Use this page to configure payment controls, define overdue follow-up actions, process follow-up work, and troubleshoot the messages and conditions that stop the work.
Payments and follow-ups
Payments record liquidity movements. Follow-up levels define actions for invoices that pass their due date, and manual follow-ups help you assign and clear the next action for an overdue account.
| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Review or control a payment | Configure and control payments |
| Define overdue steps and actions | Configure follow-up levels and actions |
| Review overdue accounts | Process overdue follow-ups |
| Diagnose a blocked action | Troubleshoot payment and follow-up work |
| Continue with user-facing work | Payments and follow-ups |
| Configure customers, invoices, and related invoicing surfaces | Customers, products, and invoices |
| Configure online payment providers or reconciliation | Payments, providers, and reconciliation |
| Work with broader reports and audit tasks | Reports and audit work |
Before changing a record, review the prerequisites below.
Before you start
Prerequisites
- Know whether the payment is in draft or posted state.
- Have the follow-up plan and overdue actions that your company uses.
- Know which company the follow-up plan belongs to when working in a multi-company setup.
- Have access to the Accounting payment and follow-up areas.
- Decide whether the action only records or prints information, or whether it sends an email or generates a letter.
With these conditions identified, open Accounting to find the work.
Find the payment or follow-up work
Use this procedure when you need to reach one of the payment or follow-up surfaces.
Prerequisites
- You have access to Accounting.
Steps
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Open Accounting.
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Select the destination that matches your work.
If you need to… Select Review payments Payments Define overdue levels Follow-up Levels Review overdue accounts Do Manual Follow-Ups Run the follow-up batch Send Letters and Emails Review follow-up results Follow-ups Analysis
Result: The selected payment or follow-up surface opens.
Use the next section to identify the areas and actions on that surface.
Recognize the screens
Use these areas to locate the controls for payment setup, overdue actions, manual assignments, and follow-up analysis.
Payment form
The payment form groups payment direction, partner, amount, date, memo, journal, payment method, bank account, and destination-journal information. The payment actions include:
| Payment area | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Payment direction | A radio control for the payment type and a choice between customer and vendor context |
| Amount and date | The payment amount, currency where multi-currency access applies, and payment date |
| Journal and method | The journal and payment method used for the payment |
| Bank account | Customer, vendor, or company bank-account choices under their conditions |
| Internal transfer | A destination journal when the payment is an internal transfer |
| Header actions | Confirm, Reset To Draft, Cancel, Request Cancel, Mark as Sent, and Unmark as Sent |
Follow-up level and step forms
In a follow-up step, select Manual Action, Send an Email, or Send a Letter or Email. Selecting an action exposes its related group, such as a responsible person, an email template, or the letter and email introduction.
Manual follow-ups and analysis
The manual follow-up surface lists accounts with amounts due and overdue. A partner's Payment Follow-up area contains the responsible person, next-action date, next action, note, and unreconciled transaction history. Follow-ups Analysis is the analysis destination for follow-up lines, dates, and balances.
After locating the surface, choose the procedure that matches the work.
Configure and control payments
Use this procedure to work with a payment according to its state and direction.
Prerequisites
- Open a payment from Payments.
- Use a draft payment for draft-only changes.
Steps
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In the left group of the payment form, select the radio control below the internal-transfer option.
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Select the applicable customer or vendor context.
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Select the journal and payment method for the payment.
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If the payment is an internal transfer, select its destination journal.
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Choose the action that matches the payment state.
If the payment is… Select A draft that is ready to post Confirm A draft that must be abandoned Cancel Posted and ready to be marked as sent through the manual payment method Mark as Sent Posted, manual, and already marked as sent Unmark as Sent Posted and subject to a cancellation request Request Cancel Eligible to return to draft under the available account permission Reset To Draft -
If the payment method requires a bank account, select the applicable bank account before confirming the payment.
Result: The payment remains in the state selected by the action, or the payment form remains available for the next permitted action.
If payment work is complete, continue with follow-up-level setup.
Configure follow-up levels and actions
Use this procedure to define what happens as an invoice becomes more overdue.
