ACH

View and search ACH batches

From the ACH list view, end users can view, edit, initiate, and uninitiate ACH batches. Depending on the ACH status, a batch displays in the Active list or History list for an account.

Active

Batches in a Ready, Initiated, or Pending approval status.

History

Batches in a Processed status that have been sent to their recipients.

Uninitiated batches ready to be initiated have a status of Ready or Pending approval. Click one of these batches to view the entered details, edit details (including recipients), or to initiate.

Status

Depending where a batch is in the transmit process, it’s in one of the following statuses:

Ready

The batch is created and ready to initiate sending funds to the recipient.

Initiated

The batch has been sent and will begin processing for the selected effective date.

Processed

The ACH batch has been completed and recipients have received the transfer as of the effective date listed.

Pending approval

The batch was initiated by an end user and awaits approval from another end user.

Create ACH batches

Creating a batch requires the following information:

ACH name

An end user defined name for the batch.

ACH company

Brings the end user to a list of ACH companies to choose from. Information shown includes the company name, company ID, SEC code, and requirements for batches created using the given ACH company.

Entry description

Optional additional information about the batch.

Discretionary data

Allows the end user to enter or edit discretionary data.

Recipients

The end user must enter one or more recipients for the batch. When more than ten recipients are added, recipients will be listed in separate pages, ten at a time.

Edit or delete ACH batches

When selecting an uninitiated ACH batch from the ACH list, an end user can edit any of the details used when creating a batch and save the new details.

Review and initiate ACH batches

Initiated batches have a status of Initiated. Clicking these batches shows the details of the initiated batch. These can also be uninitiated at any time before the cutoff time on the selected effective date, reverting the batch to a Ready status.

The bulk actions icon allows end users to select up to ten batches at a time to initiate. Dates can be set individually or for all selected batches, while offset accounts must be selected for each batch. End users can bulk initiate tax payments, prenotes, and standard batches in ready or pending approval status.

End users can filter all batches based on their type (including prenote and tax payments), as well as by effective date using the calendar. Multiple dates may be selected at once to show all batches for the chosen dates.

Error messages

If one of the following error messages display, make sure to review limits set at the appropriate level(s):

ACH Limited Exceeded

The batch exceeds the cash user limit & the Netteller ID limit.

ACH Daily Credit Exposure Limit Exceeded

The batch exceeds the ACH Company limit.

Importing batches

The Upload a file options accepts NACHA-formatted .txt and .ach files, creating batches based on the data in the file. If there is an issue with the file, an informative error including the problem found and the line number it was found on is shown to the end user. From here, the end user can edit their file and try the upload again.

A user is unable to initiate their ACH file

The Banno Business platform has checks and balances built in to ensure user compliance with your financial institution’s expectations and Nacha regulations. If an organization user has difficulties initiating their file, consider these issues.

Company Header Validation Against the Core

Parameters within core control validation rules for an organization user’s Nacha file header ensure your client submits payment information about the ACH entity that your financial has on file and monitors. You can check your financial institution’s settings within ACPAR > ACH General Parameters. This commonly includes Company Name and Company ID.

Compare your financial institution’s settings for the client’s ACH Company set up within ACPAR > ACH company maintenance against the information within the client’s Nacha file header. This information must match exactly as it’s listed in the core menu, including case sensitivity.

If the information does not match, either the institution must change it on file on the core or the user must update it in the file to ensure a match.

Transaction information does not meet requirements

Your institution controls the types of transactions that a user is allowed to originate, such as credits, debits, and offsetting transactions. If an organization user tries to initiate a batch that violates these settings, they are not able to proceed. These settings are viewable within ACPAR > ACH Company Maintenance.

If the company is set to ‘Create Offset’, their file can only include all credits or all debits and cannot include the offsetting transaction. The file must be unbalanced.

If the company is set to ‘Balanced’, their file must contain equal credit and debit amounts to proceed.

Adding recipients

When creating a new batch, the end use must add one or more recipients. This is done in a flow where the end user can enter a recipient, save recipients, or add additional recipients. Creating a recipient requires the following information:

Recipient name

The name of the recipient.

Amount

The dollar amount for the transaction to this recipient.

Credit/debit

The type of transaction to perform on the recipient’s account.

Account number

The recipient’s account number at their financial institution.

Routing number

The routing number for the recipient’s financial institution. This entry field can be used to search for a given routing number by institution name.

Account type

The account type the batch will be sending the transaction to.

