EFT/ACH Setup and Processing

Purpose of this document

AP payments may be created by printing a check or by electronic payments known as EFT or ACH payments. Just like AP checks, the starting point for processing EFT/ACH payments is the Payment Journal using the Suggest Vendor Payments Batch job. 

Ceres Object release 6.00.00 is required for the functionality described in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Setup 
  • Data Exchange Definitions
  • Bank Export/Import Setup
  • Report Selection – Purchase
  • Bank Accounts
  • Payment Methods
  • Vendor Bank Accounts
  • Vendor
  • Vendor Document Layout
  • Payment Journal Batch
• Creating and Posting EFT/ACH Payments 

Setup 

Before EFT/ACH payments can be processed setup is required as outlined below.

1. Data Exchange Definitions – Defines the EFT/ACH file format that is sent to the bank.  File headers, lines, and footers can be defined in the setup to meet the bank’s file format requirements. 
2. Bank Export/Import Setup – Defines how the EFT/ACH file is processed in Ceres.
3. Report Selection – Purchase – Defines which report will be used to generate the EFT/ACH Remittance Advice.
4. Bank Accounts – Defines which bank account(s) will be used to process EFT/ACH payments .
5. Payment Methods – Define EFT/ACH payment method which can be used as a filter for processing payments for vendors that are paid via EFT/ACH.
6. Vendor Bank Accounts – Defines which vendor bank accounts to send the EFT/ACH payments to.
7. Vendor – Update the Payments FastTab of the Vendor Card with EFT/ACH payment terms and the preferred vendor bank account the vendor would like the EFT/ACH payment sent to.
8. Vendor Document Layouts – Defines which document and email address to use when emailing the Remittance Advice to the vendor.
9. Payment Journal Batch – Create an EFT/ACH Payment Journal Batch to separate processing of EFT/ACH payments from AP checks.

Data Exchange Definitions

1. The Data Exchange Definitions page can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Data Exchange Definitions” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Data Exchange Definitions” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Data Exchange Definitions” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. Select Import/Export à Import Data Exchange Definition to import the EFT/ACH file provided by your Ceres partner.  Once imported, you can select Export Data Exchange Definition to export the file if you would like.

3. Once the file has been imported will display as follows. 

4. To edit the EFT/ACH file format, click on the Code you would like to edit.   Select the line you would like to edit in the Lines Definition section.  The columns associated with the line will display in the Column Definitions section, update the Column No. lines as needed.  

Bank Export/Import Setup

1. The Bank Export/Import Setup page can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Bank Export/Import Setup” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Bank Export/Import Setup” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Bank Export/Import Setup” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2.  Select New to create a new bank import line and update the fields as follows.

Code – Input a Code to identify the type of file that will be processed.

Name – Enter a Name to identify the type of file that will be processed.

Direction – Select Export-EFT to designate the type of file that will be processed.

Processing Codeunit ID and Processing Codeunit Name – These fields will populate automatically once Export-EFT is selected in the Direction field.

Data Exch. Def. Code – Select the code that was imported as part of the Data Definition Code setup.  In this example, the code is US EFT DEFAULT.

Report Selection – Purchase

1. The Report Selection - Purchase page can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Report Selection - Purchase” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Report Selection - Purchase” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Report Selection - Purchase” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. From the Usage field drop down, select Vendor Remittance.  Confirm that Report 11383 is linked to the setup.  Alternatively, you can link Report ID 10083. 

Bank Accounts

1. The Report Selection - Purchase page can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Bank Accounts” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Bank Accounts” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Bank Accounts” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. The following fields on the Bank Account Card need to be updated to process EFT/ACH payments.

Bank Account No. – On the General FastTab of the Bank Account Card, input the account number of the bank account that will be used to process EFT/ACH payments.

Last Remittance Advice No. – On the Posting FastTab of the Bank Account Card, input the remittance advice number you want to use for EFT/ACH payments.   This field will update automatically with the last remittance advice number used when you process EFT/ACH payments.

Country Export Format – On the Transfer FastTab of the Bank Account Card, select US for United States as of country format for the EFT/ACH file that is created.

E-Pay Export File Name – On the Transfer FastTab or the Bank Account Card, input the file name you want to use when creating the EFT/ACH file that is sent to the bank.

