How Collect! Executes Contact Plans Internally

When you choose an action for a Debtor, Collect! goes through the following process.

Read The Contact Plan

Collect! reads the Contact plan from the local Contact plan cache or from disk.

All events are stored in workstation RAM for fast access. This assumes that you have set the Cache Contact Plans switch in the WIP Options form. Access this form from the Main Menu as follows.

Choose System Administration

Choose System Setup and Configuration

Choose Plans and Reference Tables. You will be able to access the WIP Options from the form that opens now.

Check mark Cache contact plans to switch it ON.

If Delete All Pending Contacts

In the Contact Plan form, there are switches called " Delete All Pending Contacts" and "Prompt Before Deleting." If " Delete All Pending Contacts" is turned on for the plan that Collect is executing, the following is done.

If The Prompt Before Deleting Switch Is Set

1) Make a list of pending Contacts

2) Display the list

3) Ask the User if they should be deleted.

4) If the User cancels, then cancel the whole plan.

Otherwise, continue.

Don't turn the "Prompt Before Deleting" switch on if you plan to run a Contact plan in a batch.

Delete All Pending Contacts

Metro Credit Report Contacts are not deleted.

Scan Through Pending Contacts

Now, Collect! scans through all pending Contacts for the Debtor. (when " Delete All Pending Contacts" was not set.)

If one of the events in the Contact plan has the "Delete Same Type Contact" switch set, then delete any Contacts of that type.

The Event form opens when you select one of the events listed on the Contact Plan. Details of the particular event are set in this Event form, such as "Delete Same Type Contact."

When a contact plan with "Delete all pending contacts" attempts to delete a pending contact, it will leave the contact alone if the plan is being executed via the " Process automatic contacts previously scheduled" batch process.

If Prompt For Date

If the "Prompt For Start Date" switch is set in the Contact plan, then Collect! gets the reference date for the Contact plan; otherwise, today's date it used.

If you run a batch process with this switch ON, Collect! will prompt you only once at the start of the batch. The Start Date you select will be applied to the whole batch.

Scan Through Each Event

Now, Collect! scans though each event in the Contact plan and prepares the Contact details.

Determine The Contact Date

Now Collect! performs the following tasks:

1) If the "Delay Days" switch in the Event form is set, take the reference date and add the number of delay days.

2) If the "Day of Month" switch is set in the Event form, then check today's date.

If today's Day of Month is less than the specified Day, then schedule the Contact for this month on that day. If we are already past that day of the month, schedule it for next month on that day.

If you did not enter a value for Day, Collect! will default to the 1st of the month.

3) If the "Next Month Same Day" is set in the Event form, then schedule the Contact for next month, the current day of month.

For example, if today is the 20th of October, the Contact will be scheduled for the 20th of November.

This switch is useful for creating repeating Contact plans.

4) After the date has been set, check the WIP Options to determine whether the " Schedule Contacts On Weekends" switch is turned on. If Contacts are not to be scheduled for weekends, increment the date if it falls on a holiday.

Determine The Contact Time

1) If no time is specified in the Contact form, make the scheduled Contact time 0.

2) If the "Delay Minutes" switch is set in the Event form, add the delay time to the current time of day. This is useful for setting a phone call for a few minutes from now.

3) If the "Timeless" switch is set in the Event form, then set the scheduled time to that time of day. For example, if the Time entered is 18:00, the Contact will be scheduled for 6 PM.

Fill In Other Contact Details

Now, Collect! fills in other Contact details, such as the priority, Operator, description and so on.

If Prompt For Details

If "Prompt To Confirm Details" is set in the Event form, then display the Contact as scheduled, and allow the User to change the details.

Write Contacts To Disk

Next, Collect! writes the Contacts to disk in the following order:

Zero Delay

Any Contact plan events scheduled in the plan for zero delay are run immediately, in the order listed in the first Contact plan. Events within the called plan are also processed in the same order, as outlined here. Notice that any changes made in the sub-plan will take effect before other events are processed in the main plan.

Close And Activate

Next, Collect! executes Close and Activate events.

Notes

Notes scheduled for today are written to the Debtor notes. They will contain the previous account status before the plan was run (unless it was changed in called plan), but the new Operator if one was assigned, and any changes made by the Contact plan.

Status Changes And Sales Assignments

Status changes and sales assignments scheduled for today are made.

Operator Assignments

Operator assignments scheduled for today are made.

Remaining Contacts

All remaining Contacts are scheduled. Those include the above Contact types if they are not scheduled for a future date.

The Contact events that are scheduled for a future date can be run using the Tools menu Batch Processing command.