Electronic Funds Transfer

How to use Electronic Funds Transfer?

Setup for EFT.

How to Have General Billing Invoices be paid electronically via bank draw?

Automatically withdraw from account. 

• Accounts Receivable

• General Billing

• Automatic Payment Processing

Users want to setup a Electronic Funds Transfer to withdraw funds from customer's bank account and pay MUNIS GB bills. Instructions for prerequisite setup and EFT processing. 

Users must create Bank Codes and configure customer EFT settings before processing payments in Electronic Funds Transfer and Process Automatic Payments programs. 

Create Bank Codes:

1. Navigate to System Administration > Miscellaneous Administration > Bank Codes

2. Click Add to add a new bank code

3. Populate required fields

4. Click Accept

5. Repeat steps for each bank needed

Set AR Category Specific EFT Parameters (Real Estate and Personal Property only):

1. Navigate to General Revenues > Accounts Receivable > Setup > Accounts Receivable Settings

2. Click Cat Specific (button)

3. Navigate to the desired AR category using the left/right arrow keys at bottom left 

4. Click Payment (tab)

5. Click Update

6. Select desired bank code in the Bank dropdown (this is the ACH used to process your EFTs)

Configure Customer EFT Settings:

1. Navigate to Accounts Receivable > Setup > Customers

2. Click Search

3. Enter the relevant customer data

4. Click Accept

5. Click EFT in the top ribbon menu

6. Populate the required fields

   1. EFT Code: Stores the electronic funds transfer code to use for the type of transaction that takes place, such as a prenote or transfer involving a savings or checking account:

      1. A - PreNote - CK
         B - PreNote - SV
         C - Checking
         S - Savings
         If you select A-Prenote CK or B-Prenote SV, the first EFT cycle creates a prenotification to test the transfer. After the prenotification is created in an EFT cycle, the list value automatically changes to Checking or Savings to perform a live transfer in the next cycle.

   2. Bank: Identifies the code for the customer's bank for processing electronic funds transfers. When you enter a bank code in the box, the program displays the bank name and transit number next to the Bank box. Bank codes are established in the System Administration Bank Codes program.

   3. Account: Specifies the number of the customer's bank account for the electronic funds transfer. The EFT account number is only visible for a customer if the user permissions for your role include the ability to view EFT data.

   4. Draft Day: Specifies the preferred numeric day of the month for the EFT draft to take place. Draft dates set to a day of the month that is nonexistent are automatically be set to the last day of the month.

7. Click Accept

Process Electronic Funds Transfer

The Electronic Funds Transfer program processes automatic customer payments that are collected electronically.

For customers to have payments automatically withdrawn, a bank account is stored on the customer record. When bills are generated, the Generate EFT function creates two files: an ACH export file to be sent to client bank which the bank then uses to withdraw the appropriate funds from the customer's account AND a lockbox import file to be processed using the Process Lockbox File program. This program processes the lockbox file to create a payment batch, which can be then posted against the specified invoices.

To Create EFT file:

1. Navigate to General Revenues > General Billing > Invoice Processing > Electronic Funds Transfer

2. Click Define

3. Complete the fields as required

4. Click Accept

5. Click Select

6. Click View to review the selected records and clear records to exclude from the export file
   The program displays the AR Flag EFT Records for Transfer screen

7. Complete the AR Flag EFT Records For Transfer screen by selecting or clearing the checkboxes for the records to include or exclude

8. Click Back to return to the main screen

9. Click Custom Header to create a custom bank header
   The program displays the Custom Header screen

10. Click Define

11. Complete the Record Length field. The length applies to each header line and cannot be greater than 70, including spaces

12. Enter the custom header text. You can create up to three custom header lines

13. Click Accept

14. Click Back to return to the main screen

15. Click Generate
    The Generate process excludes bills with the Exclude from Auto Pay or Accept Cash Only special conditions applied.

16. Copy the value from the Lock box path name field, to be used in Process Lockbox File

Once this process is complete the ACH file can be delivered to the bank (the bank which is facilitating Automated Clearing House fund transfers for the client) and the lockbox file can be processed through the Process Lockbox File program to apply those payments to customer bills

To Retrieve ACH File:

1. Navigate to System Administration > Miscellaneous Administration > File Transfer

2. Click Download from export directory

3. Locate file by File Name and Date Modified

4. Double-click on the file to download

Process Lockbox File:

1. Navigate to General Revenues > Payment Processing > Process Lockbox File

2. Click Define

3. Set the File Format field to Questpoint

4. Paste the Lock box path name data (see To Create EFT File step 15, above) into the Import path field

5. Complete additional fields as desired

6. Click Accept

7. Click Import

8. Generate a report to verify import data by clicking File Preview

9. Click Process to finalize payments

10. Once the ACH file is cleared with the bank, the generated lockbox file can be GL posted via Payments Journal

All setup and processes can be tested in non-live in order to verify results (this is strongly recommended). Placeholder numbers can be used to substitute for ACH data, as long as the Routing Number is 8 digits, the Company Id Number is 10 digits, and the Check Digit is 1 digit (this is the last digit in a 9 digit routing number).

Please Reach Out to Support for Additional Information.