Probably one of the best features to be released as part of Dynamics AX 2012 is the new collection functionality.

Previously in Dynamics AX 2009 – we had over 14 forms to perform the function that 1 form fills today.  Additionally from the one collections screen we can access over 30 other features and functionality including but not limited to:

• Customer aging by aging bucket
• View transactions making up the aging
• Create Cases to track outstanding balances & communications with the customer
• Create Actions, Appointments, Events and Appointments and sync with Outlook
• Perform Write-offs / Settlements
• Generate Collection Letters and Calculate Interest
• View customer statistics to assist in better decision making
• Mark items for dispute
• Attach document
• Create Reimbursements
• Add customers to customer pools and view only appropriate collections for each agent

The new collections functionality can be found in the Accounts Receivable –> Common –> Collections area of Dynamics AX 2012.

Let’s dive into some of the features;

Main Collections Screen

The main collections screen gives an overview of all customers and their related AR balances.

You have the ability to define “Pool’s” which is useful when you have different collection agents responsible for certain customers.  To avoid having to filter through all customer records they can select their “Pool” and view the appropriate customers.  See the next section on how to set this up

From the main screen much like the rest of AX 2012 you can perform related actions to the current customer.

Collection Pools & Collection Agents Setup

To setup the Customer Pool’s you can go to: Accounts Receivable –> Setup –> Collections –> Customer Pools

On the right side of the form – you can select the pool criteria to define which customers belong to the customer pool.  You can do this by sales district, customer number or other customer master specific criteria.

Once your pool’s are defined you can assign the customer pool’s to Collections Agents via the following path Accounts Receivable –> Setup –> Collections –> Collection Agents

Collections Details

When you double click on any customer record on the main collections screen you are presented with a list of transactions that make up their aging as shown below;

Changing the Status of the Collection

One of the columns on the grid is something called “Collections Status”.  The collections status can be changed by clicking on the “Change Status” button.

Once you select the Change Status for the one of the lines you can change it to:

• Not Disputed (Default)
• Disputed
• Promised to Pay
• Resolved

Attached to each of these status’s you can also define reason codes, which are user definable as to why you are setting that status.

The “Create Action” flag will log an “Action” in the transaction log against the collection item. This will record that the status was changed and log the date/time and responsible person into the activities log.

To view the activities log click on the Activities button on the “Collect” tab of the ribbon bar along the top.

Creating a Case Related to this Collection

To create a case against a collection transaction you can click on the “Assign to Case” button on the main grid.

You then have the option to Assign the Case to an existing Case or create a new case.  In this case we will create a case to following dispute of a transaction.

Once the case is created, you can specify the customer contact as well as the responsible person in your organization for following up on this case.

A description of the case is provided and a case number is automatically geneated and can be provided to the customer for reference purposes.  A specific case process can also be assigned to automatically create a workflow for certain case types.

We will discuss cases in a future blog post as they can be used anywhere in the system.

Stay tuned for Part II of the collections process in the next week where we will continue our exploration of the case functionality.