Inquiry Processing

The Accounts Receivable Inquiry conversation provides access to customer credit information.  The user can display detail and summary information for open items (invoices, debit/credit memos, finance charges, and cash sales) and payments (checks, drafts, clearing transactions, and write-offs) on record for a customer.  If installments were generated or deductions recorded for any invoices, they may be inquired upon through this conversation.  In addition, customer performance information can be displayed. Only customer notes data can be added, changed, or deleted using this conversation.

Display Transaction Selection Screen

1.   Enter the Accounts Receivable Inquiry option on the Accounts Receivable Menu.  This will display the Selection screen (AR230S01).

Inquire into Customer Information

2.   To inquire into a customer's status, first enter customer data in the enterable fields on the Selection screen and press Enter.  The data entered on the Selection screen is displayed automatically on all the remaining inquiry screens.

If only a customer number is entered, the Customer Activity screen (AR230S2A) for that customer is displayed.  The Customer Activity screen is also displayed if both a customer number and company/location are entered.  You may also enter the document type and/or accounting date and/or currency code to select the transactions that will be displayed on the Customer Activity screen. 

The Open Item Detail screen (AR230S04) is displayed when a document number is entered; the Payment Applications screen (AR230S7A) is displayed when a payment is entered, even if a customer number is also entered on the Selection screen.  For a discussion of the Open Item Detail screen, see step 3, Inquire Into Open Items. For a discussion of the Payment Applications screen, see step 4, Inquire Into Payments.

In addition, two options allow you to specify whether you want to display open items only and whether you want to display installments. 

The Customer Activity screen lists in accounting date sequence all the open items and payments for a customer.  If you enter a document type, only open items and payments with that document type are listed.  If you enter an accounting date, only open items and payments after the entered accounting date will be listed.  If you specify that only open items are to be displayed, an item will be displayed only if the open or on-account balance is not equal to zero.  If you specify that Installments are to be displayed, each installment for an invoice is displayed on the screen with the total amount for that installment; otherwise, only the invoice is shown with the total amount for the invoice.

The roll keys are used to page forward (Rollup) and backward (Rolldown) through the open items and payments.  The displayed roll factor can be modified to process any number of open items and payments with each roll operation.  The roll factor is initially set to 10.  Note that if the roll factor is set larger than 10, only the last 10 open items and payments will be displayed after each roll operation.

To display the Customer Activity screen for the next customer, press F18-Next Customer.

To review an open item or payment in more detail, enter an X next to the specific open item or payment and press the Enter key.  If an open item was selected, the Open Item Detail screen is displayed.  If a payment was selected, the Payment Applications screen is displayed.  To return to the Customer Activity screen from either the Open Item Detail screen or Payment Applications screen, press the Enter key.

You can also inquire about drafts that may be applied to an open item by pressing F21 - Draft Inquiry on the Customer Activity screen.  In the Draft Inquiry conversation, you can view a list of drafts, a specific draft, and open items associated with a draft.  You may return to the Customer Activity screen from any of the Draft Inquiry screens by pressing F3 - Exit.

On the Open Item Detail screen, you may view the installments generated for open items with installments by pressing F20 - Installments.  From the Installment Detail screen, you may return to the Open Item Detail screen, view the Customer Performance screen, or return to the Select screen by pressing the appropriate command key.

Additional customer information is provided on the Customer Performance screen (AR230S03).  This screen summarizes the customer's payment history, including year-to-date information, the amount due for each aging category, and payment statistics.

To display the Customer Performance screen from the Customer Activity screen, press the Enter key. The Customer Performance screen can also be displayed from the Open Item Detail, Open Item Distribution, Open Item Applications, Customer Notes, and Payment Applications screens by pressing F7-Customer Performance. For a discussion of the Open Item Distribution and Open Item Applications screens, see step 3, Inquire Into Open Items.

To display the Customer Performance screen for the next customer, press F18-Next Customer.  Sales statistics for a customer is provided on the Sales Statistics screen (AR230S10).  This screen displays Customer Sales Statistics for the period-to-date, year-to-date, and prior year.  Sales statistics include total sales, cost of goods, gross margin percent, and number of orders.

To display the Sales Statistics screen from the Customer Performance screen, press F19.  To display the Sales Statistics screen for the next customer, press F18-Next Customer.  The Customer Performance screen is redisplayed when F7-Customer Performance, is pressed.

The amount due in each of a customer's aging categories is displayed graphically on the Customer Aging screen (AR230S08).   This screen can be displayed by pressing F11-Customer Aging, from the Customer Activity, Customer Performance Open Item Detail, Open Item Distribution, Open Item Applications, Customer Notes, and Payment Applications screens.