Recipients can also be listed as prenote or can be put on hold. Optional fields include the ability to add an ID number or addenda. All required fields for each recipient must be filled to save the recipient list.

Prenotes

Validating a recipient account may be desired before transmitting a monetary transaction. This validation occurs through the use of prenotes, which are zero dollar test transactions. These test transactions are included in ACH files sent to the receiving financial institution, who will return an exception if the recipient’s account is not valid.

Prenotes can be initiated via the Recipients screen of another batch during either creation or editing:

1. Select the prenote box for a recipient to automatically create a prenote recipient in the background. Prenotes for multiple recipients on the same ACH batch will group together in a single prenote batch. All prenote batches are denoted with the prefix PNT- in the ACH list. When the prenote recipient has been successfully created, the prenote box will automatically uncheck.
2. Selecting the prenote box will also select the Hold box to temporarily prevent the transaction from being included if the batch is initiated. While the prenote box will automatically uncheck, the Hold box should remain checked while the remainder of the prenote validation process takes place.
3. Failed prenote validations are returned in the standard ACH exceptions for your FI, usually within 2-3 business days.
4. If a return for the prenote is received, take the appropriate action to either update or delete the recipient.
5. If no return for the prenote is received, remember to edit the recipient to uncheck the Hold box so that the transaction will be included whenever the batch is initiated from this point forward.

Note: your FI may have been trained to modify the amount of a recipient being validated to $0.00 or $.01. If that is the case, you should also update the recipient to reflect the correct amount when you uncheck the Hold box.

Tax payments

Tax payments are a specialized type of ACH batch used for paying state or federal taxes. They work similarly to other batches, but require some specialized information during creation:

Tax authority

The end user can select between federal or state taxes.

Batch name

An end user defined name for the batch.

Tax period

The period covered by this tax payment, including the month and year.

Pay from

The offset account for the payment. Unlike a normal batch, this must be selected when creating the batch, rather than when initiating.

Pay to

The institution to send the ACH batch to. This field is automatically populated with the bank for either federal or state taxes.

Taxpayer ID

A unique field to designate your taxpayer ID.

Tax code

Provides a list of available tax codes to select from.

Amount

The amount of the payment. Depending on the selected tax code, this has one or more fields to be filled out.

Once all data above has been filled in, the end user can create the ach batch for their tax payment. Tax payment names always have the prefix Tax FD automatically prepended to the user created name. After creation, tax payments can be initiated just like any other batch.

Activity

Full information for ACH payments are available in the activity feed of each user. This includes details for any created or edited ACH batches. Users can filter activity by ACH for easier access to ACH events.

FAQ

ACH for business allows credit unions to create ACH companies, manage ACH permissions, process NACHA files, and more within Banno People. With specialized permissions, an institution controls which admin users access specific ACH management. Using ACH, credit unions can:

• Aggregate and download batches into NACHA formatted files that can be processed using the credit union’s existing ACH origination system
• Create and manage ACH companies

Get ready for ACH

As your institution prepares for Business ACH during the implementation process, we’re here to assist. The following steps and guidelines help you understand the ACH functionality that the Banno Digital Banking Platform offers and your responsibilities for ACH logging and auditing:

• Select admin users
• Establish your organization’s NACHA file archive
• Determine method for exception logging
• Establish the batch submission cut-off time
• Set-up communication procedures for batch deletions and exceptions
• Update or create the institution’s internal process and procedures for transmitting NACHA Files
• Manage risk

Admin users

Your institution determines which admin users process ACH and generate files. To access and manage Business ACH in Banno Admin, an admin user first needs the People permission Manage business ACH or Manage everything enabled.

NACHA file archive

Your institution establishes an archive location so that you can keep files according to your retention policies. The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not store the NACHA-formatted files that it generates.

Exception logging method

Determine your institution’s auditing method for storing decisioning and exceptions, because the Banno Digital Banking Platform does not store the information. Scenarios that possibly require logging or auditing on your institution’s part include:

• Allowing an NSF batch to process.
• Deleting a batch from processing due to failure of external checks.
• Batches that may be removed due to an ACH company being retired.

Your institution might also want to keep your batch totals printed at the end of finalization in your archive location.

Batch submission cut-off time

The batch submission cut-off time controls whether batches can be submitted with an effective date of the next business day. As you work with your implementation coordinator, you’ll determine the batch submission cut-off time. Your institution should take in to account the following:

• Your deadline for transmitting a file with the next business day as the effective date.
• How long your pre-processing checks may take to complete before transmitting the file.

