Automated Clearing House (ACH)
Reference Guide
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company
All rights reserved. The application described in this document is proprietary to Digital Insight, and must
be treated on a confidential basis. It is to be used solely in accordance with the provisions of the
agreement under which it has been furnished. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part by
mechanical, electronic, or any other means must be in accordance with the terms of the agreement under
which it was furnished.
Information in this publication is subject to change without notice. Although every precaution has been
taken in the preparation of this publication, Digital Insight does not offer any warranties or
representations, nor does it accept any liabilities with respect to the information contained herein.
Trademarks
Intuit, Digital Insight, an Intuit company, Digital Insight, Magnet, Magnet Communications, the Magnet
Internet Banking Suite, BizBankingWORKS, iPortBiz, Magnet Outsource Service and The Internet
Business Banking Authority are trademarks and/or service marks of Digital Insight. Other product names
mentioned herein are the intellectual property of their respective companies.
Publication Information
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Publication Title: Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Corporate Information
Digital Insight, an Intuit Company
5720 Peachtree Parkway
Norcross, Georgia 30092
United States of America
Telephone (770) 349-1200
Facsimile (770) 349-1300
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company iii Confidential and Proprietary Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About This Guide ... xiii
Audience... xiii
Using This Guide ... xiv
Document Conventions ...xiv
New in this Release ...xv
Where to Find More Information ... xvi
Product Documentation Library ...xvi
Training Services ...xvi
Other Services ...xvi
1. ACH Overview... 1
Introduction to ACH ... 1
What is ACH? ... 1
Supported SEC Codes ... 1
Cutoff Times ... 2
Security Options ... 3
Consolidated Payments... 4
Market Segmentation... 5
Batch Templates... 6
Import Files ... 7
ACH Batch Process ... 7
Proactive Bulletins ... 9
Pass-Through Files... 9
Recurring Payments ... 9
ACH Services ... 10
ACH User Interface... 14
Page Element Standards... 15
Getting Started... 16
ACH Setup Tasks for Bank Personnel... 16
ACH Setup Tasks for Corporate Administrators ... 17
Menu Interfaces ... 17
2. ACH Settings ... 19
About ACH Settings ... 19
Relationship to Consolidated Payments ... 19
Relationship to other ACH Services ... 19
Service Information... 19
ACH Settings Page ... 21
Fields ... 22
Buttons... 27
3. ACH Transaction Type Maintenance ... 29
About Transaction Types ... 29
Standard Entry Class (SEC) Codes... 29
Transaction Type Code Format ... 29
Addenda ... 29
Transaction Type Setup... 30
Service Information... 30
Transaction Type Selection Page ... 32
Fields ... 33
Buttons... 35
4. ACH Cutoff and Activation Time Maintenance ... 37
About Cutoffs ... 37
Relationship to Consolidated Payments ... 37
Warehousing Method... 37
Holidays and Nonbusiness Days ... 38
Status Report Service... 38
Service Information... 38
Cutoff and Activation Time Maintenance Pages... 39
ACH Cutoff and Activation Time Selection Page ... 39
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight v Confidential and Proprietary Table of Contents
Multiple Daily Cutoff Times ... 40
Empty ACH Files ... 40
Results... 41
Fields ... 41
Buttons... 42
ACH Cutoff and Activation Time Report Page ... 43
Fields ... 43
5. ACH Endpoint Maintenance ... 45
About Endpoints ... 45
How End Points Work... 45
ACH File Format ... 45
Service Information... 45
End Points Pages ... 46
ACH Host End Point Selection Page ... 46
Fields ... 47
Buttons... 47
End Point Data Entry Page ... 48
Fields ... 48
Buttons... 49
End Point Delete Page... 50
Fields ... 50
Buttons... 50
ACH Host End Point Report Page ... 51
Fields ... 51
6. ACH Company Maintenance ... 53
About Company Maintenance... 53
ACH Company Examples ... 53
Transaction Type Codes... 53
Offset Accounts ... 54
ACH Company Setup ... 54
Service Information... 54
Company Information Selection Page ... 56
Fields ... 56
Buttons... 57
Company Information Add Page ... 58
Fields ... 58
Buttons... 60
ACH Company ID Report Page ... 60
Fields ... 60
Transaction Types Page ... 61
Available Transaction Type Codes ... 61
Fields ... 62
Buttons... 62
Offset Accounts Page ... 63
Available Offset Accounts... 63
Fields ... 63
Buttons... 64
7. ACH Customer File Name Maintenance ... 65
About Customer File Name Maintenance ... 65
Default File Naming Format... 65
ACH Settings ... 65
Service Information... 65
Customer Filename Pages ... 66
Customer Selection Page ... 66
Fields ... 66
Buttons... 67
File Name Parameters Page... 67
Fields ... 67
Buttons... 68
File Name Report Page ... 68
Fields ... 68
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight vii Confidential and Proprietary Table of Contents
About User Permissions ... 71
Service Information... 71
User Permissions Pages ... 72
Permissions Selection Page ... 73
Fields ... 73
Buttons... 75
ACH Customer Settings Page ... 76
Fields ... 77
Buttons... 77
User Overall Limits Page ... 78
Fields ... 78
Buttons... 79
ACH User Settings... 80
Field ... 80
Buttons... 80
Transaction Type Permissions Page ... 80
Fields ... 81
Buttons... 81
Authorization Limits Page ... 82
ACH Limits... 82
Limits ... 82
ACH Limit Types... 82
Fields ... 84
Buttons... 85
9. ACH Map Definition... 87
About Map Definition ... 87
ACH Import Map Formats... 87
New in Import Map Definition... 88
Service Information... 89
Map Definition Pages... 89
Import Maps Page ... 90
Duplicate Transactions ... 90
Fields ... 91
Buttons... 92
Add a Map (Delimited) Page... 93
Duplicate Transactions ... 93
Rules ... 94
Fields ...`94
Delimited Format ... 99
ACH Map Type ... 100
Buttons... 100
Add a Map (Fixed) Page ... 101
Duplicate Transactions ... 101
Rules ... 102
Fields ... 102
