Schedule Next Contact

The Schedule Next Contact form is displayed in several situations where Collect! expects you to confirm details for a next contact. The Schedule Next Contact title bar will let you know which type of situation you are handling. You can confirm and/or edit the details. Press the NEXT button to schedule the contact as displayed.

These are the situations where this form is displayed:

• Create New Contact
  When you complete a contact for a debtor through the WIP List and there are no pending contacts for this debtor. This occurs UNLESS you have switched ON "Future contact not required" in the WIP Options.
  
  
• Next Pending Contact
  When you switch ON "Always show next contact when" in the WIP Options. The Schedule Next Contact form will display showing you the next future contact for this debtor. This occurs whenever you exit from a debtor in your To Do List, even when there are pending contacts for the debtor.
  
  
• Confirm Contact Details
  When you choose "Prompt to confirm details" in a Contact Plan event. Whenever the plan is run, the Schedule Next Contact form will display when the event is executed.

The details that you see in the Schedule Next Contact depend on the type of situation and your default settings. We will now describe each of these.

Create New Contact

The title bar lets you know this is a brand new contact for the account.

Schedule Next Contact - New

Schedule Next Contact form prompts you to create a new contact if there are no pending contacts for the account.

Types of contacts that Collect! considers are based on your WIP Options and WIP Reload Filters settings. The type of contact that is created also uses default settings from your WIP Options.

Press NEXT to schedule the new contact.

Next Pending Contact

The title bar lets you know this is the next pending contact for the account.

Schedule Next Contact - Pending

When the Schedule Next Contact form is showing you the next pending contact, it shows you the earliest In Progress contact for the account.

Types of contacts that Collect! considers are based on your WIP Options and WIP Reload Filters settings.

Press NEXT to close the Schedule Next Contact form.

Confirm Contact Details

The title bar lets you know that you being prompted to confirm details for an event in a contact plan you are running.

Schedule Next Contact - Confirm Details

When the Schedule Next Contact form prompts you to confirm details, it is showing you details set in the contact plan you are running. You can confirm/edit the details as needed.

Press NEXT to execute the plan action or CANCEL to stop the plan and close the Schedule Next Contact form.

Date

This is the date the contact is scheduled to occur. Press F2 to pick a date from the Calendar or type the date in MM/DD/YY format.

Type 5 in the date field for 5 days from now, or 3 for 3 days.

Time

Enter the time of day for the contact.

This is in 24 hour format. In other words if you type 4 it's 4 AM. Type 16 for 4 PM, 18 for 6 PM and so on.

You can set the time to the minute. For example, you could type 16:25 and the call will pop up at 4:25 PM.

It is not compulsory to enter a time. Timed contacts are important when you must deal with a Debtor at a specific time. (Perhaps he is only home at 7 PM to answer calls.) Then you would enter 19:00 in the time field of the contact and a prompt will pop up on your screen at that time to go to the contact. This only works when you are working accounts from your WIP List.

Type

This is the type of contact, whether Phone, Letter, Review or Other. Click your mouse on the field, or press F2 to display the list. If the activity is a review make sure you set the Operator field to the ID of the operator who will review the file.

Class

This field allows you to enter a Class for this contact. This will be written to the contact record.

Amount

This field holds a currency value. When the contact type is a Promise, you must enter the amount promised and expected to be received on a specific date. Collect! will use this value for calculating promise payments. When the contact type is a Transaction, enter the amount to be posted for the transaction.

Advance On Overpayment

When this switch is set, a Promise type contact will consider overpayments as prepayments for future promises. For instance, if you create a promise for $100 and the Debtor pays $200. When you post the $200 transaction, the Promise Date on the Debtor form will move forward two payment periods. By default, this Promise Date moves forward one period whenever a payment is posted.

This check box is visible only when you have selected "Promise" in the Type field.

Do Not Autodelete

Switch this ON to prevent auto-deletion of this contact. This is useful for overriding events in contact plans that delete pending contacts. There may be cases where you do not want pending contacts to be deleted when a contact plan is run.

To switch this ON, select the check box next to this field to place a check mark in it.

This also affects behavior when an account is closed manually. Contacts with "Do not autodelete" switched ON are not deleted. However, Promises and Transactions will be marked done when accounts are closed, regardless of this switch setting.

