Email Customer Statements User Guide Version 1.1 June 2015
Contents Introduction... 3 Audience... 3 Prerequisites... 3 Email server settings requirements... 3 Setting up email statements... 4 Setting up customers to receive email statements... 7 Emailing account customers their statements... 8 Troubleshooting... 11 Common solutions to issues... 11 Menu item Email Statements is not enabled... 11 Customer profile s Email Statements check box is not enabled... 12 Blank account statement preview... 12 Failure result in Email Statement Send Result Report... 12 Some customers received their statements, but some didn t... 12 Disclaimer Screen captures from Minfos are used in this document. While care is taken to use fictional data, some of these images might contain names, addresses, or other details of individuals and/or organisations. Any fictional or nonfictional names, addresses, drug histories, or other details about individuals or organisations are used for demonstration purposes only. Copyright 2015 Symbion Pty Ltd trading as Minfos. ABN 25 000 875 034
Introduction Introduction This document explains how to configure your Minfos software to enable email functionality, set up your account customers, and run statements for email. Emailing your account customers their monthly statements can be used in addition to, or instead of, printing and posting their statements. Email can save you the time and cost of traditional postage, or it can increase your billing coverage, by allowing you to send an extra reminder to customers. Audience This document is intended to be used by pharmacy staff who bill their account customers. Prerequisites To complete this guide, you require: Minfos version 3.10.1 or above. Emailing statements was introduced in version 3.7.1; this guide covers some 3.10.1 enhancements. Your store's outgoing email server address and settings. Contact your internet service provider (ISP) or hardware vendor for these details. Email server settings requirements Your store s email account uses an outgoing mail server to send emails, which is specific to your email account s domain and the setting your ISP has provided. For when you complete the first process, Setting up email statements in Minfos, it s important to note that your email server address: Must support SMTP for outgoing mail. Might require authorisation a username and password. Might use an SSL or TLS, which adds security to your emails. Currently cannot be Gmail. Page 3 of 12
Setting up email statements Setting up email statements Through this Maintenance menu option in the Customers module, you can set up your Minfos software to email PDF statements with your store s own email message. You only need to successfully set up email statements once for each workstation that your store will use this on. Please read the Prerequisites section before attempting to set up email statements in Minfos. Contact your store's internet service provider (ISP) or hardware vendor to request your store s email account s outgoing mail server settings. Minfos support cannot provide you with these details. To set up email statements: 1. Go to the workstation on which you intend to email account customers their statements. Your store s email settings will save to the Minfos workstation on which they re entered; to email statements from other workstations, you ll need to set up email statements on each. 2. On the Minfos Launch Pad, click the Customers icon. The Minfos Customer Management screen is displayed. 3. Click the Maintenance menu, and then click 5. Email Statement Configuration. Page 4 of 12
Setting up email statements The Email Statements Configuration window is displayed. 4. In the Email Server Settings group box, enter your store s email configuration: a. In the Outgoing Mail Server text box, enter the mail server address for the email account that your store will use for emailing customers statements from Minfos. Minfos support cannot provide you with your store's Outgoing Mail Server. If you don't know this address, please contact your hardware vendor or internet service provider (ISP). For the Minfos requirements, see Email server settings requirements, at the start of this guide. b. In the Port text box, 25 is shown, by default. This is the common port number for the email transfer used, SMTP, and if no SSL encryption is used. Change this value, if advised by your hardware vendor or ISP. Minfos support cannot provide you with your store's Port number. Page 5 of 12
Setting up email statements c. If your outgoing mail server requires authorisation, then: In the Username text box, enter the username or email address used to authenticate your email server. In some cases, the username is your email address that uses the mail server. In the Password text box, enter the password used to authenticate your email server. In some cases, this is the password you set for your email address that uses the mail server. d. Check the Use SSL check box, to specify that your outgoing mail server uses either SSL or TSL encryption; this is unchecked by default. If your store s mail server does use SSL, then it s unlikely that the port number is 25. Minfos support cannot provide you with your store's server credentials or SSL setting. e. In the Store email address text box, enter the email address for your store s email account. This is the email address that customers can reply to, and the email address that uses the Outgoing Mail Server address and settings that you ve entered in this window. 5. In the Email Template group box, enter the generic email that will accompany the statement: a. In the Subject Line text box, enter a brief description that identifies the account statement and your pharmacy. b. In the Email body text box, enter your email message to the customer. Enter %n for the customer s name, %i for the customer s ID, and %% for a percentage symbol. 6. Check the Email Statements Enabled check box, to allow email statements to be sent from your store. You can't email statements to your account customers unless the Email Statements Enable check box is checked. 7. Click Save, to save the template. Your store is now set up to email customer statements, given your configurations are correct. Page 6 of 12
Setting up customers to receive email statements Setting up customers to receive email statements You can mark an account customer as able to receive email statements when a valid email address is recorded in their account in Minfos. You can access a customer's Accounts tab from the Customer Editing and the Customer Entry windows, in Minfos Customer Management, Minfos Retail Till, and Dispense Pro. To set up a customer to receive email statements: 1. On the Minfos Customer Management screen, click the Customers icon. The Customer Maintenance window is displayed. 2. Locate the required customer, and then click Change. The Customer Editing window is displayed, with the Details tab active. 3. Click the Accounts tab, and then: a. Check the Account Customer check box, to create an account for this customer. b. In the Email Address text box, enter a valid and current email address, then press [Tab]. To add multiple email addresses for one account customer, separate the addresses with a semicolon, ;. For example, jane.mary@gmail.com;minister101@hotmail.com. c. Check the Email Statement check box, to send the customer statements to their email account. You re now able to uncheck the Print Statement check box, if required. 4. Click OK, to save your changes to the account customer's profile. The Customer Maintenance window is displayed. Page 7 of 12
