Statements

From FloristWiki

Contents 1 Required Setups for Faxing and Emailing Statements 2 Configurations Required for Emailing Statements 2.1 Configuration Required for Faxing 3 Configuration for a Smooth Billing Process 3.1 Selecting the Preferred Billing Method for a Customer (Email, Fax, and/or Printed Statement) 4 Procedures 5 User Interface

To print, fax, or, email statements to your customers, you must generate them in your system first. You can generate statements for multiple billing cycles at once. Your system then gives you printing/faxing/emailing options and prints/sends the statements for you.

NOTE: Make sure that before you generate statements, you select the cover letters/templates to use, the time the faxes/email messages should be sent, and specify a reply email address. You are not be allowed to fax or email statements if you do not have cover letters selected for your email messages/faxes. You must also specify a reply email address. See Fax Screen and Email Screen to learn how to set up this information.

To fax or email statements to your customers, you must complete a few configurations in FTD Mercury. After your system is set up, the process is very simple because faxes and email messages are sent to your customers automatically from FTD Mercury when you generate statements—you don’t even need to access a fax machine or open your email account.

Required Setups for Faxing and Emailing Statements

Configurations Required for Emailing Statements

To email statements, you must complete the following setups:

• Set up your ISP information in Mercury Administration. If you do not already have access to the Internet, you have to sign up with an ISP company. You can do this on your own, or the Mercury Technology Assistance Center can help you (you can sign up with FTD’s ISP service, FTD InternetLink). An ISP is a company that provides you with the software or access information that enables your computer to connect to the Internet. If you can connect to the Internet, you are already using an ISP.
  After signing up with an ISP, you must set up FTD Mercury with your Internet and outgoing mail server information for that ISP. See Internet Screen and MailServer Screen to learn how to set up this information.
• Set up your default email settings in Mercury Administration. You are not allowed to email statements until you select a cover letter and specify a reply address for your email messages. Also, there are many other defaults that you can set up. See Email Screen for more information.

Configuration Required for Faxing

NOTE: Faxing is not supported in Mercury Connect.

• Set up the phone line in Mercury Administration. To send a fax, you need a phone line

available. (To avoid busy phone lines, you can specify a “later” time for sending faxes, when your shop is less busy. See Fax Screen.) Decide which phone line will be used for faxes, then specify this phone line in the Phone Lines Screen in Mercury Administration.

• Set up your default fax settings in Mercury Administration. You are not allowed to fax statements until you select a cover letter for your faxes. Also, there are many other defaults that you can set up. See Fax Screen for more information.

Configuration for a Smooth Billing Process

• Collect customers’ email addresses and fax numbers. It is impossible to send faxes or email messages to customers without the customers’ fax numbers and email addresses saved in their accounts. (This is an ongoing process – you can continue to print statements for customers that do not have email addresses or fax numbers saved in the system.)
• Select the preferred billing method for each customer. By default, each customer is selected to print statements only, so if you want to fax or email statements to customers instead, you have to change these settings for each customer based on the customer’s preferences.

Selecting the Preferred Billing Method for a Customer (Email, Fax, and/or Printed Statement)

After you enter a customer’s fax and email addresses, the next step is to indicate whether the customer wants to receive statements by mail, email, or fax (or any combination of these methods). You indicate this information in the House Account tab of the Customer Detail Information window (on the FTD Mercury Main Menu, in the Search area, click Customer, locate the account and select it, then click the House Account tab).

At the bottom of the window, check any of these options for the customer. When an option is checked, it is true (for example, the customer above only receives statements by fax and email).

You can check any combination of the the following:

• Print Statements to print statements to mail to the customer.
• Print Invoices to print invoices at the same time as statements for the customer.
• Fax Statements to send a fax statement to the customer automatically when statements are generated.
• Email Statements to send an email statement to the customer automatically when statements are generated.
• Print Dunning Messages to include a dunning message (as configured in Mercury Administration) on the statement.

When you are finished, click Save to save your changes. If required, enter your employee name, password, and optionally any notes in the Audit Trail window and click OK. Click Escape to exit the window.

Procedures

• Generating Statements
• Searching for Statements
• Generating Invoices
• Performing Invoice Billing
• Deleting Finance Charges
• Renaming Billing Cycles
• Collecting Email/Fax Information
• Selecting the Preferred Billing Method for a Customer (Email, Fax, and/or Printed Statement)
• Accessing the HouseAccount Screen
• Setting Up House Account Defaults
• Generating Aged Analysis Reports
• Preventing Charges on House Accounts

User Interface

• Invoice Billing Window
• Generate Statements Window
• Output Statements Window
• View Statements Window
• Statement Search Window
• Finance Charges Window
• Aged Analysis Report Window
• House Account Tab in the Customer Detail Information Window
• HouseAccount Screen in Mercury Administration