UB> Collections
Collections
Summary
The Collections process is used to write off the balance of selected UB customer accounts and will create
an adjustment type transaction on the accounts. The Generate step (UB>
Collections> Generate) of the process is used to select the customer accounts to
process in the batch. The balance of the customer accounts will be written off
using the general ledger accounts attached to the service rates and fee codes
being written off. The Collections adjustment type code (UB> Utilities> Setup>
General tab> Collections Adjustment Type field) determines which general
ledger accounts attached to the service rates and fee codes on the customer
accounts will be used in the journal entry created by the Collections process.
The collections adjustment type code will also display on the transaction line
item created on the customer account.
After the batch has been generated, the Exceptions step (UB> Collections> Exceptions) will display the UB
customer accounts that have been selected during the Generate step but have not
been included in the Collections batch. Customer accounts with a credit balance
on a service will not be included in the Collections batch. For example, if a
customer has a balance due of $10.00 on the Water service but a $5.00 credit
balance on the Waste Water service, the customer account will not be included in
the Collections batch even if it is selected during the Generate step. If you
would like to include the account in the Collections batch, run the redistribute
credit balances process (UB> Adjustments and Fees> Redistribute Credit Balances) on the customer
account to redistribute the credit balance. For example, if the Water service
balance is $-10.00, but the Waste Water service balance is $54.00, you can
include the customer account in the Collections process by running the
redistribute credits process. The $10.00 credit balance will be used to reduce
the balance of the Waste Water service and the customer account will be included
in the Collections batch with a balance of $44.00.
The Select step (UB> Collections> Select/Update) is used to select the customer accounts included
during the Generate step. This step is generally used to remove specific UB
customer accounts from the Collections batch.
The GL Distribution report will display the journal entry created by the Collections process to write off
the balance of the UB customer accounts included in the batch. If the Collections adjustment type code is set up
as a Bill type adjustment (UB> Maintenance> Adjustment Type>
GL Type drop-down> Bill), the following journal will be created.
Description of GL Account
|
Debit
|
Credit
|
AR account attached to service rate or fee code
|
XXX
|
|
Revenue account attached to service rate or fee code
|
|
XXX
|
If the Collections adjustment type code is set up as a Cash type adjustment (UB> Maintenance>
Adjustment Type> GL Type drop-down> Cash), the
following journal will be created.
Description of GL Account
|
Debit
|
Credit
|
Cash account attached to service rate or fee code
|
XXX
|
|
AR account attached to service rate or fee code
|
|
XXX
|
The Commit step is used to commit the transactions in the batch. The day the Commit step is process will be
the post date of the transactions in the batch.
Related Links
Click here for information on the Collections setup process.
Click here for an overview of credit history.
Click here for information on the Jobs Viewer window.
Step by Step
2 Generate the collections.
- Open the Generate/Collections window (UB> Collections> Generate).
- The Generate step is used to select which customers will be included in the Collections batch.
After the Collections batch has been generated, individual accounts can be
removed from the batch using the Select/Update window (UB> Collections>
Select/Update). After the Collections batch has been generated, returning to
the Generate step and regenerating the batch will overwrite the customer
accounts already included in the batch.
- Select the cycles you would like to include in the Collections batch in the Cycles field.
- Click the Select All icon
to select all of the cycles in the Cycles field. - Click the Deselect All icon
to deselect all of the cycles in the Cycles field. - Press CTRL+A to select all of the cycles in the field. Press SPACEBAR to check or uncheck the
highlighted toggles.
- Hold down SHIFT and press an arrow key to select a range of cycles. Press SPACEBAR to check or uncheck all of the
highlighted toggles.
- Select the services you would like to include in the Collections batch in the Services
field.
- Use the same keys as above to select multiple Services.
- The balance on any service that is not included in the Collections batch will not be
included in the Collections amount.
- You can view the balance of a service on a customer account from the Account Master
Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Overview
tab> Account Balance section).
- Click the Account Number field label to include a single customer in the batch. This will open the
Account Master Search window in order to select a customer account.
- When filtering by account number, the Past Dues Batch, Account Status and Final Date filters below will be ignored.
- Click the Past Dues Batch field label to include the customer accounts in a committed
Utility Billing Past Due batch. This will open a selection window that
displays all committed UB Past Due batches.
- When filtering by Past Dues batch number, the Account Status and Final Date filters below will be ignored.
- Check the toggles of the account statuses that you would like to include in the batch in the Account Status field.
- Press CTRL+A to select all of the account statuses in the field. Press SPACEBAR to check or uncheck all
of the highlighted toggles.
- The Final Date Prior or Equal To field will only be active if Delete is selected in the Account Status field. Select a date from this drop-down menu to filter the deleted accounts included in the batch by final date.
