General Information - World Most Wanted Trends: July 2014

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Professional Advantage Blog

The aging period requested must be between 1 and 7

Posted: 07 Jul 2014 04:00 PM PDT

One common question users have when creating Collection Letters which utilize the Aging Periods, is how to handle the following warning when generating their letters:

The aging period requested must be between 1 and 7.

The reason this most often occurs is that we do not yet have all the parameters entered in the Collection Letter Template:

If we go to the Collection Letters window (Cards >> Sales >> Collection Letters) and Press F1 on the keyboard, that opens up Collections Help for the window. Click on the Aging Functions value:

This gives us the parameters we need to specify which aging period we want to enter.

The number of the desired aging period should match that on the RM Receivables Setup window:

So at a very minimum we would want to include an aging bucket that we want to display in the function:

@%AgingPeriodName,7%@

If we wanted to include each aging bucket and the amount it holds, us could use a series of functions such as the following:

@%AgingPeriodName,1%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,1%@  @%AgingPeriodName,2%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,2%@  @%AgingPeriodName,3%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,3%@  @%AgingPeriodName,4%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,4%@  @%AgingPeriodName,5%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,5%@  @%AgingPeriodName,6%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,6%@  @%AgingPeriodName,7%@      @%AgingPeriodAmount,7%@

That would end up looking like the below:

Current              $40,074.02  31 - 60 Days         $21.40  61 - 90 Days         $0.00  91 - 120 Days        $0.00  121 - 150 Days       $0.00  151 - 180 Days       $0.00  181 and Over         $19,899.04

Using these function options, we can easily include a short aging report for a customer on all Collection communications!

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Professional Advantage Blog

Automatically Receive Registration Keys from Professional Advantage

Posted: 01 Jul 2014 02:43 PM PDT

Pay your Annual Enhancement Plan (AEP) before the due date and your registration keys are automatically reloaded

For customers using Collections Management and/or Company Data Archive (CDA), obtaining product registration keys is now easier than ever. There is a new automated registration service, and a button on the registration window called "Get Registration Info". These options have been included in the February and March releases of Collections Management and CDA (Click here to see how to check your version).

Process
Provided the AEP fees have been paid to Professional Advantage prior to the due date, Collections Management and CDA installs will automatically update the registration key. There is nothing more to do. AEP is sometimes referred to as for 'Update and Support' or Maintenance plan.

The way it works
7-10 days before the AEP expiration date, provided the client machine has a working internet connection, the system will poll Professional Advantage records to check if fees have been paid. If yes, then new registration keys are automatically sent and updated. This does not require any action from the end-user. Alternatively, the registration service can be manually overridden at any time by clicking the "Get Registration Info" button.

The registration service will continue to search for an updated key (within the 7-10 day period) until the AEP expiration date.

Once a customer has surpassed the AEP expiration date, they will receive a notification similar to this:

If this message is received please contact your Microsoft Dynamics partner for options going forward as you may need to renew your Professional Advantage AEP plan. Additionally, if a user clicks the "Get Registration Info" button, they may receive this message:

Again, if this message is received please contact your Microsoft Dynamics partner.

Where do I find the registration window?
As pictured below, users can easily navigate to the registration window for Collections Management (screenshot 1) Tools > Utilities > Sales > Collection Installation and Registration. For CDA, Tools > Utilities > System >Company Data Archive Registration.

Screenshot 1. Dynamics GP Navigation to the Installation and Registration Window (Collections Management):

Screenshot 2. Installation and Registration Window (Collections Management):

Which versions include the automatic registration key service?
Please refer to the table below for the versions of Collections Management and Company Data Archive that include this new feature. All newer builds going forward will also include the registration service.

How do I know what version I am running?
As pictured below, navigate to the 'About' window (screenshot 3) Tools > Setup > Sales > Collection About. For CDA, Tools > Utilities > System >Company Data Archive About. You can locate the version of your product in the lower right of the window (Screenshot 4).

Screenshot 3. Dynamics GP Navigation to the Collections 'About' Window (Collections Management):

Screenshot 4. Collections About Window (Collections Management):

Where can I download the latest version?
In order to enable this function, please download and install the latest version from the Professional Advantage website:

Collections Management Download Company Data Archive Download