Tutorial: Debtor Administration

The Portal provides administrative functions to help manage your Debtors. These functions include the ability to create new Debtors, edit the details of existing account holders, process quotes, make transactions, invoice and enter payments, issue statements, create Debtor purchasing contracts, create consignments and process itemised returns. This tutorial examines these administrative tasks and will also look at how we can upload a logo to be printed on the invoices and statements that are issued to Debtors.

The Administration section of the Debtor Menu will be examined in detail in this tutorial. Open the Debtor Menu by selecting the Menus link followed by Customer, Services and Debtors in the Navigation Menu. Links are provided in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the Company Options and Site Options in order to configure the Debtors at both the Company and Site level respectively.

We begin this tutorial by describing how to create a new Debtor account. Select the New Debtor link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu. This opens the Debtor File Maintenance screen with blank details, ready for you to enter the details of the new account. The Debtor File Maintenance screen contains three tabs:

Debtor Details, allows you to record the contact details of the Debtor account. Enter the names, telephone and fax numbers, billing and shipping address and email address in the provided fields. The Tax No field represents the Debtor's Tax File Number. The Comments field can be used to record any miscellaneous information regarding the Debtor as necessary.

Debtor Settings, configures the Debtor's options in the Portal. Specify the payment Terms using the drop-down list of available options. Enter a minimum amount owing for a statement to be issued to the Debtor. The Account Status drop-down can be used to Suspend or Block a Debtor's account while Normal is used to signify that the account is active and valid. Select the Source Location to signify the home Site for the Debtor and a Referral Type if appropriate. Enter a Credit Limit in the provided field to limit the amount of debt the Debtor can accrue. The Discount Percentage field can be used to apply a discount to all transactions made by the Debtor. Set the interest to charge in the Interest Premium Percentage field and any late fees in the Late Payment Premium Percentage field. The Minimum Payment Percentage field is used to set a minimum deposit to be received on delivery of the goods in an invoiced transaction. Choose whether to send the Debtor's statements in hard copy or via email in the Statement Type - if necessary, you can set the emailed statement to remove the logo. The Statement Option drop-down allows you to select the style of statement sent to the Debtor. Set the Price Level for the Debtor to be charged at. Tick the box marked Sales At POS to enable transactions at the Point of Sale to be charged to the Debtor. If the Itemised POS Transaction checkbox is selected, transactions at the POS that are charged to the Debtor will print an itemised receipt.

Bank Details, allows you to record the Debtor's bank account details. Enter the Bank Name, branch number (BSB No), Account Number and Account Name and select the Account Type from the drop-down list.

Press the Save button to save the Debtor to the Portal.

To edit an existing Debtor, open the Find Debtor screen to search for the Debtor to edit. You can use the Custom tab of the Find Debtor screen to search for a Debtor by Name, Debtor Number or Customer ID. Alternatively, select another tab to view all Debtors whose name begins with the corresponding letter.

After you select the Debtor to edit, the Debtor File Maintenance screen is opened with the details of the selected Debtor loaded. In addition to the three tabs available when creating a new Debtor, there are two additional tabs:

PDI Setup, controls the setup of Portal Data Interchange transactions to enable the processing of data between businesses. PDI works on the exchange of XML data between Portals, and this screen is used to set the XML tags and values in this transfer. Set the PDI URL and element names for each of the XML functions. The SiteTo field is a critical element that details the Site Number that the transaction is sent to. Enable or disable PDI functionality in this screen as necessary.

Totals, displays totals for the Debtor, allowing you to view the balances and sales figures for the Debtor. Press the Re Balance field to recalculate the balance of the Debtor.

Several additional buttons are available in the Debtor File Maintenance screen when editing an existing Debtor. Use the New Debtor button to create a new Debtor from this screen. The Quotes button will open the Customer Quote screen for the Debtor and the New Invoice button can be pressed to create a New Invoice for the Debtor. Similarly the New Transaction button will open the Debtor Transactions screen for the Debtor. Press the Payment button to open the Debtor Payments screen for the Debtor. The Transactions button opens the Transactions Report for the Debtor.

The New Quote link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu can be used to open the Find Customer screen, allowing you to select a Customer to provide a Quote for. Use the Custom screen to search for the Customer by Name, Customer Number, Customer ID or Card Number. Alternatively, select the tab that corresponds to the first letter of the Customer's surname to view all Customers beginning with that letter.