To display the Customer Aging screen for the next customer, press F18-Next Customer.  The Customer Performance screen is redisplayed when F7-Customer Performance, is pressed.

The Customer Notes screen (AR230S09) can be used to record up to 99 lines of customer-related information.  For example, this screen could be used to log telephone calls received from a customer.  New notes can be keyed directly onto the screen, and existing notes can be changed or deleted.  This screen can be displayed by pressing F17-Customer Notes, from the Customer Activity, Customer Performance, Open Item Detail, Open Item Distribution, Open Item Applications, and Payment Applications screens.  To end the inquiry and return to the Selection screen, press F16-Selection, from any inquiry screen.  To end the session, see step 5, End Session.

Inquire into Open Items

3.   To inquire into open items, first enter data in the enterable fields on the Selection screen and press Enter.  The data entered on the Selection screen is displayed automatically on all the remaining inquiry screens.  Open items generated from Order Processing can also be selected for inquiry.

If only a company/location is entered, the Open Item Detail screen (AR230S04) for the first open item of the selected company/location is displayed.  If only a document number is entered, the Open Item Detail screen for that open item is displayed.

The Open Item Detail screen displays the customer name, company/location name, and document number for an open item.  Selected information from the Transaction Header screen (AR230S01) from the Invoice Processing Conversation is also displayed on the Open Item Detail screen.

To display the Open Item Detail screen for the next open item for a company/location, press F6-Next Document.  To access the Sales Order Inquiry screen (OP800S01), press F23 - Sales Order Inquiry, if the invoice originated from a sales order. 

If installments were generated for the open item, you may view the Installment Detail screen (AR230S13A) by pressing F20 - Installment Detail.  From the Installment Detail screen, you may return to the Open Item Detail screen, view the Customer Performance screen, or return to the Select screen by pressing the appropriate command key.

To display the Open Item Distribution screen (AR230S5A) for the open item summarized on the Open Item Detail screen, press F10-Open Item Distribution.  This screen provides a list of the individual detail distribution line items associated with the invoice, debit/credit memo, finance charge, or cash sale.

The roll keys are used to page forward (Rollup) and backward (Rolldown) through the detail line items of an open item.  If the displayed roll factor is set larger than 10, only the last 10 records will be displayed after each roll operation.

To return to the Open Item Detail screen, press F9-Open Item Detail.

To display the Open Item Applications screen (AR230S06) for the open item summarized on the Open Item Detail screen, press F8-Open Item Applications.  This screen lists all the payment applications made against the open item.

The roll keys are used to page forward (Rollup) and backward (Rolldown) through the applications.  The displayed roll factor can be modified to process any number of applications with each roll operation.  The roll factor is initially set to 10.  Note that if the roll factor is set larger than 10, only the last 10 applications will be displayed after each roll operation.

To return to the Open Item Detail screen, press F9-Open Item Detail.

The Open Item Applications screen also can be reached from the Open Item Distribution screen.  To do this, press F8-Open Item Applications.  To return to the Open Item Distribution screen, press F10-Open Item Distribution.

To end the inquiry and return to the Selection screen, press F16-Selection, from any inquiry screen.  To end the session, see step 5, End Session.

Inquire into Payments

4.   To inquire into payments, first enter data in the enterable fields on the Selection screen and press Enter.  The data entered on the Selection screen is displayed automatically on all the remaining inquiry screens.

If only a payment is entered, the Payment Applications screen (AR230S07) for that payment is displayed.  This screen lists all the open items to which the payment has been applied.

To display the next payment for a customer, press F6-Next Payment.  If the payment displayed on the Payment Applications screen is the last payment for that customer, F6 causes the first payment for the next customer to be displayed.

If a draft was applied to the open item for payment, you can inquire about the draft by pressing F21 - Draft Inquiry.  If you press the Enter key on the Draft Inquiry Selection screen, you can view detailed information about the draft.  To view a list of open items paid by the draft, press F14 - Open Item Application.  You may return to the Payment Application screen from any of the Draft Inquiry screens by pressing F3 - Exit.

The roll keys are used to page forward (Rollup) and backward (Rolldown) through the open items to which the payment has been applied.  The displayed roll factor can be modified to process any number of open items with each roll operation.  The roll factor is initially set to 10.  Note that if the roll factor is set larger than 10 only the last 10 open items will be displayed after each roll operation.

To end the inquiry and return to the Selection screen, press F16-Selection, from any inquiry screen.  To end the session, see step 5, End Session.

End Session

5.   To end the session, press F3-Exit, from any inquiry screen.  This causes the Accounts Receivable Menu to be redisplayed.