Don't miss this great opportunity to spend a few days with your friends oceanside and Experience CRF!

SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft users

Various Credit Information Provider Users' Groups

Special - Staff Development - Concurrent Financial Training Session :
Diagnostic Cash Flow and Financial Analysis: Tools, Techniques, and Cases

The October CRF Forum Program
(Still under development but these topics are certain.)

• Profile of the Current Economy in a Historical Perspective
  Steven C. Isberg, Ph.D; Senior Research Fellow, CRF and Associate Professor of Finance, University of Baltimore
  
  The seeds of the recent meltdown in the financial markets and near depression economy were planted years ago, and the sluggishness of today's "recovery" is not unique in history. In this session, Steve Isberg will provide an analysis of current economic data to provide an outlook for the US and global economy. This will be presented in the context of a deeper understanding of key historical economic trends and events going back to the turn of the 20th century and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System.
  
  
• Credit & AR Process Automation - Yesinne Alvarez of Smyyth Solutions LLC will address how technology has increased efficiencies by implementing automation not just in credit decisioning but in collections, A/R reconciliation, consolidation of disparate systems and reporting.



• Trade Programs in Chapter 11 - Scott L. Hazan, & Jenette Barrow-Bosshart, Partners, Otterbourg, Steindler, Houston & Rosen, P.C. The discussion on Trade Programs in chapter 11 cases addresses the origins of these programs, the related Trade Agreements and the relationship to Critical Vendor Programs. It addresses the different standards courts have utilized in determining whether to approve such programs. However, the focus of the program is pragmatic and will address the Trade Agreements generally utilized, the implementation of these agreements and the possible pit-falls to be avoided together with suggested provisions.
  
  
• Leveraging an Integrated Approach to Payment Card Acceptance in Your ERP system - Eric Bushman. Vice President, Solutions Engineering at Paymetric. Increasingly, organizations that utilize an ERP are exploring electronic payment acceptance as a vital component of their financial supply chain. Ensuring functional continuity and operational efficiency between multiple ERP components and financial institutions is a complex challenge. Electronic payments accepted via payment, credit, debit, loyalty and gift cards and eCheck offer clear advantages over manual, paper-intensive processing methods. Besides substantial labor savings, accepting payment cards can free up valuable working capital by reducing Days of Sales Outstanding (DSO) and decreasing exposure to accounts receivable risk. Attend this session to learn about an automated and integrated approach to electronic payment acceptance. Plus learn how to leverage tokenization technology to help minimize your company’s PCI DSS footprint.
In this session you will learn:
• How automated payment card processing in your ERP can help reduce operating costs, accelerate working capital, minimize business risk and increase ROI on payment acceptance
• The benefits of an on-demand payment application
• What tokenization is, how it works, and the way it can assist you to reduce PCI DSS scope.


• An Overview of the Retail Business Sector This segment will provide a general economic overview of the world and how recent events (Debt ceiling, US downgrade, European monetary policy) are effecting the capital markets, pricing of risk and its impact on the retail environment - Tom Fitzsimmons, Anna Stavreska and Carla Casella from JPMorgan Credit Trading



• Speed Collections and Simplify Credit Application Processes with Innovations in Electronic Signature and Registered Email Technologies This session will teach you how to (a) move credit application forms to electronic delivery with mechanisms to obtain legal electronic signatures from applicants in minutes versus days and weeks, (b) send invoices attached to Registered Email messages returning delivery proof records that end the age-old late payment excuse of ‘I never got the invoice’ and help you lock in the invoice aging start date, and (c) convert dunning letters and other collections notices to electronic delivery in a form that provides intelligent delivery reporting and is proven to elicit faster payment. This case study format presentation provide you with a roadmap and know-how on how you can implement process efficiencies in minutes upon return to your offices post-conference. Presented by: Zafar Khan, Chief Executive Officer, RPost



• Simplifying Electronic Payments and Remittance Processing
This session focuses on a cross-industry initiative designed to help businesses of all sizes achieve more Straight-Through Processing (STP) when reconciling their payments and remittance data. Credit Professionals will learn what key industry organizations are doing and proposing to do to simplify remittance processing and accelerate electronic payments adoption. Attendees will also be invited to provide feedback and direction to these industry organizations on the merits of their remittance processing proposals—during the session and through a follow-on survey.

