comdata virtual card processing · dexter + chaney® has teamed up with comdata® to provide an...

Comdata® Virtual Card Processing

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Dexter + Chaney. The

software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the agreement. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Dexter + Chaney.

Spectrum®

Program Copyright 2016 © Dexter & Chaney, LLC. All rights reserved. v14 Comdata© 2016 Dexter & Chaney, LLC. All rights reserved. Spectrum is a registered trademark of Dexter & Chaney, LLC. Other products and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Last revised on: December 9, 2016

Table of Contents

COMDATA VIRTUAL CARD PROCESSING ................................................................................. 1

Comdata Card Benefits ............................................................................................................................. 1

Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 1

Virtual Cards .............................................................................................................................................. 1

Requirements ........................................................................................................................ 2

COMDATA FUNCTIONS .......................................................................................................... 2

How Virtual Cards Work ............................................................................................................................ 2

General Ledger Setup................................................................................................................................ 3 Setting up a G/L Account ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Clearing Data File Format Maintenance Setup ......................................................................................... 4 Setting up the Clearing Data File Format .............................................................................................................. 4

Cash Management Setup .......................................................................................................................... 5 Setting up the Cash Management Account .......................................................................................................... 5 Cash Management Installation ............................................................................................................................. 8

Accounts Payable Setup ............................................................................................................................ 8 Setting up the Accounts Payable Vendors ............................................................................................................ 8

Comdata Virtual Card Payment Process ................................................................................................. 10 Payment Selection .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Pre-Payment Register ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Pre-Check Register .............................................................................................................................................. 14 Export Comdata Virtual Card .............................................................................................................................. 15 Import Comdata Virtual Card ............................................................................................................................. 17 Register/Update.................................................................................................................................................. 20

Virtual Card Payment Report .................................................................................................................. 21

Payments to Comdata for Virtual Card Transactions ............................................................................. 22

Reconciling Comdata Virtual Card Transactions ..................................................................................... 23

Troubleshooting ...................................................................................................................................... 26

Comdata Virtual Card Processing | 1

COMDATA VIRTUAL CARD PROCESSING

Comdata Card Benefits

Dexter + Chaney® has teamed up with Comdata® to provide an electronic payables solution that turns your accounts payable department into a revenue generator! Earn a rebate on every invoice when you use the Comdata card payment program.

Other Comdata card benefits:

Saves time – no more printing, signing and mailing paper checks.

Streamlines your A/P process and reduces administrative costs.

Integrates with Spectrum.

Increases security with payments routed directly to vendors electronically.

Provides an exception report for convenient viewing of any records that do not pass validation.

Overview

Instead of printing, signing, and mailing paper checks, pay your suppliers using a virtual or physical Comdata card. These cards complement the A/P module in Spectrum. Similar to using direct deposit for payroll, your vendor payments are routed electronically. During processing, Comdata generates a unique 16-digit number. This number acts as a virtual credit card tied to a single payment. Because the payment is routed directly to the vendor, you save time and increase the security of your payments.

Virtual cards allow for the payment of A/P invoices without the need for tangible cards

In Spectrum, use the Bank Reconciliation Entry screen to clear charges and credits shown on a monthly credit card statement against purchases, credit adjustments, direct transactions, remittance, and other entries in Spectrum. When tracking your credit card balance using this screen, the total deductions should agree with the total dollars subtracted from your credit card statement.

This document describes the differences between the virtual credit card processes, and provides helpful tips and troubleshooting suggestions.

Virtual Cards

Virtual cards allow you to pay existing invoices electronically, without the use of a physical card.


Requirements To use the Comdata Virtual Card Processing within Spectrum Accounts Payable payment processing you must have:

Spectrum

o Cash Management module

o Accounts Payable module

Comdata

o A Virtual Card Account with Comdata

In order to use the Comdata Virtual Card Programming the vendors must be set up to accept virtual card payments. There are two fields on the Accounts Payable Vendors page that must be completed and selected in order for the Comdata Virtual Card Programming to work correctly:

Email address (found on the Vendor | Properties | Main page)

Comdata payable? (found on the Vendor | Properties | Payment Setup page)

COMDATA FUNCTIONS To use the Comdata Virtual Card Processing you must choose the ‘Export Comdata Virtual Card’ button on the A/P Payment Processing page.

How Virtual Cards Work

Accounts Payable (A/P) Payment Processing has added the functionality for virtual card payments by Comdata instead of paying with the regular checking account.

1. An export file is sent to Comdata to request payment of invoices.

2. Comdata sends an import file back confirming payment.

3. Comdata notifies the payees via email of your payment.

4. The file is imported into Spectrum which updates Accounts Payable (A/P) and Cash Management (CM) for the actual payments.