- The Due Date Prior or Equal to field is used to filter the transactions included in the batch by due date.
- Only those transactions that have due dates that fall before or on the specified date will be included in the batch. Transactions that do not have due dates will be filtered by the other parameters on the window.
- If no date is selected, this functionality will not be used.
- The Journal Entry Date field will default to the current date. The journal entry date is
the date that the journal entries created by the Collections process will be
posted to the general ledger.
- The Journal Entry Date will also be used as the Transaction Date.
- The journal entry date is different than the Post date in the UB module. The Post Date is the
date that the transactions are committed in UB> Collections> Commit.
- The journal entry date will also display when you are creating the GL Distribution Report
during the GL Distribution step.
- Enter an amount in the Debt Greater Than field to include only customer accounts with a
balance greater than the value entered in the field. The value entered in
this field represents the minimum value of the balances that will be
included in the batch.
- Enter an amount in the Debt Less Than field to include only customer accounts with a
balance less than the value entered in the field. The value entered in this
field represents the maximum value of balances that will be included in the
batch.
- The Debt Greater Than and Debt Less Than fields can
be used together if you would like to create a range of accounts to pull in
into the batch.
- The Write off to AR field, AR Billing Cycle field and the Use AR revenue account toggle are only used when writing off the
balance of UB customer accounts to the AR module.
- Press ENTER to generate the bills immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Confirm icon
to
schedule the bills to generate at a later time.
- You cannot schedule a report to print on a date and time that has already passed. If you want the report to
print later in the evening, enter a PM in the AM/PM portion of the date field
before entering the hour.
- You can view the progress of the Generate step on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). If
the Collections batch has been scheduled to generate at a later time, you can
view the scheduled date and time in the Scheduled Date/Time
field.
- The Generate step will select the general ledger accounts used in the process. If you get to the GL
Distribution step of the Collections process and realize that the GL
accounts used on the journal entry are incorrect, you will have to rerun the
Generate step after you change to GL accounts attached to the fee code.
3 The Exceptions step displays the customer accounts not included in
the batch due to exceptions or errors. This is an optional step.
- Open the Exceptions/Collections window (UB> Collections> Exceptions). If no exceptions were
generated in the batch, an information window will open.
- The UB customer accounts that display in the Exceptions window will not be processed in the
Collections batch.
- The most common exception that will display in the window is “Found credit balance in
Service XX for the amount of XXX.” This message will display if there is a
credit balance in a service included in the Collections batch.
- This message will even display if there is a debit balance on another service on the
customer account. If the customer has a debit balance on one service and
a credit balance on another service you should run the redistribute
credits process (UB> Cash Receipts> Redistribute Credit) in order to
redistribute the credit balances on the services.
- Press ESC when complete to exit the window.
5 Print a Proof List.
- The Proof List will display all of the customer accounts included in the Collections batch and
the collection amount of each service included in the batch.
- Open the Proof List/Collections window in UB> Collections> Proof List.
- Select how you would like the report to sort and order the data in the Sort By drop-down menu.
- The Reference Number field is generally used to store the customer number from previously used
software. The reference number is set up on each customer account in UB>
Maintenance> Account> Account tab> General section> Reference Number field.
- Click the Print icon
to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time.
You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). Click here for information on the Jobs Viewer window.- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
- Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report). Click here for information on the View Reports window.
- The Proof List will display the customer information and the collections balance on each service included in the
Collections batch. The report will also include a batch total by service and a
batch total of the entire collections amount.
6 Print a Turnover report.
- The Turnover Report will display the customer information and the total amount sent to
collections. This report is typically given to an outside agency for
collection processing.
- Select how you would like to sort the information that displays on the report in the Sort By
drop-down menu.
- Select Account Number if you would like to sort the report by UB customer account
number.
- Select Reference Number if you would like to sort the report by the reference number
attached to the UB customer account.
- The Reference Number field is generally used to store the customer number from
previously used software. The reference number is set up on each customer
account (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab>
General section> Reference Number field).
- Select Last Name if you would like to sort the accounts that display on the report by
last name.
- Select which information you would like to display in the Display drop-down menu.
- Select Tenant information if you would like the tenant or primary customer information
to display on the report.
- Select Owner Information if you would like the owner attached to the lot to display
on the report.
- Select the Report Type you would like to generate.
- The Summary report will display the Account Number, Reference Number, Tenant Name, Tenant Phone Number, Tenant Mailing Address, Service Address, Social Security Number, Driver's License Number, Tax Lot, Last Bill Date, Last Bill Amount and Amount to Collections. The report also provides batch totals for Last Bill Amount and Amount to Collections.