Fixed Format Example... 107
Buttons... 108
Edit Map Page ... 108
Fields ... 108
Buttons... 115
Delete Map Page ... 115
Fields ... 115
Buttons... 122
Map Detail Page ... 122
Fields ... 122
Buttons... 129
10. ACH Status Report ... 131
About ACH Status Report ... 131
Service Information... 131
ACH Status Report Pages ... 131
ACH Status Report Selection Page ... 132
Fields ... 132
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight ix Confidential and Proprietary Table of Contents
ACH Batch Summary (Status) Report Page ... 135
Fields ... 136
Buttons... 137
ACH Batch Detail (Status) Report Page ... 138
Fields ... 139
Button ... 142
11. ACH Pass-Thru Report ... 143
About ACH Pass-Through Report... 143
Service Information... 143
ACH Pass-Through Report Pages... 143
ACH Pass-Thru Report Selection Page ... 144
Fields ... 144
Buttons... 145
ACH Pass-Thru Report Page... 145
Fields ... 145
Button ... 148
12. ACH Report ... 149
About ACH Report ... 149
Service Information... 149
ACH Report Pages ... 149
ACH Report Selection Page ... 150
Fields ... 150
Buttons... 152
ACH Summary Report Page... 153
Fields ... 153
Button ... 155
Report Detail Page ... 156
Fields ... 156
Buttons... 161
ACH Delete Confirmation Summary Page ... 161
Fields ... 162
13. ACH Exception Reporting ... 163
About ACH Exception Reporting... 163
ACH Exception Report Selection Page... 163
Fields ... 163
Buttons... 165
ACH Exception Report Page ... 165
Fields ... 166
Buttons... 167
Appendix A: ACH Transaction Type Codes ... 169
Transaction Type Codes Table... 169
Appendix B: ACH File Formats ... 171
About ACH File Formats ... 171
About ACH File Formats... 171
Cutoff-Generated NACHA File Formats ... 171
Record Size ... 171
Record Formats ... 172
Consolidated Payments... 172
Corporate Trade Exchange (CTX) ... 172
Mandatory and Required Fields... 172
CSV File Format ... 173
File Header Format ... 173
Standard Batch Header Format ... 175
Cross-Border Batch Header Format ... 179
CBR Entry Detail Format ... 184
CCD Entry Detail Format ... 188
CTX Entry Detail Format... 192
PBR Entry Detail Format... 196
PPD Entry Detail Format... 199
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight xi Confidential and Proprietary Table of Contents
Cross-Border Addenda Format (CBR and PBR)... 210
Batch Control (Trailer) Format ... 212
Comma-Separated Value (CSV) File Format Sample ... 215
NACHA File Report Sample... 216
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company xiii Confidential and Proprietary Preface
About This Guide
This book is a reference guide. It describes Release 3.7 of the Corporate Banking
Automated Clearing House (ACH) product from Digital Insight, an Intuit company.
Descriptions of the services and the features found in each of the services from an end
user’s perspective are included. This guide is not intended to give you a detailed
understanding of the procedural functionality of the product, nor does it provide back-end
system information.
For each service in the product, this book describes each page of the service, focusing on
the purpose and components of the page. Primarily, this includes detailed descriptions of
each field, button, and table on the page.
Audience
This book is for those who want a basic understanding of the ACH product. It assumes
you understand the system infrastructure and the e-Commerce Platform product. It also
assumes a basic understanding of the Treasury Management industry and the ACH
functions as they relate to the industry.
The following types of users are referenced in this guide:
• Bank Personnel - Users at the bank who are responsible for the set up and
management of the system and installed products. If permitted, these users can
perform all bank functions.
• Corporate Administrator - Users who are responsible for several
corporate-level administrative tasks, such as granting permissions, assigning accounts,
and setting up product functions. These users can also perform all
nonadministrative corporate-permitted functions.
• Corporate Customers - Users at a corporate entity, such as a corporation or a
partnership who, if permitted, can perform nonadministrative,
corporate-permitted functions. For each corporate customer, bank personnel and
corporate administrators can add corporate users.
• Corporate User - Users at the corporate entity who, if permitted, can perform
nonadministrative, corporate-permitted functions.
This guide describes services for bank personnel and corporate administrators. For
descriptions of corporate customer and corporate user services, see the ACH User Guide.
Using This Guide
This reference guide is designed so that you can quickly find a specific topic or read it
from cover to cover. The first chapter is an overview of the product that contains
• a general introduction
• a process flow (where applicable)
• a description of all services and the audience for each
• the setup tasks for bank personnel and corporate administrators.
The remaining chapters describe each service in the product and provide reference
information for all of the corresponding pages in the service. Each chapter also contains
service identifier information, which reflects the initially-installed values for the service.
Document Conventions
This document incorporates the conventions defined in the following table.
Convention Description
Arial font, Italic text System message.
For example: When you click Add, the system displays the following message:
Batch “Pay –Weekly Payroll” has been added to the system.
Bold text Button name, radio button name, check box name, user selection, and key name combinations and sequences. For example:
• Click Submit • Press F8
Courier New font File names and directory paths. For example: This file is located in the \cmserver\include\ folder.
Italic text New term and variable expressions, such as parameters. For example: A book is a currency pair, which consists of a lead and contra currency.
<Italic text> Variable that acts as a placeholder for the literal text to which it refers.
