Edition: Business, Enterprise
User-level: Director Access and higher (Manage payment reminder schedules)
Previous steps: How to create an invoice
Create, Schedule and send Invoice Payment Reminders directly from Synergy with customisable configurations to suit the needs of your organisation.
Payment Reminders
Send a Payment reminder for any unpaid or overdue invoice directly from Synergy, based on a schedule that can be set up as a once off Schedule, a saved Payment Reminder Schedule, or a Payment Reminder Schedule that is set as a default.
Default Payment Reminder Schedules can be set at an Organisation, Office, Project and Contact level to suit the requirements of your organisation.
Note:
Up to five Payment Reminders can be scheduled per invoice at any time.
The Payment Reminder is sent as an email with a copy of the invoice and any attachments.
Scheduled invoice reminders are processed and sent from 00:00 AM of your Organisation's timezone. The invoice will be sent once it's processed.
Once an invoice has been paid, no further reminders will be sent.
Payment Reminder Schedules
Security Permissions: Director and above.
A Payment Reminder Schedule is a set of (up to 5) Reminders that can be selected on an Invoice, saving you time. Create multiple Payment Reminder Schedules to cover all scenarios.
To create a Payment Reminder Schedule:
Click on the Organisation drop-down menu > Settings > Organisation > Payment Reminders.
Click the Add button at the top right hand corner.
Enter a title for the schedule and an optional description.
Click Add new reminder.
On the Add Reminder window, select when the reminder should be sent.
A send option can be selected by clicking the down arrow in the 'Send if Invoice is' field:Select 'Due in' to send a reminder before the invoice due date.
Enter the number of days before this date that the reminder should be sent.
Select 'Overdue by' to send a reminder after the invoice due date.
Enter the number of days after this date that the reminder should be sent.
Click the Add button at the bottom right.
Tick the Set as Organisation default checkbox if the reminder should be the default for your organisation.
Click Save at the bottom of the Payment Reminder Schedule panel to save the schedule.
Notes:
Any Payment Reminder Schedules that are no longer required can be set as Inactive, but they can not be deleted.
A Default Payment Reminder Schedule will be automatically selected on any newly created invoice (unless overwritten by another default option).
A maximum of five Payment Reminders can be added to a Payment Reminder Schedule.
Adding a Payment Reminder directly to an Invoice
You don't need to use or create a Payment Reminder Schedule, there is flexibility in adding a Reminder only when you need one (or a set) by adding Reminders directly to an invoice.
Click the Payment Reminders tab.
With the Payment Reminders tab open, select Add New Reminder to open the 'Add Reminder' details window.
On the Add Reminder window, select when the reminder should be sent.
A send option can be selected by clicking the down arrow in the 'Send if Invoice is' field:Select 'Due in' to send a reminder before the invoice due date.
Enter the number of days before this date that the reminder should be sent.
Select 'Overdue by' to send a reminder after the invoice due date.
Enter the number of days after this date that the reminder should be sent.
Note: To send a Reminder on the invoice due date, select 'Due In' and enter '0 Days'.
Instant Payment Reminders
Payment Reminders can be sent without needing to add them at the time of creating an invoice. These reminders are sent immediately.
Open the invoice and click the down arrow button to the right of the Send button.
The Invoice contact, Attention to contact, and Additional Recipients will be pre-populated on the Send Payment Reminder window.
Customise the recipients as required and enter a message.
Click the Send button to send the reminder.
Note: The email subject line will change when a Reminder is sent.
'Due soon' is included in the email subject line when a reminder is sent before the invoice due date.
'Overdue' is included in the email subject line when a reminder is sent after the due date. The email will also include a copy of the invoice and any attachments.
Defaults for Offices, Projects and Contacts
Default Payment Reminder Schedules can be set for Organisations, Offices, Projects and Contacts.
When default payment reminders schedules are set in multiple locations, a hierarchy is applied to determine which schedule is used on an invoice. The Priority of default used is Contact > Project > Office > Organisation - see the below example.
Defaults Schedules Set | Default that will be used |
Organisation, Office, Project, Contact | Contact |
Organisation, Office, Project | Project |
Organisation, Office, Contact | Contact |
Organisation, Project, Contact | Contact |
Organisation, Office | Office |
Organisation, Project | Project |
Organisation, Contact | Contact |
Offices
To set a Default Payment Reminder Schedule for an Office:
Go to the Organisation drop-down > Settings > Organisation > Offices.
