Dunning Letter File Maintenance

Dunning letters are created through Dunning Letters File Maintenance, which can be found on the Collection File Maintenance menu, 3-4. Standard dunning letters can be printed through the Contact Activity Entry program or from the Report menu through Print Dunning Letters.  The Dunning Letters File Maintenance program is the only program where dunning letters can be created or changed.

 

The term dunning is standard collection system verbiage.  It is defined as, to ask a debtor persistently for payment.  However, you can create the letters to state whatever you want, such as a thank you for a payment.

 

The dunning letters that are created and printed through the Collection system are not created with a word processing system.  Because of this, there are restrictions on the set up and the printing of the letters.  Up to 999 different standard dunning letters can be created.  Each letter is assigned a number and description, which is the identifying factor when choosing which letter you want to print for the customer.  The dunning letter has a set number of lines of text that can be on the letter.  There is also the ability to create the dunning letter to print past due invoices, or all invoices, or no invoices.

 

Dunning letters are designed to be printed on a laser printer.  The top and left margins are set in the Handling Status File Maintenance program.  The normal print size is 10 CPI.  However, this may vary depending upon your printer.  It is advised that after you have created some letters you experiment with your printer by printing sample letters.  The sample printing can be done through the Print Dunning Letters program.

 

For information on the printing of dunning letters within the Contact Entry program, see Section II, page 166.  For information on the printing of dunning letters from the Print Dunning Letters program, see Section V, page 753.

  

 

 

Enter Data

 

Dunning letters are added, changed, and deleted in the Dunning Letter File Maintenance program.  When entering the program, the cursor is at the following prompt.

 

Enter Procedure Type A'dd C'hange D'elete E'nd

 

 

Enter an A for add to create a dunning letter.  Enter a C to change an existing dunning letter.  Enter a D to delete a dunning letter out of the system.  Enter an E to exit the program.

 

Adding A Dunning Letter

 

Dunning Letter Number:

 

Each dunning letter that is created must be assigned a number.  The numbers can be from 1 to 999.  When printing a dunning letter, this is the number that must be input in order to print that specific letter.  LMS advises that your first letter be assigned number 1.  If a number is entered and the number has already been used, the prompt Dunning Letter Already Exists appears, and the cursor returns for re-input.  There is no Global File where the numbers are assigned.  The operator must assign the number.  Note:  There is a Dunning Letter Listing found on the Collection Report menu 4-8 which provides a printout of all of the letters that are on the system.  See Section V, page 753.

  

 

 

Enter Data  (Cont'd)

 

Adding A Dunning Letter  (Cont'd)

 

After the dunning letter number is assigned, the next step is to input the actual text of the letter.  There are 11 lines of text available per letter.  Each line of text can be up to 70 alphanumeric characters.  A blank line indicates a new paragraph.  The blank lines to indicate a paragraph are included in the 11 lines of available text.  If you want the letter to have three paragraphs, you need two blank lines leaving 9 lines for text.  The lines of text are input at the following prompts.  After text line 1 is input, the cursor continues on to text lines 2 through 11.

 

1 Text: to 11 Text:

 

A / slash to cancel or an up arrow key to go back one space can be input.  However, it must be input at the first character on the text line.  To create a new paragraph, you must leave a blank line by carriage returning at the first character on the text line.  Note:  You do not need to create a blank line on text lines 1 and 11.  The dunning letters automatically print with a space between the text and the salutation greeting and closure of the letter.  As stated earlier, each line of text can be up to 70 alpha-numeric characters.  You may design the lines of text to print in all small or capital letters.  If you want small letters in the lines of text you must turn your caps lock key off on your terminal.  You must hold the shift key down when typing in the characters that you want as capital letters.

 

12 Salutation:

 

Once the lines of text are entered, the next step is to input the desired closing salutation.  This too can be entered in small or capital letters.  If field 12 is entered in all capital letters, the dunning letter prints the salutation greeting in capital letters also.  If field 12 is in small letters, the greeting is printed in small letters.  Enter the desired punctuation, such as a : colon or , comma.  If no punctuation is entered, none is printed.  (20 Alphanumeric)

  

 

 

Enter Data  (Cont'd)

 

Adding A Dunning Letter  (Cont'd)

 

13 Name Of Sender:

 

Enter the name of the person that is sending the letter.  This should be the name of the person that the customer can contact.  This name prints on the dunning letter.  The name can be in small or capital letters. (25 Alphanumeric)

 

14 Title Of Sender:

 

Enter the title of the person that is sending the letter.  This prints on the dunning letter.  The title can be in small or capital letters. (25 Alphanumeric)

 

15 Print P'ast Due Invoices, A'll Invoices Or N'o Invoices:

 

Enter a P to include the invoices that are past due on the dunning letter.  Each time the letter is printed, the past due invoices are included on the letter.  Enter an A for all to include all invoices and transactions on the dunning letter.  Each time the letter is printed, all invoices and transactions are included on the letter.  Enter a N for no not to include any invoices or transactions on the dunning letter.  There are examples and explanations of what prints on a past due and an all invoices dunning letter.  See Section II, page 169 or page 219 or Section V, page 764.

 

16 Description:

 

When a dunning letter is selected within the Contact Activity Entry program, an inquiry can be done to view all of the available dunning letters.  The dunning letter number and this description is displayed.  Design this description to help the collection operators select which letter to send.  (30 Alphanumeric)

  

 

 

Enter Data  (Cont'd)

 

Changing A Dunning Letter

 

When a change command has been entered, the cursor is at the following prompt.

 

Dunning Letter Number:

 

 

Enter the number assigned to the letter that you want to change.  If a number is input that does not exist, the prompt Invalid Dunning Letter Number displays.  The cursor returns for re-input.  Once a valid number is entered, the data is displayed.  The cursor is at the Fld prompt.  You may enter field numbers 1 through 16.  The cursor is at the New Data: prompt.  The input at the New Data: prompt is the same as described on an add.  A / slash at Fld or New Data cancels what has been input on the entire change sequence.  The original data remains.

  

 

 

Enter Data  (Cont'd)

 

Deleting A Dunning Letter

 

When a delete command has been entered, the cursor is at the following prompt.

 

Dunning Letter Number:

 

Enter the number assigned to the letter that you want to delete from the system.  If an invalid number is input, the prompt Invalid Dunning Letter Number appears, and the cursor returns for re-input.  When a valid number is input, the data is displayed, and the cursor is at the following prompt.

 

Please Verify D'elete C'ancel

 

Enter a C to cancel the delete command.  Enter a D to delete the dunning letter.  The letter no longer exists.  The number can be used again as an add.

  

 

 

Additional Information

 

When you design the text of your dunning letters, keep in mind that these are standard letters.  The program is not designed to allow you to customize the contents of the letters for each customer.  You should not indicate within the body of the letter the actual amount that is past due or a particular invoice number.  If you wanted to do this you would have to change the letters content before printing it.  Remember:  You can assign to the letter the status of printing all past due invoices or all invoices.  The past due amount or total amount is also included after the printing of the A/R records.  The Contact Activity Entry program or Print Dunning Letters prints the specific records for each customer.

 

Also note that the Dunning Letter Listing can be printed as a file maintenance report.  This report prints all of the fields that were input in Dunning Letters File Maintenance.