For example: the RemoteDestInfo parameter uses the following format:
<LeadBank>, <Destination Section>, <Destination Directory>
Key + Key Keyboard combinations where the user must press and hold one key and then press another
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight xv Confidential and Proprietary Preface
Convention Description
Key + Key, Key Keyboard sequences for which the user must press a key combination and then press another key after releasing the combination keys.
For example: to open the Spell check dialog box press Alt
+ E, L.
New in this Release
Following are the chapters in this guide that describe the updates included in this release
of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) product:
• Chapter 2: ACH Settings was updated for
− Recurring payments
− Pass-thru editing and approvals.
•
Chapter 4: Cutoff and Activation Time Maintenance was updated to add the
Activation Times Data Entry Page.
•
Chapter 8: User Permissions was updated as follows:
− Permissions Selection Page to
o added Template Approval Options section to the User
Permissions Selection Page
o reflect the changed page title for the ACH Customer Settings
Page
o changed the ACH Customer Overall Limits page to the ACH
Customer Settings Page
− ACH Customer Settings Page for approval of pass-thru files.
•
Chapter 12: ACH Report was updated with Status options on the ACH Report
Selection Page.
•
Chapter 10: Status Report was updated with
−
Status options on the ACH Status Report Selection Page
− Create New Complete File button on the ACH Batch Summary (Status)
Report page was added for requesting and displaying information about
ACH batches with recurring payments.
Where to Find More Information
Digital Insight provides several types of product resources. This section contains a
summary of the documentation currently available in the Digital Insight Product
Documentation Library, as well as a description and contact information for training and
other Digital Insight services.
Product Documentation Library
Currently, the Product Documentation Library consists of the following deliverables for
the ACH Product:
• The Configuration Reference Guide provides detailed descriptions of the many
configurable options available for all products. This guide is available
electronically in Portable Document Format (.pdf) on the DI Client Site
(www.diclientsite.com).
• The Implementation Guide describes planning, installing, and setting up our
products, as well as information about Blue Dragon and database management.
This guide is available electronically in .pdf format on the DI Client Site.
• Online Help is accessible from within each product. To access help, click the
Help link. WebHelp provides a fully-integrated, interactive listing of help
contents, hyperlinks and popups with related information, and a
comprehensive, interactive index, and full-text search function.
• Technical Release Notes provide information about third-party products,
operational instructions, and unit test cases. The Technical Release Notes are
delivered electronically in .pdf format on the DI Client Site.
Training Services
The goal of the Training Services is to teach you how to efficiently use each product,
which helps improve your service capabilities and increase the efficiency of your
business partners.
Project managers work with training services personnel to provide front-end bank
training for all Digital Insight products. This training is negotiated as part of the bank
contract and service agreement and is usually conducted just prior to implementation
at the customer’s facility. Whenever possible, the training uses the bank’s system.
Other Services
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight xvii Confidential and Proprietary Preface
• Ask product questions
• Report suspected bugs
• Suggest product enhancements.
During standard business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday,
you can contact support the following ways:
• Client Support Line – 877-462-3446
• E-mail - [email protected]
• DI Client Site: https://www.diclientsite.com/support
• Fax – 770-349-1300
After hours and on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays, you can call the Client Support Line
to contact support and submit support requests for severity level 1 problems that affect
production. You can also use the previously mentioned standard methods to log other
problems, and the product and technical support personnel will address these problems on
the next business day.
Submitting Requests - Provide the following information (if available) when you
contact the Client Support Center:
• Your name
• Bank name
• Product with which you are having a problem
• A clear description of the problem
• Steps to recreate the problem
• Any screen shots
• Browser version
• Whether you are experiencing the issue in Test or Production
• Number of affected users
Monitoring Requests - You can use DI Client Site to monitor the progress of your
support requests online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Project Management
Our Professional Service team includes project managers who have training from the
world’s largest professional service firms combined with years of industry experience.
Our project managers lead you through every aspect of your implementation and guide
you through the entire life cycle of any custom enhancement. Our Professional Services
team also can integrate their efforts with a client’s project management office.
Business Consulting
Our business consultants have many years of banking industry experience, in addition to
product management experience. Their thorough implementation analysis can help you
identify transition issues. Additionally, they can assist you if your product management
resources are scarce and you need assistance with topics, such as:
• Pricing your product
• Developing marketing plans for a new product rollout or conversion planning.
Custom Programming
The specific needs of each bank can differ and do not always conveniently fit into a
packaged software solution. Anticipating this need, we employ an extensive staff of
custom software developers who are available to tailor the software to your exact
specifications or to develop custom modules if you have some creative ideas you want to
deploy.
National Conference
The annual National Conference focuses on the continued success of our clients in the
cash management and business-banking marketplace. During the conference, users have
the opportunity to:
• Attend interactive breakout sessions
• Explore our technology showcase
• Learn how to increase awareness and adoption of online cash management
• Network with other clients
• Hear from outside industry speakers
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 1 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Overview
1. ACH Overview
This section provides an overview of the ACH product and general descriptions of ACH
services.
Introduction to ACH
The Automated Clearing House (ACH) product allows corporate customers to efficiently
• Generate files that conform to standard ACH formats, which conform to
− National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) rules and
standards
− Standards that other organizations such as the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) establish
• Send ACH files to their banks or other third-party processors, where
origination systems such as PEP+ or CoACH process them.
What is ACH?
In the United States the ACH network is a nationwide batch-oriented electronic funds
transfer system governed by the NACHA operating rules which provide for the interbank
clearing of electronic payments for participating depository financial institutions. The
Federal Reserve and Electronic Payments Network act as ACH operators, central clearing
facilities through which financial institutions transmit or receive ACH entries.
