In order to create transactions within categories and subcategories, users must have authority rights to them. If you are an administrator user, you can add authorities to each user individually, or you may save time by setting up authorities for a group of users simultaneously. If you wish to control the number of inactive transactions stored in your categories and subcategories, you may have the system automatically remove transactions that are a certain number of days old. Each night, the application will remove any inactive transactions older than the number of days you defined.
ACH Categories
To create an ACH transaction, you must add it to the category for the appropriate Standard Entry Class (SEC) code. Your financial institution (FI) defines categories for your organization, based on the origination agreement, and you further establish the basic parameters for that group of transactions by completing the Category Configuration page. Optionally, your FI may access and complete the configuration page. The category configuration includes a credit/debit designation, alias (or more descriptive name for the category), company information, number of days to look ahead when calculating transactions to send, how to handle non-business days, whether to send prenotifications before originating a new transaction, whether to allow underflow (if the category/subcategory permits split transactions), and five optional labels that describe custom information about your transactions (information that may be saved and automatically entered in check scanning categories each time a check is drawn on the same account).
At the category level, you also choose the account types transactions may be sent to; addenda formats you do not want to see in the addenda template drop-down list; endorsement options (if the category/subcategory requires a scanner); export setup for transactions that have been submitted, verified, and/or authorized; and CAR/LAR options, if applicable.
Note: If you change a category alias or subcategory name in the application after ACH Alert™ COPS has been configured, the name will not match what appears in that service. You will need to contact the service or your FI to make this change.
Subcategories
Once you have the category configuration established, you may decide that transactions in that category should be further divided into subcategories. For instance, a Payroll category might be divided into Hourly and Salary subcategories. Subcategory definition fields override the category configuration; however, you must still work within the parameters set by the FI. (If your FI completed the Category Configuration, they may have set up the subcategories as well; check with your FI to make sure.) For example, if the category does not allow standing orders, the subcategory cannot allow them either. In another scenario, an Express Tax category (see Note below) can have subcategories, but each subcategory will also be exclusively for express tax payments. If a category has any subcategories, you can no longer add transactions to the category; you must add transactions to a subcategory.
If you wish to control the number of inactive transactions stored in your categories and subcategories, you may have the system automatically remove transactions that are a certain number of days old. Each night, the application will remove any inactive transactions older than the number of days you defined.
Note: The Express Tax category is a special CCD category that incorporates the addenda record and available pre-filled recipient data on the Transaction Detail page.
Bulk Load Categories
In addition to regular categories, the application uses bulk load categories. These categories provide a mechanism for customers to convert high volume transaction files to the ACH file format and then pass those files through the application to the FI. The separation of bulk load categories from regular categories allows you to combine features from both importing (the ability to map data and define default values) and loading (the ability to send a file as a pass-through) with the conversion of the data to an ACH file. After a bulk load category has been configured, a customer can start with a large file in text format, such as a file created by a batch scanner; map the data to the appropriate fields; and verify and/or authorize the file, sending it for pick up by the FI. The customer does not have to know the ACH file format or deal with thousands of transactions in a transaction list.
The bulk load process does not allow for recurring schedules; transactions in the bulk load file must be one-time only.
Bulk load categories differ from regular categories in two other important aspects. First, you cannot create subcategories under a bulk load category. Second, bulk load categories do not appear in the Transactions menu or automatically on the Home page. You can, however, create a shortcut to the bulk load process that includes the map and will appear on the Home page.