Configuring E-automate for EFT
This topic contains 2024-01-04+ release content.This topic contains 2024-01-04+ release content.
Using e-automate, you can create the files necessary for your financial institution to process vendor payments electronically. To use this functionality, both your financial institution and the financial institution(s) of the vendor(s) you want to pay by electronic funds transfer (EFT) must support EFT transactions.
To begin preparing for processing EFT transactions, you obtain from your financial institution the information necessary to create an EFT charge against the account from which you will process EFT transactions. You use this information to configure the cashbook account from which to process EFT transactions.
Once you have configured in e-automate the cashbook account from which you will process EFT transactions, you can turn on EFT options. The EFT options are part of the company-wide e-automate accounts payable options.
After you have configured your cashbook for EFT transactions and have enabled the EFT options, you can configure the vendors who are to be paid by EFT. This process requires obtaining from the vendors the information necessary to process EFT transactions to their accounts via their financial institutions and then using this information to configure the payment method portion of the vendor profiles for these vendors.
After you have configured the cashbook account you want to use for processing EFT transactions, enabled the EFT options, and configured the applicable vendor profiles, you can generate an EFT file containing prenotes to send to your financial institution for processing. A prenote is a zero-dollar electronic funds transfer from your account to the vendor's account that allows the applicable financial institution(s) to verify the transaction is occurring as expected. After you generate the EFT file and deliver the file to your financial institution for processing, you wait a specified number of days for any errors to be reported. If the number of days elapses and no errors are reported for a vendor's prenote, signaling that the configuration settings are working as expected for EFT from your cashbook account to the vendor's account, the system automatically makes the vendor eligible for EFT payments to be processed from your cashbook account. If your financial institution reports any errors involving one or more of the prenotes, you can correct the applicable configuration setting(s), generate a new EFT file containing a new prenote for each vendor for whom a payment processing error occurred, deliver the EFT file to your financial institution again, and repeat this process as necessary until no additional errors are reported.
Until the setup process is complete, you cannot pay a vendor via EFT using the Pay Vendors window. You can still pay the vendor using a different payment method (e.g., check). Once the setup process is complete, and a vendor's profile lists on the Payment method tab a payment method of EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer along with an Active as of [date] that is in the past, you can generate an EFT payment to the vendor via the Pay Vendors window. You can disable EFT for a vendor should you decide to stop paying by EFT.
Configuring a Cashbook Account for EFTConfiguring a Cashbook Account for EFT
To configure a cashbook account for EFT, do the following:
Contact a financial institution and ensure that they offer EFT services.
From the financial institution, obtain the following information:
Immediate destination: Routing number (required)
Destination name: Name of financial institution.
Immediate origin: 10-digit number assigned from financial institution when approved to originate ACH files. Sometimes includes federal tax ID. (required)
Origin name: Name of company as listed on statements from company’s financial institution.
Company ID: 10-digit number assigned to financial institution to create ACH files, same as Immediate origin. (required)
Company name: Name of company as listed on statements…..same as “Origin name”
Determine from your financial institution whether or not your EFT file should contain an account debit record.
Determine from which account you intend to draw funds electronically.
From the Accounting menu, select Cashbook Accounts to display the Cashbook Accounts window.
Select the account you intend to use in conjunction with EFT transactions.
Click [Edit] to open the Edit Cashbook Account window.
On the Edit Cashbook Account window, click the EFT tab to bring it forward.
On the EFT tab, do the following:
Check the Use EFT payments checkbox.
Using the information you collected in Step 2 above from the financial institution, complete the following fields:
In the Immediate destination field (required), enter the value provided for Step 2.a. above.
In the Destination name field, enter the value provided for Step 2.b. above.
In the Immediate origin field (required), enter the value provided for Step 2.c. above.
In the Origin name field, enter the value provided for Step 2.d. above.
In the Company ID field (required), enter the value provided for Step 2.e. above.
In the Company name field (required), enter the value provided for Step 2.f. above.
If your financial institution required the debit record, check the Include account debit record in the EFT file checkbox.
Click [OK] to save your changes to the cashbook account.