ACH payments include:
• Direct Deposit of payroll, Social Security and other government benefits, and
tax refunds
• Direct Payment of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utility bills and
insurance premiums
• Business-to-business payments
• E-checks
• E-commerce payments
• Federal, state and local tax payments.
Supported SEC Codes
The ACH product supports the following NACHA standard entry class (SEC) codes:
• CBR - Corporate Cross-Border Payment
• CCD - Cash Concentration or Disbursement (includes federal and state tax
payments)
• CTX - Corporate Trade Exchange (pass-thru only)
• PBR - Consumer Cross-Border Payment
• PPD - Prearranged Payment and Deposit
• RCK - Represented Check Entry
• TEL - Telephone-Initiated Entry
• WEB - Internet-Initiated Entry
For each record format, the information in the Required column indicates whether the
field is:
• Mandatory - the record must contain this field. If a mandatory field is missing
or incorrect, the ACH file fails at the ACH operator.
• Required - the record should contain this field. If a required field is missing or
incorrect, the ACH operator does not fail the ACH file, but the receiving
depository financial institution (RDFI) could reject the record.
• Optional - the record can, but does not have to contain this field.
For more information about the SEC codes and file formats that the ACH product
supports, see Appendix B, ACH File Formats.
Cutoff Times
Bank personnel set the cutoff times for the ACH product. For each day of the week, the
cutoff times indicate the exact times during the day that the system processes approved
batches and builds ACH files. The system then moves the ACH files to a bank-designated
directory. Bank personnel retrieve the ACH files from the directory and process them.
At the last cutoff time for the day, the system runs the cutoff process and sets the current
processing date to the next business day. You can use the ACH Settings service to define
a default effective entry date cutoff time.
For more information about
• Cutoff times, see Chapter 4: Cutoff Activation and Time Maintenance.
• Default effective entry date cutoffs, see Chapter 2 ACH Settings.
Warehousing Method
Using the ACH Settings service, leadbanks can optionally choose to use a warehousing
method that controls when the system processes approved batches. If the system
• Warehouses approved batches, the system processes approved batches a
specific number of days before the effective entry date. The Effective Entry
Date Default field for the transaction type code controls the specific number of
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 3 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Overview
• Does not warehouse approved batches, the system processes all approved
batches at the cutoff time, regardless of the effective entry date.
For more information see Warehousing Method” on page 4-2 ??
Security Options
The ACH product supports the following security options, which provide additional
control for ACH activity:
• ACH Companies
• Transaction Type Codes
• Approvals
• Limits
• Authentication
ACH Companies
Use the ACH product to initiate payments. ACH companies allow banks to separate work
responsibilities and selectively permit corporate users to specific transaction type codes,
which provides an additional level of security for the ACH product. For more information
about adding ACH companies, see Chapter 6, Company Maintenance. ??
Transaction Type Codes
Banks use the ACH product to select the permitted transaction type codes for leadbanks.
Each transaction type contains a short name and a long, descriptive name. Transaction
type codes are unique codes delivered with the ACH product used to identify the
• Standard Entry Class (SEC) code for each batch
• Format of the entries or transactions in the batch
• Type of transactions in the batch, such as debit or credit.
For more information about transaction type codes, see Chapter 3, Transaction Type
Maintenance.??
Approvals
The ACH product uses approvals to add an additional layer of security to ACH activity.
For each ACH company, the bank specifies whether approval is required to process an
activated batch. They can require
• No approval for activated batches
• The same person who activated the batch to approve the batch
• A person, other than the person who activated the batch, to approve the batch
• A person, including the person who activated the batch, to approve the batch.
For more information about
• Activating batches, see the ACH User Guide
• Approving batches, see the ACH User Guide.
Limits
The ACH product allows banks to set limits for their corporate users’ maintenance,
activation, and approval activity for each transaction type code. These limits control the
maximum amount you can
• Manage (add, change, or delete) for each entry in a batch and for each batch
• Activate for each entry in a batch and for all batches per day
• Approve for each entry in a batch and for all batches per day.
When corporate users activate or approve a batch, the system
• Verifies that none of the entries in the batch exceed the item limit
• Verifies that the batch amount (total amount for all entries in the batch) does
not exceed the user’s batch limit for the transaction type code
• Adds the batch amount to the user’s accumulated activation or approval total to
verify that the amount does not exceed the user’s daily batch limit
• Increases the user’s accumulated activation or approval total by the batch
amount.
For more information about limits, see Chapter 8, ACH User Permissions.
Authentication
The Challenge Manager product can provide additional security for the ACH product.
Bank personnel indicate the services, corporate customers, and users who receive a
challenge when accessing a service. The user must then enter a valid response code to use
the service.
Challenge Manager is not active in the base ACH product. To activate this product,
contact your implementation representative. For more information about the Challenge
Manager product, see the Challenge Manager Reference Guide and online help.
Consolidated Payments
The Small Business Consolidated Payments product allows corporate customers to enter
and approve
• Payroll payment requests for direct deposit
• Tax payment requests for federal and state agencies.
Several of the settings you establish and manage in the ACH product, such as cutoff
times and ACH settings, control the Consolidated Payments product. The Consolidated
Payments product relies on the ACH product to collect and process approved payment
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 5 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Overview
• PAYCO transaction type code, which is a prearranged payment and deposit
(PPD) SEC code and supports only payroll payments
• TAXCO transaction type code, which is a cash concentration or disbursement
(CCD) SEC
• code and supports only tax payments
At cutoff time, the ACH product collects approved payroll and tax payment requests and
builds one batch for each group of payroll or tax payment requests that share the same
• ACH company ID
• Effective entry date.
For more information about the
• PAYCO and TAXCO transaction type codes, see Appendix A, Transaction
Type Codes
• Consolidated Payments product, see the Consolidated Payments Reference
Guide.
