Contract Payment Import Process

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This process is especially useful for importing batches of contract payments—avoiding time-consuming manual re-entry into Contract Collector. For example, if you are receiving payment information from the bank that holds the a company's lock-box, you may be able arrange for the bank to give you the payment information on disk, rather than on paper.

Import files must be ASCII files with carriage returns and line feeds. The required order of the data in the file is controlled by an ASCII text file named ARIMP.CFG, located in the same sub-directory where you originally installed Contract Collector (usually CW).

The default field order of the ARIMP.CFG file is as follows:

DATE, AMOUNT, CONTRACT ID, COMPANY ID

You must either match this default field order when exporting the data from your other system, or you can edit the ARIMP.CFG file to match the order of the data as it is exported from the other system. ENDREC (for multi-line adjustment imports) indicates the end of a record with a zero (0). A one (1) indicates a line in a record. It's end is the next line with a zero (0). To change the field order of ARIMP.CFG, use any text editor (such as the Windows NOTEPAD).

The format of the data in the import file must conform to the following specifications:

Date Formats

Enter the date as either MMDDYY, MM-DD-YY or MM/DD/YY.

Amount

Do not include commas or dollar signs. Numbers without decimals are assumed to be whole numbers. For example, 210 would be read as 210.00.

Contract ID

This number must be a valid company ID of up to six alphanumeric characters.

Company ID

This number must be a valid company ID of up to four alphanumeric characters.

Enter Import Transaction File Location

In this field, type the complete DOS filename—including the complete directory path if necessary—of the file containing the payments to be imported.

EXAMPLES: C:\PAYMENT\IMPORT.TXT

D:\CW\IMPORT.TXT

A:\DATA

Audit Report Output

The report will print to your default printer. To choose a printer other than your default, press the printer icon to change the default. This report lists any errors encountered during the import process, such as incorrectly formatted data.

Report Type:

SUMMARY reports provide the overall status of the import process. For example, the report may say TOTAL RECORDS TO IMPORT: 12 TOTAL RECORDS IMPORTED: 12.

DETAIL reports provide information about each record you have imported. This information is provided with each record. Because it takes longer to run, only use the DETAIL report if you are having trouble with the import process.

Preview Pass

Turn this check box on if you want to do a test run of the import process. When this check box is on, no data is actually imported, but the AUDIT REPORT (see previous field) is printed so you can pre-test for any problems. This checkbox is unchecked by default.