View reminders via outstanding items

You can consult reminder details from the outstanding items. You can view the reminder number, the number of reminders and all sent reminders, which gives you an immediate overview if a debtor calls about a reminder.

View reminders via outstanding items

You can view reminders from the properties of the associated outstanding items.

To view the reminders from outstanding items:

1. Go to: Financial / Debtor / Debtor.
2. Open the properties of the debtor.
3. Go to the tab: Outstanding items.

   Instead of using the above procedure, you can also open an outstanding item by selecting Financial / Debtor / Overview / Outstanding items.

4. Open the properties of the invoice..
5. Go to the tab: General.

   On the General tab you can see the most important totals and various fields relating to reminders, collection and automatic payments. Any change in these settings of course affects the relevant processes.

   • The Number of reminders field contains the number of reminders that have already been printed. Based on this, Profit selects the next ('stricter') reminder layout.
   • The Remind check box is selected if you want to send reminders for this outstanding item.
6. Go to the tab: Entries.

   This tab contains all the entries, both the original entry of the invoice and any payments. To view only payments, go to the Payments tab.

7. You can add your own notes on the Remark tab.
8. Go to the tab: Dossier.

   This tab contains the digital history of the outstanding item. The power of the dossier increases if you digitalise all the documents concerning the invoice and record them in Profit. For example, you can scan incoming documents and record and add them as a dossier item. You can add your own documents directly via Profit, for example by using the document generator.

9. Go to the tab: Reminders.

   This tab contains all the sent reminders, so you immediately have all details at hand if a debtor calls about a reminder.

   The Print reminder letter action enables you to quickly print a reminder. However, this will always be based on the current data recorded in Profit. For example, if you received a partial payment after the last reminder, this partial payment will be processed in the new reminder. This means that it will not match the reminder received by the debtor.

Increase the number of reminders

If you want to increase the Number of reminders field, Profit may display the following message: 'Number of reminders cannot be increased'. This field cannot always be increased for invoices (e.g. if they have been imported). This is not possible, because you are not allowed to skip any reminders. Often a reminder refers to earlier reminders, which in that case would not exist.

If you have just started using Profit, then the reminders can only be increased correctly if your previous reminder system (in your previous software package) can be synchronised with the Profit method. If the previous package does not synchronise and you still want to increase the Number of reminders, you can do the following:

1. Add a reminder run which includes all the invoices for which you have sent a reminder at least once in your previous software package and which must now be incremented by one.
2. Finalise the reminder run for printing/e-mailing the reminders:
   • If e-mailing, make sure the e-mail messages are created physically, but are blocked on the exchange server/e-mail, meaning that temporarily the outgoing e-mail is blocked and deleted. Your system administrator can arrange this for you.
   • When printing, you can choose to send this to a physical printer. However, make sure that the printing itself does not actually take place.

For example, if an invoice has had two reminders, you will need to create a 2nd reminder run, etc.

Number of reminders

It can happen that the Number of reminders field of the outstanding items does not correspond with the number of reminders on the Reminders tab. This situation can occur if you select the Include non-expired invoices also check box when generating a reminder run: in that case all invoices of the debtor in question are included in the reminder run. Thus if a debtor has one overdue invoice, Profit will also include other invoices (that are not overdue) in the reminders (if the debtor has multiple open invoices).

• The reminders are sent at debtor level and both the reminders and the dossier can be found by selecting Financial / Debtor / Debtor, Debtor properties, Dossier tab.
• These dossiers can also be found by going to Financial / Debtor / Debtor, Debtor properties, Outstanding items tab, Invoice properties, Reminders  tab.

The lines of the dossier created at the debtor level can be found on the Reminders tab. A dossier is not created per invoice.

Example: 

There are four lines for an invoice on the Reminders tab, making it seem as if four reminders have been sent. This is however not the case:

• When a reminder is sent for an invoice that is actually overdue, it gets a new line (at the debtor level) with the number of reminders set to 1.
• The number of times on this tab may stem from other invoices, because although there may have been 4 reminders for this invoice, it may have been included on reminders of invoices that were not yet due.

Last reminder

Outstanding items that have had a last reminder are not included in the following reminder for outstanding items for which reminders still have to be sent.

When an outstanding item has had a last reminder, Profit assumes that you write it off as a loss or place it with a collection agency. You can notify the debtor of this in the last reminder letter. For this reason, the outstanding items are no longer included in another reminder.

If you want to continue sending reminders for outstanding items or for them to be included in the reminder run, then you need to add a new (fourth line) reminder line to the reminder set via Financial / Management / Settings, tab Remind / Reminder set properties / tab Line. For example, use 999 days for this line. If you specify for the reminder run that past due invoices (the outstanding item with 5 reminders is still not past due for the 6th reminder) should be included, then the reminder is included on the reminder for an outstanding item that is due.

Also see

• Reminders
• View outstanding items
• View invoices