Configuring EFT Options (2024-01-04+ Releases)Configuring EFT Options (2024-01-04+ Releases)
To configure EFT options, do the following:
From the e-automate Tools menu, select Options to open the Options window.
In the left pane, do the following:
Click the 
icon to the left of Accounts Payable.
icon to the left of Accounts Payable, use the steps in the "Configuring EFT Options (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)" section of this topic.Under Accounts Payable, click EFT to display the EFT options in the right pane.
In the right pane, do the following:
To enable the system to generate electronic funds transfer (EFT/ABA) files, check the Use EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) checkbox; otherwise, leave this checkbox unchecked.
If you checked the Use EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) checkbox, enabling your system to create electronic funds transfer files, which are then delivered to your financial institution to initiate the transfer described in your EFT file, do the following:
In the Wait the following days after sending pre-note to activate vendor for EFT field, enter the number of days the e-automate system should wait after sending a pre-note to activate the vendor’s EFT capability. ACH rules state that you cannot send EFT payments until six banking days have elapsed after a pre-notification.
In the File output location field, enter the location on your local computer or network where the system should store the generated EFT/ABA files.
In the Cashbook account field, enter the cashbook account used for EFT transactions.
In the File Format field, use the drop-down menu to select one of the following options:
United States
United Kingdom
Australia - New Zealand
Click the [OK] button to save your changes and to close the Options window.
Click the [OK] button to acknowledge the message.
Restart e-automate so that these changes will take effect.
If you are running e-agent, restart e-agent as well.
Configuring EFT Options (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)Configuring EFT Options (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)
To configure the EFT options, do the following:
From the e-automate Tools menu, select Options to open the Options window.
In the left pane, click on Accounts Payable to display the accounts payable options.
Click the [EFT options...] button to open the EFT Options window.
Check the Use EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) checkbox to enable the system to generate electronic funds transfer (EFT/ABA) files, which are then delivered to your financial institution to initiate the transfer described in your EFT file.
In the Wait the following days after sending pre-note to activate vendor for EFT field, enter the number of days the e-automate system should wait after sending a pre-note to activate the vendor’s EFT capability. ACH rules state that you cannot send EFT payments until six banking days have elapsed after a pre-notification.
In the EFT file output location field, enter the location on your local computer or network where the system should store the generated EFT/ABA files.
In the Cashbook account field, enter the cashbook account used for EFT transactions.
In the EFT Format field, use the drop-down menu to select one of the following options:
United States
United Kingdom
Australia - New Zealand
Click the [OK] button to close the EFT Options window.
Click the [OK] button to save your changes and to close the Options window.
Click the [OK] button to acknowledge the message.
Restart e-automate so that these changes will take effect.
If you are running e-agent, restart e-agent as well.
Configuring a Vendor for EFT (2024-01-04+ Releases)Configuring a Vendor for EFT (2024-01-04+ Releases)
For each vendor that you want to configure to be paid by EFT, do the following:
Contact the vendor to obtain the following information, which the system will use to electronically transfer funds to this vendor's account:
Account type (required)
Account number (required)
Routing number/BSB (required)
Bank account name (required for ABA)
Contact name (required)
Phone
Email (required)
BCC
From the e-automate toolbar, click [Vendors] to open the Vendors window.
From the Vendors list, select a vendor for whom you have collected EFT information.
Click [Edit] to open the Edit Vendor window.
On the Edit Vendor window, click the Payment Method tab to bring it forward.
On the Payment Method tab, do the following:
In the Payment method field, use the drop-down menu to select EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer.
Do one of the following:
To indicate an EFT file containing a prenote for this vendor has not yet been sent to your financial institution to verify the EFT file has been created correctly for this vendor, or to indicate the financial institution reported an error when attempting to process a prenote for this vendor, select the Pending pre-note radio button.
To indicate you have sent an EFT file containing a prenote for this vendor and the financial institution did not report any errors when processing the prenote for this vendor, do the following:
Select the Active as of [date] radio button.
In the Active as of [date] field, enter the appropriate date.
In the Account type field, use the drop-down menu to select the type of account used by the vendor for EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.a. above).
In the Account number field, enter the account number of the account to which EFT payments are to be deposited (provided in Step 1.b. above).
