reports and contact plans, and to the copy and paste function, to notify users to rename any duplicate reports.

Added ' Search and Replace' to the Edit menu.

Added 'Active Operators' and 'Disabled Operators' to the Operator menu.

Added 'Active Clients,' 'Inactive Clients,' 'Master Clients,' 'Legal Clients, 'Prospective Clients,' ' Client Contacts,' ' Client Attachments,' and Debtor 'Phones' to the Browse menu.

The Debtor Master, Forward, and Legal fields will now filter down to only display active records and only respective client categories when the list is opened.

The Debtor operator, sales, and client fields will now only show active records when the list is opened. The client list will exclude Prospecting clients.

The Operator Group and Team tabs will now only show active records when the lists are opened.

Cleaned up the Application Log entry for batch processing so the results will fit in one line.

Added SSN to the Main Menu Quick Search.

Optimized the Undo Completed Contacts batch process.

Updated CVsync to work with the latest release of Collect!. Users will need to manually patch their Client Installations to 12.7 for it to work.

Added St. Maarten to the country code list.

Collect! no longer moves to the next field after pressing enter on the Main Menu's search fields.

When a client is changed from or to Net, Collect! will now alter the 'Total' field of the last invoice record to correspond with the new billing type.

Added 'Cleared' to the Invoice/Statement record. It's a date field to allow users to track when client checks cleared the bank.

Disabled the 'Do you want this to be your default database to open?' prompt that you get when selecting another database.

Added a 'No matching records' message if a user attempts to tag search results with no matching records.

Added a download button to the version check function. The button will display if a new version is available.

Added a check for the Debtor's mode when creating new transactions to prompt users if the mode is Closed.

Forcing all new printers to Laser instead of prompting users. Users can change the printer type manually if they are using printer stream.

Added default search criteria on 'sortable' fields so the client and operator lists will sort in a default order: name for client and ID for operators. These fields will fill with 'xoxoxoxoxoxo' and will not impact any other search criteria.

Updated Collect! with our new logos.

Added an option to Options, Sounds, and Colors called 'Notify admins of update' which, if checked, will check for a new version and notify the user if one is available for download. This only applies to user levels 1, 10, & 99.

Added the ability to set the user toolbar icon names to be user1 - user6.

Updated the Daysheets, Statement Generator, and Daily Cash Report to exclude internal transactions.

Added a new switch to the Company Detail form called 'Client fee is to us commission.' When checked, any transactions where the 'To us' and 'Direct' fields are 0.00, Collect! will add the commission amount to the 'To us commission' field on the Invoice/Statement record instead of the 'Direct commission' field. This is prevalent when using Combined Statements.

Set the orange tab text color back to black for easier reading.

Added a 'retry' in the Application Log to attempt to open the file again if the first attempt fails as the file may be in use.

Account Matching

If the 'Manage Group Promise' option is enabled on the Account Matching Setup form, it will now populate on debtors that are added to groups.

Updated the Group tab to include Active Owing, Adjustments, Interest, Fees/Legal, and Other/ Misc. The latter 4 were combined into 2 fields respectively due to limited space.

Added Group Financial Summary form to the Group Total Owing field on the Group tab. This is a summary of the Debtor Financial summary information for all group members.

Added a 'Share notes by default' switch to the Account Matching Setup form. When selected, it will check the 'Share Notes' switch on the Group Member Setup form for new group members.

Added 'Cascade email' to the Account Matching Setup and Group Member Setup.

Added 'Copy email' to the Account Matching Setup.

Added a switch to the Account Matching Setup to enable the 'run plan on group' functionality.

When grouping debtors, if you select No to copy the debtor information, the system settings for Account Matching will still be applied to the new group member(s).

Credit Bureau Reporting

Restricted access to the 'Report client account number' on the CBR setup form by setting it to be disabled if there are any completed metro contacts.

Enhanced the Credit Bureau Setup form to hide/display fields that are only needed for credit grantors if the 'Report as credit grantor' option is disabled/enabled.

Updated the Tools -> Batch Processing -> Prepare accounts for CBR process to set the ECOA code for Cosigners to 'Delete Borrower' if you are marking the Debtor as a delete and the Debtor's Report Cosigner flag is set to Yes.

Once an account is set to PIF in CBR, Collect! will no longer report it the extra 2 times.

Added a new field to the CBR Setup form called 'Backup Log File.' When enabled, Collect! will put a dated copy of the cbrlog.txt file in the backup folder.

When deleting account from the credit bureau, the CBR deletions will now log to debtors notes when the CBR process is run. The note line will trigger on a DA or DF for the Debtor or a Z for Cosigners.

PIF Metro Contacts (Status 62) will now be reactivated (Status 93) if a NSF is posted causing the debtor to have a positive owing

Contact Management

Enhanced the Client Management Module with the following:
- When going into a client contact from the WIP list will now display the active contact bar below the User 4 field.

- New client contacts will fill in the ' Collector' field on the contact with the Assign sales ID to new accounts value,
if it exists.

Added SMS to the phone description pick list.

When running a contact plan on the debtor via the run plan or action field, Collect! will now prompt asking if 'you want to run the plan on the group.' This prompt only appears on groups. Selecting 'No' will only run the plan on the current debtor. Selecting 'Yes' will run the plan on all group members.

When running a contact plan on a Group that has events with 'Prompt to confirm details' enabled, Collect! will only prompt once for all group members.

Added Client Listed Date to 'Listed Date' field in WIP list.

Added a field to the Payment Posting Options called 'Early payments skip promises' along with a number of 'Days' field. When enabled, if a payment is posted before the promise date by X number of days, the promise will not be affected. The payment will be treated as an extra payment. This feature only works if 'Use today's date' is selected for the Payment and Posted dates.

Added the ability to run contact plans on the Client form by filling in the Run Plan field and clicking OK.

Altered the behavior of the 'Activate' and 'Close' contact event type. Previously, if a user running a contact plan didn't have rights to the mode field, then Collect! would leave the field alone. This means that a collector posting a PIF to close the account would require a manager to go to the account to change the mode, resulting in extra overhead. Now, Collect! will change the mode based on the contact event regardless of the security on the field. If a manager wants to not have Activate or Close events alter the field, they can use the Schedule If feature on the contact event.

Close, Activate, and Status Events in Contact Plans will now work on Clients.

Billing Tree

The BillingTree module will now put the transaction source into the User 4 field for Credit Card transactions only.
- single = Single Transaction run from Collect! by an Operator

- recurring = Recurring Transaction that was posted during the CC Reconciliation.

- vterm = Web Portal Transaction that was posted during the CC Reconciliation.

Added a 'Blank form' switch to ACH and CC Payment Tasks forms. When selected, the demographic details for the debtor will be left empty.

TCN Broadcasting

Implemented the '12 Download Outbound As Of Report' from the TCN API guide. This works with the Task Scheduler.

Task Scheduler

Added Biweekly support to the Task Scheduler.

Set the ' Scheduled Batch Letters' configuration to no longer require 'blank' dates when configuring the task in the Scheduler module.

Web Host

Added support to Web Host for larger note lines.

Upgrading To This Build

Please refer to How to Upgrade Collect! for details about upgrading your existing Collect! system to take advantage of the features and optimizations in this latest release.

If you are upgrading from Version 11 or earlier, this is a major revision and considered a paid upgrade.

Latest Features

Latest Features