Market Segmentation
Several of the ACH services are not available if your system uses market segmentation,
and you must use alternate services in the e-Commerce Platform product to perform the
same functions.
About Market Segmentation
Market segmentation includes target markets and market segments. A target market is a
collection of products assembled to meet the functional needs of a large group of
corporate customers. A leadbank can have multiple target markets.
When a system is installed, predefined target markets are included. The target markets
determine the
• Available products and services
• ACH transaction type code defaults
• Values for the initial default limits.
A market segment is a subset of products selected from the target market’s products. A
target market can have an unlimited number of market segments. Bank personnel add and
manage market segments.
Each market segment is associated with a target market. After you associate a market
segment with a target market, you select all the services from the list of target market
products and services that you want the corporate administrators within the market
segment to have permission to access.
Alternate Services
If your system uses market segmentation, you must use services within the e-Commerce
Platform product to add and manage several of the ACH settings instead of the following
ACH services:
• Company Maintenance
• User Permissions
In the e-Commerce Platform product, use the following services to set up ACH:
• Target Market - Use this service to
− Enable the transaction type codes for target markets
− Establish the transaction type settings for the
o Default effective entry date calculation
o Effective entry date override
o Offset creation level
− Set the default limits for the permitted transaction type codes.
• Market Segment - Use this service to select the available ACH products and
services for the market segment.
• Customer Administration - Use this service to
− Add and manage the ACH companies for corporate customers
− Set the approval requirements for ACH companies
− Add and manage corporate users
− Permit ACH companies and transaction type codes to corporate users
− Set the corporate users’ limits for the permitted transaction type codes.
For more information about
• Target markets and market segments, see the Target Market and Market
Segment services in the e-Commerce Platform Reference Guide and online
help
• The Customer Administration service, see the e-Commerce Platform Customer
Administration Reference Guide and online help.
Batch Templates
Use the ACH Batch Maintenance service to add batch templates for each ACH company.
Batch templates contain all the necessary information to build an active batch that you
include in an ACH file. These templates serve as models for the entries or transactions
you can activate.
Optionally, you can use the Template Approval service to set up approval requirements
for ACH batch templates. After you view batch template details, you can choose to
approve or reject the template itself. After a batch template that requires approval is
approved, then it is available for use with other ACH services.
When you activate a batch, the system makes an exact copy of the batch template. Before
you complete the activation, you can change entry information for that specific
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 7 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Overview
• Activating a batch, see Batch Activation in the ACH User Guide
• Approving batch templates, see Batch Template Approval in the ACH User
Guide.
Each batch template contains one or more debit or credit entries. Each entry is associated
with a participant, which is the person or organization sending or receiving the debit or
credit. Use the Participant Maintenance service to manage all entries for a participant
across all batches within an ACH company. This eliminates the need to individually
access each batch.
For more information about Participants, see Participants Overview in the ACH User
Guide.
Import Files
You can use the ACH Import service to import NACHA formatted, fixed, and delimited
files into the ACH product, which
• Adds a new batch template and entries to the new template (NACHA only)
• Adds entries to an existing batch template (fixed and delimited only)
• Changes entries in an existing batch template (fixed and delimited only)
• Deletes entries from an existing batch template (fixed and delimited only).
When you import a file into the ACH product, you must select an ACH map. ACH maps
control whether the import file adds a new batch template or updates an existing batch
template.
For more information about
• ACH maps, see Chapter 9, ACH Map Definition.
• Importing files, see ACH Import in the ACH User Guide.
ACH Batch Process
Step Description
1 Use the Batch Activation page to activate a batch of ACH entries. The system assigns a customer trace number to all activated batches. 2 The system checks the approval settings for the ACH company to which
the batch is associated to determine whether the batch requires approval. If the batch
• Requires approval, the system goes to Step 3.
• Does not require approval, the system assigns a bank trace number to the batch and goes to Step 4.
3 Use the Batch Approval page to approve the batch. The system assigns a bank trace number to the approved batch and goes to Step 4. The approval settings for the ACH company associated with the batch control indicate whether the batch must be approved by
• The same user who activated the batch • Another user.
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Reference Guide
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 9 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Overview
Step Description
5 The system holds the approved batches until the specified date and then goes to Step 6.
6 The cutoff process runs, which processes all approved batches and builds ACH files. The system moves the ACH files to the bank-specified directory. 7 The bank or a third-party processor retrieves the ACH files from the
directory and processes them.
Proactive Bulletins
Proactive bulletins are an optional feature that banks can use to expedite the approval of
activated batches. If a bank activates proactive bulletins for ACH approvals, users with
activated batches that require approval receive a notification bulletin when they log on to
the system.
Proactive bulletins contain a link that users can select to display an approval bulletin.
Approval bulletins provide
• The number of activated batches requiring approval
• A button that displays the Batch Approval Selection page, which you use to
approve batches.
ACH Recurring Payments - Exception proactive bulletins provide batch numbers and
effective entry dates for recurring payments that were not activated automatically.
For more information about
• Batch approvals, see Batch Approval in the ACH User Guide.
• Proactive bulletins, see the e-Commerce Platform Reference Guide and online
help.
Pass-Through Files
You can use the ACH Pass-Through page to load external ACH files into the ACH
product. Pass-through files are ACH files generated outside the ACH product and loaded
into the product for validation and processing. Loading external ACH files into the ACH
product ensures that all files passed to the bank for processing come from the same
location and are consistently validated to meet the same NACHA standards. You cannot
edit pass-through files. Pass-through files are not subject to cutoff requirements set up in
the product.