Once you have selected a Customer to create a quote for, the Customer Quote screen opens. The selected Customer's Name, Code and Available Credit are displayed for your reference. The Total and Status of the quote are displayed, and the Quote Number drop-down allows you to select a quote to edit (New Quote indicates a new quote is being created). There are three tabs of information to be entered in the Customer Quote screen:

Details, displays the Date that the quote was created on and allows you to specify the date that the quote is Valid To. Select the Location of the quote from the drop-down list. The Customer's default Price Level is displayed for your reference.

Address, allows you to review and change any or all of the address or contact details for the Customer.

Items, specifies the items and any discount for the quote. Add items one at a time to the quote grid by entering the Item Code and pressing the Add button. Alternatively, use the Find Item button to search for an item to add. As each item is entered in the grid, enter the quantity and unit discount for the item. It is also possible to edit the unit price of each item in the grid. Press the Update button to save the details of the quote to the Portal. The Delete Selected Items button can be used to remove a selected line from the quote.

The Print button can be used to open the PDF version of the quote. This can then be saved to disk or printed in hard copy as needed.

Press the New Transactions link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu and select a Debtor from the Find Debtor screen to open the Debtor Transactions screen. This screen allows you to create non-itemised transactions for your Debtors. The selected Debtor's Debtor Number, Name, Current Balance and Available Credit are all loaded for your reference. Select the Type of transaction from the drop-down list of options. Enter the Date of the transaction, the Amount charged and the Tax included in the transaction. Select the Site for the transaction and enter a Description of what the charge is for. Press the Finalise button to process the transaction. If the Company and Debtor have PDI enabled, there will also be a Finalise With PDI button available to finalise the transaction and send it via XML to the Debtor's Portal where an appropriate Creditor Transaction will be generated to correspond to this one.

The Invoicing link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu opens the Debtor Invoice screen (via the Find Debtor screen) which allows you to create and edit itemised invoices for your Debtors. The Customer Name and Code are displayed for your reference, as well as the Debtor's Available Credit. An Invoice Total and Invoice Status are updated as the invoice is updated. Select an Invoice Number to edit or choose New Invoice to create a new invoice for the selected Debtor. There are three tabs in the Debtor Invoice screen:

Details, records the miscellaneous details of the invoice. Select the Site for the invoice and enter the invoice Date, Due date and Delivery date in the provided fields. Enter a Purchase Order number and select a Customer Order from the drop-down list if necessary. A field is provided for Freight charges for the invoice and the Debtor's default Price Level is displayed for your reference.

Address, records the Shipping and Billing Addresses for the invoice. These will be loaded from the Debtor's details but can be edited if necessary.

Items, records the items in the invoice. Enter each item's Item Code in the provided field and press the Add button to add the item to the invoice grid. Alternatively, the Find Item button can be used to search for an item to be added. As each item is added, its Description, Unit Price and Stock On Hand figures are displayed for your reference. Enter the Quantity of each invoiced item and any unit Discount as necessary. It is also possible to edit the unit Price of each item in the invoice grid. Press the Update button to save each item to the invoice. Use the Delete Selected Items button to remove one or more selected lines from the invoice if a mistake is made.

The Print button allows you to print a hard copy of the invoice for billing purposes. After items have been added to the invoice and saved, additional buttons are added to the Debtor Invoice screen. The Delete button can be used to remove the invoice from the Portal. Press the Finalise button to commit the invoice to the Portal - note that it is not possible to edit a finalised invoice. If the Company and Debtor have been PDI Enabled, a Finalise With PDI button allows you to finalise the transaction and send it to the Debtor's Portal via XML Portal Data Interchange where a corresponding Stock Receipt is generated.

The Debtor Payments screen is opened by the Payments link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu. This screen allows you to enter payments received from a Debtor against a transaction charged to their account. Select the Debtor to make the payment for from the Find Debtor screen as usual, and the selected Debtor's Name and Code are displayed in the Debtor Payments screen for your reference. Select the Location that received the payment from the drop-down list. Adjust the Payment Date if necessary and enter a Payment ID / Cheque Number for the payment. Enter the Amount Paid in the provided field and select a Cash Book Account to make the payment into. Select the Payment Type and Payment Sub Type from the drop-down lists provided. You can elect to Include POS Transactions to list the transactions made at the point of sale in the payment grid. If necessary, enter a Comment to be displayed on the receipt for the payment. Select any or all of the transactions in the grid to be paid for by checking the Select box. Press the Pay Selected button to finalise the payment. It is possible to print or save a receipt for the payment from the PDF viewer screen that is loaded when the payment is finalised.