Transit No. - On the Transfer FastTab of the Bank Account Card, input the transit (routing) number of the bank account that will be used to process EFT/ACH payments.

Payment Export Format – on the Transfer FastTab of the Bank Account Card, select from the drop down, the Bank Import/Export Code that was created as part of the Bank Import/Export Code setup.  In this example, ACH/EFT was selected.

Payment Methods

1. For filtering and ease of processing payments for vendors who want to be paid by EFT/ACH, setup an EFT/ACH payment method.  The Payment Methods page can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Payment Methods” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Payment Methods” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Payment Methods” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. Select New to create a new payment method.  Input a code and description to identify the EFT/ACH payment method.

Vendor Bank Accounts

1. Vendor bank accounts can be accessed from the Vendor Card by selecting Related à Vendor à Bank Accounts.

2. From the Vendor Bank Account List, select New to create a new vendor bank account or Manage à Edit to edit an existing vendor bank account.

3. On the General FastTab update the fields as follows

Code – Input a code to identify the vendor’s bank account that the EFT/ACH payments will be sent to.  Multiple bank accounts can be setup for each vendor.

Bank Branch No. – Enter the branch number of the vendor’s bank account.

Bank Account No. – Enter the bank account number of the vendor’s bank account.

Transit No. – Enter the transit (routing) number of the vendor’s bank account.

4. Move to the Transfer FastTab and toggle the “Use for Electronic Payment” field for the bank account the vendor wants their EFT/ACH payments sent to.

Vendor

1. On the Payments FastTab of the Vendor Card, update the Payment Method Code field with the EFT/ACH code, and in the Preferred Bank Account field select the vendor’s bank account where EFT/ACH payments will be sent to.

Vendor Document Layout

1. If you want to send the remittance advice to the vendor via email, go to the Document Layout page and complete the setup.  The Document Layout setup can be accessed  from the Vendor Card by selecting  Related à Vendor à  Document Layouts.

2. Update the fields as follows:

Usage: Select Vendor Remittance Advice

Report Id:  Input the Report Id (10083 or 11183) that you setup in Report Selections – Purchases

Send to Email:  Input the email address of the person who the Remittance Advice will be sent to.

Payment Journal Batch

It’s recommended that an EFT/ACH Payment Journal Batch be created and used when processing EFT/ACH payments.  This way the EFT/ACH payments are separated from the invoices that will be paid by check.

1. From the Payment Journals page, select the ellipsis in the Batch Name field.

2. Select New to create a new batch.

3. Select or input values in the following fields.

Name: This must be unique to the Payment Journal Batch being created. 

Description: Enter a brief description of the journal batch you are creating.

Bal. Account Type: Select Bank Account.

Bal. Account No.: Select the company bank account the EFT/ACH payments will be paid from.

No. Series and Reason Code: All these fields populate based on the parameters of the Journal Template, but can be overridden.

Creating and Posting EFT/ACH Payments 

1. Just like AP checks, EFT/ACH payments are processed and posted from the Payment Journal.  Payment Journals can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Payment Journals” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Payment Journals” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Payment Journals” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page. 

2. Select the EFT-ACH batch from the Batch Name field.

3. To suggest invoices for payment, select Prepare à Suggest Vendor Payments.

4. Update the fields as necessary on the Options FastTab.

Last Payment Date: Enter the latest payment date that can appear on the Vendor Ledger Entries to be included in the Batch Job. Only entries that have a due date or a payment discount date either before or on this date will be included. If the payment date is earlier than the system date, a warning will be displayed.

Find Payment Discounts: Toggle this field on if you want the batch job to include Vendor Ledger Entries for which you can receive a payment discount.

Use Vendor Priority: If toggled on, the contents of the Priority field on the Vendor Card will determine in which order vendor entries will be suggested for payment. Ceres always prioritizes vendors for payment suggestions if you specify an available amount in the field below.

Available Amount ($): If there is a maximum amount available for payments enter it here. The Batch Job will then create a payment suggestion on the basis of this amount and the prioritization of Vendors (see field above). It will include only vendor entries that can be paid fully (can be fully applied to).

Skip Exported Payments: Toggle on if you do want the batch job to insert payment journal lines for documents for payments that have already been exported to a bank file.

Check Other Journal Batches: When toggled on exclude payments that are already included in another journal batch from new suggested payments. This helps avoid duplicate payments.

