The Credit Limit is a feature that allows the User to block the possibility to create bookings or add anymore costs on Projects for Clients that have been blocked, if for example invoices are outstanding or no more budget is left. It is also possible to just warn the User each time a new booking is made on a project linked to that client.
This feature isn't linked to Invoices or Budgets from a Client. It is a manual feature to block the possibility to book, add Extras or Media Orders on projects that are linked to a specific client.
1. Setup of the Credit Limit feature
a. Setup in the Server
To activate it go to Server Setup > Financial tab, and set "Client Financial Control on Project" to Yes. Then choose the behavior:
- Do Nothing: Nothing will happen
- Stop on Project: A warning message appears when trying to add a new Booking or Extra to a Project which Client has reached its credit limit, and the it is not added.
- Warn on Project: A warning message appears when trying to add a new Booking or Extra to a Project which Client has reached its credit limit, but it allows you to finally add it.
* Virtual Bookings and Budgets can still be created. This only affects Bookings, Extras, Media Orders and Work Orders added to a Project of this specific Client.
b. Setup on the Client
Go to the Client and browse to the Client Details tab. In the second column below the Discounts per Client, turn the "Financially Blocked" setting on.
In the first column, find the Credit Limit field and enter a value that farmerswife will consider from all Projects of this Client to trigger the behaviour configured in the Server, when the value is exceeded. If no value is entered, then the client is considered to be already financially blocked.
In version 6.7 we have enhanced this feature by applying it at Company level. If a Company has more than one Contact, it is enough that you change only one.
In the Advanced Contact Search, you can highlight one or more clients from the results pane, and select "Set Financially Blocked To: Yes" or "Set Financially Blocked To: No" from the drop-down menu.
There is also new search field to filter by Financially Blocked, with three states:
- disabled (by default) to not consider the field when searching;
- when ticked you can search for financially blocked clients;
- when unticked you can search for clients that are not financially blocked.
And you can also see the values under the results pane, by configuring to see Financially Blocked as a column (in drop-down menu > Edit Views).
When creating invoices, you can see if clients are financially blocked in Invoice Manager.
Similarly here, add the column "Financially Blocked" (in drop-down menu > Edit Views) and use the search filter as explained above for Contact Search.
Also here you can change the value on a specific invoice by highlighting it and selecting "Set Financially Blocked To: Yes / No".
The changes you do on an Invoice will also apply to the Contact, and viceversa.
2. Reaching Credit Limit
- Behaviour: Stop on Project
When the credit limit is reached, and the behavior is set to "Stop On Project", any new Bookings or Extras on Projects linked to this Client won't be allowed. A warning message appears: "The Client's Credit Limit Has Been Reached".
- Behavior: Warn on Project
When the credit limit is reached, and the behavior is set to "Warn On Project", each time you make new a Booking or add a new Extra on a Project linked to this Client, a warning message appears: "The Client's Credit Limit Has Been Reached". But the Booking or Extra will still be added to this Client's Projects.
- Behavior: Nothing
Nothing happens. farmerswife ignores whether a client has been financially blocked or not.
3. Stop working with the Credit Limit feature
To stop working with the Credit Limit feature per Client, just set the Financially Blocked setting off.
To stop working with the Credit Limit feature in general, disable the "Client Financial Control on Project" option on the Server.