Lockbox Processing

In some cases, subscribers deposit payments directly to a bank, and the bank sends payment information to the newspaper. Use this option to read these subscriber payments, known as lockbox payments, into Circulation. In order to be read, the file sent from the bank must be put in /dti/exchange/cm. The file can be in the standard lockbox format (see Subscriber Lockbox File Format (Standard)) or a user-defined format. If user-defined, the format must be set up in advance in File Map setup (see File Map in the Setup Manual).

In addition to standard lockbox payments, charges for bonus days created by Bonus Day Adjustment are also imported via Lockbox Processing.

Note:

Contact the Naviga Global Support Center in the early planning stages of lockbox processing as custom programs may need to be written to accommodate the format of the file coming from your bank.

Business Rules determine whether the lockbox scanline is verified against the scanline check digit, and whether the bank number should be verified (using the standard US banking system formula for bank numbers).

To run lockbox processing:

• Select Lockbox Processing from the Subscriber Payments menu to display the Subscriber Lockbox Processing window.

  
• Click Add and complete the following fields.

  Field	Type	What to enter
  READ OPTION	predefined	Indicate whether to edit or commit this information to the database. Enter “commit” to create payment records. If you enter “edit” the file will be read but only an error report will be created. We recommend that you run Lockbox Processing in “edit” mode at least once to verify that there are no potential errors. The 7 fields below will be active only if you are committing information.
  BANK	setup	Enter the ID of the bank where the payments were deposited.
  SOURCE	setup	Enter the source code for the payments, such as “bank”.
  REASON	setup	Enter the reason code for the payments, such as “renew”.
  DEFAULT DATE	date	You may enter a default payment date for the lockbox payments. When interfacing payments, Lockbox Processing will use the following hierarchy when assigning the payment date: 1) Use the payment date interfaced, if provided (the standard subscriber lockbox does not contain the payment date). 2) Use the default date entered here. 3) Use the batch date interfaced, if provided (the standard subscriber lockbox does have a batch date). 4) Use the file date interfaced, if provided. 5) Use the current date.
  CREATE AUTORENEW	yes/no	Indicate whether a payment should switch a subscriber to auto renew, if bank draft or credit card information is interfaced. If this checkbox is selected and a bank number and account number are interfaced, a billing change will be created to switch the subscriber to bank draft auto renew. Similarly, if a credit card number and expiration date are interfaced, a billing change will switch the subscriber to credit card auto renew. The auto renew term will be picked based on the payment amount (if the amount does not match an auto renew term, no auto renew will be created). The subscriber’s rate will be changed to an auto renew rate, and any tip or payment adjustment interfaced with the payment will be included in subsequent auto renews. Note that the standard subscriber lockbox format does not contain credit card or bank draft info. Also note that billing changes will be created when the payment processes (in Payment Processing). The billing changes will then be processed in Transaction Processing.
  AUTO ACCEPT BATCH	yes/no	Indicate if you want all open batches to be accepted automatically. The default value can be set in the Business Rule— Should batches that are imported or created by the system be accepted automatically? (Subscriber Payment Section). This determines if system-generated or imported batches should be accepted automatically. Transaction Security controls whether the default answer can be changed. See "Auto Accept Batch" Transaction Security.
  BATCH	open (10)	Enter a batch ID for these payments.
  DESCRIPTION	open (30)	Enter a description of this batch.
  BPAY FILE	yes/no	Indicate if this file is from the BPay form of online banking.
  INPUT FILE FORMAT	setup	Enter the format of the lockbox file being interfaced. Enter “Sublockbox” if you are using the standard lockbox format. Or, enter a user-defined format that has been set up in FILE MAP.
  BPAY FILE	yes/no	Indicate if this file is from the BPay form of online banking.
  INPUT FILE NAME	open (16)	Enter the file name of the lockbox file in the /dti/exchange/cm directory. The default file name for the standard lockbox format is “sublockbox.d”; default file names for other formats can be defined in File Map. The default can be changed.

• Click OK and then Continue to process the lockbox payments. The Subscriber Lockbox Processing report will be produced, listing the number of records that were processed and any errors that occurred.

• If Read Option is set to “commit”, a suspended batch of subscriber payments will also be created. You must restart this batch of payments by selecting Batch Payments (see Batch Payments) and entering the batch ID and header information (the payment records will then be processed when Payment Processing is run). During the commit process, the sublockbox.d file will be renamed to sublockbox.[date].[batch].d, where [date] is the lockbox payment date and [batch] is the batch ID. A processing report will also display, listing any errors that occurred during the process. If a subscriber ID in the lockbox file does not exist in the system, it must be resolved in Resolve Payments (see Resolve Payments).

"Auto Accept Batch" Transaction Security

Transaction Security is added to the "Auto Accept Batch" field so that it may be regulated at the user level to enable or disable access to the field.

Transaction Security (see Setup Manual) can be configured under: Character Setup > System > Security > Transaction Security > AutoAccptBatch

• If any Security is applied to the Security item, users who are part of the Security ID will have access to the “Auto Accept Batch” field, while users who are not part of the Security ID would not, and the field will be greyed out.