Adding, editing, or copying the specific contact times for an account

Menu 5.1

The Collector System allows you to set specific dates and times users can contact a customer. You can set up a specific contact times for each type of contact. For example, you may need to set different contact times for a customer's home phone number and their employer phone number.

• Preferred Contact Times—You can set the dates and times users may have the most success in reaching a customer. For example, a customer may tell your agency that the best time to reach them is at home after 6 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can set the specific contact times for the home phone for those days and times.

The Collector System allows you to copy and apply the same contact time specifications from one contact type to another. For example, if you have a preferred contact time window set up for the home phone, you can copy and apply the same contact time specifications to the other phone numbers for the account.

The preferred contact times are specific to an account only. This is important because a desk may also include an earliest and latest call time window for all the accounts assigned to the desk.

A desk's earliest and latest call time window always supersedes the preferred contact times for an account. The only exception is if an account contact type is flagged as Do Not Contact (DNC), which supersedes all contact time specifications.

For example, an account for a customer, Sam Marsen, is assigned to the Lake Assets general collections desk. This desk has an earliest call time of 8 AM and a latest call time of 6 PM. Sam tells Lake Assets that the best time to reach him is at home from 7:30 to 11:30 AM. When a Lake Assets collector assigned to the general collections desk attempts to contact Sam at home between 7:30 and 7:59 AM, The Collector System warns the collector not to call the account because the time is outside of the allowable contact times for the desk. For more information, see Creating or changing collector or support desks.

To add, edit, or copy the specific contact times for an account:

1. Open an account in the Collector screen.
2. At the CMD prompt, type PC, and press Enter:
3. In the Personal Contacts screen, navigate to the Value field to set the call window for. For more information, see The Personal Contacts screen.
4. To set the preferred contact times, type /TP.

5. For existing contact time specifications, at the CMD prompt, do the following:

   Edit specific contact times

   Type ED, and press Enter.

   Copy the specific contact times from this contact type and apply it to another contact type

   1. Type APPLY, and press Enter.
   2. In the Unrestricted contacts fields window, select the contact fields to apply the contact time specifications to, and press Enter or click Ok.

6. In the Preferred Contact Times window, for each field, do the following:

   Beginning Date

   Type the date that the restriction begins for contacting the customer, and press Enter.

   Ending Date

   Do one of the following:

   • To end the contact times on a specific date, type the date, and press Enter.
   • To apply the contact times for the life of the account, leave the field blank, and press Enter.
   Time1 Start

   Type the first start time to contact the customer, and press Enter.

   You can enter time in different ways:

   • Type a number between 0 (12:00AM) and 24 (12:00PM)
   • Type + or - followed by a whole number between 0 and 12. The number you enter either add or subtracts the time relative to 12:00 Noon. (For example, type -4 for 8:00 AM.)
   • Type the time in hh:mm format, followed by A for AM and P for PM
   • Type the time in military format
   End

   Type the time that the restriction ends for contacting the customer, and press Enter.

   Time2 Start

   Type the second start time to contact the customer, and press Enter.

   End

   Type the time that the restriction ends for contacting the customer, and press Enter.

   Allowable Days

   In the Allowable Days window, select the days to contact the customer, and press Enter or click Ok.

   Comment

   Type any free-form notes relevant to the contact time window, and press Enter.

7. At the Save Contact Times change prompt, do the following:
   • To save the changes, press Enter or click Yes.
   • To exit the routine without saving your changes, click No.
   • To return to the Preferred Contact Times window and continue making changes, click Cancel.
8. At the CMD prompt, press Enter.
9. To save your changes to the account, type # in any field, and press Enter.
10. At the OK to file prompt, do one of the following:
    • To save your changes, press Enter or click Yes.

      • If the account is part of a packet, at the Apply These Updates to Packet Members? prompt, do one of the following:

        Apply the changes to all of the members of the packet

        Type Y, and press Enter.

        Apply the changes to only this account

        Press Enter, or type N and press Enter.

        Select the accounts to apply the changes to

        1. Type S, and press Enter,
        2. The Ok To Update? prompt displays for each member of the packet. To update the packet member, type Y, and press Enter; otherwise, press Enter, or type N and press Enter. Repeat for each member of the packet.
    • To exit without saving your changes, click No.

    • To keep your changes and return to the Personal Contacts screen, click Cancel.

      If you click Cancel, your changes in the Preferred Contact Times window will remain until you save the changes in the Personal Contacts screen.