Credit Overrides

Credit overrides are used to prevent an account or job from either charging or committing to purchases above some threshold amount determined by your company. This threshold is the "credit limit" assigned to either the account or job. The customer (account) or job balances and override settings determine if, when, and how an override is produced. Prompts for an override may appear when processing a number of Point of Sale transactions.

A calculation is done to determine if the account or job requires an override. This calculation will be done at the "account" level for any account that does not maintain job balances. If the account is set up for "job" level billing, the job's balances will be used in place of the account's.

(Outstanding Balance + Finance Charges - Credit Balance) + Charge Amount + Order Balance) > Credit Limit

This calculation (above) is done for both the account and job (job balances only exist if the account is "job" level billing). Order Balance is always considered since an order is considered a commitment to purchase goods.

Even if the account or job passes the initial test (see the calculation above), the account or job can optionally produce an override based upon a particular aged balance. For example, if the account or job is set to prompt for an override when there is a 60+ Balance, the software calculates the total balance past the 60-day period less any unapplied credits to determine whether or not an override is warranted. You might notice that this calculation doesn't consider either the charge amount or the order balance. This type of override is produced any time the indicated customer (or job) aged balance (less credits) is above zero. The intention here is to require an override when a customer who hasn't paid their bill in a while attempts to make additional purchases.

(60-Day Balance + 90-Day Balance + 120-Day Balance) - Credit Balance > 0

It's important to point out that the customer may still have credit available on their account or job when a balance trigger produces a warning. In addition, these balance messages don't bypass the more general check of the account or job balances, so if the customer is charging more than their overall limit allows, a credit override will still be produced even though they may not have a "60-Day" balance, for example.

Messages produced at Point of Sale will vary based upon the exact reason for the override. Here are some of the messages that a user might see...

"Account/Job Credit Limit Exceeded"

"Job Credit Limit Exceeded"

"Account Credit Limit Exceeded"

"Job 60+ day Balance Exceeded"

"Account 120+ day Balance Exceeded"

When an override prompt appears during Point of Sale processing, the following form is shown to the user:

This dialog contains a label ("Credit Manager Override for Term..." or "Store Manager Override for Term...") which explains the type of password required, a text area for optional entry of the override password, and includes 3 buttons: OK, Cancel, and Remote. There are several ways a company might choose to utilize this feature:

•Manual Entry of the Password at Point of Sale
If known, a user can enter the requested password (either the "store" or "credit" manager password) in the text area and click the "OK" button to approve the override and allow the purchase to continue. In many cases, companies assign a specific person or persons, such as a manager, to provide the password. The Point of Sale clerk would contact the person responsible in this case. Clicking either "Cancel" or "Remote" closes the dialog, cancels the override (unless an override was remotely accepted), and will require another payment method or cancellation of the transaction.

•Remote Override from the Credit Override Utility
As soon as and only while the dialog (above) is displayed, the override is available for remote processing elsewhere. If the required password is the "credit" manager (not the "store" manager), an immediate notification is sent and a polling timer is also immediately triggered that regularly checks for a manager's approval or denial. Once either an approval or denial is done, a message appears to the Point of Sale user indicating the manager's decision. Remote overrides may be done by any user with security permission to access the Credit Override utility available from the Point of Sale, Utilities menu -- or -- the corresponding feature available with the Anyware app for Android™ platform devices (phones, pads, tablets, etc.).1

If the override requires a "credit" manager type override an immediate notification is sent. If the designated credit manager user has a cell phone and provider (carrier) designated, the notification will be sent to their device via email (the credit manager's phone and/or provider account settings must allow text via email). Otherwise (if a cell phone and provider have not been configured), the notification will still be delivered but via either the standard messaging feature (notification queue) or email (if setup for the user). The notification is sent as soon as the dialog opens and is not triggered by clicking the remote button. The text message sent via email requires that your Spruce application be configured to send email to a designated SMTP server (this is commonly done, but not required). Your SMTP server may or may not allow certain types of messages. You may need to adjust settings to allow "text message" type email messages.
 
In the case of a remote override, the user should leave the dialog form open and only click a button once instructed by the manager or after receiving a message that the request has been approved or denied by the manager. Assuming that the credit manager has been notified, a message will automatically appear once the override has been either approved or denied. A timer is started that checks for the approval or denial of the override as soon as the dialog is opened. Clicking the "Remote" or "OK" buttons after an override is approved will continue processing. Clicking "Cancel" ignores any remote override supplied and closes the dialog. This typically would only be necessary if the customer had decided to pay using another method or when canceling the transaction.

"Store Manager" password type overrides can still be processed remotely; however, no immediate notification is sent. It may still be necessary for a sales clerk to contact the credit manager or another manager independently of the notification such as if the party who would receive the notification isn't available, for example.

1The same security settings apply to both the Spruce application and the Anyware app.

2The user must be logged into the software in order to receive standard notifications (does not apply to text messages or email).

Account Settings vs. Job Settings

Jobs offer a variety of "override" options that determine whether to use the job's settings or the main account's. These "overrides" including options about when to trigger a credit override. It's important to point out that even if you choose to "override" the account's override settings on a particular job that the account is always checked for an over limit situation. If the account is over its limit (using the calculation shown above), its override settings are used in place of the job's in ALL situations. Only in cases where the account does not require an override but the job does indicate an override will the job's settings potentially be used. Another thing to consider is that jobs don't necessarily maintain independent balances. Account level billing customers won't have individual job balances, so any credit limit check is done at the account level in these cases.

Conceptually, the account's credit limit should either match or exceed the total credit limit for all of the jobs assigned to the account. This is not enforced by code when assigning credit limits to jobs or the account since the status of jobs and number of jobs used with an account can change at any time; however, the override logic effectively does enforce this limitation. Even if a job's limit is set to an amount higher than its linked account's limit, any transaction that exceeds the account's limit will still produce an override using the account's settings. It is also not possible to have a job with the "no override" setting and a credit limit when the account has a zero limit and always requires an override, for example.

Draw Down Jobs

If the transaction's job is a "Draw Down PO" type job, the override calculation is done a bit differently:

(Credit Limit - Charge Amount - Job Order Balance) < 0

*The "Draw Down PO" type job automatically reduces the job credit limit each time a transaction is processed. Payments don't increase the job's available credit in this case. The credit limit is used as a maximum cap on total purchases by the job.

Override Types

There are a number of situations and factors that determine when an override is produced; however, once an override is indicated, there are 2 types: store manager and credit manager. Each is typically assigned a different password. Credit Manager is typically considered a "higher" level override than the "store manager" and often would be reviewed remotely using the Credit Override utility. Store manager passwords are generally treated as a "lower" level override and often would be typed in during Point of Sale processing by a designated manager at the Point of Sale station. Either type of override can be reviewed and optionally issued remotely using the utility, however. Just as with other aspects of the override logic, anytime the account triggers an override, its settings (such as the "type" of override) will be used instead of the job's.

Disabling the Override

Accounts or jobs can be set to "No Password Required." This effectively disables any overrides when applied at the account level. This might be done in cases where the account owner is completely trusted but is not suggested otherwise. If used, this setting will allow the customer to charge beyond any credit limit you have established. Once again, this setting is only applied at the job level when the main account does not meet the criteria for requiring an override. For example, setting the "No Password Required" on a job won't allow the job to charge beyond the account's credit limit if the account's override type is something other than "No Password Required."