Electronic AP payment remittance

You can make vendor payments electronically, instead of with a physical check. Pay for goods by transferring money directly into the vendor's bank account. This functionality provides BOD-based electronic AP payment remittance that is automated, flexible, and efficient. The payment request generates a Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD that sends payment and remittance data to the vendor's bank.

Some distributors must meet National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) formatting requirements. You can integrate with CenPOS and use the BOD to send payments and remittance that meet Automated Clearing House (ACH) requirements. In addition, you can use the BOD to create, send, and reprint remittance advice about the payment to the vendor. Integrate with Infor Document Management (IDM) to take advantage of the benefits of this solution's extensibility. When you use IDM to send the remittance advice, you can use the remittance advice template, created for IDM, to send a formatted remittance advice. The remittance advice document can also be archived and reprinted using IDM. The template is available for print formats 4 and 5. Birst extracts are also available to create your own remittance.

The BOD-based electronic AP payment remittance also supports BACS-compliant payment and remittance data. BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing Services) is a scheme for the electronic processing of financial transactions in the United Kingdom (UK). The Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD data includes both BACSTEL and LloydsLink fields. ION mapping is used to remap the data from the BOD to the specific format to send the file to the bank. You can specify which vendors are to be paid in the BACS format, and generate the payments as part of your current accounts payable processes. For BACS transactions, the access to IDM or Birst replaces the BACS-related AP Print Remittance Report.

How it works

For electronic AP payment remittance, a payment request is created when Vendor Entry Check Print Report is run. Instead of the typical print format for a check, the payment request generates a Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD, a CenPOS object, or an EDI flat file. The Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD provides the ability to process an XML file and exchange information between business applications. The bank must be able to consume and process the BOD file. The vendor can be notified of the payment and receive a remittance advice. If the vendor can process an XML file with the remittance data, sending the vendor the RemittanceAdvice BOD is recommended. Otherwise, a printed or formatted remittance advice can be made available.

The output is based on how you specify that a vendor receives payments in Vendor Setup-eCommerce. You can choose from these options:

  • IONIn addition, you can use the BOD to create, send, and reprint remittance: Select this option to generate Sync.RemittanceAdvice BODs. The BOD contains information typically included in an EDI 820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice document.

    This option is valid in CloudSuite Distribution. It is also valid in on-premises Distribution SX.e if your company uses the ION Messaging Service (IMS) to connect to Infor ION.

  • Credit ACH: Select this option to send your payment for this vendor to the bank electronically through CenPOS. CenPOS manages the bank relationships and certifications and sends data directly to the vendor’s bank for processing of a payment. This option is best for distributors who must meet NACHA formatting requirements. CenPOS handles the NACHA formatting. The payment request generates a Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD, and ION sends the payment to the bank. If you have specified an email address, CenPOS can also send a transaction receipt.

    The Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD can be used for remittance advice. If the vendor can process an XML file with the remittance data, sending the vendor the RemittanceAdvice BOD is recommended. If you use Infor Document Management (IDM) to send the remittance advice, you can use the remittance template, created for IDM, to send a formatted remittance advice.

  • EDI: Select this option to generate an EDI flat file for the EDI 820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice document. You can only use flat files in on-premises Distribution SX.e.

CenPOS is a hosted payment solution. The Credit ACH interface uses a direct connection to CenPOS' secure web browser using the URL settings you specify in SA Credit Card Processor Setup. The interface uses the information in the URL settings to identify where the CenPOS object resides and what pages to call for each process. The interface directly invokes the CenPOS object from the HTML 5 user interface in an inline frame. This connection directly loads payment request data, or, if necessary, loads the appropriate form in the CenPOS window, such as CenPOS Add Card form.

The CenPOS solution uses tokenization to increase the security of the transaction. You can create an ACH token in Vendor Setup. When you create an ACH token, you input the vendor's bank data directly into CenPOS' stand-alone, secure web browser, in the CenPOS Add Card form. Then, CenPOS sends back a token, which is an alias ID for the vendor's bank data. The token is an alphanumeric ID that is generated by CenPOS. The token is tied to the vendor's bank data, which is stored on the CenPOS server. You cannot change this token ID. You can delete this token with the Delete ACH Token button.