In the Routing number field, enter the routing number of the financial institution used by this vendor for EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.c. above).
In the BSB field, enter the Bank State Branch number used by this vendor for EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.c. above).
In the Bank account name field, enter the vendor's bank account name (provided in Step 1.d. above).
In the Name field, enter the name of the vendor's contact person who is to be notified when EFT payments are processed for this vendor (provided in Step 1.e. above). This notification includes an e-mail containing the invoices paid by the EFT/ABA file.
In the Phone field, enter the phone number of contact person associated with this vendor’s EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.f. above).
In the Email field, enter the email address the system should send email notifications to when payments are electronically processed in e-automate for this vendor (provided in Step 1.g. above).
In the BCC field, enter an email address, if desired, to which the system should send a blind carbon copy of the payment notification when EFT payments are processed for this vendor (provided in Step 1.h. above).
Click the [OK] button to save your changes to this vendor profile.
Configuring a Vendor for EFT (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)Configuring a Vendor for EFT (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)
For each vendor that you want to configure to be paid by EFT, do the following:
Contact the vendor to obtain the following information, which the system will use to electronically transfer funds to this vendor's account:
Account type (required)
Account number (required)
Routing number/BSB (required)
Contact name (required)
Phone
Email (required)
BCC
From the e-automate toolbar, click [Vendors] to open the Vendors window.
From the Vendors list, select a vendor for whom you have collected EFT information.
Click [Edit] to open the Edit Vendor window.
On the Edit Vendor window, click the EFT tab to bring it forward.
On the EFT tab, do the following:
Check the Pay by EFT checkbox.
Do one of the following:
To indicate an EFT file containing a prenote for this vendor has not yet been sent to your financial institution to verify the EFT file has been created correctly for this vendor, or to indicate the financial institution reported an error when attempting to process a prenote for this vendor, select the Pending pre-note radio button.
To indicate you have sent an EFT file containing a prenote for this vendor and the financial institution did not report any errors when processing the prenote for this vendor, do the following:
Select the Active as of [date] radio button.
In the Active as of [date] field, enter the appropriate date.
In the Account type field, use the drop-down menu to select the type of account used by the vendor for EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.a. above).
In the Account number field, enter the account number of the account to which EFT payments are to be deposited (provided in Step 1.b. above).
In the Routing number field, enter the routing number of the financial institution used by this vendor for EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.c. above).
In the Name field, enter the name of the vendor's contact person who is to be notified when EFT payments are processed for this vendor (provided in Step 1.d. above). This notification includes an e-mail containing the invoices paid by the EFT file.
In the Phone field, enter the phone number of contact person associated with this vendor’s EFT transactions (provided in Step 1.e. above).
In the Email field, enter the email address the system should send email notifications to when payments are electronically processed in e-automate for this vendor (provided in Step 1.f. above).
In the BCC field, enter an email address, if desired, to which the system should send a blind carbon copy of the payment notification when EFT payments are processed for this vendor (provided in Step 1.g. above).
Click the [OK] button to save your changes to this vendor profile.
Creating an EFT Prenote File (2024-01-04+ Releases)Creating an EFT Prenote File (2024-01-04+ Releases)
When you are ready to create an EFT prenote file (using the NACHA file format) that includes a prenote for each vendor you include in this process, do the following:
From the e-automate toolbar, click [Vendors] to open the Vendors window.
On the Vendors window, use the QuickSearch filter if desired to limit the vendors to include in the Vendors list window. The system will exclude from the prenote generation process all vendors who are not included in the Vendors list window. For information on using the QuickSearch functionality, see the Using the QuickSearch topic.
On the Vendors window, click the [Create prenote] button on the toolbar to open the Create Prenote File window.
Using the Create Prenote File window, do the following:
In the Transaction date field, make no change to use the system date displayed.
In the Effective date field, make no change to use the date displayed, or enter the date to use as the effective date.
In the Cashbook account field, make no change to use the account displayed, or use the field's drop-down menu to select your EFT cash account. You can select a different EFT account as necessary.
In the File output location field, make no change to use the location displayed, or enter the path to the location where the system should store the EFT file after creating it. You can click [Browse] to select a different location on your computer or network.
