# How collection works

What a collection contract holds, how its installments, payments, discounts and signatures connect, how its states move, who sees what, where online requests come from, and what Collection does not do.

**Collection** follows debts you collect on behalf of their owners. Everything starts from the contract: one debtor, one owner, one amount. The rest of the app hangs on it.

## What a contract holds {#contract}

| Part | What it is | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| The parties | The **Debtor**, who owes, and the **Owner**, the creditor; never the same contact | [Create a collection contract](create-a-collection-contract) |
| The people | **Assigned To**, who follows the contract, and an optional **Supervisor** | [Create a collection contract](create-a-collection-contract#fill-in) |
| The schedule | Installments with a due date, an amount, what is paid and what remains | [Create a collection contract](create-a-collection-contract#schedule), [Installments and reminders](installments-and-reminders) |
| The payments | Each sum received, with its receipt, applied to the installments | [Register a payment](register-a-payment) |
| The discounts | Reductions agreed with the owner, within limits set per access right | [Offer a discount](offer-a-discount) |
| The signatures | One for the debtor and one for the owner, with their dates | [Get the contract signed](get-the-contract-signed) |
| The legal terms | The terms and conditions, often copied from a template | [Legal terms templates](legal-terms-templates) |

The installments, payments and discounts of all contracts also have their own lists: **Collection/Installments/Installments**, **Collection/Installments/Payments** and **Collection/Installments/Discounts**.

## The figures of a contract {#figures}

- **Amount** is the debt. After an approved discount, **Original Amount** keeps the amount before it.
- **Paid** adds up the confirmed payments of the contract.
- **Remaining** is **Amount** minus **Paid**, never below 0.
- **Out Standing** appears when a payment went beyond what remained: it shows the amount paid above the debt.

The schedule keeps its own amounts. Changing **Amount** does not change the installments; rescheduling spreads what remains over new ones.

## How the states move {#states}

A contract is born **To Approve**. It moves to **Under Collection** when someone chooses it, which needs a schedule, or by itself when the second party signs. It ends as **Collected**, which you choose once **Remaining** reads 0, or **Canceled**, always with a reason. A cancelled contract comes back through **Reset To Approve**. Creating or rescheduling the installments sends a contract back to **To Approve** and erases its signatures. [Move a contract through its states](move-a-contract-through-its-states) gives the details.

Nothing forces the order: a contract can be **Under Collection** without signatures, and a party can still sign it afterwards.

## Signatures and their links {#signatures}

Each party has a link of its own, made from a private key stored on the contract and shortened for sending. The link opens a page of the website where the party reads the contract, its installments and its terms, and signs. Whoever holds the link signs as that party, so the link is sent to that party only. A debtor or owner with an account on your website also reaches their contracts from their account page.

The first signature can alert the other party, the second moves the contract to **Under Collection**. The contract's chatter keeps who signed and when.

## What the contract sends {#messages}

On creation, the assigned user gets a to-do activity: [Activities](/docs/activities). Then e-mails and WhatsApp messages follow the alert rules of the company: per status, per installment status, after a signature and around due dates. [Collection settings](collection-settings) holds the rules, [Collection automations](collection-automations) the scheduled jobs and templates, and [WhatsApp in collection](/docs/whatsapp/whatsapp-in-collection) the WhatsApp side. **Send to Debtor** and **Send to Owner** write the message of the current status by hand.

## Who sees what {#access}

Access follows the four rights of **Collection**: **Readonly** reads every contract and changes nothing; **User** works on the contracts assigned to them or to no one; **Supervisor** adds those they supervise or that have no supervisor; **Manager** works on every contract and manages the legal terms templates and the settings. [Collection settings](collection-settings#access-rights) gives the full table, and opening **Collection/Configuration/Settings** also needs the administrator right of the platform.

## Online requests {#online-requests}

An owner with an account on your website can file a collection request there: the debtor, the amount, notes and files. The request waits in **Collection/Online Requests** until someone approves it, which creates a contract **Under Collection** without installments; creating its installments puts it back to **To Approve**.

## What Collection does not do {#limits}

- It creates no invoice and no accounting entry: payments stay in Collection.
- It charges no card: the **Pay** button of the signing page records a payment with its receipt, it does not take money.
- It never closes a contract by itself: **Collected** is always chosen by a user.
- It computes nothing from the commissions, and adds no interest or late fee.
- It works in the currency of the company.

The figures above the list of contracts come from the ready-made dashboard of the app: [Ready-made dashboards](/docs/analysis/ready-made-dashboards).

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/collection/how-collection-works
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Collection 19.0.3.2.5