Use the Statements link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the Debtor Create Statements report screen. This screen allows you to create statements for the debtors at a selected Home Site due within the specified date range. The Filter drop-down list allows you to create statements for debtors with a non-zero balance or for all debtors. Press the Create All Due Statements link to generate the statements for the selected criteria. The statements are previewed in a PDF viewer screen from which they can be saved or printed in hard copy as necessary.

Debtor Contracts can be created, similar to Creditor Contracts, that stipulate a set price for a certain number of specific items purchased by a Debtor account. Select the Contracts link from the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the Find Debtor screen. Select the Debtor to create a contract for and the Debtor Contract screen will open with the Debtor's Name and Number displayed for your reference. Select the Location for the Contract and enter a Contract Code to be used to reference the contract in the Portal. Add items to the contract by entering the Item Code and pressing the Add button. Alternatively, use the Find Item button to search for the item to be added. As each item is added to the contract grid, its Description and Price are displayed for your reference. Enter the discount received by the Debtor and set the Purchase Allowed and/or Return Allowed fields to True to indicate when the contract comes into play. Enter a maximum quantity to be purchased / returned at the contracted price. Press the Update button to save the details of the contract or select a line and press the Delete button to remove the item from the contract.

You can report on your Debtor contracts by selecting the Contract Report link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu. This report lists all items contracted at a specified Site to a selected Customer. Information displayed in the report includes the Item Description, Item Number, Contract Code, Cost Price, Pack Size, Maximum Quantity and Active and Expiry Dates for the contract. Click on an Item Description to open a popup menu, allowing you to edit the selected item or the selected contract.

The Portal offers a way to sell items on consignment, where the Company sells items on behalf of someone else. Select the New Consignment link from the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the Customer Consignment Note screen. The Consignment drop-down list allows you to select a consignment to edit - select New Consignment to create a new consignment. Select the Site for the consignment. The consignment's Status is displayed in the top right of the screen for you reference. There are two tabs in the Customer Consignment Note screen:

Details, specifies the customer details for the consignment. Enter the Consignment Number and select a Customer for the consignment. The Creation Date and Change Date are displayed for your reference. There is also a field for a miscellaneous Comment if required.

Items / Serial Number, allows you to record the items in the consignment. Enter each item's Serial and press the Add button. Edit the Item Code and Description fields in the grid for each item and add any miscellaneous Comments as necessary. As each item is added to the consignment, press the Update button to save the line to the Portal, or use the Delete button to remove a selected item from the consignment. Press the Save button to save the details of the consignment to the Portal. The Finalise button can be used to finalise the consignment and the Delete button will remove it from the Portal.

A Return Authority allows the Portal User to issue a return of items by a Debtor from within the Portal, rather than through the point of sale. Select the New RA link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the Return Authority screen. The RA Number drop-down list allows you to select a return to edit - select New RA Number to create a new return. The Site for the return can be selected and the Status of the return is displayed for your reference. There are two tabs in the Return Authority screen:

Details, records the Return Authority Reference number, Customer and any miscellaneous Comment against the return. The Creation Date and Change Date are displayed for your reference.

Items / Serial Number, specifies the items returned in the return authority. Enter the Serial of each item returned and press the Add button. Edit the Item Code and Description fields in the grid as each item is added to the return. There is also a column for any miscellaneous Comments. As each item is added, press the Update button to save the changes to the Portal, or use the Delete button to remove a selected line from the return. Press the Save button to save the entire details of the return to the Portal. Use the Finalise button to finalise the details of the return and the Delete button can be used to remove the return from the Portal.

It is possible to upload an image to be displayed on all debtor invoices and statements using the Debtor Logo Upload screen. Select the Logo Upload link from the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to open the screen. Enter the file path of the image in the field provided, or use the Browse button to search for the image to upload. Press the Update button to upload the logo to the Portal.

Use the Logo Report link in the Administration section of the Debtor Menu to view the logos that have been uploaded to the Portal. This report lists the Filename, Size in KB and a Thumbnail View of the Image. Click on the filename of an image to open a popup menu with the following options:

View Image, opens a popup screen that displays the image with its full dimensions.
Delete Image, removes the image from the Portal permanently.

It is also possible to click on the thumbnail of an image to view the full image in a popup screen.

In this tutorial we have discussed the administration of the Debtor accounts in your Company. We have looked at creating and editing Debtors, quoting, charging transactions to an account, entering payments against invoices, generating Debtor statements, creating Debtor contracts, creating consignment notes, issuing return authorities and uploading images to the Portal to be used as Company Logos appearing on statements and invoices. These maintenance functions will allow you to track the quoting, invoicing and payment of Debtor transactions and simplify your account keeping practices.