Method and software application for supporting the processing of invoices

1 - 29 . (canceled)

30 . A method for computerized processing of invoices, which a company has presented to two or more customers, comprising:

selecting, from a plurality of invoices, invoices which are due within a preselectable time or on a preselectable date and to which a first state is assigned;

assigning a second state to said selected invoices; and

using at least one of the first state and the second state to control processing of the invoices.

31 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

selecting, from said plurality of invoices, invoices which meet the additional condition that the respective balance is larger than a preselectable first value.

32 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

representing at least one of said first and second state by an entry into a data field of a data record comprising data of a respective invoice.

33 . The method of claim 30 , comprising:

representing said first and second state by a first and second set of characters entered into one data field of a data record comprising data of the respective invoice.

34 . The method of claim 30 , wherein one or more of the plurality of invoices are invoices of special importance.

35 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said first and second states represent states of high priority.

36 . The method of claim 31 , further comprising:

selecting, from said plurality of invoices, second invoices, the balance of which is smaller than a preselectable second value and larger than a preselectable third value; and

assigning a third state to the second invoices, the second value being smaller or equal than the first value and the third value being smaller than the second value.

37 . The method of claim 36 , wherein the third state is a state of medium priority.

38 . The method of claim 36 , further comprising:

selecting, from said second invoices, third invoices, the balance of which is smaller than the third value; and

assigning a fourth state to the third invoices.

39 . The method of claim 38 , wherein the fourth state is a state of low priority.

40 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the preselectable first value is such that a preselectable percentage of the outstanding active debts or turnover of the company is controlled.

41 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

presenting the invoices of at least one of the first state, the second state, the third state, and the fourth state to a cash collector.

42 . The method of claim 41 , further comprising:

presenting the invoices having a first or second state at the latest of a presetable first period of time before the due date to the cash collector.

43 . The method of claim 41 , further comprising:

presenting the invoices having the third state at the latest of a presetable second period of time before the due date to the cash collector.

44 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

presenting the invoices having the fourth state at the latest of a presetable third period of time before the due date to a cash collector.

45 . The method claim 41 , further comprising:

controlling, by said cash collector, whether payments according to the invoices of at least one of the first state and the second state have been made before, on, or after the due date, and, in case of a non-payment, presenting the non-payment invoices to a collecting service.

46 . The method of claim 44 , wherein:

the second period of time is smaller than the first period of time; and

the third period of time is smaller than the second period of time.

47 . The method of claim 38 , further comprising dunning the customers of the accompanying due invoices.

48 . The method of claim 45 , wherein the collection service is a collection division of the company or an external collecting agency.

49 . The method of claim 45 , further comprising checking whether a non-payment is reasoned, and if the non-payment is not reasoned, presenting such non-payment invoice to an external collecting agency.

50 . The method of claim 45 , further comprising presenting the non-payment invoices to the collecting service as a to-do-list.

51 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

receiving a request for a state change of an invoice from a customer; and

changing the state of the invoice according to said request.

52 . The method of claim 51 , further comprising presenting the request to an internal clearing division before changing the state.

53 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the method is implemented as part of software for supporting business processes, the software comprising enterprise resource planning software.

54 . A computer system for computerized processing of invoices, comprising:

memory having program instructions;

input means for receiving and entering data;

output means for sending and presenting data;

storage means for storing data;

a processor responsive to the program instructions, wherein

the program instructions, when executed with the processor, perform a method comprising:

selecting, from a plurality of invoices, invoices which are due within a preselectable time or on a preselectable date and to which a first state is assigned; and

assigning a second state to said selected invoices; and

using at least one of the first state and the second state to control processing of the invoices.

55 . A computer readable medium comprising instructions for computerized processing of invoices, the computer readable medium comprising instructions for:

selecting, from a plurality of invoices, invoices which are due within a preselectable time or on a preselectable date and to which a first state is assigned; and

assigning a second state to said selected invoices; and using at least one of the first state and the second state to control processing of the invoices.