Communication procedures for batch deletions and exceptions

Your institutions needs to establish procedures for handling exceptions returned by the ACH origination process and communicating the results of those exceptions to your institution.

If a batch is deleted by your institution, the Banno Digital Banking Platform does not provide notification or alert functionality. If an issue arises with a batch that prevents it from being processed, ensure that your institution is prepared to notify the organization.

The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not currently resubmit a batch or allow a batch to be submitted for the next business day after the cut-off. Your institution should communicate this to organizations.

The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not update any batch history based on exceptions from the Federal Reserve or in your ACH origination system. The ACH functionality offered in Banno People is a batch management system that tracks organization batch submissions and aggregation of batch submissions into a NACHA file.

Procedures for transmitting NACHA Files

Your institution should establish or update procedures for ensuring proper storage and transmission of NACHA files. The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not support transmission of the file to a network location or transmission of the file to the Federal Reserve.

Manage risk

The following guidelines can help manage risk associated with ACH batch management:

• Limits at all levels should be assessed and reviewed periodically according to your institution’s risk management policies.
• Files and batches should be spot-checked against limits set.
• Batch totals displayed at the end of finalization may be printed and compared against the system consuming them.

SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field population

Business ACH requires the SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field in your Symitar database populate with a valid MICR value. The Banno Digital Platform uses the SHARE:MICRACCTNUMBER field in two ways:

• Offset transactions populated in an outgoing batch use the MICRACCTNUMBER field to populate the correct recipient information in the NACHA file that is generated.
• If your institution uses the ACH Origination Splitter Edit Run, the edit run matches on OnUs accounts based on the MICRACCTNUMBER field.

After getting ready for ACH, credit unions can begin creating and managing ACH companies. An ACH company record contains a unique ID that allows the institution to internally match batch originator information to an account at the institution. The unique ID is included in the NACHA ACH file instead of secure account information. ACH company information is also used to identify the organization and organization contact sending payments (debits or credits) in case of questions and/or exceptions.

ACH companies are specific to and generated by each financial institution. However, it is important to note the following:

• A single organization may have multiple ACH companies associated with it.
• A single ACH company may be used for multiple organizations (Symitar account numbers) if a business customer is using different accounts to represent a section or branch of the business.

Create ACH company

Creating an ACH company in Banno People is a necessary step so that it can be associated with an organization. When an admin user creates an ACH company, they complete a form with the following fields:

Company name

The company name has a 16 max character limit and is included in the finalized NACHA file. Once the field is submitted, it cannot be updated.

Company ID

The company ID is included in the finalized NACHA file. Once the field is submitted, it cannot be updated.

Daily limit

The maximum total batch amount per effective date that is permitted. This limit is shared by all organizations associated with the ACH company. The Banno Digital Banking Platform uses this field for ACH functionality—it is not included in the finalized NACHA file.

Changing the daily limit affects batches that are initiated post updating the daily limit. Batches that have already been initiated are not affected when updating the daily limit.

Contact name

The contact name is used for the institution’s reference and is not included in the finalized NACHA file.

Email

The email is used for the institution’s reference and is not included in the finalized NACHA file.

Phone

The 10 digit phone number is used for the institution’s reference and is not included in the finalized NACHA file.

View and manage ACH companies

Admin users view and manage ACH companies in the ACH Companies dashboard. Along with the company name, ID, and daily limit that displays, a company displays as Active or Deactivated.

Deactivate

For compliance purposes, ACH companies cannot be deleted. They can only be deactivated and continue displaying in the list of ACH companies.

Deactivating an ACH company prevents a batch with the company ID from being included in a finalized NACHA file. An admin user deactivates the ACH company by clicking the company’s view more icon and then Deactivate. When a company has been deactivated, Deactivated displays in the company list item and company details.

Deactivating an ACH company restricts the following actions for organization users:

• No new batches can be created.
• No ready or initiated batches can be edited.
• No ready batches can be initiated.
• Ready batches can be deleted.

The following are preserved:

• Ready and initiated batches still display.
• Historical batches.
• Permissions related to the ACH company, associated organizations, or organization users. Permissions at lower levels stay the same, but deactivating an ACH company overrides the permissions.

Activate

A batch associated with an Active ACH company can be created, edited, or initiated. To reactivate a deactivated ACH company, an admin user clicks the company’s view more icon and then Activate.

Edit ACH company

An admin user updates an ACH company’s details and can activate or deactivate the company in the company details window. The company name and company ID cannot be edited. The ACH company’s daily limit, contact name, email, and phone can be updated at any time.