Summarize per Vendor: Toggle on if you want the batch job to make one line per Vendor. Ceres will then use the Applies-to ID field when the Journal Lines are posted to apply the lines to Vendor Ledger Entries. If you do not toggle this field, the Batch Job will make one line per invoice.

By Dimension: Select the Dimensions by which you want to group the suggested payments. You get one suggested payment per combination of Dimension Values for each currency in which the Vendor has ledger entries.

Posting Date: Enter the payment date in this field that will appear as the Posting Date on the lines that the batch job inserts in the Payment Journal.

Calculate Posting Date from Applies-To Doc. Due Date: Toggle on this field if you want the due date of the purchase invoice to be used to calculate payment posting date.

Applies-To Doc. Due Date Offset: Specify a period of time that will separate the payment posting date from the due date on the purchase invoice.  For example:

• Enter CW-2D (end of current week minus 2 days) to pay the purchase invoice on the Friday in the week of the due date.
• Enter -2D (minus 2 days) to pay the purchase invoice two days before the due date.

Starting Document No.: Enter a 1 here. The document number will be incremented by one on each of the following journal lines. This will be populated with the EFT/ACH payment number once you process the payments. This field is optional.

New Doc. No. per Line: Toggle on if you want Ceres to fill in the Payment Journal Lines with consecutive document numbers, starting with the document number specified in the field above. If the Bank Payment Type field contains Manual Check and the Summarize per Vendor field is not toggled on, this field must be toggled on. Ceres will then use the document number as the unique ID for the check.

Bal. Account Type: Select Bank Account.

Bal. Account No.: Select the Bank Account the EFT/ACH payments will be paid from.

Bank Payment Type: Choose Electronic Payment.

5. On the Vendor FastTab you can narrow the list of Vendors to be included in the batch. Leave the No. field blank to include all Vendors. You can also filter by Payment Method Code to only include those vendors that are setup with a Payment Method Code of EFT/ACH.

Note: To filter out vendors with credit balances you may enter the filter criteria of Balance > 0.

6. Select OK to run the Batch Job.
7. Upon completion of the Batch Job, the Payment Journal will be populated with the vendor invoices to be paid based on the selected criteria.

8. Review the Journal Lines for accuracy and make any required adjustments.

Note:  If a Preferred Bank Account was setup for the vendor, the Receipt Bank Account field will be populated.  If this field is blank, select the vendor bank account that the EFT/ACH payments will be sent to.

9. To create Vendor Remittance Advices that are sent to the vendor, select Bank à Export.

10. Select the Bank Account No. the EFT/ACH payments will be paid from, and then select “pdf” or “print” to print the Remittance Advice, and “email” to email the Remittance Advice.  Toggle on the Print Company Address field if you would like your Company Address to print on the Remittance Advice.               

11. Click OK to generate the Remittance Advice.

12. You can void the EFT/ACH payment after the Remittance Advice has been created by selecting Bank à Void.

13. Confirm the Bank Account and then click OK to void the payment or Cancel to abort the void process.

14. Once the Remittance Advice files have been created you are ready to create the EFT/ACH file that is sent to the bank.  To create the EFT/ACH file, select Actions à  Functions à  Generate EFT File. 

15. From the Generate EFT Files Page, you can select which lines (payments) will be included in the EFT/ACH file that is generated.  By default, the lines are marked as Include.  To the right of the Include field, click on the ellipsis button and then Select More to designate which lines (payments) to include or exclude from the file that is generated.

16. Once you have selected the lines you want to include in the EFT/ACH file, select Generate EFT Files. Then copy the file to where you want to save it. 

17. If errors were encountered in the creation of the EFT/ACH file, the errors will display in the Payment File Errors FactBox.   Resolve the errors and then rerun the Generate EFT Files function.

18. If no errors were encountered in the creation of the EFT/ACH, the lines will be cleared from the Generate EFT Files page and the corresponding field in the Payment Journal will be updated.  

19. Browse to where the EFT/ACH file was saved to view and/or upload the file to the bank.

20. Once the EFT/ACH file has been created, the Document No. field in the Payment Journal will be updated with the EFT/ACH payment number.  You can finish the process by posting the Payment Journal by selecting  Post/Print à  Post or Actions à  Posting  à  Post or Post and Print.  Select Yes to confirm that you want to post the Journal Lines.