Overview

• CE Payments is Clubessential’s payment processing solution that helps streamline payment operations, simplify fund settling, associated reporting, the related reconciliation processes, and provide a better overall payment solution and User experience for your Club.

• Simplify settlements with auto-created batches within Office. Easily access detailed reports to tie out payments, settlements for a given period, in-transit funds, and reconciliation to your Funds in Transit Account. Experience faster funding with payments to your bank account within 2 business days.

• The following guide will cover the Admin & Member Facing Functionality of CE Payments as well as how CE Payments integrates with PayCloud, Clubessential’s Online Payment and Statement Platform.

Required Permissions

• Admin

PayCloud

PayCloud is the Clubessential product that enables the Club to manage its online payment and statement functionality.  This section will focus on the Admin portions of the PayCloud system to specifically address the online Payment and Statement features associated with CE Payments.  The guide will focus on setup, viewing Member/Payment data, troubleshooting issues, and highlight how the PayCloud system interfaces and syncs with the Office back end system to ensure payment and statement data is properly reflected in the Club’s financials.

During training, your Implementation Specialist will provide you with a link as well as credentials to log in to your Club’s specific instance of PayCloud. 

Users

Members

All Club Members can be viewed in the Users - Members section.  (For Office clients, the Member list will auto-populate from the Office system.)  Columns can be sorted, and/or filtered to easily find the desired information.

Impersonate a Member 

For example, a Member calls with payment information or asks the User to submit a payment on their behalf.

In the event a Member calls with payment information or asks for a payment to be submitted on their behalf, Users can select the Users - Members menu, click the three dots to the left of the Member’s name and choose Login To PayCloud.

This will Impersonate the Member and the User can then perform the necessary actions on behalf of the Member.

Make a Payment

In this section, we will review each type of Payment that can be made in PayCloud. This includes both One-Time and Scheduled Payments.

One-Time Payment

A One-Time payment encompasses a Member making a payment toward their account; they are not creating any Scheduled Payment to occur at a later date.

To submit a One-Time payment,

1. First, add a New Bank Account or Credit Card, or select from an existing Payment Method on file.

2. Specify the amount to pay. Statement Balance, Current Balance, or Other Amount. Click, Continue and Submit the payment.

Scheduled Payments

Payments can be scheduled for a single future date, or a monthly recurring set of payments from the Payment Options screen by:

1. Following the link Schedule a future or recurring payment.

2. Specify the Bank Account or Credit Card to be drafted, or add new payment information. Then, specify the amount to be drafted (Statement Balance, or an Other Amount).

3. Specify the type of scheduled payment (Described below), select the Payment Date, and choose Continue.

   • One Time Payment - The User may schedule a payment to happen just one time on a future date (Eg. This month only I would like my Bank Account Drafted on the 30th).

   • Monthly Recurring Payment - The User may schedule a month recurring payment that will draft their Bank Account or Credit Card on a specific day of the month (Eg. the 15th of every month).

Manage Payment Methods

From the Payment Options screen, Users may select Manage Payment Methods to update the payment information (Bank Accounts or Credit Cards) they have on file.

On either the Credit Cards or Bank Accounts tabs, the User may Add a new Payment Method on file or Delete an existing Payment Method.

System Users

The system Users section includes Club Users; any Staff Members who have been granted access to the PayCloud system.  

Adding new System Users

Add a new User/staff Member to the system by clicking the Add (+) button under the System Users menu.

Insert all information related to the Staff Member;

1. First Name.

2. Last Name.

3. Username (typically the employees email address).

4. Create an initial password for them to login.

5. The User Type will need to be defined as Club Employee or Club Administrator. Club Administrator User Types can edit content, manage various system settings while Club Employee User Types have basic viewing level access. 

Reports

Payment History

This report contains the payments made by Members using the PayCloud system.  The report can easily be filtered (using the predefined filters) and/or customized (using the date range feature) to quickly display the data desired.  Easily view payments from Today, the Past Week, or Past Month.  

