Automated ePayment processing - An Overview
This article explains what Automated ePayment processing is and how it works at a high level. Where available, follow the links throughout the article or under Related articles for focused instructions and answers.
Automated ePayment processing collects payments from multiple families on a one-time or recurring schedule, creating a more consistent collection routine with less manual work.
It uses the settings and criteria selected in Process ePayments to determine which families, fees, and payment amounts qualify when the task runs. Automated ePayment processing can follow automated tuition posting, but it can also collect other eligible fees already posted to family accounts.
🚀 Get started with Automated ePayment processing
Confirm Access
An automated ePayment task is created from the Process ePayments page (Transactions menu) by choosing Process Later.
The Process Credit Cards and Bank Accounts User Permission is required to access the Process ePayments page.
Prepare the collection process
Confirm that ePayment settings and the regular payment-processing workflow are producing the expected results before automating them. Get the collection process right, then automate it.
Families must have an eligible credit card or bank account saved to their records. The payment methods and fees available when the task runs affect which families can be included.
Plan the timing
Decide when payments should process and who will review the results. When automated tuition posting is also used, allow enough time for the tuition task to finish and for account balances to be reviewed before the ePayment task runs.
Avoid scheduling the task too close to the payment gateway’s settlement time. Allow enough time to review the results and address potential issues before the payments settle.
Confirm the organization’s Time & Date Settings, including Daylight Saving dates, so tasks run when expected. Avoid scheduling tasks around midnight because a task that continues into the next day may not process as expected.
đź“‹ How Automated ePayment processing works
Define what Jackrabbit should collect
The task uses the selections made in Process ePayments to determine which families, fees, and payment amounts are included.
Payment settings control how payments are applied to fees and whether future fees are collected. They also determine how Jackrabbit handles unpaid fees when a family has a credit or prepayment on the account.
Family criteria narrow the processing by details such as payment method, ePayment schedule, location, and membership type. Additional settings determine whether families with credit balances, inactive accounts, or recent declines are included.
Transaction criteria narrow the fees by transaction type and subtype, session, category, or class. Families marked to be omitted from ePayment processing are not included.
Preview the ePayments
The preview shows which families and payment amounts would be included if the task ran at that moment. It does not save a fixed list of families, fees, or payment amounts for the scheduled task.
Each time the task runs, Jackrabbit evaluates the criteria again using the current account and payment information. Fees, payments, credits, balances, and stored payment methods may change before the next run, so the families and amounts processed may differ from the preview.
Schedule the task
The task can run once or repeat on a defined schedule. A recurring task can end on a specific date, after a selected number of occurrences, or never.
An optional reminder can be sent to the organization’s email address before the task runs. The confirmation summarizes the task’s frequency, next run, and reminder.
Review the results
After the task is created, it appears on the Task Management page. Review completed tasks and recent transactions regularly to confirm that the expected payments were processed and identify payments that were declined or require follow-up.
For information about viewing and managing scheduled tasks, see Automation Task Management - An Overview.
Related articles
➡️ Create a scheduled task to process ePayments automatically