As a collection manager you are responsible for overseeing and optimizing the collections process. This position has several key activities within its responsibility area. You will have several collection specialists that are processing the collections, but it remains the responsibility of the collection manager to make sure that collections are being efficiently processed by setting clear objectives and providing regular feedback.
The collection manager is also responsible for developing effective collection strategies and policies and to improve processes that reduce the days of sales outstanding (DSO).
The collection manager needs to have information regarding the status of collection within the system. SAP Collections Management provides several applications to deliver that information.
From a daily perspective, the collection manager should review the Supervise Collections Worklist application. This application displays a prioritized list of the most urgent customers, for example those with the highest overdue amounts or those that have been overdue over a long time. You can also view the daily progress of the collection specialists using a range of filtering options and if needed, assign or change the assignment of collection specialists to open receivables.
The Cash Collection Tracker – Accounts Receivable application allows you to track your collection progress against due receivables for a selected period. You select a period or date, and the application displays the sums of all open invoices due in previous periods, invoices posted in previous periods that are due in the selected period, and new invoices that are both posted and due in the selected period. The sum of these due receivables forms the total target. In this application, the information is focuses more on an accounts receivable perspective without regards to any collections management segments.
This application will allow you to view the amount collected in the period, the amount collected as a percentage of the total target, and the outstanding amount due. You can use an As of Date filter to limit the results. You can also show the results by Company Code, Accounting Clerk or By Top 10 Customers.
The Cash Collection Tracker – Collections Management application allows you to track your collection progress against due receivables for a selected period. You select a period or date, and the application displays the sums of all open invoices due in previous periods, invoices posted in previous periods that are due in the selected period, and new invoices that are both posted and due in the selected period. The sum of these due receivables forms the total target. In this application, the information is focuses more on an collections management perspective using values such as Collection Group.
This application will allow you to view the amount collected in the period, the amount collected as a percentage of the total target, and the outstanding amount due. You can use an As of Date filter to limit the results. You can also show the results by Collection Group, Collection Specialist, Collection Profile, Collection Segment, Collection Strategy, and Customer.
The Collection Process application is an analytical application that displays the KPI Collection Progress. You can view the overall process from the customers and collection progress for different collection specialists and collection groups. You can see the percentage of the accumulated promise to pay amount since the last generation of the collection worklist, against the total amount to be collected. You can also see the collection progress for different collection specialists or collection groups.
The Promises to Pay application is an analytical application that displays the KPI Promises to Pay as of today. You can view promised amounts in different periods as well as overdue payment promises and broken promises according to company code, customer, country and region of the customer, and collection specialist. This can be viewed as a chart or a table and you can drill down by days, the Top 10 Customers with the highest promised amounts, collection specialist, and broken promises.
The main KPI that is featured in this tile is the total amount of open promises as of today. You can use the application to check the open promises within a specific period in the future or you can check open promises that are overdue. You can customize up to three periods for the promises to pay you want to view. You can also customize the display currency which all amounts are then converted by an exchange rate.
An additional reporting area is the SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). SAC will use real-time insights into SAP Collections Management. The data is used in this application is based on live data access, so data replication is not needed. This application can visualize the data in different formats such as bar charts, column charts, and tables.
There are two tabs available in this application, Collection Progress and Promise to Pay. This application can answer questions like:
- What is the collectable amount?
- Who is responsible for the collection process?
- What outstanding invoices are promised and for when?
- Are there any broken promises to pay?
As the collection manager, you have several reports and analysis to be able to effectively manage the collections process and to review and adjust the needed tasks to efficiently collect outstanding invoices.