Advanced Collections

Version 1 March 2008

Advanced Collections
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................3 1. UWQ Navigation....................................................................................................4 Universal Work Queue Navigation........................................................................4 Collections Workbench ...........................................................................................5 2. Collection Strategy...............................................................................................6 View Strategy and Open Work Items ...................................................................6 Dunning Letters........................................................................................................8 Change Strategy Work Items.................................................................................9 Additional Grants Information ..............................................................................11 3. Record a Promise-to-Pay .................................................................................12 Promise Against a Single Transaction ...............................................................12 Mass Promise.........................................................................................................15 4. Recording Customer Correspondence.........................................................16 Account-level Notes ..............................................................................................16 Transaction-level Notes........................................................................................16 Viewing Notes History...........................................................................................18 Updating Receivables Transaction Comments.................................................19 5. Dispute an Invoice..............................................................................................20 Recording a Dispute Against an Invoice............................................................20 6. Collections Tasks ...............................................................................................22 Tasks Tab ...............................................................................................................22 UWQ Tasks Prompt ..............................................................................................23 7. Collections Tabs .................................................................................................24 Profile.......................................................................................................................24 History .....................................................................................................................25 Accounts .................................................................................................................26 Lifecycle ..................................................................................................................27 Aging........................................................................................................................28

Introduction
This user guide assumes familiarity with navigating within Oracle Financials, either gained through attendance on the Navigation course or through having read the Navigating within Oracle Financials document. In addition, appendixes are included at the end of this guide to provide assistance in getting help and using the toolbar and keyboard shortcuts. Familiarity with the Microsoft Windows environment is also assumed, as well as an understanding of basic Windows terminology, such as clicking and doubleclicking.

1. UWQ Navigation
The Universal Work Queue holds all overdue accounts and transactions that belong to a particular collector. It allows the collector to view and prioritise their pending work.

Universal Work Queue Navigation

Log into Oracle Financials using the Collections Agent responsibility, and select the Collectors Work Queue.

Select the necessary Work Type node on the left of the screen. o Delinquent Accounts shows all overdue customer accounts o Broken Promises: Account lists all accounts with broken promises o Strategy Work Items shows all pending manual work items (status Open) o My Tasks pending tasks that the collector has created as a prompt o Delinquent Transactions list of all overdue transactions o Tasks pending tasks that are split between those owned by the individual collector and those owned by a collector group

Selecting a Work Type node will populate the Universal Work Queue with data:

To sort the data click on the column header or right-click in the body of data and click Sort (the above example is sorted by Score). The Score is a rating used to indicate how serious the customers overdue debt position is. It is calculated using the age of the oldest debt, the total amount overdue and the account risk-code from AR. The score range is between 1 and 100. A low score indicates a customer with a worse debt position.

Collections Workbench
The Collections Workbench provides the Account-level detail, transaction detail belonging to the particular account, and the tools to collect the debt (Collection Strategy and associated Work Items). From the UWQ, double-click on a Customer Account to enter the Collections Workbench:

The default view will reveal the Transactions tab, populated with all overdue transactions belonging to the Customer Account. The default Due Date range will be driven by the dates of the oldest and most recent overdue transaction. To reveal current invoices, check the Include Current box and the Display button. If searching for a transaction outside the default date-range, change the Due Date range and click Display.

2. Collection Strategy
The Collection Strategy is a sequence of steps (work items) to be followed by the collector to retrieve the outstanding debt. The Work Items that make up the strategy are either manual (e.g. phone call, account review) or automatic (e.g. dunning letter).

View Strategy and Open Work Items

Navigate to the Strategy tab:

The assigned strategy and corresponding work items are shown. Check to see if there is a manual work item with an Open status. If there is an open manual work item, complete the necessary task, complete the work item by clicking Complete Work and record any necessary notes (see section 4). In this example, the first work item (a dunning letter) has been completed automatically. The second work item (an email and phone call) has not yet reached an open or pre-wait status. By selecting the first work item and clicking on the Details button, the collector can see that the cause of this is a postexecution wait time of 2 days. The collections strategy for this customer will sleep for two days after the first dunning letter is sent, before the next work item reaches a pre-wait or open status.

