Automatic Dispute Case Correspondence

When customers take deductions from the amount they need to pay, we can create a dispute case in dispute management to analyze and settle the disputed amount.  If the dispute case information is sent to the customer in time we can expect the disputed amount at earliest. So the dispute case correspondence is very importance for the effective dispute case settlements

If the customers are not notified about the new dispute cases that are being created then the cash settlements will be delayed. If we automate the dispute case correspondence then the customers will be notified about the dispute cases in time and the settlement process will be speeded.

When we create dispute case in accounting we can enter the data of a contact person which becomes the correspondence recipient. This is then included in the dispute case as an attribute and used for customer correspondence. In Customizing, we can define that an automatic notification is to be created and sent to the customer. The communication channels such as e-mail, fax, or letter configured for the contact person is used is used for correspondence.  In Dispute Case Processing, the system can create and send correspondence automatically. This means that the user does not have to create the relevant correspondence and send it to the customers.

Example – when the dispute case 242 is created, automation of dispute case correspondence will generate the dispute case letter and send it to the business partner contact person as shown below

Email will be triggered and sent to the contact person as soon as the dispute case is created

Dispute case letter as attached in the email

When we are processing dispute cases, we may need to contact a contact person at the business partner. Here in correspondence, the contact person is the correspondence recipient.

We can also use the contact person defined in Accounting for a customer. In addition to the contact person data stored in customer master, we also store a key (FIN_CONTACT_KEY) as an attribute to the dispute case. Using this contact person key, the system can access the contact person data in Accounting during the creation of correspondence. If we change the contact person data locally in the dispute case, this key is deleted. In this case, the changed attribute values of the contact person fields from the dispute case are used to create correspondence.

The user recognizes whether the contact person key exists, and therefore the contact person data in the dispute case and in Accounting agree, from whether or not the contact person fields in the dispute case are modifiable:

– Contact person key exists: Fields not ready for input, data synchronized with FI-AR

– Contact person key does not exist: Fields ready for input, data changed locally in the dispute case

If the contact person key exists, the communication channel (e-mail, fax, letter) defined in FI-AR is used in the creation of correspondence. For letters (communication type LET), the following order applies:

     1. Business address of contact person is used, provided one exists

     2. Customer’s address is used, with the suffix “For the attention of <Title and name of contact person>”.

If the contact person key does not exist, the current attribute values of the contact person fields (FIN_CONTACT*) in the dispute case are used. The following order applies for the communication channel:

     1. e-mail

     2. Fax: The fax number and the country of the fax number of the fax address must exist

     3. Letter: If both addresses are unknown or incomplete, a letter is created and sent to the customer’s address.

The correspondence is created in the language of the contact partner address.

The technical basis for this automatic correspondence is the Post Processing Framework (PPF). With this component, we can have follow-on activities (actions), such as the creation of correspondence, triggered and processed automatically based on conditions. We can define and configure these actions in accordance with client requirements. These actions are grouped in an action profile which is assigned to a case type. For successful automation of dispute case correspondence we should ensure that all the configuration settings are done properly as shown below

The PPF receives the required data like key of the dispute case, correspondence recipient, and further technical information, such as the action profile and the context of the application and creates the correspondence (action). To do this, it evaluates the scheduling and start conditions, assigns the partner (correspondence recipient) to the action via the partner function used, and manages the actions to be scheduled. Actions that are configured such that they do not have Processing via Selection Report as processing event are executed when the start conditions are fulfilled.

In the standard Configuration, the following action definitions are already defined for automatic correspondence:

Dispute case created –

Correspondence for creating a dispute case: This is configured in Customizing such that it is always scheduled when the attribute Business Partner (FIN_KUNNR or FICA_GPART) is set. The Action Summarization is configured such that only one such initial correspondence is created.

Dispute case was closed –

Correspondence for closing a dispute case: This is configured such that it is created when the status Closed is reached.

Dispute case was escalated –

When we set or change an escalation reason, an e-mail is sent to the coordinator of the dispute case automatically.

To enable this, we have to define an e-mail address in the user master record of the coordinator.

Finally Action Profile need to be assgined to the Case Type