Recurring Payments

Recurring Payments, also referred to as Auto Pay, is a standard feature in CivicPay Online. This feature allows your customers to sign up with their saved payment methods and to have their bill automatically processed on a date of your choosing. While this process is automated for your customers, there are a series of steps you must manually complete. Below you will find step by step instructions to successfully run recurring payments.

Customers who would like to set up recurring payments must register on the site, save a payment method, and verify their email address. Since customers must manually sign up for recurring payments, many organizations like to enable the Auto Pay feature 1-2 billing cycles before they intend to run recurring payments for the first time.

Enabling Auto Pay for Customers

Confirm the Enable Auto Pay toggle is checked under My Agency> Settings> Payment Settings> Auto Payment Options. This will allow your customers to sign up for recurring payments. This will also enable the Recurring Payments tab for your admin employees with the Manage Recurring Payments role permissions.

Please see the Payment Settings help topic for more information on Auto Payment Options.

Recurring Payments> Batches

• The Recurring Payments> Batches page displays batches that have been imported from Springbrook into CivicPay Online. Batches will initially be displayed by batch creation date with the most recently created at the top.
• Check the Show Closed Batches toggle to display batches that are in Closed status in the data grid.
  • Only closed batches created in the previous two months will display.
• Click the column header for any of the data grid columns to sort the batches by that column.
• Click EXPORT to export the data grid data in an Excel or CSV file.
• Click the Start Batch button to open the batch import page.

• The Batch Type field is used to select the type of batch that will be imported.
  • Select New if the billing batch you’re running payments for was processed in UB New Billing in Springbrook.
  • Select Final if the billing batch was processed in UB Final Billing in Springbrook.
• Enter the Batch Number, Batch Month, and Batch Year for the billing batch that will be imported.
• If you don’t remember the batch details, you can look up the batch in the Jobs Viewer in Springbrook. The Batch Type field will indicate if the batch is New Billing or Final Billing.

• Once you have entered the correct batch details, click the Import button to import the batch data into CivicPay Online.
• This will create a new batch in Downloading status on the Recurring Payments> Batches page. Once the billing data has been downloaded, the batch status will change to New.
  • Use the browser refresh button to refresh the batch data and check if the batch has been successfully imported.

Processing, Editing, and Deleting Recurring Payments Batches

• After a batch is successfully imported, the batch will display in New status on the Recurring Payments> Batches page.
• To edit a batch, click the batch number link and open the Batch Details window.

• The Batch Details window displays the general batch information and provides options for how to proceed with the selected batch.
  • The Queued Time and Processing Time fields will display the duration of the batch queue time and processing time.
• Batches in New status can be processed, edited, or deleted.
• Click the Process Batch button to immediately initiate payment by credit card or ACH. This will trigger a warning message in order to confirm you would like to proceed with the batch processing. Once you confirm that the batch should be processed, it can not be undone.
  • After the Process Batch button is clicked, the batch will be added to the bottom of the Recurring Payments> Processing Status page.
• Click the Edit button to open the Edit Batch window.

• The Edit Batches window displays the payment details associated with each payment included in the batch. Use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to quickly navigate through the payments.
• Review the Account Balance and Amount To Pay values for each customer.
  • If the Account Balance is $0.00 and an Amount to Pay is still listed, the customer has likely made a payment manually. This can be verified by looking at the customer's account.
  • If there is a difference between the Amount Due and the Amount to Pay, edit the Amount to Pay to match the Account Balance.
  • The Amount To Pay column will display a green indicator   when the value is unchanged after downloading, a yellow indicator   when the value has been updated and saved, and a red indicator when the value is $0.00.
• After editing a line-item amount, the Save button will be enabled and you can save the new amounts.
• Once the batch Amount To Pay values have been updated and saved, the Process Batch button   at the top of the window will be enabled so you can complete the recurring payments batch processing. Click the Process Payments button to initiate payment by credit card or ACH. Once a batch is processed, it cannot be undone.
  • After the Process Batch button is clicked, the batch will be added to the bottom of the Recurring Payments> Processing Status page.
• Click the Delete Batch button   to delete the selected batch. The payments in the deleted batch will not be processed.
  • Only batches in Downloading, New, or Error status can be deleted.
  • Once a user confirms the batch should be deleted, downloaded batch records associated with that batch will be deleted and the batch will no longer display on the Recurring Payments> Batches page.

• Batches in Done status have already been processed through the CivicPay Online recurring payments process. The Batch Details window for a batch in Done status will display the same data as the Batch Details window for a batch in New status, but the buttons will be different.

Springbrook Export

• Click the Springbrook Export button to open the Springbrook Export window and to generate the export file that will be processed in Cash Receipts.

• The Springbrook Export window displays the general batch details as well as the payment details for each successful payment included in the batch.
• Click CSV EXPORT and select the payment type to export the payment file. Once exported, the file can be imported into Springbrook Cash Receipts.
• Click the Close Batch button to set the batch status to Closed.
  • While it is not required to close Recurring Payments batches in CPO, it is considered a best practice and can help keep the Recurring Payments> Batches page manageable. Closed batches will continue to display on the Batches page for two months after the close date.
  • After confirming that the batch should be closed, you will be redirected to the Recurring Payments> Batches page.
  • When working with a batch in Closed status, the Close Batch button will not be displayed.

Payment Report

• Click the Payment Report button to open the Payment Report window.

• The Payment Report window displays the results of payment processing, including approved payments, declined payments with reasons for decline, and zero amount payments.
  • Payments that were successful will generate a receipt that will be emailed to the customer.
  • Payments that were declined will result in the customer being removed from Auto Pay and their saved payment method being removed from the system. They will also receive an email notifying them that their payment has been declined and that they have been removed, along with their stored payment method, from Auto Pay. They will need to re-enroll in Auto Pay.
• Click EXPORT to generate an Excel or CSV export file that includes the payment data from the batch.
• Click the Close Batch button to set the batch status to Closed.
  • While it is not required to close Recurring Payments batches in CPO, it is considered a best practice and can help keep the Recurring Payments> Batches page manageable. Closed batches created in the previous two months will continue to display on the Batches page when the Show Closed Batches toggle is checked.
  • After confirming that the batch should be closed, you will be redirected to the Recurring Payments> Batches page.
  • When working with a batch in Closed status, the Close Batch button will not be displayed.

• Batches in Error status will display a Status Error field. This field provides the error details in order to allow users to address those issues and successfully process the batch. Only the Delete Batch button will be displayed on batches in error status.

Recurring Payments> Processing Status

• The Processing Status page displays the current status of any Recurring Payments batches that are currently being processed in CivicPay Online.

• The Refresh Duration drop-down is used to specify how frequently the page will refresh.
  • If a new batch is updated to Processing status after selecting a refresh duration, that new batch will display on this page once the duration is reached and the page is refreshed.
  • Because CPO is a browser-based application, you can use the browser refresh button to refresh the Processing Status page immediately.
• Batches will be displayed with the currently processing batches at the top and ordered by queued time.

• The Queued Time column displays the amount of time between when the user clicked the Process Batch button and when the batch was picked up for processing in CPO.
  • A green check mark will display next to each batch that has been picked up for processing.

• The Processing Time column displays the amount of time the batch has been processing.
  • If a time is not displayed, the batch is still in the queue and has not yet been picked up for processing.
  • Because the Queued Time and Processing Time fields were recently implemented, older batches processed before that data was being tracked will not display Queued Time and Processing Time values.
• Once a batch has completed processing, it will be display in Done status on the Recurring Payments> Batches window and the Springbrook Export can be generated as explained above.