Emailing account customers their statements Emailing account customers their statements After setting up your email server and account customer email addresses, you can use the Email Statements function to send email statements. This is similar to the Re-Print Statements function, and the statements are available after the end of the month. To send account customers emails with their statements: 1. On the Minfos Customer Management screen, click the Reports menu, then 2. Statements, and then click 6. Email Statements. The Email Customer Statements window is displayed. Page 8 of 12
Emailing account customers their statements 2. In the From Customer and To Customer text boxes, leave the default values, to search all customers for accounts that are set up to receive email statements, if required. All account customers are ranged, but only account customers with email statements set up are included in the statement preview after step 6 of this procedure. 3. Ensure the date in the Statement Date text box shows the end of the previous month, to send a statement for the previous month. Email statements work similarly to re-print statements, as they need to be aged to be available to send to customers. For help with manually ageing statements, see the quick reference guide, Printing Customer Account statements on the Self Service portal s Knowledge Base. 4. According to your store procedures, check or uncheck these check boxes: Print Ageing Information and Opening Balances Exclude Laybys' Show Names Include Zero Balance Accounts 5. Click the Run Type drop down box, to select the customer type based on your store preferences; All is selected, by default. 6. Click Okay, to generate the account statements for the selected customers. The Processing window is displayed. Page 9 of 12
Emailing account customers their statements The statements for the selected account customers that have email statements set up are displayed, over separate pages, with an Email Statement watermark on each. 7. Review the account customer statements, to ensure the transaction and customer details are correct. 8. Click Email..., to email all the statements to the account customers shown on each page. If the Open File - Security Warning prompt is displayed, click Run. The Email Statement Send Result Report is displayed, and shows the success or failure of the emails. If this contains a Failure result, your pharmacy is also emailed with an automated notification this, at the email account provided in your email statements set up. Page 10 of 12
Troubleshooting Troubleshooting This section lists a handful of issues and errors that you could see, and the potential causes for them. Common solutions to issues Often the issue can be fixed by making sure that you ve: Correctly entered your store s outgoing mail server address and settings. Your hardware vendor or ISP can advise you on your store s email server address. You may be able to check your mail server settings in the mail server account. Here are three common mail servers and their online help pages for their settings: MAIL SERVER Outlook webmail (originally Hotmail) Westnet Telstra and Bigpond HELP TOPIC & LINK TO PAGE Apps that support POP3 and SMTP on this Windows page: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/outlook/send-receive-from-app http://myhelp.westnet.com.au/display/page/20086786 Incoming / Outgoing Server Settings on this Telstra page: http://go.telstra.com.au/helpandsupport/-/email-settings-summary Entered a valid email address for your store, which uses the outgoing mail server settings you entered. Checked the Email Statements Enabled check box. Entered a valid email address for the account customer, and checked the Email Statements check box. Aged your statements, either manually or automatically. For manual ageing steps, see: Printing Customer Account statements on the Self Service portal. Asked the customer to check their junk mail folder, if your send result report showed a success but the customer claims that they didn t receive the email statement. Menu item Email Statements is not enabled If the Reports menu item 6. Email Statements is not enabled, then ensure that you ve checked the Email Statements Enabled check box at step 5 of Set up email statements. Your store s email settings will save to the Minfos workstation on which they re entered. Page 11 of 12
Troubleshooting Customer profile s Email Statements check box is not enabled If the Email Statements check box is not enabled in the account customer s profile, then ensure that: The workstation is set up for email statements, including checking the Email Statements Enabled check box in Setting up email statements. If the workstation is not set up for emailing statements, then there will be no Email Statement check box is displayed in any customer profiles. You ve entered a valid email address in the customer s profile. Blank account statement preview If the account customer statement preview is blank, at step 6 of Emailing account customers their statements, then either: No statements are available for the account customer and date range. The customer s end of month statement isn t available; you may need to manually age the statements. Failure result in Email Statement Send Result Report If the Email Statement Send Result Report shows a Failure in the Result column for: Some customers: Print the report and check that they re the correct customer email addresses. All customers: Make sure your store's Outgoing Mail Server settings are set up correctly. Contact your ISP or hardware vendor for assistance with these configuration details. If email statements continue to fail for all customers, then log a call with Minfos support. If a Failure result also shows in the Errors column: Mailbox unavailable. The server response was: 5.3.4 Requested action not taken. To continue sending messages, please sign into your account. Log into your mail server account and follow the steps. Unable to read credentials from the registry. Please re-enter your credentials. Then repeat Setting up email statements, to save the mail server settings to your workstation. Some customers received their statements, but some didn t If your emailed account statements were successful for some account customers, then your setup in Minfos is correct but the issue is with the customer email accounts who didn t receive their statements. Call the affected customer(s) to: Confirm that the customer s email address in their Minfos profile is correct. Ask the customer(s) to check their email junk or spam folder for your pharmacy s statement email. Page 12 of 12