- The Detail report will display everything included in the Summary report as well as the Service Code, Rate Code, Tax Code, Fee Code and Description for each line item.
- Check the Group details by service group toggle to group the line items on the report by the service group the services are assigned to.
- This toggle will only be enabled when generating the detailed version of the report.
- Click the Print icon
to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time.
You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). Click here for information on the Jobs Viewer window.- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
- Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report). Click here for information on the View Reports window.
7 Export the collections data.
- Generate an export file if your organizations sends collections information to a third-party agency.
- The exported collections file will include the Account Number, Account Balance, Service Code and Service Description for each account included in the batch.
- Select a Configuration for the export file.
- The Configuration drop-down menu will display the standard Springbrook export format as well as any custom export formats that have been created for the Collections process.
- Select (Standard) to generate the a basic export file based on standard Springbrook parameters.
- Custom export configurations are created and maintained on the Export Configuration Maintenance window (SS> Maintenance> Export Configuration). Click here for information on Export Configuration Maintenance.
- Please work with your third-party agency when creating and testing a custom export configuration.
- Check the Group details by service group toggle to group the line items in the export file by the service group the services are assigned to.
- The export file must be in comma-separated value (.csv) format.
- Click the Confirm icon
to export the collections data file.
8 Print a GL Distribution report.
- The GL Distribution Report will display the journal entry created by the Collections process.
The GL accounts selected by the process are determined during the Generate
step. If you would like to modify the GL account used in the transaction,
you will have to change the GL accounts attached to the fee codes and then
regenerate the Collections batch.
- The GL Distribution step will only display on the Collections palette if the General Ledger
module is set up to interface with the Utility Billing Module.
- The Journal Entry Date field will populate from the Journal Entry Date field
in UB> Collections> Generate> Journal Entry Date field. The Fiscal
Period and Fiscal Year fields will populate with the fiscal
period and year based on the journal entry date.
- The Journal Entry Date field will not be enabled. If you would like to modify
the journal entry date of the transactions in the Collections batch, you
will have to regenerate the batch and enter a new date in the Journal
Entry Date field in UB> Collections> Generate.
- Select the level of detail you want to include in the report and how it will sort in the Report
Type drop-down menu.
- The detail version of the report will display the journal entry line item on each customer account. The summary
version will only display the transactions totaled by general ledger account and
exclude the customer information.
- The detail version of the report will display the general ledger account number, customer number, service code,
rate code, description, and the debit and credit amounts. The report will also
group by fund and display a report total.
- The summary version of the report will display the net transaction on each general ledger account. The report will
display the general ledger account, general ledger account description, and the
debit and credit amount. The report will also group by fund and display a report
total.
- Select how you want to sort the information on the report.
- If you sort the report by general ledger accounts, the report will sort by general ledger accounts.
- If you sort the report by transaction type, the transactions will sort by AR adjustments and billing
adjustments. The report will also sort by general ledger account within the AR
adjustments and billing adjustments.
- Click the Print icon
to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time.
You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). Click here for information on the Jobs Viewer window.- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
- Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
- Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report). Click here for information on the View Reports window.
- The journal entry created by the process will vary depending on how the Collections adjustment
type code is set up (UB> Utilities> Setup> General tab> Collections
Adjustment Type field).
- If the Collections adjustment type code is set up as a Bill type adjustment (UB>
Maintenance> Adjustment Type> GL Type drop- down> Bill), the following journal will be created.
Description of GL Account
|
Debit
|
Credit |
AR account attached to service rate or fee code
|
XXX
|
|
Revenue account attached to service rate or fee code
|
|
XXX
|
- If the Collections adjustment type code is set up as a Cash type adjustment (UB> Maintenance> Adjustment Type> GL Type drop-down> Cash), the following journal will be
created.
Description of GL Account
|
Debit
|
Credit
|
Cash account attached to service rate or fee code
|
XXX
|
|
AR account attached to service rate or fee code
|
|
XXX
|
9 Commit the Collections batch.
- After the Proof List and GL Distribution Report have been reviewed, the Collections batch is
ready to commit. Once a Collections batch has been committed, you cannot
roll the transactions back, so make sure the transactions in the batch are
correct.
- Open the Commit window (UB> Collections> Commit).
- The Batch Number field will display the batch number of the batch being created. If you have
several open Collections batched, make sure you are committing the correct
Collections batch.
- The Journal Entry Date field will display the journal entry date entered during the
Generate step of the Collections process.
- The Fiscal Period and Fiscal Year field will populate based on
the journal entry date.
- The journal entry date cannot be modified from the Commit window. In order to change the
journal entry date, you will have to regenerate the Collections batch
and enter a different date in the Journal Entry Date field in UB>
Collections> Generate.
- Press ENTER when complete to commit the batch.
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