Create debt collection assignment for past due customer invoices in (ARS670)

You can create a debt collection assignment that can be sent to a collection agency to recover payment for one or several past due customer invoices using 'Debt Collection. Open' (ARS670).

Outcome

A debt collection assignment is created and printed, displaying all past due accounts receivable invoices, including interest invoices per payer and currency. This information is displayed, apart from the opening and closing comments:
  • You can view the invoice number, invoice date, due date, currency, and remaining amount. Information on the payer, address, telephone numbers, and organization numbers is retrieved from 'Customer. Open' (CRS610).
  • You can review the invoices included in the assignment in 'Acc Receivable. Display Add Info Detail' (ARS251) even after the assignment itself is deleted in (ARS670).
You can print the debt collection assignment, send it in an email to the payer directly from M3 and create a trigger record in event hub by using document number 525, or both. When using email, the email addresses are retrieved from 'Email address. Open' (CRS111), where the email type 11 (payer) is used.
Note: The 'Copy' settings in 'Doc Media Control Object. Connect Media' (CRS949) must be 0='Not print copies of previously printed document' to not create trigger record in event hub or send previews and copies of payment reminders directly to payer email addresses. Previews and copies are created with alternative 6, print reminder in (ARS670).

The debt collection assignment is automatically allocated to information category number 208 and saved under its assignment number.

Before you start

Before you start, you must meet these prerequisites:
  • Meet the conditions for managing customer debts.

    See Managing customer debts.

  • Define the number series type 50 under number series 4 and D for debt collection assignments in 'Number Series. Open' (CRS165). Note that number series A is not required when creating only a debt collection assignment proposal, but D is required.
  • Enable the 'Collection' parameter for the payer or customer in 'Customer. Open' (CRS610/K).
  • The payer has past due accounts receivable records with debt collection code 1. This code is automatically set if the number of payment reminders sent to a customer exceeds the number specified in 'Payment Reminder Rule. Open' (CRS465/E). You can also change it manually for each invoice in 'Customer Invoice. Change' (ARS201), which you can access from 'Accounts Receivable. Display' (ARS200) or 'Customer Invoice. Display Separate' (ARS215)
  • To use standard texts for opening and closing comments in the debt collection assignment, define standard texts in advance per language in 'Collection. Enter Text' (ARS085).

Follow these steps

Follow these steps to create and process a debt collection assignment for past due invoices:
  1. Create and verify a debt collection assignment proposal.

    Create a proposal in (ARS670) by specifying different selection criteria. Review the proposal to make sure it is correct. An invoice is usually not included in the debt collection routine until a specified number of payment reminders is sent to the payer.

  2. Adjust the debt collection assignment proposal.

    If there are any incorrect records in the proposal, adjust it by blocking or deleting payers or invoices to prevent them from being included in the final debt collection assignment. This is done in (ARS671) and (ARS672). These programs are accessed through (ARS670).

    You can also add or adjust opening and closing comments to be printed on the debt collection assignment in (ARS671), which you can access through (ARS670). If standard texts are defined, these are automatically retrieved but you can change them. See Before you start section.

    You can also add comments on invoices in (ARS672).

  3. Create the final debt collection assignment.
    Create and print the debt collection by confirming the proposal in (ARS670).
    Note: You cannot change the debt collection assignment after it is confirmed.
  4. Send debt collection assignment to collection agency.

    Send the debt collection assignment to the debt collection agency with copies of the past due invoices or use document 525 and (CRS945). Since the assignment is saved under an information category number, you can then delete it in (ARS670). See the Outcome section.

You can process debt collection proposals in (ARS670) through these API programs and transactions:
  • ARS670MI Manages collection header (FARCOH table)
  • ARS671MI Manages collection details (FARCOD table)
  • ARS672MI Manages collection invoices (FARCOI table)
  • ARS675MI Manages collection

Job scheduling

You can schedule the creation of a proposal in (ARS670) to run on a regular basis.

See the M3 Business Engine User Documentation Library (Cloud) and select M3 Application Foundation > Job Management > M3 Business Engine Administrator's Guide for Job Scheduler.

Using block codes in the debt collection processing

Each customer invoice has a collection block code in M3, which is set automatically. You can change it manually in 'Customer Invoice. Open' (ARS201/E), which is a subprogram to (ARS200). You can use these block codes to control which invoices are included in the final debt collection assignments and, consequently, the result of this process.

These statuses are used:
  • 0 = Collection is not activated
  • 1 = Collection threat, that is the number of payment reminders exceeds the limit for collection
  • 2 = The invoice is transferred for collection
  • 3-8 = User-defined codes for blocking the invoice from collection.
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