Unlike 'Mail Statements' (see below) this function will send one letter for each outstanding Invoice (though the Labels and/or Envelopes can make use of the 'Companies Only' check box). The letters can have Invoice fields etc included within them and the Enterprise variables listed below.
The selection of Invoices and the letters that go with them is decided by the Credit Stages. These are set up on the Accounts menu in the Data Manager - please refer to the System Admin chapter on the Data Manager for more details. Briefly, you can set up Credit Stages (one might, for example, be 31-60 days), associate a letter with each stage and set up a sequence of stages.
You are first asked if you want to use the auto-selection method:
If you do, click [Required] and Enterprise goes through each Credit Stage checking if there are any Invoices due within the number of days set up for each Stage and now due for the next chasing letter. When each letter is printed (using the Document Code set up for the Credit Stage), as well as recording it in the Diary, the system updates the relevant Invoice from its current Stage to that Stage's 'Next Stage' in the Sequence. For example, an invoice currently in the Credit Stage 31-60 days will be moved to the next stage of 61-90 days. Obviously if the Next Stage is blank, then this ends the Sequence.
If you do not want to use the auto-selection method, click [Other] and the Sales Invoices More Choices dialogue box will appear, enabling you to make your own selection.
As with all Mailing functions, once you have made your selection, you will need to complete the Print Requirements dialogue box before printing the letters. Especially if you have clicked the [Required] button above, it is recommended that you leave the Letter Code field on this dialogue box at its default setting of "AUTO" as this means that the letters set up for the credit stages will be used. Altering "AUTO" to a letter code will ensure that the letter code takes priority.
A further dialogue box offers you the choice of printing multiple invoices per page (ie listing the invoices with a total in the traditional statement format) or single invoice per page (which effectively reprints the invoices themselves).
Documents printed using 'Payments Chasing' can utilise the Enterprise variables listed in the 'Mail Companies' section with some additions and only if you are printing multiple invoices per page. The variable «vOurRef» will be made up of the Company Code of the addressee company and the Document Code, separated by a dash. In addition, the following variables can be used—
«vInvoiced» Contains the Total Invoiced as on the Statement.
«vPaid» Contains the Total Payments made on the Invoices listed.
«vDue» Contains the Total Due amount.
«v91» Contains the Due Amount of the oldest debt period. Normally, this will be greater than 90 days, but will depend on the Ageing Periods set in the Sales section of Preferences.
«v61» Contains the Due Amount of the second oldest debt period (ie debts between 60 and 90 days old).
«v31» Contains the Due Amount of the second youngest debt period (ie debts between 30 and 60 days old).
«v0» Contains the Due Amount of the youngest debt period (ie debts up to 30 days old).
«vInvoices» Contains each invoice on its own line. Each line contains the Invoice Number, Invoice Date and Total Due, separated by Tabs if you are using 4D Write or commas if not. The Tab characters can be used to aid formatting in 4D Write.
If you have 4D Write, you can ensure that financial references such as «vDue» appear in the correct format (with a £ and two decimal places) by using the expression
«vDue;|Accounts».
Having inserted the expression using the 'Insert 4D Expression…' function on the Word Processor's Database menu, highlight the expression and use the 'Format…' function, again on the Word Processor's Database menu.