Dunning Letters
Dunning Letters are generated by automatic work items and therefore do not require any manual intervention by the collector until they are printed. When the work item has a status of Open workflow sends the dunning letter to the printer defined in the following Personal Profile Values (AR > Control > Profile Options): o o IEX: Fulfilment Printer - must be the same as the FIS printer name IEX: IPP printer name - must follow below naming convention where the FIS printer name is preceded by /printers/ /printers/FIS printer name

Change Strategy Work Items

A collector may decide to change the work items that make up the collections strategy. For example, automatic dunning letter work items are not part of Research Grants strategies as standard, but exist as work items that can be brought into a strategy. In the Strategy tab, select Change Work Items:

Highlight the work item in the Assigned box that you want the new work item to follow. Select the required work item in the Available list and click the up arrow to insert into the strategy.

Click Ok to return to the Strategy tab, and refresh to view the change.

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This dunning letter can be generated automatically when the Workflow Background Process runs, or manually by clicking Complete Work followed by Send Dunning.

Additional Grants Information

Grants information for each transaction can be found in the Grants and Debtors tab. This includes the Award Number, Award Short Name, Award Full Name and transaction Comments.

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3. Record a Promise-to-Pay
Promise Against a Single Transaction
Navigate to the Transactions tab and highlight the necessary invoice.

Click the Payment Processing button. Enter the Promise Amount, Promise Date and Payment Method (if required). Record any necessary notes, and click Submit and Close. Note: The total amount overdue for the transaction will default in the Promise Amount field, but this can be over-written.

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Once the promise becomes broken, the UWQ will be updated with a prompt in the Broken Promises view:

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The Promise will also feature within the History tab:

And a promise flag will appear on the transaction in the Transactions tab:

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Mass Promise
Navigate to the Transactions tab and select multiple invoices by holding down the Ctrl key (or the Shift key to select a range).

Click Payment Processing and navigate to the Mass Promise tab. Enter the Promise Date, Payment Method and Notes and click Submit and Close.

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4. Recording Customer Correspondence

Account-level Notes
Navigate to the Note tab and click New. Enter account-level note and click Save.

Transaction-level Notes
Navigate to the Transactions tab and highlight the particular transaction (if multiple transactions, hold down the Ctrl key and click on desired transactions or hold down Shift to highlight a range). Right-click and select View Notes.

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Enter transaction-level note and click OK.

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Viewing Notes History

Navigate to the Notes tab:

Use the Related to button to find out what level the note was recorded at (account or transaction).

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Updating Receivables Transaction Comments

Advanced Collections notes entered through the Notes or Transactions tabs are only viewable within Advanced Collections (they will not appear in Receivables). The Grants and Debtors tab has been developed to include the Comments field available against the transaction in Receivables. This comment can be updated and viewed in both Receivables and Advanced Collections. Navigate to the Grants and Debtors tab. Select a transaction and enter notes in the Comments field. To save the note, click Update Details.

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5. Dispute an Invoice
The invoice dispute functionality remains in Receivables, with the dispute status updating in Advanced Collections immediately.

Recording a Dispute Against an Invoice

Change responsibility to Receivables and navigate to Collections > Account Details. Enter the search criteria and click Find.

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Enter dispute date and the disputed amount and save.

The invoice will be identified as in dispute within Advanced Collections:

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6. Collections Tasks
Tasks Tab
The Tasks tab allows the collector to enter tasks that can be assigned to individual collectors or to a collector group. Prompts appear in the collectors UWQ to action the pending tasks. Navigate to the Tasks tab, enter the task Type from the list of values and tab into the Subject field. Enter the task Subject (free-text field) and tab into the Start field to update if necessary. Tab into the Owner Type filed and enter Employee Resource or Group Resource. Tab into the Owner field and enter the resource or group name (enter the first letter of the resource surname or group followed by % and tab). Enter a further description of the task if necessary and save.

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UWQ Tasks Prompt

Prompts for tasks appear in the UWQ under the My Tasks work type:

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7. Collections Tabs
Profile
The Profile tab holds Customer Profile information and various metrics. The Collector Name and the Include in Dunning field are key fields that are set within Receivables.

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History
The History tab displays all past activity against the account. This includes payments, dunning letters and promises to pay.

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Accounts
The Accounts tab includes a link to the Receivables Customers Standard screen and the Open Lines Listing. The Open Lines Listing displays all open transactions, including credits and payments (On Account and Unapplied).

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Lifecycle
The Lifecycle tab allows a new status to be assigned to the account. Accounts in collections have a status of Delinquent. A status of Bankruptcy, Litigation or Repossession can be applied to an account, but the account would then drop out of Advanced Collections to be viewed by Collections HTML Manager.

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Aging
The Aging tab shows the account debt by aging bucket.

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