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Projects:Dunning/Configuration Manual

Contents

Introduction

Dunning is the process of methodically communicating with customers to ensure the collection of payments. Openbravo supports you in automatically handling late payments using customer-specific dunning policies and business processes.

This manual describes the configuration of the dunning module using dunning policies, work flows and dunning statuses.

The user manual of the dunning module can be found here.

Demo

The following demo gives an overview of the configuration of the dunning module:

Dunning Configuration: after module installation

Import Standard Dunning Work Flow/Policies

After installing the dunning module you need to import reference data which contains a standard dunning policy definition and standard dunning business process:


Dunning enterprise module management.png


Automatically start dunning work flows

The dunning process should normally work automatically in the background. To configure this automatic process go to the process request window (through quick launch is the easiest) and setup the dunning start work flow process using a schedule fitting to your business requirements:


Dunning process request.png


Note the interval (in calendar days) of the process request should be less than the value of the late time parameter (next section).

Late Time in Days Parameter

The automatic dunning process will run in an interval and is assumed to 'catch' every late payment for which a dunning policy is defined. Based on the interval it only needs to look a certain number of days in the past for checking late payments. For example if the interval is 5 days, the automatic dunning process only needs to select late payments which are maximum 5 days late, as earlier late payments were caught by the previous run. But any value for the number-of-days parameter will work fine, higher values will result in a bit slower system.

The number of days in the past, considered by the automatic process, is controlled with the lateTimeInDays preference (available from version 1.0.5 onwards). The default value is 5. This means that only payments that are 5 days late are considered by the automatic start of the work flow.


Dunning process request latetimeindays.png

Defining a Dunning Policy

The dunning process is controlled through a dunning policy. A dunning policy defines (for a customer) how to handle late payments. It consists of 2 main parts:

Dunning Policy

Dunning policies are defined through the dunning configuration window (General Setup > Application). The dunning policy has the following fields:

A dunning policy has a child tab which defines the dunning statuses of the policy.


Dunning policy configuration.png

Dunning work flow

The core of the dunning solution is the use a specific business process (work flow) to handle the late payment. The first step of the configuration of the dunning module is therefore to create a business process within Openbravo. This is described in more detail in the BPM documentation.

The dunning module is delivered with a pre-set business process. It is available in the work flow definition window (when in the System Administrator role): General Setup > Application > Work Flow Definitions.


Dunning workflow definition.png


A visualization of the standard work flow delivered with the dunning module:


Dunning workflow visualization.png


The standard work flow process is described here in more detail.

When creating your own work flows you can use the following variables in the logic and conditions in the work flow:

For both of these parameters you can use the dot-notation (paymentSchedule.outstandingAmount) to refer to related information. Note: you can go maximum 2 levels deep, for example paymentSchedule.invoice._documentNo.

Dunning Status

The dunning status is an important part of the definition. It controls what type of actions the standard work flow executes when it computes a new status for a late payment.


Dunning status.png


The dunning status has these fields:

Letter and Email definition

Within a dunning status you can define a document template and an email definition. The email definition and document template control what the standard dunning work flow does. If the computed dunning status has an email definition then the standard business process will send an email to the user contact defined in the invoice. The reply to is set to the sales representative defined in the invoice (if there is any there). The email will have a body and a letter attached to it. The attached letter is generated on the basis of the document template.

Dunning document email.png


The email definition allows you to use invoice specific information within the body of the email. For example the ${invoice.businessPartner.name} will be converted to the name of the business partner in the email body.

Note: the default dunning work flow will make use of the dunning status to control its behavior (for example send an email or not), but a dunning policy can have any work flow, and different work flows can handle/work with dunning statuses in different ways.

On hold status

Normally the dunning work flow process will continuously recompute the status and if a new status is computed will execute the appropriate actions. However, sometimes it makes sense to put a dunning process on hold, the default dunning policy has an on hold status


Dunning on hold status.png


The following applies: an on hold status is a status without a days late value set, the default dunning business process will not change the status of a payment if the current status does not have a days late value set. It is assumed that this status is a status set manually by the user.

Linking a Dunning Policy to a Bussiness Partner

The final step of the configuration is to link a dunning policy to a business partner. So that the dunning process knows how to handle a late payment for a specific customer. A dunning policy is linked to a business partner in the customer tab of the business partner window (see in the bottom of the screenshot):


Dunning businesspartner setup.png


Goto the business partner window, then in the customer tab select the correct dunning policy and save the record.

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