Recurring Payments
Corporate users can create recurring payment instructions
for ACH payments to be
made repeatedly. When you add an ACH batch, you specify the frequencies of the
payments and days of the month the payments should be processed. The system
automatically activates batches you add with recurring instructions based on the
frequency, days, and times you specify. They are activated before the Effective Entry
Date associated with the batch based on the transaction type default days. This way, the
payments are included in a NACHA file and sent to the bank before the Effective Entry
Date.
Batches with a locked or disabled status are not automatically activated.
All approval requirements defined for ACH batches apply to recurring payment
instructions. Based on the corporate user ID of the person who added or edited the
recurring instructions most recently,
• The Audit report and ACH reports track recurring payments.
• Activation user limits are increased.
Corporate administrators give permission to allow corporate users to establish recurring
instructions. You can only add recurring instructions to batches for which you have add
or edit permission.
Use the ACH Exception Report to view details for batches with recurring payments
processing errors.
ACH Services
The ACH product currently provides ACH services for banks that support large
corporations and small businesses using ColdFusion and Java technologies. We are in the
process of changing the technology from ColdFusion to Java. During the transition, the
system is available in a configuration that includes
• ColdFusion-enabled services only
• Both Java-enabled services and ColdFusion-enabled services.
Note: Systems that use market segmentation are configured to include both Java-enabled
and ColdFusion-enabled services.
The following table describes the ACH services. Currently, all of the ACH services use
ColdFusion technology. Bank services are documented in this Guide. Corporate
services are documented in the ACH User Guide.
The service... With the Service ID...
Allows...
Bank Services
ACH Company Maintenance
ACHCompany Bank personnel to add and manage the ACH companies for corporate customers.
Note: If your system uses market
segmentation, this service is not available. You must use the Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product.
For more information about
• Market segmentation, see “Market Segmentation” on page 5.
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The service... With the Service ID...
Allows...
ACH Cutoff Time Maintenance
ACHCutoff Bank personnel to set up and manage the cutoff times for ACH activity.
ACH Exception
Report ACHException Bank personnel to request and display summary and detailed information for ACH batches with recurring payments and errors found during processing.
ACH File Name
Maintenance ACHFileNames Bank personnel to add and manage unique file names for corporate customers.
Note: This is an optional service.
ACH Host End Point
Maintenance ACHEndPoint Bank personnel to add and manage end points, which you use to divert ACH files from standard processing for one or more corporate customers.
Note: This is an optional service.
ACH Map Definition ACHMapDef Bank personnel and corporate customers to add and manage ACH maps, which control the format of imported ACH files and how imported files function.
ACH Pass-Thru
Report ACHPTReport Bank personnel and corporate customers to display summary information for the pass-thru ACH files loaded into the ACH product. ACH Report ACHRpt Bank personnel and corporate customers to
display summary and detailed information for batches.
ACH Settings ACHSettings Bank personnel to set up and manage the ACH settings, which control
• How the system builds ACH files • E-mail addresses the system uses to
send ACH information and messages to the bank
• Cross-border settings.
ACH Status Report ACHStatus Bank personnel to display summary and detailed information for ACH files and the batches in the ACH files.
The service... With the Service ID...
Allows...
ACH Transaction Type Maintenance
ACHTranTypes Bank personnel to select and manage the short names and long, descriptive names for the transaction type codes the bank allows for ACH activity.
Note: If your system uses market
segmentation, this service is not available. You must use the Target Market service in the e-Commerce Platform product. For more information about
• Market segmentation, see “Market Segmentation” on page 5.
• The Target Market service, see the
e-Commerce Platform Reference Guide.
ACH User
Permissions ACHUserPerm Bank personnel and corporate administrators to Add and manage permissions to ACH companies and transaction type codes for corporate personnel
Set the ACH limits for corporate personnel.
Note: If your system uses market
segmentation, this service is not available. You must use the Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product.
For more information about
• Market segmentation, see “Market Segmentation” on page 5.
• The Customer Administration service, see the e-Commerce Platform Customer Administration Guide.
Corporate Services
ACH Batch
Activation ACHActivate Corporate customers to activate ACH batches. ACH Batch
Approval
ACHApprove Corporate customers to approve activated batches.
ACH Batch Maintenance
ACHBatch Corporate customers to add and manage ACH batch templates.
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The service... With the Service ID...
Allows...
ACH Batch
Template Approval
ACHTmplAppr Corporate customers to approve ACH batch templates. After viewing batch template details, you can choose to approve or reject the template itself.
If you approve a batch template that requires approval, the batch template is then available for use with other ACH services. If you reject a batch template that requires approval, it is in the rejected state and is available for use only in the ACH Batch Maintenance service.
ACH Exception
Report ACHException Corporate customers to request and display summary and detailed information for ACH batches with recurring payments and errors found during processing.
ACH Import ACHImport Corporate customers to import NACHA formatted, delimited, and fixed files into the ACH product from an outside source. ACH Participant
Maintenance
ACHPartMnt Corporate customers to manage batch entry information for participants.
ACH Pass-Thru ACHPassThru Corporate customers to load ACH files built outside of the ACH product into the ACH product for validation and processing. ACH Pass-Thru
Report
ACHPTReport Bank personnel and corporate customers to display summary information for the pass-thru ACH files loaded into the ACH product. ACH Reversals ACHReversal Corporate customers to submit a request to
the bank to reverse an entry that was previously sent in an ACH batch file. ACH Totals ACHTotals Corporate customers to submit to the bank
the total debit and credit amounts of all ACH files sent to the bank for processing during the current day.
The service... With the Service ID...
Allows...
ACH User Permissions
ACHUserPerm Bank personnel and corporate administrators to
Add and manage permissions to ACH companies and transaction type codes for corporate personnel
Set the ACH limits for corporate personnel.
Note: If your system uses market
segmentation, this service is not available. You must use the Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product.
