Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Hi,
I'm not sure how this would work, but am putting it out there as an idea.
We have particular customers/businesses that have accounts with us that need to be checked and sent a particular way to their accounts department. I feel like I am constantly reminding staff, especially new staff, not to finalise these invoices, to just leave them in progress.
Is there any way we can make specific clients have a pop-up alert before finalising with a message to say 'Stop - do not finalise this account unless checked by management first' or similar.
Alternatively is there a way to block finalalising an account or blocking an account from being finalised (and only finalised if log in is an admin etc).
Thanks,
Greta
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Just generally I would like to see this concept extended further. There are multiple places where a large pop up alert should be able to be configured that stops progression without accepting an alert.
- E.g. When a client file is accessed and there is a high level alert (e.g. Abusive clients)
- E.g. Your situation
- E.g. Patient medical record when allergies are present
So yes - while we don't have need for this particular alert there are other situation such a system is in my mind necessary.
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Humm - I have a different take on this. The system already has a customer alert and a customer account type facility. We make extensive use of these to indicate how the customer should be treated/processed. Here is the left panel part for our test customer ZZ Test:
The Gold Customer is part of our ranking system (Platinum/Gold/Silver) for ranking customers by the amount they have purchased in the last 180 days.
Email Invoice says this customer wants their invoices emailed to them.
CC Autopay says that this is a Creature Comforts (the house call arm of the business) customer and we have authority to bill the customer's credit card without seeking further authorisation from them.
The first two are normal customer alerts, the last is set because the customer's account type is 'Creature Comforts Autopay'.
Hence we use the alerts in the left panel to inform staff as to how the customer should be treated/processed.
Greta - in your case I would be tempted to create a customer account type - say "Greta to Finalise", and an associated "Greta to Finalise" customer alert and change all your customers who need this special processing to have this customer account type.
Regards, Tim G
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Hi Tim,
I think the problem for us (and I suspect for Greta as well) is one of degree. We use alerts. However they are IMO and IME not nearly intrusive enough to change behavior. Particularly for casual staff who are not used to looking for them.
For really critical alerts we would like a popup system or something that blocks workflow and requires acknowledgement before proceeding.
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Ahh - the nanny state again ;-)
OK - lets think about a possible design.
The obvious trigger is the customer and patient alert. ie if the customer does not have the 'Check with Management' alert set, then finalising the invoice does not bring up the warning message.
So it looks as though we need a new lookup (or type), 'Warning Message'. Fields are:
- customer/patient alert (eg 'Check With Management')
- message text (eg 'Check with management before proceeding')
- trigger event (eg 'finalise custom account transaction')
The available trigger events would be:
- finalise customer account transaction
- open customer workspace
- open patient workspace
and perhaps others.
Note that this feels too intrusive to me (eg as one flicks back and forth between the customer and patient work spaces, the open customer/patient workspace will come up if appropriate). I suspect that one would want a 'do not show this message again for this customer/patient' checkbox. I also suspect that you might want the warnings not to be shown for users with category administrator.
Regards, Tim G
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Hi,
I think the way to stop it being too intrusive is:
- A checkbox that says "Acknowledged - Do not remind me again today". Person selects this and then for that logged in user no further trigger events lead to a popup that day.
- Administrator warnings - Perhaps can be user selectable. I as admin need to know who is a violent/rude customer or who is a VIP as well!
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Adrian - I think that you need to refine the "Acknowledged - Do not remind me again today" facility specification:
a) "today" get v. hairy (what happens if you log off). Best to forget the setting at the end of the session.
b) "no further trigger events" - don't you mean for this customer/patient/event. If both Fido and Butch are aggressive, and you bring up Fido and turn off the warning, don't you want to be warned when you switch to Butch?
Regards, Tim G
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Hi,
a) I guess for some warnings we just need a warning when we first log into that client in a while. E.g. a client warning for a bad debtor or rude client. As long as I have seen it that day - then I probably don't need to be re-reminded later in the piece. So log off not an issue. As long as it is seen and acknowledged in order for it not to be too intrusive being "silenced" until the next day (for that user) seems a reasonable middle ground.
b) Other warnings - e.g. aggressive client or patient yes - probably should not have the option to be silenced and should be presented whenever you hit that patient in a particular session.
Re: Stopping particular clients invoices from being finalised
Hi everyone,
Late to the party but our clinic would prefer if we could restrict invoice finalisation for given customers to a user with a specific user role.
Personally I am in favour of any solution that decreases clicks. A disabled Print/Finalise button for anyone without the required role would prevent the click. (I'd personally do the same for the Reverse button).
I like disabling as a method of communication re functionality. Ie.This exists, but not for you.
Disabled buttons, not so much a Nanny, rather an excellently labelled brick wall. :-)
Matt