No Autocomplete

In WIP Options, the setting 'Automatically mark contacts done' can be set so that Collect! marks contacts as Done when they are worked from the WIP List. To override this global setting for this particular contact, switch ON 'No Autocomplete' .

To switch this ON, select the check box next to this field to place a check mark in it.

Create Copy On Repeat

This field is visible only when there is a value in the Repeat field.

Switch this ON with a check mark to create a completed copy of the Contact every time it is forwarded. This allows you to track a past history of the Contact. If the Contact is a Letter, Collect! will attach a Metafile to the completed Contact if you have Metafiles enabled.

This switch is referenced when Promises are forwarded, when previously scheduled transactions are batched, when letters are batch printed, or when contacts are worked through the WIP List.

This switch will also be referenced whenever you process automatic contacts previously scheduled. All automated types of contacts are handled. This includes Activate, Commission, Rate Plan, Transaction, Plan, Status, Operator, Sales, Edit, Note and Close.

Log Repeat To Notes

This field is visible only when there is a value in the Repeat field.

Switch this ON with a check mark to write a line to the debtor's Notes every time the Contact is forwarded.

The note is in the following format:

[Type] type contact [Description], due [Date] processed by [Op ID]

This switch is referenced when Promises are forwarded, when previously scheduled transactions are batched, when letters are batch printed, or when contacts are worked through the WIP List.

Description

This is a description of the contact. If it is a Letter, then press F2 to pick from the list of letters. If it is a Review then type a note to the person reviewing the file. Otherwise, simply enter a brief description of the contact.

Data

The Data field is typically used for information related only to this particular contact. This information is stored in a metafile within the contact record. This field will display the file number by default, when you create a new entry. You can change the filename displayed in the field to anything you want, it is only a description. This field will be empty if there is no additional information for this contact.

The Data field provides a convenient and flexible way of passing messages around your office, or tracking details of specific activity occurring on an account. Adding information here keeps the related information together.

To the right of this field, there are three buttons. Use these buttons to open, print or delete the information contained in the metafile.

Attachment

This field allows you to select an attachment within the debtor's folder, or to search your system for a file to attach. The attachment will be placed in the Collect\bin\global\masterdb\attach\debtor folder in a subfolder by file number, ..\4000\4356.3.

To the right of this field, there are four buttons. Use these buttons to attach and open a file, print, delete or attach the file without opening it.

Operator

This is the ID of the Operator who is responsible for the contact. The contact will appear on that Operator's To Do list on the scheduled date and time. By default, the operator displayed in the Debtor's Operator field is entered here. To select someone else to assign the next contact to, press F2 and select their ID.

Priority

Priority is automatically set by Collect! using your WIP Options settings. This may be modified manually if needed to control where it displays in the Work In Progress (WIP) List. The WIP List is displayed in order of Date, Time, Priority, Contact Type, and finally the Debtor's Name.

Repeat

If you want this contact to repeat, choose a repeating period for the contact. This can be used, for example, to repeat printing a letter or posting a promised payment.

Repeat occurs when you print a letter, post a promised payment or batch process previously scheduled contacts.

The Repeat setting is read when payments are posted. If a repeating Promise exists, its date is forwarded to the date required by the Repeat field provided that a full payment of the promised dollar amount is received within the Repeat period.

Max Intervals

This field is visible when you select a REPEAT value. Collect! uses it to determine how many times this Contact is repeated.

Number Of Days

Enter the number of days to repeat the contact. This field is visible only when you have selected "Custom" in the contact's Repeat field. It applies to Promise contacts.

Help

Select this button for help on the Schedule Next Contact form and links to related topics

Cancel

Select this button to cancel the contact you are creating and close the Schedule Next Contact form. This will return you to the Debtor form.

If you are running a Contact Plan, this will cancel the plan. You may need to examine the account's Contact list to make sure you are satisfied with the entries.

Next

Select this button after you have entered all contact's details. A contact will be scheduled based on the information you entered in Schedule Next Contact form and you will advance to the next Debtor in your WIP List.

If you are running a Contact Plan, the contact will be scheduled and the plan will proceed to its next event, if there is one.