WIP Options

The WIP Options form displays 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. You may set options on an individual basis for each of your operators and their WIP settings will be loaded when they load their WIP Lists.

The WIP Options settings are enabled only when accounts are worked through the WIP List.

WIP Options

To access this screen:

1. From the Work In Progress window, click the Reload button, then WIP Options.
2. From the Main Menu, click the Work in Progress button in the left side bank of buttons, which will navigate you to the Work In Progress window. The proceed as above to click the buttons for Reload, followed by WIP Options.
3. To access the system default settings, the menu path is "System\Preferences\Plans and Reference Tables\WIP Options".

Automatically Display Dialer

Switch ON 'Automatically display dialer' to start the phone dialing process automatically whenever you move onto a Phone contact in your WIP List. This switch only works with Phone contacts in the WIP List.

When this switch is OFF, you will have to go to the account and press F2 on the phone number you wish to phone, or select the phone icon beside the field.

To start dialing as soon as you move onto an account, switch this ON. In the Auto Dialer Preferences form, switch OFF 'Prompt before dialing and switch ON 'Dial in background'.

To use this feature, your system phone dialer must be properly configured and functioning outside of Collect!. If you can dial a number using the Windows Phone Dialer, then you can also dial using Collect!.

Always Show Next Contact When

Switch ON 'Always show next contact when' to display the Schedule Next Contact - Pending form whenever you exit from the Debtor form. This is enabled only when you are working accounts from your WIP List.

When finished working one debtor, you may move to the next contact in the WIP list. Collect! will display details of the next pending contact in the Schedule Next Contact - Pending form before you are allowed to move off the account. This provides an opportunity to modify the next contact before the debtor is dropped from your current WIP list.

If you turn this switch OFF, Collect! will not display the details of the next pending contact before exiting from the account.

You can switch ON 'Next contact based on filter' and use the WIP Reload Filters form to set up the types of contacts to display as pending contacts.

Force Feed Contacts

Switch ON 'Force feed contacts' to control the order in which operators work the contacts in their WIP List. The operator must work down the list sequentially. No matter which contact is selected in the WIP List, Collect! will always display whatever account is next in line sequentially.

You can also select the order that Collect! will use when displaying contacts in the collectors' To Do List.

When this switch is OFF, an operator has the ability to pick and choose which contacts to work next.

When this switch is ON, Collect! will prompt the user that an account must be worked.

WIP Sort

This field will set the default sort for the Work in Progress when doing a reload.

Default

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted according to Collect!'s default behavior.

Contacts with today's date will be first, then dates from oldest to newest.

Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Priority, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Timed contacts always go below normal contacts and are sorted by Time.

Priority

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Priority from highest to lowest.

Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Date, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Date

A dot in this radio button will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Date from oldest to newest.

Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Score

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Score from highest to lowest.

Contacts with the same Score will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Date, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Status

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Status code WIP Priority from highest to lowest, then by Status Code from lowest to highest.

Contacts with the same Status will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Date, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Days since last payment

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Days since last payment from oldest to newest.

Contacts with the same Days since last payment will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Date, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Owing

This option will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Owing from highest to lowest.

Contacts with the same Owing will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Date, from oldest to newest. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Listed

A dot in this radio button will cause Collect! to load the WIP List sorted by Listed Date from oldest to newest.

Contacts with the same Listed Date will be sorted by Due Date. Contacts with the same Date will be sorted by Priority from highest to lowest. Contacts with the same Priority will be sorted by Type and then by Name.

Enable Elapsed Time Counter

Switch ON 'Enable elapsed time counter' to record the length of time an operator spends on each contact in the WIP List. If the operator stays on an account longer than 15 seconds, or changes something on the Debtor form, the elapsed time will be recorded in the current contact when the operator exits from the account.

This information can be used in reports for performance tracking and troubleshooting. For example, you can easily determine areas where your operators are spending the most time, which types of contacts require more time, or accounts that consistently take additional time.

This feature is enabled only when you work contacts from the WIP List. If you are browsing a debtor, and you view, or work, a contact found in this way, the elapsed time will not be recorded.

Automatically Mark Contacts Done

Switch ON 'Automatically mark contact done' to automatically mark each contact as completed when you are finished working it. When you exit from working a debtor in your WIP list, Collect! will remove the contact from your To Do List and record the date and time the contact was marked done.

When this switch is OFF, Collect! will prompt when you have finished working a contact. You may choose to complete it or leave it in your WIP List.