(Multi-office only) Click on an office to open the details.
Select Projects and invoicing from the left-hand menu.
On the Payment Reminder Schedule field, click the down arrow and select a payment reminder schedule from the list.
Select No reminders from the list of reminders if no reminder should be sent for the office.
Click Save and Close at the top right.
Projects
To set a default Payment Reminder Schedule for a project:
Click Edit at the top right to edit the project summary details.
Select the Payment Reminder Schedule located in the Add more detail section at the bottom left.
The Payment Reminder Schedule field will be moved below the Scope of work.
Click the down arrow and select a Payment Reminder Schedule from the list.
Click Save and close at the top right.
The selected Payment Reminder Schedule term is displayed on the Details panel of the project summary page.
Contacts
A default Payment Reminder Schedule can be set on company or individual contacts.
The Payment Reminder Schedule from the contact record is used when that contact is selected on a project invoice.
To set a default Payment Reminder Schedule on a contact:
Go to Contacts > Edit the contact.
Select the Payment Reminder Schedule located in the Add more detail 'Extras' section at the bottom left.
The field is moved below the Extras heading on the left.
Click the down arrow and select a Payment Reminder Schedule from the list.
Click Save at the top right.
The selected Payment Reminder Schedule term is displayed on the Extra data panel on the contact.
If a Contact has a default Schedule selected, and this contact is selected as the Invoice Contact, this setting will override the Project, Office and Organisation defaults and will be automatically applied to all new invoices using this Invoice Contact.
Note: To set a default for Offices, Projects, or Contacts, you will need edit permissions for the respective pages and Finalise/Send (Invoices) permissions in the Security Matrix.
Reminder Statuses:
Each reminder will have a reminder status:
Pending - the reminder has yet to be sent. A pending reminder can still be edited.
Sent - the reminder has been successfully sent to all recipients.
Sent with exceptions - the reminder has been sent to some recipients, with 1 or more having an invalid email address. Further error details can be viewed in the Audit pane.
Failed - The reminder has failed to send to any recipients. Further error details can be viewed in the Audit pane.
Skipped - The reminder has been skipped because it was scheduled for a day that has already passed.
Reminders that are in statuses other than the “Pending” status cannot be edited but can be deleted.
Recipients and Senders
Recipients
Payment Reminders will be sent to the “Attention” Contact and any Additional Recipients associated with the invoice.
This applies to both scheduled and Instant Payment Reminders unless the recipient list for an Instant Reminder is adjusted manually .
Senders
The sender of a reminder is based on the type of reminder sent:
Scheduled Payment Reminders - the Sender of the scheduled Payment Reminder will the same as the invoice sender if it was sent via Synergy. If not, the Sender will be the user who finalised the invoice.
Instant Payment Reminders - The sender will always be the user who initiated the instant reminder.
Once a reminder is sent, the sender will receive a copy via email, and any client replies will be directed back to the sender’s email.
If your organisation has configured the organisation Email Template or is using Email Connections:
The 'From Name' specified in the Email template will display as the sender's name.
Default Email Addresses and Custom Email Domains in Email Connections will override the sender’s email to maintain consistency with invoice sending.
Invoice Audit and Reporting on Payment Reminders
All sent reminders, including the sender, recipient and error details, are logged in the Invoice Audit tab of an Invoice.
Any Payment Reminders that are sent can be included in Reports by using the Invoice Audit category. The Activity Type will be reported as "Sent payment reminder", along with the date, staff (sender) name/email, and contact (recipient) name/email.
Security Matrix
To set a default Payment Reminder Schedule for Projects, or Contacts, you will need edit permissions for the respective pages and Finalise/Send (Invoices) permissions.
*Assistant Admins and System Admins only can set default payment reminder schedules for Offices as access to Office settings is not configurable in the Security Matrix.
Payment Reminders and Payment Reminder Schedules | User | Assistant PM | PM | Director | Assistant Admin | System Admin |
Invoices |
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Manage payment reminder schedules |
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| x | x | x |
Finalise/Send (to Add/Edit/Delete Payment Reminders on invoices) |
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| x | x | x | x |
Offices* |
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Set default payment reminder schedule |
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| x | x |
Projects |
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Edit (to apply a payment reminder schedule to a project) |
| x | x | x | x | x |
Contacts |
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Edit (to apply a payment reminder schedule to a contact) |
| x | x | x | x | x |
Where to next?
What other features does this relate to?