Automatic Credit Check Definition

An automatic credit check involves comparing the total open items and open deliveries with the customer's current credit limit. Open items are products or services that are invoiced to the customer. The customer, on the other hand, has not yet settled the payment yet. Open deliveries are delivery documents that are created but not yet invoiced. With an automatic credit check, a customer can still complete the order even if the customer’s current credit limit is reached because of a good payment history. This means that an automatic credit check allows the user to control different customers in different ways depending on their payment history.

Contents
Automatic Credit Check

Types Of An Automatic Credit Check

There are several types of automatic credit checks. The first type of automatic credit check is the static credit check. The static credit check administers the credit check by getting credit exposure. Credit exposure is the combination of the following, such as open sales documents, open delivery documents, open billing documents, and open items or accounts receivables.

The open sales documents or open order values are the values of order items that are not delivered yet. The open delivery documents or values are the values of delivery items that are not yet been invoiced. The open billing documents or open invoice values are the values of the billing documents which have not yet been forwarded to the accounting department. Open items are documents that have been forwarded to the accounting department but have not yet been paid by the customer.

The second type of automatic credit check is the dynamic credit check. The dynamic credit check carries out the credit check by splitting the credit exposure into two parts. The first part is the static part which consists of open items, open billing documents, and delivery values. The second part is the dynamic part which consists of the open order value. The open order value includes delivery orders that are partially completed and undelivered. The value is calculated on the shipping date and stored in an information structure according to the credit horizon specified. A credit horizon sets a particular date in the future when a credit check will be done.

The third type of automatic credit check is the document value. The document value sets the maximum value allowed for a sales order or delivery value. This type of credit check is applicable to new customers whose credit limits have not yet been determined.

The fourth type of automatic credit check is the critical fields. The critical fields include terms of payment, additional value days, and fixed value dates. When this field changes, for example, the payment terms, a credit check is administered. This type of credit check is used for sales documents.

The fifth type of automatic credit check is the next review date. The next review date is located in the credit date in the customer master record. The credit review date must not go beyond the current date.

The sixth type of automatic credit check is the credit check on the basis of overdue items. This type checks the ratio between open items. Open items with a certain number of days overdue, and the customer balance must not exceed a specified percentage.

The seventh type of automatic credit check is the open items. This type of credit check requires an input of two values that are specified by the users. The two values are the maximum percentage of overdue items in open items and the number of days in which the open items are overdue.

The eighth type of automatic credit check is the oldest open item. The oldest open item is the basis for the credit check and must not have days overdue than the number of days specified.

The ninth type of automatic credit check is the highest dunning level. The highest dunning level is specified by the user to be allowed in the adjacent field. This type of credit check is tracked and stored in the credit database in the customer master record.

The last type of automatic credit check is user-specific. This type of credit check is used if the credit check does not fulfill the first eight types of credit checks

View Pricing

How To Get An Automatic Credit Check

There are several steps to get an automated credit check. The first step is to specify the type of check. The different types of credit checks are the static credit limit check, which depends on the total value of open orders, open deliveries, open billing documents, and open items, and the dynamic credit check, which has a static and a dynamic part.

The next step is to specify the scope of the credit check and the system response to the credit check.

The following step is to allocate credit control areas. Credit control areas are used in specifying and controlling customer credit limits. It can include one or more company codes. The company code cannot be divided into several credit control areas.

The next step is to define and allocate risk classes if needed. The risk classes or categories are used to classify the customers into low-risk customers, medium-risk customers, and high-risk customers. Each risk class or category has a defined limit. A customer who exceeds the limit automatically changes the category from low to high risk.

The following step is to allocate a credit group. A credit group identifies transaction documents. These transaction documents are to be blocked for processing if credit limits are exceeded. Credit groups are generally used for different business documents, such as sales orders, quotations, and more. Credit group consists of the following: credit group for sales orders, credit group for delivery, and credit group for goods issue.

The last step is to assign descriptions to the credit check.

Difference Between An Automatic Credit Check And A Simple Credit Check

There are several differences between an automatic credit check and a simple credit check. The first difference is the inclusion of open deliveries of goods. Open deliveries of goods are documents and values of delivery items that are not yet invoiced. A simple credit check does not include the customer’s open deliveries of goods and only considers the customer’s open item values. The customer’s open item values are added to the value of the current sales order to calculate the credit limit. An automatic credit check also determines open deliveries of goods aside from open items.

Another difference between an automatic credit check and a simple credit check is the credit limit. When the credit limit exceeds a simple credit check, the system reacts and alerts credit representatives with a warning message. A warning message can be an error message on the sales order or an error message with a delivery block, which is carried out by credit representatives. An automatic credit check, on the other hand, gives extra credit to a particular customer beyond the customer's credit limit.

Automatic credit limit checks are done by the static credit check and the dynamic credit check. The credit limit determination for a static credit check is based on three types of checking groups, such as credit checking groups, risk categories, and credit control areas. Credit checking groups are composed of three levels which are sales, deliveries, and goods issues. These three levels can be blocked by the user. The risk category determines the amount of credit granted to the customer. It also has three levels which are high risk, which constitutes low credit, a low risk which means more credit, and medium risk equals average credit.

The credit limit determination for a dynamic credit check is based on the horizon period. The horizon period determines when the open documents, open deliveries, open billings, and open items will be used by the system to determine the credit limit.

Benefits Of An Automatic Credit Check

There are several benefits of an automatic credit check. The first benefit of an automatic credit check is the credit check, and the credit limit can be defined freely based on the user requirements in the area of credit management. An automatic credit check can be determined by the following, such as credit control area, risk class, and credit group. The credit limit can be determined using the static credit limit check and the dynamic credit limit check.

The next benefit of an automatic credit check is more credit exposure to customers. Customers with good credit histories can enjoy extra credit if they go beyond their credit limits. Automatic credit checks reward customers with good payment history by granting more credit exposure.

Another benefit of an automatic credit check is the method and scope. Automatic credit checks use a comprehensive method for credit check and credit limit determination. This comprehensive method allows automatic credit checks to cover different kinds of customers in different methods, unlike simple credit checks. Simple credit checks use the same method for all kinds of customers.

View Pricing

3rd Party Automatic Credit Check Providers

An example of 3rd party automatic credit check provider is the System Analysis Program Development (SAP). SAP is the leading provider of software for the management of business processes, developing solutions for effective data processing and information flow across organizations. SAP developed the SAP Credit Management. SAP Credit Management deals with the selling of products or services and the collection of payments at a later date. The credit limit for a customer is determined by the customer's payment method and payment history through SAP Credit Management. SAP Credit Management allows users to reduce credit risk. The credit risk is reduced by putting a limit on the credit of customers.

For more information on Automatic Credit Checks contact iSoftpull professionals today.