Session Leader and Panel Facilitator: Claudia Swendseid, SVP, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Panelists:    Sandra Roth, Manager, Trade Financial Management, Johnson & Johnson Sales & Logistics Co; Bill Whalen, Senior Manager E Commerce, Kraft Foods; David Bonneau, President, C/LECT Consulting; Tammie Calys, President, Transformation Management Consulting; Robert Unger, Senior Director Electronic Billing & Payment, NACHA

Learning Objectives
• Review a number of current initiatives and future proposals to improve automated reconciliation of payments and remittance data.
• Identify possible, additional solutions to address the needs of small, medium, and large businesses to automate the reconciliation of payments and remittance data
• Discuss effective ways to educate and involve corporate practitioners in the work of the Remittance Coalition going forward
Attendees should have a some understanding of their organization’s processes and technology used to originate and post payments and remittance information to ERP and other back-office systems.

Take Aways
• Deeper understanding of current issues, initiatives, and proposals related to remittance processing/reconciliation with payments transactions
• Information on how to participate with industry efforts to improve the efficiency of reconciling payments transactions and remittance data via the Remittance Coalition


• Taking Control of Customer Deductions: Process and miss-communication errors in the retail sale cycle lead to deductions. Learn proactive steps credit professionals can take to reduce or even eliminate future charges.

In today’s economy, every little bit helps. Finding ways to reduce and control customer deductions can increase profitability and add to your bottom line. This session will provide 3 different perspectives on managing compliance and reducing deductions, including a case study from leading manufacturer, Jarden Consumer Solutions.
During this session:
• Kim Zablocky, Founder, Vendor Compliance Federation will present the key steps credit management can take to prevent deductions, focusing on ASN accuracy, identification of problems and the importance of quickly communicating issues to your supply chain team
• Jessica Butler, Principal, Attain Consulting Group LLC will discuss the key internal obstacles companies face when trying to improve compliance and control deductions and share with attendees several best practices companies have successfully implemented to overcome these obstacles
• Eileen McDonnell, Senior Director, Financial Services and Jennifer Nelson Director, Customer Satisfaction of Jarden Consumer Solutions, (makers of Sunbeam, Mr. Coffee, Oster consumer products and many more), will share the “secrets of their success” in compliance management.



• The CRF Open Forum In this session, you set the agenda and ask everyone for assistance with any operational, logistical or best practice questions or concerns you have. Take advantage of this opportunity to get help from a cross section of America's leading credit professionals representing a variety of industries. We'll all help to find a solution.

SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft users

Oracle Users Group

• As always, in conjunction with our Forum, CRF will host an Oracle User Group session facilitated by Robin Walker, principal of Caliber Application Services, LLC and Carol King, Principal Product Strategy Manager of Oracle on Monday morning from 8:00am to 12pm immediately prior to the start of the CRF Forum. The agenda and meeting location will be forthcoming.
  Click here to see the Oracle meeting agenda.
  
  To find out more or to sign-up for this session: email session host
  Robin Walker at: rwalker@caliber-services.com

SAP Users Group

• SAP User are invited to attend the CRF SAP Users Group meeting ...SAP Users, don't miss this opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this valuable resource. The SAP meeting will take place on Monday morning from 8am to 12pm immediately prior to the start of the CRF Forum. Click here to see the SAP meeting agenda.
  
  To find out more or to sign-up for this session: email session host
  Geoff Land at: geoff.land@highradius.com

PeopleSoft Users Group

• PeopleSoft users - Join us as we launch our initial user group session. Don't miss this opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this new resource. The PeopleSoft meeting will take place on Monday morning from 9am to 12pm immediately prior to the start of the CRF Forum. This session is not on the agenda brochure.
  PeopleSoft agenda coming soon.
  
  To find out more or to sign-up for this session: email session host
  Maria Pollieri at: maria.pollieri@oracle.com

Wednesday Afternoon User Groups

Cortera User Group & Open House

• Cortera User Group & Open House
  Wednesday October 18, 2011:       1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
  THERE IS NO FEE TO ATTEND THIS MEETING but registration is limited. Cortera User Groups are the perfect opportunity to join your fellow customers and share best practices, sharpen your skills, and hear directly from the Cortera team. The user group is open to all CRF attending credit professionals and their IT staff only (even if you are not a customer, you are a welcome to attend). No vendors please. To find out more and to sign-up please visit:
  http://cortera-2011-crf-October.eventbrite.com/.
  Questions? Email user group host Alex Coté at acote@cortera.com

• CreditRiskMonitor Users - Don't miss this session
  Wednesday October 19, 2011:       12:30 PM -3:00 PM.
  THERE IS NO FEE FOR THIS USER GROUP MEETING but registration is limited and admission is for password/contract holders only.
  To find out more go to CreditRiskMonitor:
  Or email session host Al Carmenini by September 15th to reserve your seat alcarmenini@crmz.com

• D&B DNBi Users - Don't miss this session
  Wednesday October 19, 2011:      1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
  THERE IS NO FEE FOR THIS USER GROUP MEETING but registration is limited.
  To find out more or to sign-up for this session: email session host
  Bill Balduino at: BalduinoB@DNB.com