Collections is a focused, streamlined interactive workflow for handling past-due accounts, documenting communications, and processing payments, eliminating the need to manually mark up paper printouts or switch between multiple screens. It guides you step by step in managing your payments effectively and staying informed about your business's financial health.
We have a short video that provides an overview and features, but you can also refer to this document for more details.
You can access the Collections Page from the left-hand menu in CRO Billing.
Note: If you post your invoices to QuickBooks for billing, this feature won't be available because the system works with invoices posted in CRO Billing.
The Collections Main Page
The main collections page gives you an overview of your business, identifies accounts that need attention, and starts a session for those accounts using the collections basket.
Key Metrics: View the average days past due, total number of accounts that are falling behind, and graphs that display month-over-month trends.
Accounts List: A comprehensive list of all accounts with outstanding balances and AR details.
Collections Basket: Once you decide which accounts to focus on, add them to the Collection Basket on the right-hand side, then start a focused session.
Organizing Your Workflow: "The Basket"
Instead of jumping between random accounts, you can now curate a specific "worklist" using the Collections Basket feature.
Filtering: Search for a specific customer or sort accounts by "Days Past Due" (e.g., 1–30 days, 60–90 days).
Multi-Select: Select multiple accounts simultaneously and add them to your basket.
Pending Baskets: You can create baskets for different account types (past-due 30, 90, etc.) to further organize your work and access them later. You will only see Baskets that you have created.
Taking Action: Statements & Sessions
Once your basket is ready, you have two ways to move forward:
Send Batch Statements: Provide a statement to each account and set an "As of Date" and include a note. The Note field contains a prepopulated message, but you can add on to this, or you can delete the text and add your own message. This can be the first "nudge" to everyone in your Basket, giving them a chance to bring their accounts up to date.
The message shows in the body of the email.
Start Collection Session: Click the START COLLECTIONS button to enter a focused view that steps through each account.
The Collections Basket
When you start a session, the collection screen lets you work through the list of accounts one by one and provides a focused view of each account, including its contact information and any unpaid invoices. You are now ready to react to a recent email, make a call, take a payment, and log notes for this account.
During the Call: Tools & Record Keeping
As you go through each account in your basket session, you have everything you need for a collection call on one screen:
Account Details: View the total outstanding balance and individual invoices. Each invoice is accessible by clicking its invoice number in the table. Any text in the grey bubble is clickable and allows access to more details about the data on this invoice.
In-context Data Tabs: Tabs show an account's Payment History and Collections History, allowing you to review all past payment and collection events. This allows you to reference all the data you need to discuss the state of an account and bring it up to date.
Update Details: If a customer has updated email or contact information, you can update it by clicking the location name; there's no need to navigate back to the main customer list. Once finished, refresh the page to see the updated information.
Collection Notes: Add notes during the session to build a permanent history of contact attempts and promises with more detail.
Payment Processing: You can take payments directly using either the Post Payment button or by clicking on the balance amount for each invoice. This gives you access to the familiar CRO billing screens and workflow, all without leaving the collections session. Successful payments automatically update outstanding session totals in real time.
If the account has multiple locations, you will see each location in the Post Payment button dialogue to help you identify which location has the outstanding charges.
Finalizing the Session
As you work through your basket, you can mark each account as Completed or Skip, and provide the outcome and notes for this action.
Once the last account is processed, the Complete Collections button will become active, allowing you to finish the session and return to the main page.
In the future, we will add even more features to the collections workflow as we work to make billing more powerful and easier to use.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to reach out for additional training or support.