Introduction To Setup

Setting up your Collect! software is the most important aspect of preparing to use Collect!. By default, Collect! is set to run an average Collection Agency. Your way of conducting business may be different. Perhaps you plan to use Collect! to track your delinquent Accounts Receivable, in a Credit Union, for Contact Management, or a variety of other businesses. Collect! is readily modified to suit your needs. The average Collect! user uses only a portion of Collect!'s power.

Please take the time to print this page. You will want to review the sections you need in your day to day operations. It is very important that you understand the basics so that the transition from using your existing system to using Collect! is easy and efficient. If you choose to ignore these setup tips, you will likely experience unnecessary frustration.

Most system users have collection strategies that work for them. Collect! is extremely flexible and can be modified to use your strategies. You don't have to change the way you do business; instead Collect! will change to suit your needs.

Collect! is a very sophisticated software product that can perform a variety of complex tasks for you automatically. This requires a solid understanding of how the software works. Many people may be overwhelmed by this complexity, as compared to a word processor, for example. A word processor opens a single file at a time to be worked on. Conversely, upon logging into Collect! you have opened between 23 to 55 files, depending on your chosen task.

Please take the time to understand the basics of Collect!. You will find endless surprises in the work Collect! can do for you, if it is properly set up right from the start. As you learn more about Collect!, given your good understanding, you can easily modify Collect! in the future.

The setup information has been divided up basically into three sections.

1. Set up how you or your operators are going to access the Collect! program. This topic can break down into 2 methods of setup for accessing Collect!.

Set up Collect! for Single User/Stand Alone usage. Single User/Stand Alone can be defined in two different ways.

Truly there is only ONE person who will access Collect! or

There may be many people who access Collect! but NEVER more than one at a time.

Set up Collect! for Multi User/Network usage. Multi User/Network means that many operators can access Collect! simultaneously.

The above topic is very important. It defines how you will use Collect! when logging into the database. How you get in is the first step. Once you are in, then you begin with the setup step 2.

2. Set up of Collect! Basic module and functions.

This is the area where you can customize Collect! to suit your method of doing business. Keep it simple to start. With more experience, you will be able to mold and control exactly the aspects you need.

3. Set up information for additional optional modules.

Setting up additional modules has been placed in its own section. That way, you only need to view help for options you have purchased.

The need to thoroughly review the setup information supplied cannot be stressed enough. Understanding what is going on when you use Collect! will ensure a smooth and uncomplicated process. Please take the time to go through each of the topics in this section and you will be very happy with the results you get using Collect!.

See Also

- Introduction To Single User/Stand Alone Setup
- Introduction To Multi User Network Setup
- Setup Checklist
- Introduction To Additional Setup