Do one of the following:
To include in this process only vendors included on the Vendors list window for whom the Pending prenote radio button is selected on the Payment Method tab, leave the Include all active EFT vendors and Update as of date checkbox unchecked. This is the default setting.
To also include in this process any vendors included on the Vendors list window for whom the Active as of [date] radio button is selected on the Payment Method tab, check the Include all active EFT vendors and Update as of date checkbox. If your EFT account processing details change (e.g., you change the financial institution you use to process EFT transactions), you can check this box to create new prenotes for all the vendors included on the Vendors list window that are set up to be paid by EFT.
In the Active as of date field, make no change to use the date displayed, or enter the date to list in the Active as of [date] field on the Payment Method tab of the vendor profile for each vendor for whom a prenote is create during this process.
Click the [OK] button.
Do one of the following as appropriate:
If the system can successfully create the EFT prenote file:
The system does the following:
For each vendor included in the Vendors list window with a Payment method column value of EFT (Pending), indicating the Pending prenote radio button is selected on the Payment Method tab, the system:
Changes the radio button selection on the Payment Method tab of the vendor profile from Pending prenote to Active as of [date].
Sets the Active as of [date] to the Active as of date you specified on the Create Prenote File window.
If you checked the Include all active EFT vendors and Update as of date checkbox, for each vendor included in the Vendors list window with a Payment method column value of EFT, indicating the Active as of [date] radio button is selected on the Payment Method tab, the system:
Leaves the Active as of [date] radio button selected on the Payment Method tab of the vendor profile.
Changes the Active as of [date] to the Active as of date you specified on the Create Prenote File window.
Places the file in the specified File output location. By default, the file's name is based in part on the current system date and a number that is incremented for each such file generated on that date (e.g., 20230928-0-2.eft for the second EFT file generated on September 28, 2023).
Displays a message similar to the following: "Attention Required: The EFT prenote file was created successfully at [File output location]\[FileName]."
Do the following:
Click the [OK] button to acknowledge the message that the EFT prenote file was successfully created and to close the Create Prenote File window.
Deliver the EFT prenote file (located in the specified output folder) to your financial institution.
Wait until the Active as of [date] to see if you receive any notifications from your financial institution, indicating that processing of the EFT prenote file did not work as expected.
If you do not receive any notifications that processing of the EFT prenote file did not work as expected, then the system considers any vendors included in this process to be active for EFT payment processing as of the specified Active as of [date]. After the specified date, you can use the Pay Vendors window to make an EFT payment to any vendor included in the process.
If you do receive one or more notifications, such as a Notice of Change (NOC) or Return, that processing of the EFT prenote file did not work as expected, then do the following:
If none of the prenotes could be processed as expected, do the following:
Verify the cashbook account is configured correctly. Review the steps in the "Configuring the Cashbook Account for EFT" section of this topic.
For each vendor included in the process, reselect the Pending prenote radio button on the Payment Method tab of the vendor's vendor profile, indicating a new prenote needs to be generated for the vendor before the vendor can be paid via EFT.
Return to Step 1 of this section (the "Creating an EFT Prenote File" section), and repeat the steps as necessary to create a new EFT prenote file.
If only some of the prenotes could not be processed as expected, for each vendor for whom a prenote could not be processed as expected, do the following:
Reselect the Pending prenote radio button on the Payment Method tab of the vendor's vendor profile, indicating a new prenote needs to be generated before the vendor can be paid via EFT.
Verify the vendor is configured correctly for EFT. Review the steps in the "Configuring a Vendor for EFT" section of this topic.
Return to Step 1 of this section (the "Creating an EFT Prenote File" section), and repeat the steps as necessary to create a new EFT prenote file.
If the system cannot create the EFT prenote file:
The system:
Does not make any updates to the vendor profiles.
Displays an appropriate message (e.g., "The specific file output location was not found. Do you want to create this folder?").
Do the following:
Review the message.
If applicable, take any corrective action listed in the message (e.g., click [Yes] to create the folder and follow any additional prompts that may be necessary to resolve the issue).
When finished, return to Step 5.g. to have the system try again to create the EFT prenote file.