Collect! thinks you worked a debtor when anything changes in the account. You might change the address, write notes or schedule a Contact plan. If you do any of these things, Collect! thinks you have worked the account. If you just look at a debtor, Collect! knows you didn't change anything and doesn't mark the contact as done.

Schedule Contacts On Weekends

Switch ON 'Schedule contacts on weekends' if you want Collect! to schedule contacts on Saturdays and Sundays when you run a contact plan.

Typically, when you run a contact plan, all dates are calculated from the current date. If this switch is OFF, a planned contact that would have fallen on a Saturday or Sunday will be rescheduled for the following Monday.

For example, if this switch is ON and you have a plan that sends a letter today and schedules a review in 10 days, the review may land on a Sunday when you're at home relaxing. If you do not work on weekends, even on Saturday mornings, turn this switch OFF.

Future Contact Not Required

Switch ON 'Future contact not required' to disable Collect!'s contact checking functions. When this switch in ON, Collect! lets you exit from a debtor, even when no future contacts are scheduled for the account.

Normally, every active debtor should have at least one pending contact to ensure that the debtor is not lost in the system. Leave this switch OFF to ensure that Collect! checks for a future contact when you are working your WIP List. If there is no future contact, Collect! uses the WIP default settings to automatically schedule a contact. The Schedule Next Contact - Pending form appears so that you can confirm the contact date and time.

CAUTION: When you switch this ON, you may end up with debtors that become disenfranchised from a WIP list if there is no manually set up In Progress Contact Event by an Operator in the types of Review, Promise, Phone or Other. To survey the system for disconnected debtors, called "Orphan" accounts in Collect!, click "Tools\ Utilities\ Orphaned Account Search" and follow the prompts.

Include Plan Contacts

Switch this ON with a check mark to consider Plan contacts as valid future contacts. When this switch is ON, Collect! will not display the Schedule Next Contact - Pending form if there is an in progress Plan contact on the account.

When this switch is OFF, Collect! will display the Schedule Next Contact - Pending form, even if the only pending contact on the account is an in progress Plan contact.

This setting is only visible if you are not using the 'Next contact based on filter' switch.

Next Contact Based On Filter

Switch this ON with a check mark to define the contacts Collect! considers as valid future contacts. With the switch set, Collect! will use the settings in the WIP Reload Filters to determine which types of pending contacts it will search for when you are finished working an account. Only the contact types you have selected will be shown when the Schedule Next Contact - Pending form is displayed.

Cache Contact Plans

Switch ON 'Cache contact plans' to cache contact plan events locally. This increases performance and is especially noticeable in multi user operations. The cache is not enabled by default.

*** VERY IMPORTANT: If you intend to set security levels on contact plans using the Contact Plans Access Rights form, this switch must be turned ON.

If you turn this switch ON, please remember to turn it off when you edit your contact plans. The cache is cleared when you close a database and return to the Welcome To Collect! screen.

Analyze Completed Contacts

Switch ON 'Analyze completed contacts' to display historical summary information about contacts that have already been worked.

When this switch is ON, Collect! will analyze completed contacts and display the results in the WIP graph in the Work In Progress form. To limit the analysis to a specific time period, enter a value into the 'Scan back days when loading WIP' field at the bottom of the WIP Options form.

Switch this OFF to have Collect! work normally, scanning only contacts that still need to be worked and loading them into the WIP List.

Do not leave this switch ON by mistake or the operator will see no contacts when they load their WIP List. Switch it OFF and reload to view the operator's contacts.

No Automatic Resort

Switch ON 'No automatic resort' to turn off the default auto resort function in Collect!.

By default, whenever you update a contact in the WIP List, Collect! tries to resort the list. When you go from your sorted WIP List to an account and change something, that would force a resort in the WIP List. So one minute you are halfway down the list and the next minute you are at the bottom of the list. This is due to the auto resort. With this switch turned ON, you will return to your WIP List just as it was.

Load Contacts For Group

Switch ON 'Load contacts for group' to have all in progress contacts for the Operator's group displayed together in the To Do List. This requires the signed in Operator to have the Group Option enabled on the Operator Group form and Group Members filled in.

When enabled, you can insert the CONTACT OPERATOR field into the To Do List to see whom each contact is assigned to.

Auto Reload WIP

Switch ON 'Auto reload WIP' to have Collect! automatically check the database for new contacts. When enabled, Collect! will check every 5 minutes and add new contacts to the bottom of the list.

By default, Collect! does not check the database unless you click the Reload button.

Show All Modes

Switch ON 'Show all modes' to load contacts in your WIP list for accounts with CLOSED and PRECOLLECT modes, as well as contacts for ACTIVE accounts.

