Correspondence

Navigate:Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence

Description

Correspondence is a general purpose tool for generating printed letters, reports, and other documents with Aumentum data. It is built on top of Data Services functionality, and provides the ability to merge the outputs of any Data Service with a report template created with Microsoft Word or Crystal Reports.

Correspondence files are used to generate your jurisdiction's various bills, correspondence, notices, etc. The Correspondence task provides various output options for generating correspondence, such as:

• Mail Merge

• Crystal Reports

• XML

• CSV

• PDF

IMPORTANT: Each configured document that can be printed throughout the application from various modules must minimally consist of three pieces.

1. Data Service to provide the data. This is set up prior to report and template setup  via Reports and Interfaces > Data Services.
   
   NOTE:The (Undefined variable: Variables.Implementation) typically sets up the Data Service initially for each correspondence that Aumentum Tax generates. However, with the appropriate privileges, you can maintain existing Data Services as well as create new ones.
   
   NOTE: A task called Attachment Extract is used to create attachments to Data Services and extract the attachments. This task is available via Reports and Interfaces > Attachment Extract.

2. Report Setup configuration created in Aumentum to tie everything together.

3. Report Template (created in a third-party reporting tool).

Steps for Correspondence

NOTE: See the next section for details about Batch Correspondence.

1. Select Report Setups from the Correspondence > Setup menu to navigate to the Manage Report Setups screen from which you can:

   • Edit Report Setup, including defining the data service, template, and template engine.

   • Manage Templates, including associate the template with the particular report setup, create a new data source template, and managing existing templates.
     
     You can download an existing data source from the Manage Templates screen, maintain it, save it, and re-upload the saved changes to Aumentum
     
     IMPORTANT: See the Manage Templates topic also for information about creating Microsoft Word™ mail merge documents.

2. Select Auxiliary Report Setup from the Correspondence > Setup menu to optionally attach auxiliary reports to the correspondence.

• Select an existing report setup or click New to create a new one on the Manage Auxiliary Report Setup screen.

• Edit the auxiliary report setup details on the Edit Auxiliary Report Setup screen.
  
  NOTE: You can also use the Auxiliary Report Setup for certain envelope sizes and certified mail envelopes, if a data service is defined for each.
  
  Two Common, Effective Date application settings, set via Configuration > Application Settings, enable this feature:

• Default Correspondence Chunk Size: When multiple reports are combined, this setting controls the chunk size, instead of the individual settings on each Report Setup. This setting also determines the default value when creating new Report Setups. The current default is 2500.

• Collate Correspondence By Address: When true, Correspondence batches of multiple PDF reports will be combined and collated by address (the new functionality). When false, a separate file will be produced for each distinct report setup (the existing behavior). The default is false.

3. Set up the Report Packages for generating package correspondence, such as multiple separate PDFs,  via the Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence > Setup > Report Package Setup.

4. Select Extended Property Description Setup to optionally define the maximum number of characters for the legal description for certain data services.
   
   NOTE: This task is not available in all jurisdictions.

5. After saving the report and template setups, you can go to the applicable menu and select the report to print.
   
   For example, after creating a report setup and associating a template with the report setup for Warrant notices, you then navigate to Tax > Delinquent > Warrants > Warrant Notices > Print Warrant Notices where you will see your new report setup available from the Report Setup dropdown.

6. Select Outbound Document Queue from the menu to navigate to the Manage Outbound Document Queue screen from which you can select:

• Process Selected to process the item and navigate to the View Correspondence Process on which you can monitor the process.

• Delete Selected to delete a particular outbound document.

• View History to view a history of the correspondence on the View Correspondence Process History screen.

7. Select Batch Correspondence to search for the batch correspondence data service and associated report.

• Generate the batch correspondence on the Start Batch Correspondence screen.

• Click Run on the Start Batch Correspondence screen after selecting the data service and report to open the View Correspondence Process screen from which you can view processing details and history and download a log file of processing.