5. The payee processes this as a manual credit card transaction. In this way, they receive the funds you sent.


General Ledger Setup

In the General Ledger you want to track the Comdata virtual card liability activity separately from other liabilities.

In order to track each type of Comdata card separately, a new General Ledger account needs to be set up for use during the Comdata Virtual Card Payment procedures.

Setting up a G/L Account

1. On the Menu System, select General Ledger | Maintenance | G/L Master File Maintenance.

2. Click the New button.

a. Enter your new G/L account code, and press Enter.

b. Enter your G/L account Description, and press Enter.

c. By pressing Enter the Abbreviated description is automatically filled in.

d. Click the drop-down box for the Account type, and select “L” for Liability account.

e. The Direct cost defaults as Non-direct cost and the Status defaults as Active.

Review all information on the screen and if it is correct, click OK to save.


Clearing Data File Format Maintenance Setup

The reconciliation of your Comdata account uses standard Spectrum logic, therefore a Clearing Data File Format must be created in Spectrum’s Cash Management module. In v14, a sequential six-digit number is assigned as the check number, as this avoids potential duplicates. Spectrum also stores the full 16-digit virtual card number, and uses the full 16-digit virtual card number to identify cleared transactions.

Setting up the Clearing Data File Format

1. On the Site Map, select Cash Management | Maintenance | Clearing Data File Format.

2. Click the New button.

a. Enter your new Data file format name, and press Enter.

b. Enter your Description, and press Enter.

c. For the Data type select Fixed width, and press Enter.

d. Select the check box to Import check amount as a whole number if no decimal? if this is your preference.

e. In the Date format box, click in the Date format and enter MMDDYYYY and press enter until the new window opens at the bottom of the page.

f. (Variable, Description, Type, Maximum length, Required, Start & Stop)

g. CHECK NUMBER. Leave blank. Press Enter to move to the next line.

h. PAYMENT AMOUNT. Set the Maximum length to 14, the Start box to 17 and the Stop box to 30. Press Enter to move to the next line.

i. BANK CLEARING DATE. Set the Maximum length to 8, the Start box to 31 and the Stop box to 38. Press Enter to move to the next line.

j. VIRTUAL CARD NUMBER. Set the Maximum length to 16, the Start box to 1 and the Stop box to 16. Press Enter to move to the next line.

k. Review all information on the screen and if it is correct, click OK to save.

The defined layout is created in the Spectrum Clearing Data File Format Maintenance shown below.


Comdata will create an export file that matches the defined Clearing Data File format in Spectrum. The Export from Comdata will contain the following information in a fixed length file format section in this document:

Virtual Card Number Positions 1-16

Total Amount (virtual card payment amount) Positions 17-30

Transaction Date Positions 31-38

Cash Management Setup

Setting up the Cash Management Account

1. Go to Cash Management| Maintenance | Accounts.

2. You are now on the Account Code File Maintenance page.

3. Click New to begin.

4. Enter the Account name and Account number in the Properties tab. For example, some users find it helpful to use the code “Comdata VIRTUAL” as the account name.


For security purposes, do not enter the full bank account number! This information will display in select screens and reports in Spectrum. It is recommended that you use an abbreviated version of the account number instead.

5. Select the Account type in the Properties tab. Even though these transactions are being paid with a “virtual” credit card, it is important to use the Bank account type. Once you have filled out all the information in the Properties tab, click the Details tab to continue.

6. On the Details tab, click the drop-down arrow to look up or enter the Cash G/L account, and enter the liability code that you will use to track your virtual cards. It is recommended that you create a new liability G/L code titled “Comdata Virtual Card Liability.”

7. Enter the Comdata clearing data file format (refer to the entry in Clearing Data File Format Maintenance screen, as seen on the previous page).


8. Click OK to save your work.


Cash Management Installation

On the Site Map, navigate to System Administration | Installation | Cash Management and when the Cash Management Installation screen displays, click on the Bank Accounts tab.

Here you can define the Comdata Bank Account code. Once set up, this account will default as the bank account used in Payment Processing.

Accounts Payable Setup

Setting up the Accounts Payable Vendors

1. Go to Accounts Payable | Maintenance | Vendors.

2. Select a vendor who will be paid by the virtual card.

3. On the Vendors Main Properties tab, enter the vendor email address.

IMPORTANT: Comdata uses this email address to let the vendor know you have paid them with the virtual card. Only one email address is allowed per vendor. Do not forget this step!


