Credit card connector [in-depth guide]
The Credit card connector screen is used when you want the individual cardholder(s) to update/process their charges & submit them to an approver for review & payment processing.
Guide contents: Options for bringing in transactions | Card user notifications | Purchasing managers view | Typical process | Advanced processing | Customize columns | Approval process | Resources
You can also use this screen to match up to any manually created credit card charges against the downloaded transactions from the bank.
Options for bringing in transactions
We offer several ways to bring in your credit card transactions for processing.
This 3rd party integration allows for a wide range of banks/cards transactions to be downloaded automatically.
2. Import the .OFX or .CSV file.
In case your bank does not appear (nor work for whatever reason) using the Plaid method, you can download your card's transactions to a compatible file format (preferably OFX, QFX or QBO). Then you can import them into the connector screen for processing.
3. Set up a credit card provider in the GL account.
NOTES: This feature has slowly been deprecated by many of the banks so it may not work. If you are getting emails about the card not syncing, then it might be time to move to the Plaid connection, as more and more banks have deprecated the old standard of the OFX connector.
Card User Notifications
The first step to being notified of your cards transactions, is to have you name listed in the Card Users for the GL Account setup for this Credit Card GL Account.
Then anytime there is an unprocessed transaction for that Cards Account in the Connector, you will see a line for that card in your Notifications section to review.
Clicking on the line from here will open the Connector screen for that card.
NOTE: Marked As Cleared transactions do not count towards the number shown in the Notifications.
Purchasing Managers View
From the Today Purchasing page, there is a workflow section labeled Incoming Charges. This is where you can see individual accounts with uncleared transactions. And a link to Open the Credit Card Connector.
Typical process
Updating Transactions
Typically all that is needed is a Project and Item to code the transactions to. The setup of your system will handle the rest.
For example, the Project will determine the Client, Office, GL Company and Markup.
While the Item will determine the Expense Account and Department.
- While not necessary, populating a Vendor will link the Payee Name to the Vendor Record for future transactions to be auto linked. If the Payee Name changes and/or has multiple variants, then you will need to fill this in for it to link to the one vendor.
- We recommend adjusting the columns that are visible to suit your needs as there are many other ways to use this screen. See the Advanced Processing section below for more on these features.
NOTE: If you have 'items are required', yet you choose 'overhead', you do not need an item in this instance.
Process Selected Transactions
Once you have updated your transactions and want to move them forward in the system, click the Checkbox next to the individual lines, or the top box to highlight all lines. This will trigger some additional options to appear. Choose Process Selected to move them to the next step in the process.
NOTE: Once you choose Process Selected, those Transactions will no longer be visible anywhere on this screen as they are now Charges in the system. But if you delete the Charge that was created from the Transaction, then the Transaction will reappear in the Connector screen.
Advanced processing
Change Selected (Update Multiple) | Mark As Cleared | Delete | Hide Cleared Transactions / Hide Payments | Edit Transactions Details | Link To Unmatched Charges | Apply to an existing vendor invoice | Split vouchers | Split projects | Split orders
Change Selected (Update Multiple)
To update multiple charges with a selected setting, such as 'project', 'task', 'office', or 'charged by person', follow these steps:
- Select the transactions you wish to update.
- Click Change selected.
- Select the fields you need to update.
- Click Update.
NOTES:
- When updating the Item on multiple rows, the Expense Account will also get checked. This Expense Account will update to match the Items setup.
- When updating the Project and/or Item on multiple rows, the Markup should also get updated according to the Projects > Get Markup From and Items setup.
Mark As Cleared
This is typically used for the initial startup of this feature, where if you have auto-downloaded the card's transactions, it pulls in the past 90 days of transactions. So if you are caught up and have already paid your credit card bill for the last 30 days, you can check the prior 60 days' worth of transactions as 'mark as processed'. But this option can play a role later when you have a credit card transaction that does not need to be processed, such as Payments made, as those are entered elsewhere in the system.
NOTE: When a transaction is flagged as Cleared. It is still accessible in the Connector screen, but does not count towards the number count of open transactions from the Notifications.
Delete
You can Delete transactions from the Connector screen. But keep in mind that if you delete a Transaction AND you have a connection that auto downloads Transactions. Then its likely that Transaction will reappear after the next download.
It may be best to Mark As Cleared and check Hide Cleared Transactions until enough time passes (ie 90 days). To then delete old transactions you no longer need.
Hide Cleared Transactions / Hide Payments
The option to Hide Cleared Transactions refers to any transaction that you chose to Mark As Cleared, so you can hide these from view. And in case you need to access the transaction again to edit, process, or delete at a later time.
The option to Hide Payments refers to any transactions that have a negative amount. Typically this would be a payment you made to the credit card company, which you should account for when you Pay & reconcile credit cards. This helps to hide these from view to keep the screen clean of unnecessary transactions. However, unlike Cleared Transactions, these ones will still count towards your transaction count in your Notifications.
Be sure to click Refresh after checking these options.
Edit transactions details
You can modify the columns in the grid view for editing to have quick access to your typical entry fields.
If you expand the row, by clicking on the 4 arrows to the left, this will show all the transaction details for editing.
This is where you can access attachments and link to unmatched charges.