In Vendor Setup-eCommerce, you can also specify an email for a vendor to receive remittance advice.

Typical payment process sequence

This high-level workflow lists the typical process sequencing for remitting payments to vendors. Your actual tasks may vary. You should modify your workflow so your procedural tasks are relevant to your accounts payable. Ensure you have completed applicable setups.
  1. Vendor Invoice Center Entry

    Use this function to create expense invoices for your vendor. Perform a final update.

  2. Vendor Cash Requirements Report

    As part of the check run process, run this program as a stored report through the Report Scheduler. Running this report determines the cash requirements for your vendor by specifying both your vendor, or vendor range, and bank.

  3. Vendor Edit Payment Selection Entry (Optional)

    In Search, specify your Vendor Cash Requirements Report stored report Name. Select the invoices you want to pay. From Invoice Actions, select Pay Invoices. Set the rest of the invoices to Do Not Pay. Click Save to run Vendor Entry Pay Invoices Due Report. View the report output to obtain the journal number. A journal number is assigned each time Vendor Entry Pay Invoices Due Report is run.

  4. Vendor Entry Pay Invoices Due Report

    If you did not use Vendor Edit Payment Selection Entry to run this report, run the Vendor Edit Payment Selection Entry now. View the report output to obtain the journal number. A journal number is assigned each time Vendor Entry Pay Invoices Due Report is run.

  5. Vendor Entry Check Print Report

    You must have the journal number to run this report. For electronic AP payment remittance, a payment request is created when Vendor Entry Check Print Report is run. Instead of the typical print format for a check, the payment request generates a Sync.RemittanceAdvice BOD, a CenPOS object, or an EDI flat file.

Inquiry information

You can inquire on electronic AP payments through several functions.

  • Vendor ACH Inquiry

    This function provides multiple ways to filter and view ION and Credit ACH payment request transactions. You can view the Communication Status, which indicates whether the payment request went to CenPOS successfully. If the request went successfully, the status is Approved. If not, other status reasons are displayed, such as Timeout, Connection Failure. Any transactions with a Communication Status of anything other than Approved must be reprocessed in Vendor Entry Check Print Report. Click the Mark As Reprocessed button to inactivate the record, which indicates that the record has been reprocessed.

  • Vendor Inquiry

    You can track and search for ION and ACH transactions in Vendor Inquiry-Transactions. Use the ACH Invoice Number field in advanced search. This field is available when the Allow AP Credit ACH option is selected in SA Administrator Options-Vendors-Print Formats. In the Vendor Inquiry-Transactions grid, the Check/ACH# number column shows the check or ACH number. in the grid, columns are also available to view the ACH Invoice Number, ACH Invoice Suffix, and ACH Bank Number.

  • CR Check Center Entry

    You can view EDI, ION, and Credit ACH payment request transactions in this function. This is because these transactions are a charge against the distributor bank. Set the Transaction Type to Charge. Set the Transaction Type to Void. This enables you to view any payment requests that had to be reprocessed, due to a timeout or connection failure, for example.

  • CR Bank Setup

    ION and ACH transactions are counted in this function. The Last Count ACH Number value increments with each payment.

Error information

Error messages specific to electronic AP payment remittance have been set up in SA System Error Message Setup:

  • A Credit ACH payment type requires an ACH token. – 4218
  • All Three Merchant Fields Should Be Entered or All Be Blank. - 4220
  • EDI Is Not A Valid Payment Type In The Cloud – 4219
  • Last ACH Number Has Exceeded Maximum Value. Reset Required – 7618

Related information

For information about activating and setting up electronic AP payment remittance, see Electronic AP payment remittance activation and setup.

For information about integrating with Infor Document Management (IDM), access related documentation:

See the Infor CloudSuite Distribution Configuration Guide.

See the Infor Distribution SX.e Configuration Guide for Infor Operating Service.

For information about ION BODs, mapping, or the EDI 820 document, access related documentation:

See the Infor ION Desk User Guide (Cloud Edition).

See the Infor CloudSuite Distribution Configuration Guide.

See the Infor Distribution SX.e Configuration Guide for Infor Operating Service.

See the Infor Distribution SX.e Setup and Administration Guide for EDI.

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