Correspondence Application Settings

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Dependencies, Prerequisites, Setup, and Notes to Implementation

Correspondence for the various bills and notices generated throughout the application requires significant setup. Typically, the (Undefined variable: Variables.EngImpSupp) initially performs this setup for each piece of correspondence your jurisdiction generates. However, advanced users at your jurisdiction, such as an Admin User, can maintain the setup associated with correspondence. The next sections describe setup:

Data Services

Report Template

Report Setup

Master Detail Reports and Keywords

Generating Correspondence: Events, Attachments, and Keywords

Contextual Printing from the Sidebar

Module Specific Printing Interfaces

Security Configuration

Mail Merge

Troubleshooting Mail Merge Failures

Troubleshooting Correspondence File Failures

Troubleshooting Notice Failures

Data Service

The Data Service is created through the registration tool like any other Data Service (a combination of the runtime XML code and a web service through which the services are exposed):

• The inputs of the Data Service become the input parameters of the Correspondence report.

• For Correspondence created with Microsoft Word Mail Merge templates, only the Data Service first output table is used, except in the case of master-detail reports, in which up to three tables can be used (see Master Detail Reports and Keywords).

• Keywords must be associated with the inputs and outputs so that the particular piece of correspondence knows how to provide the inputs (fields on the correspondence, notice, etc.) and to associate the final documents it produces with the relevant entities in the application.

For example, the entity might be the total amount due on a piece of tax bill correspondence. A keyword of, for example, Amount in a specific field in the tax bill data service tells the data service, when generating the correspondence, to go into the Billing module and grab the total amount due for that particular tax bill, and place that value in the associated Amount field on the tax bill.

Report Template

Once the Data Service is created and registered in the application, the next step is to create a template for the report. This is done in a third-party reporting tool, and currently two options are available:

• Microsoft Word Mail Merge.  The fields are downloaded in CSV form, which can then be imported into Microsoft Word (in Office 2010, this is done via Mailings > Select Recipients > Use Existing List…).

• Crystal Reports. The fields are downloaded in XSD format, which can be used as an ADO.NET/XML Data Source in the Crystal Reports application.

For both of these options, the first step is to download the definition of fields that are exposed by the Data Service using the Manage Data Services screen.

NOTE: In addition to the output fields of the Data Service, an additional field named SCANCODE is available when creating templates for Correspondence. This is a special code that can be embedded in a barcode or OCR line so that the correspondence document and its context is called from the application when necessary, such as when the correspondence is mailed back by a taxpayer.

Once the template is created and saved locally, it must be uploaded to the application via Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence > Report Setups > [Manage Template] >  Manage Templates

Report Setup

The final step is to create a Report Setup that registers the association between the Data Service and the template, along with other options for the report, via Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence > Report Setups task. With the appropriate permissions, you can configure the following:

• Description: This description will be shown throughout the application wherever Correspondence is available.

• Category: This is a Systype from the user-expandable category “CorresCat”). It is optional, and is provided only for organizational purposes.

• Data Service: This should be set to the Data Service that will provide the data for the report.

• Output Engine: This allows you to select the type of report: Microsoft Mail Merge or Crystal Reports.

• Template: The template to use to merge the Data Service’s data. For Mail Merge, this is generally a Word document (DOC or DOCX). For Crystal Reports, this is the RPT file.

• Records per output file: Correspondence will always generate individual documents for each row of the Data Service. However, for mass-mailing purposes, dealing with individual documents is not practical. This option tells Correspondence to generate combined output files (in addition to the individual files) to make mass-printing easier.

• Event type: Correspondence will generate an event of this type for each document it produces (see “Events and Attachments” below for more information).

NOTE: Report setups and templates already exist for many correspondence items for various jurisdictions.

Master Detail Reports and Keywords

Correspondence can also generate master detail reports from hierarchical data. For a report to be a valid master detail report, the following must be set up:

• The Data Service must have one master table.