Link to unmatched charges
From the expanded transactions details, there is an option at the bottom of the labeled link to unmatched charges. This allows you to see what Charges have been entered manually (not processed from the connector) in the system for whatever reason, so you can essentially Mark As Processed the transaction in the Connector since the Charge already exists in the system.
When you click an Unmatched Charge from the right, you will get two options. Match and Mark As Cleared.
Match - This will link the Connector Transaction and Charge together.
Mark As Cleared - This will remove the Charge from the Unmatched list (with no way to make it available again). But will still show as a Charge to pay in the system.
Once matched, the final result will hide the transaction from the Connector and the Charge will be updated with the reference number to match that of the transaction (FTIDID).
NOTES:
- This is typically used in special cases and should not be used as an typical process.
- Once Matched, the details of the Charge will be used in place of the Transaction Details shown in the Connector, even the amount.
- If you delete the Charge after a Match, the Transaction will reappear in the Connector.
Invoice Number / Apply to an existing Vendor Invoice
NOTE: Typically this process is done from the Select invoices to pay screen and choose to 'pay by credit card'.
You can apply the line to a single vendor invoice using the Invoice Number column.
If you select a Vendor first, then the Invoice Number drop-down will be filtered down to Vendor Invoices for just that vendor.
Once Processed and the Charge is created. It will then be appear as a credit card payment on the vendor invoice. Keep in mind that until you click Process in the Connector, this will not show on the Vendor Invoice. So if you have multiple Transactions paying for one invoice, then its best to process them one at a time before updating another Transaction.
Example Vendor Invoice:
Example Charge:
Split Vouchers
NOTE: Typically this process is done from the Select invoices to pay screen and choose to 'pay by credit card'.
Almost identical to the Invoice Number column. If you check the box for Split Vouchers, a new screen appears in which to choose the Vendor Invoices this Charge will pay for.
You will need to fully apply the amount listed on the Transaction in order to click Process.
NOTE: You cannot code a credit card charge to both a project within the connector line and a vendor invoice. It is one or the other.
Split Projects
Similar to the Project drop-down column, you can split the Charge across multiple Projects and even use this to split the items.
When you click the checkbox for Split Projects, a new screen appears in which you can choose the Project and Item to be used.
You will need to fully apply the amount listed on the Transaction in order to click Process.
Split Orders
If you have (Purchase, Insertion, or Broadcast) Orders you wish to pay for with incoming credit card charges, then you can skip the voucher process & apply charges directly to orders.
First add the Vendor to the Transaction.
Then click the check box in the Orders column, and click on Edit. A new screen appears with drop-down to choose an Open Order and Order Line.
Click Add Seelcted.
Once you have the lines applied, next you will need to edit the applied amounts and have it total the amount of the Transaction.
NOTE: Be sure to Process this Charge before applying other Transactions to the same Order Line. As the remaining open amount of the order line will not take into account the applied but unprocessed transactions.
If you are applying multiple charges to one order line, then be sure to watch this quick video on how to do this.
- How To Video: Applying Multiple Charges to one Order Line.mp4
Customize your columns
Choosing what columns you see in the Grid view is a great way to limit the fields you need to view/edit, and helps keep the Connector screen clean & easy to use.
From the More button at the top of the Connector screen, you can go to system settings (if you have the right to do so) and modify what columns you see and the order of the columns, in the grid entry view of the Connector screen.
Then click on Edit Columns
Chose which fields to include.
Then choose the order is which you want them to display.
Be sure to close the Connector and reopen to see the updated layout.
NOTE: The Memo field will populate the Line Description field in the Charge when Processed. That Line Description can then be seen in the Vendor/Person field of a Billing Worksheet transaction review.
Approval process
Once the user clicks Process from the Connector, the Transactions then get turned into Charges, that will need to be approved. There are several ways this approval workflow can be determined by security rights.
NOTE: The security right, 'purchasing section > approve credit card charges' MUST be set for anyone that will be approving credit card charges.
The typical approval workflow goes something like this:
1) If the processor has the security right to 'approve credit card charges' > when processed, all selected charges will be approved & posted regardless of 'charged by' setting and 'credit card approver' setting on the employee record.
If the processor does not have the security right, go to step 2>>
2) If the processor does not have the security right 'approve credit card charges' > when processed, look at the field 'charged by' >>
If blank
> set 'charged by' to the processor's name> go to step 3>>
- If not blank > go to step 3
3) Charge by employee's credit card approver
- If CC approver is blank >send to any employee that has the security right of 'approve credit card charges'
- If CC approver is the same as the processor > the system will approve & post the CC charge during the processing step
- If CC Approver is different from processor > send CC charge to approver
Example approver
A line will appear in your Items To Approve within your notification bell for Credit Card Charges.
Clicking this will open a list of the Charges to Approve or Reject.
With the list of Submitted charges open, you can click the row for more details and if you have edit rights, you can click into it for more details on the record itself. Ultimately, the goal is to approve the list of charges.
You can then add Comments to be placed in the approval notes of the record. Or click on View Details to open the full record and see more detail or even make edits, if you have the rights to.
Resources
Plaid connection [in-depth guide]
Manually adding & editing charges [in-depth guide]