Phoenix 9 - User Help

The first phase of this process is entering the transactions for the payments you want to make. These transactions are entered just like any other transactions.

1.Click the button on the Toolbar or Enter Transactions from the Tasks menu or press F4 on the keyboard.

2.Select the appropriate account and period if necessary.

3.Click New to begin entering new transactions.

4.Select EFT Payment for the transaction Type.  
 
When EFT Payment is selected as the transaction type, the list of Card File entries will be restricted to only those that have an account number and a BSB recorded.  A payee who doesn't have a BSB and account number recorded in the Card File can be selected but you will receive a warning that the payee will not be paid if the file is sent to the bank without those details.
 
If you wish to use the EFT Payments as a transaction type for other transactions (such as ATM withdrawals, EFTPOS transactions) the filter can be turned off.   Click the Tools menu, select Options, then click the Advanced tab.  Untick the Filter Pay To field for EFT Transactions checkbox.

5.Leave the transaction Reference blank or insert an asterisk. To leave the reference field blank, do not press the space bar as this inserts a character that you cannot see but still causes problems for the payment process.

6.Select the Payee from the Card File.

7.Enter and save the rest of the transaction as though the payment were already made.

8.Repeat for as many payments as you wish to make.
 
EFT Payment transactions can be entered together in one sitting or they can be entered over time throughout the month and then the payments made when convenient or appropriate later in the month. EFT payments can be made in batches of one or more as required.  Only transactions up to and including the current month are listed here. The previous month needs to be reconciled before the transactions can be viewed.

The second phase is to ask Phoenix to generate an EFT Payments file to import into the bank's internet banking web site or for your bank’s online banking software, to complete the payments.

1.Click the  button on the Toolbar, or select EFT Payments from the Tasks menu.

2.Verify that the correct account and period are selected.

3.Confirm the Payment date.  You can specify a date later than today's date if future payments are required.  If you specify a date earlier than today's date, your bank will reject the payment file.

4.Note the Batch number Phoenix will apply to all transactions included with this payment file.
 
After generating an EFT Payments file, Phoenix allocates a reference number to each transaction included in the batch. This reference is made up of two parts, a batch number and a transaction number within that batch. For example, ET0004 is the 3rd transaction in the batch ET. Your first ever batch will be batch AA and the batch number increments up to ZZZ before automatically restarting again. These reference numbers are automatically saved with your transactions when the EFT Payment file is generated.  

5.Note where the Payment File is going to be saved.

6.Select the payments that you want to make by ticking the transactions on the list provided. You tick or untick a transaction by double-clicking on it. You can select all the transactions by right clicking to display the local pop-up menu and choosing Select All.

7.With all of the required transactions ticked, click the Generate Payments File button.

8.If a previous EFT Payment file exists on the computer, Phoenix displays details of that file before overwriting it. You should ensure that the previous file has been processed before overwriting it.  

9.After generating the payments file, Phoenix offers to start the bank’s program. This is possibly a convenient time to go to Step 3 three.

10.Phoenix will also offer to print the EFT Batch details.

11.Upon closing the EFT Payment window, Phoenix will prompt you to notify the people you have paid.  See Notifying your EFT contacts for more detail.

The third phase is importing the file through your banks website or running the bank’s program to actually send the file to the bank so the payments selected can be made as per the information in the Payment file.  

Phoenix generates the Payments file and saves it in the location you specified in EFT Payments - Setup but does not take any action about sending it to the bank.

You can connect to the bank site or banking program when prompted by Phoenix or you can choose not to process the payment file at that time and go back into EFT Payments later and click on the Bank button.  Alternatively,  you can go to your bank site directly through your internet browser without even having Phoenix open.  

1.After generating the Payments file, launch the banks website or start the bank’s program.

2.Follow the banks instructions.