For a Credit Controller, it is very important to be able to check that Customers are making regular, prompt payments and so maintain a steady cash flow into the business.

The Chase Debtors feature in Records provides you with a single working list from which you can chase debtors for payment.

Running a search for records or transactions that match specific criteria, such as those marked for chasing on a particular date, enables you to build a chase list to work from. This list then provides you with access to all the information you will need when contacting your Customer. Security Profile restrictions - If the View Own Customers option is enabled then only Customers assigned to you as a Credit Controller will be included in the list. This option is found in Global Options of your Security Profile.

The following tasks can be achieved using the Chase Debtors feature:

When you select the Chase Debtors option, you will be prompted to run a search to build a chase list to work from.

First, you should select the type of list you want to open.

The chase list can be built as a Summary View or an Aged Analysis View.

The list selection is made from the drop-down list at the foot of the window.

Tip: When viewing the Summary view, you can switch to the Aged Analysis view using right-click menu, so although the ageing method is for the Aged Analysis view, you should select your preferred ageing method even if you are viewing the Summary view.

The ageing methods are: Age by Due Date or Age by Transaction Date.

Having selected the type of list, you should enter search criteria that will return you the accounts you want to work with.

You might want to list Customers who are to be contacted today or this week; you might want to search for very overdue transactions that have been assigned to you as the Credit Controller.

When you have made your selections and entered the search criteria that is to be matched, click the Display icon to activate the search and populate the Chase Debtors window.

Searches can be saved using the Save Search feature and retrieved for use by clicking the Select Search icon.

Clicking the Clear icon will clear the fields on the search window.

The Search window can be re-opened from the Chase Debtors window by clicking the Search icon.

The Chase Debtors window can be opened in two different views: the Summary View and the Aged Analysis View.

These windows are described in separate topics:

Both views contain contact information so that you can get in touch with the Customer with the list open.

You can switch to the Aged Analysis view from the Summary view using right-click menu.

The Chase Debtors feature in Records provides you with a single working list from which you can chase debtors for payment. The list can be displayed as a Summary View, showing Customer information, or an Aged Analysis View, showing transaction information.

Use the Ctrl key or the Shift key to select multiple records. The toolbar on each window contains the following options:

Once you have finished working with a record in the list, you can remove the line by selecting it and pressing the Remove Line button.

This is a shortcut to the Customer Record. You can update the record and view the enquiry windows available from the record.

This option opens the Terms window for the selected Customer. You can only view the terms in this window, if you wish to update the terms you should open the Customer Record and use the Edit button.

You can insert new and view and edit existing Credit Control notes by clicking this button on the toolbar.

The notes window displays a history of all the Credit Control and Query Type notes entered for the Customer.

These changes include the addition of promised payment dates and values and changes to the assigned Credit Controller.

When using Dimensions with Access Workspace and having synced comments and queries with Workspace, any comments downloaded from Workspace are displayed in the Credit Control Notes screen for the relevant Customer. Unread notes are displayed in bold text. Selecting the comment will show the details in the detail pane in the same way as for notes inserted via Dimensions.

Access Workspace functionality for Credit Control Notes is only available where Credit Control Notes has been opened from the Chase Debtors screen.

If you need to enter a receipt for the selected Customer, you can do this using this option. This will open the Bulk Receipts window.

When you select to display Specific currency Customers and outstanding transactions: In the Chase Debtors window if you then select the Enter Receipt function to process Bulk receipts, on the Bulk Receipts selection window, the currency defaults to Home - not the selected currency from Chase Debtors. It is necessary to select the appropriate specific currency to allocate and process payments.

You can make allocations directly from the Chase Debtors list. This button will open the Allocations window with the search pre-populated with the account code of the selected Customer.

You can also correct allocations directly from the list.

A statement will be printed for all the Customers that you have selected (highlighted) in the list.

The same report options are available for the statements as when you print them from the Sales Ledger

The letters list window will display all the active letters registered using the Letter Setup window. These letters will have been prepared using Access Office Integration and MS Word to create a Word Mail Merge document that contains links to the Dimensions database.

Using the Letter Setup window, you can save links to Word template documents so that they are available for mail merge within Dimensions.

For each Customer, you can view existing documents and attach new documents directly from the Chase Debtors window.

This button opens a Smart Tag Summary for the selected Customer.

You can view and update the diary directly from the Chase Debtors window. The details of the selected Customer record will be transferred to the diary and the entries for the day will be displayed.

You can view the outstanding sales orders enquiry for the selected Customer by clicking on the O/S Orders button.

This displays the Aged Debtor analysis window for the selected Customer. This is the same window as opened from the Customer record and you can the aged analysis and display the Aged Debtor enquiry.

Once you have built the list of customers in your Chase Debtors window, the toolbar options help you to perform various related tasks.

There are additional options when you right click the selected Customer record or transaction line.

View Aged Analysis - This option opens the Aged Analysis view for the selected Customer. Close the screen to return to the Summary View for all Customers.

Set/Clear On Stop Status - This enables you to put the selected Customer record On Stop or to clear the On Stop status if already set.

Open Sales Transactions - Opens the Sales Transaction Enquiry window for the selected Customer.

Reprint Invoice/Credit Note - Prints a copy of each Sales Order Invoice and Credit Note for the selected Customer to printer, screen, file, fax or email.

Attach Document - This opens the Attach Document pop up window to select a file to be attached to the selected record.

Credit Control Notes - This opens the Credit Control Notes screen for the selected Customer

Set/Clear On Stop Status - This enables you to put the selected Customer record On Stop or to clear the On Stop status if already set.

View Sales Transactions - Opens the Sales Transaction Enquiry window for the selected Customer.

Attach Document - This opens the Attach Document pop up window to select a file to be attached to the selected record.

Credit Control Notes - This opens the Credit Control Notes screen for the selected Customer

View Sales Transactions - Opens the Sales Transaction Enquiry window to display the selected transactions.

View Transaction - Enables you to view and edit the details of the selected transaction.

View Double Entry - Displays the Nominal Ledger Double Entry for the selected transaction.

Reprint Invoice/Credit Note - Enables you to print a copy of the selected record to printer, screen, file, fax or email.

View Order/Credit Note - Opens the selected transaction in the Sales Orders Enquiry window.

Set Query Flag Status - This allows you to put a transaction on Query. When you flag a transaction as disputed, you are prompted to select a previously created Query Type; the selected type is shown in the Chase Debtors list adjacent to the Query flag. If no Query Types exist, this option is not shown.

Penny Write-Off - If you have a penny write-off limit set in the Global Options of your Security Profile, this option allows you to write off outstanding transaction values that fall within that limit.

Attach Document - This opens the Attach Document pop up window to select a file to be attached to the selected record.

Credit Control Notes - This opens the Credit Control Notes screen for the selected Customer