By default, whenever you load the WIP List, only contacts for ACTIVE accounts are displayed. Show All Modes is intended for managers who may need to examine contacts for CLOSED and PRECOLLECT accounts. Normally, operators should be looking at only contacts for ACTIVE accounts in their WIP Lists.

Enable Shared WIP List

Switch this ON to enable the Shared WIP Processor. This is used when you want more than one operator to work the same WIP List. Operators will quickly and automatically move to the next available contact in the WIP List whenever the current WIP is completed or is being worked by another worker.

Default Values For New Contacts

When you work your WIP List, Collect! notices if there is no pending contact for the debtor. Collect! prompts you with the Schedule Next Contact - New form to create a new contact with the default values you select in the following settings. Several settings can be set. Collect! uses these as defaults whenever a new contact is created, either manually or through the Schedule Next Contact - New form. Contacts scheduled when you run a contact plan DO NOT use these default values.

The settings are:

Default New Contact

Priority

Days Delay

Minutes Delay

These are described below.

Default New Contact

The 'Default new contact' field shows the contact Type Collect! will create for you by default, whenever you create a new contact. When Collect! prompts you with the Schedule Next Contact - New form to create a new contact, this will be the contact Type displayed for you.

The contact Type may be modified if needed, when you create the contact.

Select the down arrow or press F2 to pick from the list of contact types.

Priority

The 'Priority' field shows the Priority Collect! will assign, by default, whenever you create a new contact. When Collect! prompts you with the Schedule Next Contact - New form to create a new contact, this will be the contact Priority displayed for you.

The contact Priority may be modified if needed, when you create the contact.

Priority levels are as follows:

66 to 99 - High
34 to 65 - Medium
1 to 33 - Low

Days Delay

The 'Days delay' field shows the number of days from today that the next contact will be scheduled. This value will be added to the current date, by default, whenever you create a new contact. For example, if you enter 3 here, the 'Due date' of the next contact will be the current date plus 3 days. When Collect! prompts you with the Schedule Next Contact - New form to create a new contact, the Due Date will be based on the value entered here.

The contact Due Date may be modified if needed, when you create the contact.

Minutes Delay

The 'Minutes delay' field shows the number of minutes in the future that the next contact will be scheduled. This value will be added to the present time, by default, whenever you create a new contact. For example, if you enter 30 here, the 'Time' of the next contact will be 30 minutes from now. When Collect! prompts you with the Schedule Next Contact - New form to create a new contact, the Time will be based on the value entered here.

The contact Time may be modified if needed, when you create the contact. Leaving this blank schedules a timeless contact.

Contacts that have a Time value set will pop up when you move from contact to contact in your WIP List. You'll be given a choice to go to the timed contact or skip it.

Scan Back Days When Loading WIP

Enter a number of days to scan back when building your WIP List. This limits the number of days the program will scan back when loading contacts into your WIP List. This shortens the load time, but limits historical analysis. Leave this field blank to load all historical contacts.

If you enter 30, Collect! will load contacts from one month ago up to today. Contacts older than 30 days will be ignored. If you enter 60, the WIP loader will only load contacts from 60 days ago up to today. Any contacts outside that date range will be ignored.

OK

Select this button to save changes you have made and return to the previous form. Collect! saves any changes you have made into the collect.cfg file in the Collect! program folder. Collect! will use the new settings when loading the WIP List, unless a particular operator has specific settings saved as default into their own *.cfg file.

WIP Filters

Select the WIP FILTERS button to open the WIP Reload Filters form where you can control exactly the types of contacts and the number of contacts to load into the To Do List. These settings help to prioritize and organize your work.

Dialer Setup

Select the ' DIALER SETUP button to open the Auto Dialer Preferences form where you can set or modify parameters for your auto dialer.

Save As Default

The SAVE AS DEFAULT button is used when you are setting WIP options for a specific user. Select this to save these WIP settings for the current operator. These settings will be used whenever the operator loads their WIP List.

When prompted, select YES. This creates a configuration file for the operator in Collect!'s program folder. For example, own.cfg would be created if you were using operator OWN. Collect! looks for a .cfg file for the particular operator when it loads the WIP List. If it doesn't find one, it loads the collect.cfg instead with the global settings.

Saving these settings as your default also saves your Auto Dialer and Printer settings, the WIP Options and your current WIP Reload settings.

Once you have saved the Operator Configuration for an operator, you can use the Copy Operator Configuration feature, to set the same settings for all operators in your system with the same User Level.

Cancel

Select this button to ignore any changes you have made and return to the previous form.

Help

Select this button for help on the WIP Options form and links to related topics.