• The Data Service can have up to three output detail tables.

• The output tables must have at least one keyword in common. This keyword (or keywords) is used to associate the rows between the tables. A separate document is generated for each row in the first table along with all of the matching rows from the second table, and third table, if used.

• For Mail Merge templates, all references to the children table fields must be wrapped within these special fields:

• • TableBegin:Detail

  • TableEnd:Detail

This is then repeated for each row in the detail tables.

NOTE: In Crystal Reports, you can use grouping or subreports to achieve the same effect.

To insert theTableBegin:DetailandTableEnd:Detailfields:

1. Select Insert > Quick Parts > Field…

2. In theField namescombo box, select MergeField.

3. In theField nametext box, typeTableBegin:DetailorTableEnd:Detailas applicable.

Generating Correspondence: Events, Attachments, and Keywords

Whenever Correspondence is generated, an event and an attachment are generated for each document that is produced (the event type is configurable on the Report Setup). This event, and the generated document, is associated to all of the Data Service’s output keywords that refer to entities (generally keywords that end in “Id”).

This enables the document to be recalled from the Attachments sidebar from any page that exposes those same entities as contextual keywords.

Contextual Printing from the Sidebar

A sidebar icon available on any screen within the application opens a popup for Correspondence printing based on the contextual information that is available from each screen.  For example, if you navigate to Info Center > Tax Detail and search/select an account to advance to the Tax Information screen, if set up for your jurisdiction, you can click the correspondence sidebar icon and generate any relevant correspondence to the legal party owner(s) for the particular account you currently have open.

Resolving Inputs

When the Correspondence sidebar icon is clicked, a popup displays to select any report that can be printed based on the current contextual information. For a report to be printed from a particular screen, each one of its inputs must be handled in one of the following ways:

• The Data Service input has a keyword that matches a keyword in the current context. In this case, Correspondence will automatically provide the contextual input to the report. The value that is being used is shown on the screen.

• The Data Service input can be prompted for. In general, a Data Service input can be prompted for if it has a PickList, or if it has no keyword, or if it is a string, date, Boolean, or decimal type. In this case, Correspondence will display a prompt to allow the user to select a value before generating the report.

• The Data Service input is not required. In this case, Correspondence will simply not show the input.

• If any of the Data Service’s inputs do not match at least one of these criteria, the report will not be available. Additionally, at least one input of the Data Service must be supplied from the context.

Module-Specific Printing Interfaces

In addition to the sidebar, various screens provide their own customized interfaces for printing Correspondence. The details of how these work vary, but the configuration is generally done the same way. Some screens may have special requirements for the report, such as that a specific Data Service is used.

 

Security Configuration

Set security rights for the Data Services task and for the Correspondence task.

1. Go to Configuration > Security and User Maintenance > Roles > Maintain a Role > Edit Role Details.

2. Select Reports and Interfaces from the Granted Menu Items panel.

3. Click on Data Services and Correspondence, respectively, and set security rights for each.

Mail Merge

If using the Mail Merge feature of Correspondence, you will need to create a mail merge document. You can create a new mail merge document, or you can download an existing mail merge document (template) via Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence > Report Setups > Manage Report Setups > Manage Templates, update it, and re-upload it using the Manage Templates screen.

NOTE: Certain mail merge document templates (datasource.htm documents) already exist for certain jurisdictions. These are displayed and are available for selection, downloading, and updating via the Manage Templates screen. The file is named automatically for the process:

NOTES:

• The Special Assessment Notices Datasource has been temporarily removed.

• For Business Revenue, the production of mass correspondence is done using the Business Revenue Print Correspondence task.

• For Delinquents, the production of the mass mailing is done using the Notices task.

• For Tax Sale, use the Buyer Notices, Tax Sale Notices or Redemption Notices processes with your Correspondence files.

• Delinquent correspondence files can also be uploaded via Delinquents > Correspondence > Correspondence Files.