For more information about
• Market segmentation, see “Market Segmentation” on page 5.
• The Customer Administration service, see the e-Commerce Platform Customer
Administration Guide.
ACH User Interface
For security purposes, when using the Internet-based ACH product, be sure to use Back,
Cancel, Delete, Print, and Reset buttons on application pages instead of your browser's
Back, Forward, Stop, or Refresh buttons. To refresh a page, reselect the service tab.
These procedures ensure the security of banking data such as account numbers.
Be careful to click buttons displayed on ACH pages only once. Double-clicking buttons
can cause system problems. For example, following is the ACH Report page with
Submit and Clear buttons that you should only click once.
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Page Element Standards
Element Description Example
Field sizes Display next to field names
Required fields Display in red and have an asterisk (*) on the software page
Requested date/time stamp
Displays on reports when you generate them
Report columns Are sortable, except columns that
contain hyperlinks Click a column header to sort the data in either ascending or descending order, depending on the current sort state.
Multi-select boxes Selects multiple options in a
multi-select box Press the Shift key while you click each option. To select non-consecutive options, press the Control (Ctl) key while you click the options.
Date formats Short - M/d/yy
Medium - MMM d, yyyy Long - MMMM d, yyyy
Short - 3/7/04
Medium - Mar 27, 2004 Long - Marc 27, 2004
Element Description Example Time formats Short - h:mm a
Medium - h:mm:ss a Long - H:mm:ss a z 4:24 PM 4:24:53 PM 4:24:53 PM EST
Credits Display in green
Debits Display in red
Getting Started
This section describes the tasks for setting up the ACH product for use by bank
personnel, corporate administrators, and corporate users.
ACH Setup Tasks for Bank Personnel
Bank personnel must complete the following setup tasks before using the ACH product:
• Use the ACH Settings service to define the ACH settings.
• Use the ACH Transaction Type Maintenance service to select the short name
and long, descriptive name for transaction types for the leadbank.
• Use the ACH Cutoff Time Maintenance service to add the leadbank’s cutoff
times for ACH activity and Consolidated Payments activity.
• Use the ACH Company Maintenance service to
− Add ACH companies for each corporate customer
− Select the transaction type codes for each ACH company
Note: If your system uses market segmentation, corporate administrators must use the
Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product instead of the
Company Maintenance service to complete these setup tasks.
• Use the User Permissions service to
− Permit corporate personnel access to ACH companies for ACH activity
− Select the corporate user’s permitted transaction type codes for each ACH
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Note: If your system uses market segmentation, corporate administrators must use the
Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product instead of the
Company Maintenance service to complete these setup tasks.
• Use the ACH End Point Maintenance service (if the bank uses end points) to
add end points and associate one or more corporate customers with each end
point.
• Use the ACH File Name Maintenance service (if the bank uses file names) to
− Add unique file names for ACH files
− Associate a corporate customer with a file name.
ACH Setup Tasks for Corporate Administrators
Corporate administrators must complete the following setup tasks before using the ACH
product:
• Use the ACH Batch Maintenance service to add the batch templates for each
ACH company.
• Use the User Permissions service (if the bank permits) to
− Permit corporate users access to ACH companies for ACH activity
− Select the corporate user’s permitted transaction type codes for each ACH
company
− Set the maintenance, activation, and approval limits for the user’s
permitted transaction type codes in the ACH companies.
• Use the ACH Map Definition service (if you plan to use Import) to add the
ACH maps for importing files into the ACH product.
Note: If your system uses market segmentation, corporate administrators must use the
Customer Administration service in the e-Commerce Platform product instead of the
Company Maintenance service to complete these setup tasks.
ACH Setup Tasks for Corporate Users
Depending on how the corporate customer operates, corporate users may be required to
complete the following setup tasks before using the ACH product:
• Use the ACH Batch Maintenance service to add the batch templates for each
ACH company.
• Use the ACH Map Definition service to add the ACH maps for importing files
into the ACH product.
Menu Interfaces
The system provides the following user menu interfaces for system navigation:
Tabbed-Menu Interface
Banks and some corporate customers use tabbed menus for system navigation. To use a
tabbed menu, select the service group to display the associated service tabs. Then select
the service tab to display the specific service.
Tiered-Menu Interface
Corporate customers also use tiered menus for system navigation. To use a tiered menu,
select the top tier to display the associated lower-level tier. Then select the lower-level
tier to display specific services. Tiered menus can contain up to three levels.
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 19 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Settings
2. ACH Settings
About ACH Settings
Use the ACH Settings service to add and manage the ACH settings for the leadbank.
These settings control
• How the system builds and formats ACH files as well as the default
information for certain key fields
• The e-mail address the system uses to send system messages, reversal requests,
and ACH file totals to the bank
• Whether corporate customers can add and manage cross-border batches
• Whether corporate customers can add entries to batches that affect general
ledger accounts and loan accounts.
Relationship to Consolidated Payments
The system uses several of the settings in the ACH Settings service to process approved
payment requests for the Consolidated Payments product. For more information, see the
Consolidated Payments Reference Guide.
Relationship to other ACH Services
The settings in this service affect many of the other ACH services. You should establish
the settings in this service before you set up the other ACH services.
The system uses some of the settings in this service as the default values in other ACH
services. Users can override these default values in the other ACH services.
Service Information
The following information applies to the ACH Settings service.
Technology
This is a ColdFusion-enabled service.
Audience
The ACH Settings service is available to bank personnel. For a complete list of all ACH
services and the audience for each service, see “ACH Services” on page 10.
Default Service Identifiers
The following default service identifiers are associated with the ACH Settings service
and reflect the initially-installed values:
• Service Name: ACH Settings
The service name is the name that the system uses to describe a service.