Prerequisites
- Open Follow-up Levels.
- Know the overdue-day points and the action used at each point.
Steps
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Open the follow-up level you need to configure.
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Select the action that applies to the step.
If the step needs to… Select Assign work to a person Manual Action Send an email Send an Email Use letter or email introduction text Send a Letter or Email -
Complete the group that appears for the selected action.
Selected action Group to complete Manual Action Manual-action responsible person and note Send an Email Email template Send an Email or Send a Letter or Email Letter or email introduction -
Repeat the action choice for each overdue step in the level.
Result: The follow-up level contains the selected actions for each overdue step. When a customer has more than one overdue invoice, the actions for the most overdue invoice are used.
With the level configured, continue to process overdue follow-ups.
Process overdue follow-ups
Use this procedure to review overdue accounts and choose the appropriate follow-up action.
Prerequisites
- Open Do Manual Follow-Ups.
- Have a follow-up level configured for the current company before running the batch.
Steps
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Open an overdue account.
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Review the Payment Follow-up area.
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Enter or review the next action and its date.
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Choose the action that matches the work.
If you need to… Action Clear a completed next action Select ⇾ Mark as Done Print an overdue-payment report Select Print Overdue Payments Send an overdue email Select Send Overdue Email Run the configured follow-up level Open Send Letters and Emails, then select Send emails and generate letters
Warning: Send Overdue Email and Send emails and generate letters can send or generate external communication. Use them only when the follow-up is ready for real processing.
Result: The selected account action is recorded, printed, or prepared for follow-up processing. Email and letter actions are external communication; do not select them during a read-only test.
If an action stops, use the troubleshooting table next.
Troubleshoot payment and follow-up work
Use the first column to match the message or symptom on screen, then apply the corresponding action.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
The selected payment method requires a bank account but none is set on the destination journal. | The selected payment method requires a bank account for the destination journal. | Choose the applicable bank account, then continue. |
Your description is invalid, use the right legend or %% if you want to use the percent character. | The follow-up description uses an invalid legend or percent character. | Correct the description placeholders or escape a percent character as %%. |
The partner does not have any accounting entries to print in the overdue report for the current company. | There are no accounting entries available for the current company’s overdue report. | Review the partner’s accounting entries and current-company selection. |
There is no followup plan defined for the current company. | The current company has no follow-up plan. | Configure a follow-up level before printing or processing follow-ups. |
Overdue email sent to %s | An overdue email activity message is recorded with a recipient value. | Review the partner’s follow-up history. |
Printed overdue payments report | An overdue payment report activity message is recorded. | Review the partner’s follow-up history. |
%s email(s) sent | The follow-up result summary reports sent email messages. | Review the result summary before continuing. |
%s email(s) should have been sent, but %s had unknown email address(es) | Some intended recipients have no known email address. | Review the affected accounts and their email addresses. |
%s letter(s) in report | The result summary reports letters in the report. | Review the generated report. |
%s manual action(s) assigned: | The result summary reports assigned manual actions. | Review the responsible people and next actions. |
%s partners have no credits and as such the action is cleared | Follow-up actions were cleared for partners with no credits. | Review the affected partners before assigning a new action. |
Follow-up letter of will be sent | A follow-up letter activity message is recorded. | Review the follow-up result before continuing. |
| The requested screen opens the Apps/theme screen instead | The route did not reach the intended payment or follow-up surface. | Return to Accounting and select the destination from the navigation table. |
The wizard shows Session Expired | The wizard session ended before the screen could be used. | Sign in again and reopen Send Letters and Emails. |
After resolving the problem, return to the procedure that matches the work.
Know what happens next
After configuring or processing payments and follow-ups, continue according to the work that remains:
- For customer, invoice, and related invoicing administration, open Customers, products, and invoices.
- For online payment providers and reconciliation, open Payments, providers, and reconciliation.
- For broader reports and audit work, open Reports and audit work.
- For user-facing payment and follow-up procedures, open Payments and follow-ups.
- For cross-feature remedies, open Common issues and solutions.
- For escalation guidance, open Getting help.
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