Automated Clearing House (ACH) is a secure payment transfer system that provides a centralized clearing facility for Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) payments occurring within the U.S. and Canada. You can use ACH for any type of electronic payment; for example, to validate authorized debits for recurring payments.

ACH is integrated with the Name and Address module, ePayment component, Utility Billing, and all Tax Assessment and Billing subsystems: Real Property, Personal Property, and all excise tax modules.

The Accounts Receivable subsystem includes setup, user functionality, and batch processing to handle your ACH transactions. The configuration and administrative setup are performed in Govern New Administration (GNA), the Business Entity Designer (BED), and the OpenForms Designer (OFD) forms. The ACH account information is added to a separate ACH Information entity in the Name and Address form. Separate information is maintained for each subsystem.

There are three batch processes, ACH prenotification, ACH Data preparation, and ACH file generation.

Documentation

To read this information in pdf format, click on the file link:

ACH ConfigurationImplementation.pdf

ACH Administrative Setup

A/R General Parameters

Complete the following procedure to set up the city and bank parameters for ACH Web Payment and the ACH Payment file for all subsystems. If parameters are different for one or more subsystems, complete the parameters on the ACH Parameters form.

To set up the ACH parameters:

1. Launch GNA.
2. Select Application Configurations > Accounts Receivable > General Parameters.
   The ACH Parameters are located in the upper right section of the form.
3. Enter the name of the bank that manages your ACH processing in the Destination Bank Name field.
4. Enter the routing number of the bank that manages your ACH processing in the Destination Bank Routing field.
   This is a unique nine digit number used to identify the financial institution. The first two digits identify the district in which the bank is located.
   The remaining numbers are unique.
5. Enter the name of your regular bank in the Origin Bank Name field.
6. Enter the routing number of this bank in the Origin Bank Routing field.
7. Enter the identification number for the city or company making the deposit, in the Company ID field.
   Typically, this is the same as the Federal Tax ID.
8. Enter the account number of the bank entered in the Origin Bank Name field.
   This is a unique eight to seventeen digit number.
9. Enter the custom file descriptor string In the File Descriptor parameter.

The File Descriptor string is different for each bank. It appears on the first line of the ACH file.

ACH Parameters

Complete the following procedure to set up the city and bank parameters for ACH Web Payment and the ACH Payment file for an individual subsystem. If parameters are not completed for a subsystem, the ACH City and Bank Parameters from the A/R General Parameters form are used.
To set up the ACH Parameters for a subsystem:

1. Launch GNA.
2. Select Application Configurations > Accounts Receivable > ACH Account Parameters.
3. Select a subsystem in the list on the left.
4. Enter the parameters as described in the preceedimg procedure for the A/R General Parameters.
5. Click Save.

Adding ACH Information in Govern

See ACH in Govern

NOTE: Data for the Holiday Calendar is stored in (Table: USR_CAL_HOLIDAY) with a record for each unique YEAR + MONTH; each day of the month that is selected as a Holiday will have a (-1) in the column.

To access this form, in the Govern New Administration (GNA)…

1. Locate the GNA ribbon, select Application Configurations (tab) > Govern Tax (group) > Accounts Receivable > Holiday Calendar
2. The calendar will be displayed on the current year, month, and date.
3. On the calendar, scroll to the required month and year. The holidays are selected with a click on the date to highlight; a click on an already highlighted date will deselect it.
4. Click Save on the A/R Calendar Holidays sub tab, to save your changes.
5. Click Exit to close the form and save your modifications.

NOTE: The Holiday Calendar is not related to Workflow Management, and is only used with A/R Methods. The same Holiday Calendar is used throughout the organization.

 

TIP: Use the Holiday Calendar to define statutory holidays, for billing purposes. Refer to the Accounts / Receivable guide for details.

Holiday Calendar dates can be incorporated through the A/R Method form. For example…

1. In the A/R Class form, select an A/R Class that has been configured with a Due Date Only A/R Method (Interest / Penalty Method).
2. When a compatible Interest / Penalty Method has been selected, the A/R Method button on the RHS of the interface will be active.
3. Click A/R Method.
4. On the modal form, in the Due Date Method group, select Include Holiday Calendar to include the calendar dates in the calculation.

About A/R Methods

The A/R Method forms are used for setting the calculation method for applying penalty and interest charges for selected A/R Classes. Penalty and Interest calculations are based on the Effective Date and Due Date of the bill. They can be applied as a one-time charge, or on a daily or weekly basis. Multiple A/R Methods are available. You can define percentages, length of discount period for calculating the interest and penalty. A/R Method settings are saved to SY_REGISTRY.

Related Topics

The Copy to Year function is used to copy data from one year to the next. For example in the case of the Utility Billing module, the system will create the new Utility Billing Services and all related Codes from the current year displayed at the bottom of your screen to the year entered.
A/R – Copy to Year

• From Year lists all existing parameter years
• To Year is set as the Current Year + 1

NOTE: The Current Year can be changed in the Year Menu in GNA.

This function can be executed in the menu or through a batch process in Govern as of GA1706.

Related Topics

Accounts Receivable Module