• Tab Text: ACH Settings
The tab text is the abbreviated name on the service tab.
• Service ID: ACHSettings
The service ID is the code the system uses to identify the service.
• Service Group: ACH Admin (tabbed-menu interface only)
ACH Settings
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 21 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Settings
ACH Settings Page
ACH Settings
Fields
Field Name Description
ACH System section
Future Date Default The default number of days for the Future Date field on the
Company Information Data Entry page. Bank personnel can change the default number of days in the Future Date field when they add ACH companies.
The Future Date field controls how far in the future a user can manually change the effective date for a batch or a payment request.
For more information, see the Company Information Add Page. Enter the number of days between 0 and 365. The default is 10. Warehousing (Y/N) An option that indicates when the system processes an approved
batch or payment request. If the warehousing method is • Yes, the system processes approved batches and payment
requests a specific number of days before the effective entry date.
Note: The Effective Entry Date Default field for the transaction type
code on the Transaction Type Selection page controls the specific number of days. If you select this method, the system warehouses or holds approved batches and payment requests until the date qualifies for processing.
• No, the system processes all approved batches and payment
requests at the cutoff time, regardless of the effective entry date.
For more information about the
• Cutoff process, see About Cutoffs
• Transaction Type Selection page, see Transaction Type
Selection Page.
Select the warehousing method. The default is Yes. Process Cutoff on
Holiday (Y/N) An option that indicates whether the system runs the cutoff process on holidays. Use the Holidays service to define the holidays for the leadbank. For more information about
• The cutoff process, see About Cutoffs
• Holidays, see the e-Commerce Platform Reference Guide. Select Yes to run the cutoff process on holidays. The default is Yes. Enable SB ACH
Prefunding (Y/N)
An option that indicates whether the system allows prefunding for Small Business ACH transactions. Select Yes to allow prefunding. Select No to disallow prefunding. When you enable ACH Prefunding, the system verifies funds in an offset account for the selected payee before processing transactions. The default is No.
System E-Mail The e-mail address at the bank to receive system messages if you have a mail server configured. ACH sends all ACH-specific messages to this e-mail address for events such as missing company IDs.
ACH Settings
Copyright © 2008 by Digital Insight, an Intuit company 23 Confidential and Proprietary ACH Settings
Field Name Description
Reversals E-Mail The e-mail address at the bank to receive reversal requests from corporate customers if you have a mail server configured. ACH sends all reversal requests to this e-mail address. Enter the e-mail address. For example:
Optional. Enter up to 40 alphanumeric characters.
Totals E-Mail The e-mail address at the bank to receive ACH file totals from corporate customers if you have a mail server configured. ACH sends all ACH file totals to this e-mail address.
Enter the e-mail address. For example: [email protected]
Optional. Enter up to 40 alphanumeric characters. Enable Recurring
Payments (Y/N) An option that indicates whether the system allows processing of recurring payments. Select Yes to allow recurring payments. Select
No to disallow recurring payments. The default is Yes.
Note: When you disable recurring payments, recurring instructions
associated with existing batches are deleted.
ACH File section
ACH File Format A list of options that control how the system builds ACH files for corporate customers. If you select
• Separate Customer Files, the system builds separate ACH files for each corporate customer.
• Single File per LeadBank (Separate Customer Files), the system builds one ACH file for the leadbank, which contains separate ACH files for each corporate customer
• Single File per LeadBank (Batches Merged), the system builds one ACH file for the leadbank, which contains the merged batches for all corporate customers.
Note: You must select Separate Customer Files if you use the
customer file name feature. This fields does not apply to pass-thru files.
Select an ACH file format for the leadbank. The default is Separate Customer Files.
Custom Name for Single
File The file name the system uses to name ACH files. You can enter a custom file name only if you select one of the Single File per Leadbank options in the ACH File Format field.
Enter the file name.
If you leave this field blank, the system uses the default naming format [cust code]_[file type]jjjsssss, where
• [cust code] is the code for the corporate customer • _ is an underscore
• [file type] is an A for a normal cutoff file • jjj is the Julian date
• sssss is a unique sequence number.
Field Name Description
Overwrite Duplicate
Files (Y/N) An option that indicates whether the system overwrites duplicate file names. You can select Yes only if you
• Select one of the Single File per Leadbank options in the ACH File Format field
• Enter a file name in the Custom Name for Single File field. Select Yes to overwrite duplicate file names.
If you select No, the system appends all duplicate file names with an underscore ( _ ) and a unique identifier to make the file name unique. The default is No.
Pad File with 9’s (Y/N) An option that indicates whether you want the system to include in ACH files additional lines that contain 9s after the ACH File Trailer record (9 record). Use this option to keep the number of records in ACH files divisible by 10.
Select Yes to pad ACH files with 9s. The default is Yes. ODFI Routing Number The routing number for the originating depository financial
institution (ODFI.
The value in this field displays in the • Batch Header record (5 record)
• Entry Detail record (6 record) as the first 8 digits of the Trace Number field
• Batch Trailer record (8 record).
Enter the routing number. The first 8 digits are the ABA number and the last digit is the check digit.
Required. Enter 9 numeric characters.
Immediate Destination The routing number for the ACH recipient (receiving point). The immediate destination usually contains
• 1 blank
• 4-digit federal reserve routing symbol • 4-digit ABA institution identifier • 1-digit check digit.
The value in this field displays in the ACH File Header record (1 record) for all ACH files.
Required. Enter up to 10 alphanumeric characters for the immediate destination.
Immediate Origin The routing number for the ACH originator (sending point). The immediate origin usually contains
• 1 blank
• 4-digit federal reserve routing symbol • 4-digit ABA institution identifier • 1-digit check digit.
The value in this field displays in the ACH File Header record (1 record) for all ACH files.