Daily limit

The Banno Digital Banking Platform keeps a running total of all batches that have been initiated for a specific effective date. If initiating a batch would cause the running total to exceed the Daily limit for an effective date, an error message displays and the organization user cannot continue.

The daily limit aggregates batches using the ACH company ID regardless of which organization owns the batch. If two companies use the same ACH company ID, the aggregated total from both companies cannot exceed the Daily limit.

Associate ACH company to an organization

Associating an ACH company to an organization allows the ACH company to be used in an organization’s ACH batches. To associate an ACH company to an organization in Banno People, first create the organization and ACH company if they don’t already exist.

1. Scroll down and select an active ACH company.
2. Click Add ACH Company.
3. After adding an ACH company, proceed to enable ACH permissions (optional).

Business ACH for credit unions allows organization users to submit groups of payments called “batches.” Each batch contain organization information, recipient details, and offset transaction information. These types of payments are typically used for payroll, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. Prior to processing batches via the ACH network, credit unions may also have a series of checks to perform on ACH files. This includes but are not limited to the following:

• Balance checks that verify the offset account has the funds to cover ACH credits (outgoing transactions) in the batch.
• Compliance and regulatory checks (BSA, AML, OFAC, etc.).

Batch life cycle

Depending where a batch is in its life cyle, it can be in one of the following states:

• Ready
• Initiated
• In process
• Processed

Ready

The batch is created by an organization user, and it is noted with a Ready status in Banno Online and Banno Admin. The organization user can still edit batch details and the recipient list or delete the batch. The organization user can also choose to initiate or delete the batch.

Initiated

The organization user completes any batch edits and signals to the institution that the batch can be processed. They specify an effective date and the offset account that applies to the batch. When the organization user initiates a batch, its status changes from Ready to Initiated. The batch displays as Initiated in Banno Admin and Banno Online.

In Banno Admin, the batch is noted as Initiated and the effective date displays.

To edit the batch, the organization user must un-initiate it. This removes the offset account and effective date, and it changes the batch status from Initiated back to Ready.

In process

When an admin user begins daily processing of all eligible batches in Management, the batch is no longer initiated but in process. Batches that are in process only display in the Process batches screen in Banno Admin.

The batch cannot be edited or deleted by an organization user, but it can be deleted by an admin user.

Processed

When an admin user successfully finalizes a batch, the batch displays in the History list. The batch cannot be edited or deleted. It also signifies that a finalized file with this batch has been generated.

In Banno Online, the batch also moves to the History list on the ACH dashboard.

View and search ACH batches

Each time an organization user successfully uploads a batch in Banno Online, an admin user can view the batch and its details in the ACH Management screen. Depending where batch is in its life cycle, a batch displays in the Active list, Processing batches screen, or History list.

Active

The Active list displays batches noted as Ready or Initiated. Admin users can filter ACH batches by status and sort them based on a default list of batch details such as batch name, organization name, total credits, etc. The Active list is sorted by status: Pending Approval, Initiated, Processing, Ready.

Processing batches

Batches that are in process display in the Process batches screen.

History

The History list displays batches that have been processed. After an admin user successfully completes a batch process, each batch moves from the Active list to the History list. Batches that appear in the History list cannot be edited or deleted. Admin users can search for historical batches using the effective date calendar filter.

The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not update historical batches with ACH exception information that may be returned from the credit union’s ACH processor.

Batch details

Admin users view a batch’s details and recipient information by selecting an individual batch. Depending where a batch is in the life cycle, specific details may or may not display in the batch details.

Effective date

In Banno Online, the effective date is the date selected by an organization user in which transactions are to affect the recipients’ account. Batches with an Initiate status, batches in process, and processed batches display the effective date in the batch details.

In the event that batch research is required, an organization user knows the selected effective date. They may not necessarily know the process date because the process date is when the institution finalized (processed) the file. While the effective and process date should be the same, interruptions in credit union processing may result in different dates.

Process date

In Banno Admin, the process date is the date in which a file containing that batch was finalized by an admin user. In addition to the effective date, processed batches also display the process date in the batch details.

The process date is not a guarantee of ACH transactions posting to recipients’ accounts. Transaction posting involves many external dependencies that are outside of Banno’s control i.e. file transmission, processing exceptions, early funds availability, etc. In some cases, it might be later or earlier in the core.

Offset transaction

The offset transaction is reflected in the batch details throughout most of the batch life cycle. When a batch is ready, the organization user has yet to select an offset transaction so the batch details do not show balanced. Once a batch is initiated, the batch details display the offset transaction in the batch totals from that point forward in the batch life cycle.