Creating an EFT Prenote File (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)Creating an EFT Prenote File (Releases Prior to 2024-01-04)
To create an EFT prenote file (using the NACHA file format) that includes a prenote for each vendor that you have set up to be paid by EFT and that has the Pending prenote radio button selected in the Vendor record, do the following:
From the Accounting menu, select Accounts Payable > Pay Vendors to open the Pay Vendors window.
Verify the list of vendors to pay is empty. If the list is not empty, select each vendor on the list and click [Remove]. Repeat until all vendors are deleted.
Click the [Create EFT] button. The system displays the message, "Current EFT queue is empty. Use vendor payment list before creating an EFT file. Would you like to create an EFT file for prenotes only?
Do one of the following:
To create prenotes, click [Yes].
To cancel creating prenotes, click [No].
If you clicked [Yes] to create prenotes, the system displays the Create EFT File window. Using the Create EFT File window, do the following:
In the Transaction date field, make no change to use the system date displayed.
In the Effective date field, make no change to use the date displayed, or enter the date to use as the effective date.
In the Cashbook account field, make no change to use the account displayed, or use the field's drop-down menu to select your EFT cash account. You can select a different EFT account as necessary.
In the File output location field, make no change to use the location displayed, or enter the path to the location where the system should store the EFT file after creating it. You can click [Browse] to select a different location on your computer or network.
Click the [OK] button.
Do one of the following:
If the system can create the EFT prenote file:
The system does the following:
For each vendor for whom the Pending prenote radio button is selected in the vendor profile record, the system:
Changes the radio button selection on the Payment Method tab of the vendor profile from Pending prenote to Active as of [date].
Sets the Active as of [date] to the Active as of date you specified on the Create Prenote File window.
Places the file in the specified File output location. By default, the file's name is based in part on the current system date and a number that is incremented for each such file generated on that date (e.g., 20230928-0-2.eft for the second EFT file generated on September 28, 2023).
Displays a message similar to the following: "Attention Required: The EFT file was created successfully at [File output location]\[FileName]." Do the following:
Do the following:
Click the [OK] button to acknowledge the message and to close the Create EFT File window.
Deliver the prenote file (located in the specified output folder) to your financial institution.
Wait until the Active as of [date] to see if you receive any notifications from your financial institution, indicating that processing of the EFT file did not work as expected.
If you do not receive any notifications that processing of the EFT prenote file did not work as expected, then the system considers any vendors included in this process to be active for EFT payment processing as of the specified Active as of [date]. You can now use the Pay Vendors window to make an EFT payment to any vendor included in the process.
If you do receive one or more notifications, such as a Notice of Change (NOC) or Return, that processing of the EFT prenote file did not work as expected, then do the following:
If none of the prenotes could be processed as expected, do the following:
Verify the cashbook account is configured correctly. Review the steps in the "Configuring the Cashbook Account for EFT" section of this topic.
For each vendor included in the process, reselect the Pending prenote radio button on the Payment Method tab of the vendor's vendor profile, indicating a new prenote needs to be generated for the vendor before the vendor can be paid via EFT.
Return to Step 1 of this section (the "Creating an EFT Prenote File" section), and repeat the steps as necessary to create a new EFT prenote file.
If only some of the prenotes could not be processed as expected, for each vendor for whom a prenote could not be processed as expected, do the following:
Reselect the Pending prenote radio button on the Payment Method tab of the vendor's vendor profile, indicating a new prenote needs to be generated before the vendor can be paid via EFT.
Verify the vendor is configured correctly for EFT. Review the steps in the "Configuring a Vendor for EFT" section of this topic.
Return to Step 1 of this section (the "Creating an EFT Prenote File" section), and repeat the steps as necessary to create a new EFT prenote file.
If the system cannot create the EFT prenote file:
'The system:
Does not make any updates to the vendor profiles.
Displays an appropriate message (e.g., "The specific file output location was not found. Do you want to create this folder?").
Do the following:
Review the message.
If applicable, take any corrective action listed in the message (e.g., click [Yes] to create the folder and follow any additional prompts that may be necessary to resolve the issue).
When finished, return to Step 5.e. to have the system try again to create the EFT prenote file.
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