1. On the Vendor Payment Setup tab, select the Comdata payment method. This is how you designate that the vendor is paid via the virtual card.

4. Click SAVE to save your work.

5. Continue this process for all vendors that you are going to pay with the Comdata virtual credit card.

Use the Cash Management account for the Comdata virtual card payments to reconcile the invoices received from Comdata reflecting the processed payments. To facilitate the reconciliation process,


Comdata will provide a “Clearing File”, which can be imported into the Spectrum Cash Management Bank Reconciliation screen.

Comdata Virtual Card Payment Process

The Comdata Virtual Card Payment processing MUST be run separately from your check run in Accounts Payable Payment processing. You will want to process the invoices specific to the Comdata defined vendors separately so you can keep your bank account and general ledger accounts separated.

Go to Accounts Payable | Data Entry | Payment Processing to get started.

The first step is to select the payments for those vendors who have been identified as Comdata Vendors.

Payment Selection

Click the Payment Selection button to begin your selection of the Comdata Vendor invoices that will be sent to Comdata for payment.

When you click Payment Selection, the New Processing Group window displays where you will be prompted to enter a bank account and payment type before proceeding to the Payment Selection screen.

Notice that you now have two new buttons after the ‘Print Checks’ button: ‘Export Comdata Virtual Card’ and ‘Import Comdata Virtual Card’.


This is a copy of your A/P Payment Selection page.


Pre-Payment Register

The Pre-Payment Register works the same as the standard Pre-Check Register features. Click the Pre-Payment Register button at the top of your screen.

Review the transactions by clicking the Preview button to open the Pre-Check Register shown next.


Pre-Check Register

Below is an example of the A/P Pre-Check Register report showing two payments that will be made where you have chosen the Comdata Bank account.

Comdata does not issue zero balance virtual card account numbers; therefore if any ‘void checks’ (a check that nets to a zero dollar payment) are found in the virtual card processing group they will automatically be deselected when you go to export them to Comdata. They will be handled by issuing a check during your payment processing and if you have questions regarding processing these types of checks please contact our Support Department.


Export Comdata Virtual Card

Select the Export Comdata Virtual Card button from the A/P Payment Processing page. This will create the ‘Request Record’ to be sent to Comdata.

Next you will be on the Create Virtual Card File page as shown below.


SELECTIONS

The Account Code, Customer ID, and Code Word fields will be provided by Comdata. Once they are entered on the page, the last known values entered will remain until changed.

In the Internal Email Address for Remittance File Copy field:

o Define the email address that will inform you that the Remittance File is ready.

o A valid email address must be defined before leaving this page or you will receive an error message. The address must be in the standard email format; for example, <name>@<internet carrier or company address>. You may want to set up an “AP” address so that the account is not always tied to one individual, for example, [email protected].

o This information will remain here and is used in the file creation. You may overwrite this email address as needed.

In the File name field:

o The actual export file name is predefined, and cannot be changed.

o The file name will appear on this page as a reference.

o The last known entry will default to this field.

o Store the file in a specific location to be easily found once it has been created.

mailto:[email protected]


Select the Continue button to create the file and a new window will open asking what should be done with the file.

Note that the ‘Save File’ box is checked; click OK and your file will be saved and stored in your C:\Users\yourcomputername\Downloads file.

If the file has errors a ‘Virtual File Creation Errors Report’ will display the errors. The errors will need to be corrected before the file can be created.

Once the ‘Request Record’ file is created the A/P Payment Processing is on hold until the Import file (Response Record) is created and returned from Comdata. Using a secure FTP provider that Comdata suggests, the file is transmitted to Comdata for processing. The Processing could take up to 30 minutes to complete. Once the import file (Response Record) is available on the FTP site an email is sent to the email address defined on the start screen. For more information on the FTP site contact your Comdata representative.

Import Comdata Virtual Card

After Comdata has processed the vendor payments, a ‘Response Record’ will be returned. You will be notified via email from Comdata that the file is ready to upload or you can check the FTP site yourself for the file. Once you have received it via your FTP site, you will import the ‘Response Record’ file into Spectrum. This ‘Response Record’ will be imported using the Import Comdata Virtual Card option on the A/P Payment Processing page.


Click the Import Comdata Virtual Card button.

Next you will be taken to the Import Virtual Card Payments window.

Click Continue to import the “Response Record” file that Comdata has sent you. When you click Continue a PROIV File Upload window will allow you to browse to where you have the file stored and select the file that Comdata sent you for processing.


Once you have the selected the file, click Upload to import the file into Spectrum.

IMPORT FILE SELECTION

The import file name is predefined by Comdata. When selecting the file to import into Spectrum it must contain ‘PS00017’ within the title and have a similar date and time stamp.