Process batches

According to an institution’s internal policies and procedures, the admin user first needs to process batches that organization users have uploaded. Then, they can finalize and download the batch information formatted in to a NACHA file and submit the NACHA file to the Federal Reserve. In Banno Admin, an admin user can process batches at any time and repeat the cycle as often as needed. Processing batches involves the following steps:

• Gather batches to be processed that day
• NSF check (optional)
• Download NACHA file for external verification of payments (optional)
• Delete batches, if necessary
• Repeating the process until all checks pass
• Finalize and download the NACHA file

Begin processing batches

Processing batches starts when the admin user clicks the Process batches button in the ACH Management window. The admin user automatically navigates to the Process batches screen where they can run optional checks or finalize and download a NACHA formatted file. All batches with an Initiated status and have an effective date plus one business day—for processing—are gathered for batch processing. Batches with older effective dates are also included.

Run a NSF check

NSF stands for non sufficient funds. An admin user can choose to have each batch checked for insufficient funds by clicking NSF check—this is an optional step when processing batches. The NSF check aggregates batch totals and verifies that the organization has enough money in its offset account to cover the batch(es) of payments that they are sending. When the NSF check successfully completes, tallied results display as a summary statement in a banner.

If the NSF check is successful and funds are available, no changes display in the batch list items.

If a batch has insufficient funds, the batch list item displays a NSF flag and sorts to the top of the batch list. The NSF check occurs in real-time and offers the institution flexibility in their decisioning process. For example, sample steps for handling a flagged batch that an institution may take include:

• See if the organization has overdraft transfer or tolerance set up for the offset account.
• Contact the organization and have them fund the offset account.
• Note any reasons why an NSF would be allowed to process.

Having a NSF flagged batch doesn’t prevent an admin user from downloading the NACHA file or finalizing and downloading a NACHA file for submission. If the institution decides to not include the flagged batch in the finalized file, an admin user must delete the batch.

Error with the NSF check
If a batch is flagged with an Error during the NSF check, the check attempted and was unable to verify the batch’s offset funds. This can occur with connectivity issues to the core or with the core itself. The admin user may choose to re-run the NSF check again by clicking Retry or manually check the core for sufficient funds.

Rerun NSF check

If there are NSF flagged batches, the NSF check can be re-run as necessary. Each time an admin user runs an NSF check, every batch is reverified.

Download NACHA file

An admin user can choose to download the NACHA file for third-party security checks, such as OFAC, by clicking Download NACHA file—this is an optional step when processing batches. The NACHA formatted file then downloads to the admin user’s browser.

Finalize and download

When the finalize and download process is complete, the step cannot be reversed and batches are no longer editable. An admin user cannot regenerate the NACHA file. Successfully processed and finalized batches permanently display in the History list on the ACH Management dashboard.

When and admin user indicates that checks and verifications are complete, they click the Finalize and download button to generate the NACHA file for transmission. Before finalizing the batches, the admin user reviews the following batch summary details in the Finalize and download window:

• Number of batches
• Total amount of credits and debits
• Total number of credits and debits

The admin user can also click Print summary to obtain a hard-copy of the processing batch summary details.

After the admin user clicks Finalize and the NACHA file successfully downloads to the admin user’s browser, a success dialogue displays. The NACHA file can then be transferred to the Federal Reserve according to the credit union’s internal policies and procedures. The Banno Digital Banking Platform does not offer functionality for transferring NACHA files.

If the batch process fails, an error dialogue displays and advises the admin user to try again or contact support. The admin user can close the dialog and try finalizing the batches again. It is unlikely that issues with the batches cause errors. In most cases, errors are due to connection issues in the core and require assistance from Banno support.

Continue processing

If an admin user starts processing the batches and has yet to finalize and download the file, the Finalize and download button displays as Continue processing to all admin users. This indicates that the current batches are in process and need to be finalized before additional batches can be processed. If needed, a different admin user can complete the batch processing.

Delete a batch

Using the delete button, admin users can delete an individual batch from the Banno Digital Banking Platform. If a batch should be deleted, the admin user needs to refer to their institution’s internal policies and procedures. This action cannot be undone or recovered, and the credit union must notify the organization that they need to resubmit and reinitiate a replacement batch.

Activity

The Banno Digital Banking Platform captures activity for an admin user performing the following events:

• Begin batch processing
• Delete a batch
• Finalize batch processing

We are working to support displaying the events in Banno Admin.