• Business Revenue correspondence files can be uploaded via Business Revenue > Setup > Correspondence Files.

• For Accounts Receivable, the production of mass correspondence to generate Accounts Receivable correspondence and notices, such as refund and surplus notices, is done using the Correspondence for AR task.

Troubleshooting Mail Merge Failure

• If the mail merge fails on the batch server, you will get an exception error.

• • See the 2 files listed (.htm and .doc or .docx) in the error. A normal process would have produced just one file (.doc or .docx).

  • Download both of these files to another client computer that has Microsoft Word installed.

  • Run the mail merge on the other computer.

Troubleshooting Correspondence Files

• If Access denied or similar messages are displayed it usually means that the user under which Aumentum is running cannot create the correspondence folders.  This user was not specified when IIS was installed or when it was last configured.

For IIS 5.1 it is usually SYSTEM.

For IIS 6.0 it is usually ASP.NET.

For IIS running on a laptop or standalone machine it could also be the domain\username of the machine.  Example is kzo\marcos.

Use Internet Information Services and the DirectorySecurity tab of the website to determine this user. Please also consult with your (Undefined variable: Variables.SupportRep) for assistance.

• Also, ASP.NET is included as part of the machinename/Users group.  So giving full access to machinename/Users will also work if the user is ASP.NET.

• Once the user is determined, please give full rights to the Aumentum Reports folder to solve this issue.

• Make sure that the Reports/Correspondence folder and all its subfolders do not have the Read-only attribute selected in its properties; If so, clear the Read-only checkbox.

Troubleshooting Notices

• No subdivision prints on the notice when using DelinquentAdditional_Datasource.htm:

• • Two Delinquent module application settings must be set for subdivision information to show when using DelinquentAdditional_Datasource.htm for  correspondence.  These two application settings map where to get this information from the Records module:

• 1. • Subdivsion Header Type

     • Subdivision Description Detail Type.

• • Both must be filled in. If not set, no data will be displayed.

  • If the application settings are correctly set but no data is found, then Unknown Subdivision prints instead of the subdivision name for those bills missing that data.

• Net taxable value is not showing in the notice when using DelinquentAdditional_Datasource.htm.

• • Map the net taxable value in the ValueType table. This is done through Levy Management > Setup > Value Type Mapping. If this is not mapped, then net taxable value will not show in the Delinquent Additional Datasource.

• Error when printing notice: Could not find file <templatename>.doc

• • After uploading the correspondence file, make sure it is associated with the correct matching process (report setup) on the Manage Report Setups screen (Reports and Interfaces > Correspondence > Report Setups > Manage Report Setups).

• Owner as of delinquent date does not print on notices.

• • If no owner prints in the notices, then step 1 (below) was probably not completed properly.

  • 1. Set up the delinquent date in the Functional Calendar before performing the tax roll processing (which creates the dates needed for Correspondence.)

    2. Select Owner as of delinquent date from the Defendant Information dropdown of Create a Delinquent Notice.

  • To test for correct setup of the delinquent date, run this query. It must return a valid value. If it returns no value, then set up the delinquent date as specified in step 1 above.
    
    select max(bd.datevalue) from taxbilldates_v bd where taxbillid = x and bd.eventtype = 152501

Tips

Make sure when uploading that you are not overwriting a file you want to keep.

Create a Delinquent Notice runs the batch process that creates the Delinquent print-ready document.

Print Correspondence runs the batch process that creates the Business Revenue print-ready document.

For Tax Sale, use the Tax Sale Notices and Redemption Notices tasks with your mail merge documents.

Valuable Vocabulary

Mail Merge >In Microsoft Word, creates a set of documents that are essentially the same, differing only is specific, unique elements. The unique elements are merged with the document template to create the set of unique documents.

Upload >Transfer (information) from a microcomputer to a remote computer.

Download >Transfer (as data) from a usually large computer (as server) to the memory of another device (as a smaller computer).