Fix Mail Merge Backlog and Get Back to Business

SUMMARY

CLIENT: Retail Collections Firm

PRODUCT: Q-Law

PROBLEM: Mail Merge not working with new forms

SOLUTION: Rebuild and re-program the forms from scratch

IMPACT: No more backlog of complaints

PROBLEM

A retail collections firm in the Midwest was stumped. They couldn’t get mail merge to work with five new Word forms: four summons and one garnishment. After several weeks of frustration, they asked Vertican for help.

When Michelle Samlaska, Client Success Manager, tried to load the summons forms, her Word program froze, then crashed. Upon investigation, she saw that the forms, which were court templates, contained hidden metadata and security features embedded in Word.

SOLUTION

Michelle rebuilt the summons forms from scratch, stripped out the embedded data, and made the forms interactive. She then input the correct merge fields, wrote custom field strings, linked the data sources, and set up the automation logic to pull data from the accounts. After this, she also created a second set of forms and programmed the merge fields for Debtor 2. Each form was then tested to ensure mail merge was successful.

IMPACT

The firm’s Accounts Coordinator was amazed with how fast the forms went through after Michelle’s help. From a backlog of over 300 complaints, by the first afternoon following the solution, 47 complaints were processed in a matter of minutes, and the entire backlog was resolved in a single day!

While custom programming was still required for the garnishment form, five hours of Professional Services took care of weeks of hassle and gave the firm peace of mind. In the end, they received eight summons forms since they had two versions for court venues, two for process service, and then four created for Debtor 2.

LESSON

There’s no need to lose sleep (or sanity!) by trying to do it yourself. Let Vertican come to the rescue!

Reprinted from the Septeber 2024 vConnect