If a file is imported that was previously imported, a warning displays.

The data in the import file, such as vendor code, invoice number, etc., must match the data that was exported before the file will import.

If there are no errors during the import, the virtual card payment will be recorded and a check number will be automatically assigned and shown as a payment in Spectrum, using the next check number available for the ‘Comdata’ bank account you set up within Cash Management.

A report has been added to Accounts Payable | Reports | Virtual Card Payment Report that lists the entire virtual card number issued by Comdata and the check number that is recorded in Vendor Payment History.

If there are errors in the response file from Comdata, an Error Message displays. If you receive this message, click the OK button to return to the Virtual Card Processing screen. Contact Comdata for assistance getting the correct file.

After the file imports a Virtual Card Payments Check Number Assignments page will open with a report listing the entire virtual card number and the check number that was assigned in Cash Management.


Click on the ‘X’ at the top of the page and you are returned to the A/P Payment Processing page where you will complete the final step of updating the payments.

Register/Update

The final step of Virtual Card Payment Processing is the Payment Register. This can be completed once the Import Comdata Virtual Card step has been completed. Using the Payment Register option provides the necessary reports and options to update the Virtual Card Payments within Spectrum. The Payment Register functionality is the same as the A/P Payment Processing that ensures the information is being updated throughout Spectrum.


Virtual Card Payment Report

The Virtual Card Payment Report provides an easy way to get detailed information regarding your Comdata accounts and which vendors were paid. The report provides the following information:

ONLY current Comdata vendors that are flagged in the Vendors page.

The vendor and invoices that were paid using the company’s Comdata account.

Payment information including the check number, date, payment number, amount, Credit Card Number also known as Virtual Card number and remarks.

The report page shown below provides multiple selections to be defined based on the user’s needs.


Report Example: Virtual Card Payment Report

Payments to Comdata for Virtual Card Transactions 1. Enter wire transfer transactions in Cash Management | Data Entry | Wire Transfers.

2. Enter each payment to Comdata separately as of the date paid.

3. The regular operating checking account should be entered in the header, representing a disbursement.

4. Choose Bank (internal transfer) as the Transfer type.

5. The Comdata Virtual credit card account should be entering in the details representing a deposit.


Reconciling Comdata Virtual Card Transactions

When Virtual and Physical Comdata accounts are being used, ask for separate transaction statements from Comdata.

Request a month-end cutoff date for your virtual transactions from Comdata. It is much simpler to reconcile your transactions at month-end within Spectrum Bank Reconciliation.

Comdata will send you an “export” file that you will then “import” into Cash Management | Data Entry | Bank Reconciliation Entry. This file has all the “checks” (i.e., virtual card transactions) that have cleared. This file is usually called the “Monthly AP Export” or “Dexter Chaney Monthly AP Export” or something similar. Again, we strongly recommend you request a monthly file from Comdata. The file will not be provided on an exact 01/01/11 – 01/31/11 basis because this is not something that Comdata can do like a regular bank statement.


Example of export file:

Example of the Bank Reconciliation Entry where you click on ‘Import’.


Example of the Import Cleared Checks page where you will select the Comdata Bank Account and click on Continue.

Once you click Continue, the PROIV File Upload window opens where you can browse to where you have stored the file you need to import.

Example with file in a C:\TEMP location, then click on Upload.

During the upload the following message ‘Report in progress, please wait’ displays.

1. Start the reconciliation in Cash Management | Data Entry | Bank Reconciliation page.

2. Enter the G/L date, Statement date, and ending balance of the Comdata Virtual Card Liability at month end. If there is a balance owing to Comdata, enter a negative balance in the bank reconciliation screen.

3. The differences for the statement reconciliation and the G/L reconciliation must be zero after clearing deposits and checks below before you can update the reconciliation.


Troubleshooting

Question: What does “Cannot match Request Record to the Response Record” mean?

Answer(s):

The file from Comdata contains an error.

The layout on the file from Comdata does not meet the import requirements.

The credit card numbers do not appear in the import file.

Question: What do I do if I get a “Missing credit card number…” error message?

Answer: Click the OK button and you will be returned to the main A/P Payment Processing screen where you will see that the ‘Register/Update’ button is grayed out and the ‘Import Comdata Virtual Card’ is not selected. At this point you have one option:

Review the import and export files and correct the errors.

This solution is complex and we suggest that if you have never had a problem with importing the Comdata Virtual Card File before you contact our Support Department for help.

comdata virtual card processing · dexter + chaney® has teamed up with comdata® to provide an...

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