The Status Column provides a real time status (Pending, Approved, Cancelled, Declined, Refunded or Partially Refunded) of the payment.

To search for a specific Member, payment amount, or other data,

1. Enter the search in the Search box. 

2. Results containing the data will be returned.

   1. Additional date range filters can be applied to limit results displayed to the date range specified, shown here.

Refund Payment

In the event a payment needs to be refunded (Eg. A Member accidentally submits a payment twice), Users have the ability to refund the payment directly in PayCloud.

To Refund a payment:

1. Select the three dots to the left of the applicable payment (utilize the search feature).

2. Select Edit.

3. Select the Actions/Refunds tab, and hit Refund Payment. This will populate the Refund window where the User has 2 choices:

   • Refund Full Amount - Allows the User to refund the entire payment.

   • Refund Partial Payment - Allows the User to process a refund of a smaller amount than the Original Payment Amount. The user can also allocate the refund to the appropriate AR accounts.

Multiple Partial Refunds can be processed on the same payment. Upon returning to the Refund Window, Previously Refunded Amount will show any refund that has already been processed along with the refunded amount. The User can add to this amount to process an additional refund.

Please note: A refund cannot exceed the Original Payment Amount. The following warning message will appear preventing the User from clicking Confirm Refund, “Refund amount cannot exceed the original Payment Amount.”

CE Payments pre-funds all transactions to the Club’s Bank Account. That said, no matter the scenario, all submitted transactions will flow through the Club’s Bank. As a result, 2-3 days after a refund has been initiated, funds for the original payment will be pulled back out of the Club’s Bank Account, and CE Payments will create an automatic Credit Settlement Batch and Payment Batch that will move these funds back into Accounts Receivable (to offset the original successful payment).

For reconciliation purposes, the daily deposit line item on the Club’s bank statement will match one to one with the settlement batch in Office containing the reversal.

Account Change

The Account Change report contains a log of all Member account changes.  This report is especially useful when investigating payment details associated with scheduled payments, and/or other payment issues. The report details the change that occurred, when it occurred and who made the change.

Scheduled Payments

The Scheduled Payments report provides a list of all upcoming scheduled payments that have yet to occur 

This report is primarily used as a method to predict Cash Flow, but can also be used to cancel scheduled payments upon request from a Member (Members have the ability to cancel scheduled payments on their own, however Users can do so on behalf of the Member here if requested).

Information displayed includes:

• Member Info

• Masked Bank Account or Credit Card Number

• Next Scheduled Payment Date

• Payment Amount

• Scheduled Payment Type (Recurring or One-time)

• A timestamp of when the payment was scheduled

Easily use the Date Filters to view scheduled payments within the specified date range.

To cancel a scheduled payment,

1. Select the three dots to the of the scheduled payment, and choose Edit.

2. Choose to either Cancel a Single Payment (To cancel the next upcoming scheduled payment), or Cancel a Scheduled Payment Series (To cancel an entire series of scheduled payments).

CE Payments Settlements

The CE Payments Settlement report contains a list of all Club settlement fundings with coordinating status (Pending, Funded, etc). 

Information displayed includes:

• Total Settlement Amount

• Total Fees deducted from the Settlement (Includes both Member paid fees if using fee pass through, and Club paid fees).

• Net Amount that will fund the Club’s Bank Account (Total Settlement - Total Fees)

• Processor

  • LITLE_V1 - Member Payments

  • VANTIV_V1 - Card Present Transactions (Credit Cards at POS)

• Is Funded- Funding has cleared the Club’s Bank Account

Private Content

The Private Content section contains a couple of areas relevant to Clubs utilizing the PayCloud online payment and statement features.  While these areas are typically addressed/populated during implementation, it is important to note where and how these items can be modified, as needed.

Statements

Enter any additional statement data (customized messages) to include in your Club’s online statements.  Header, footer, contact info, and/or past due notices (30, 60, or 90 days past due) must be populated on this tab (they do not flow from Office) to be viewable by Members in the PayCloud system.

System

When your Club makes the decision to use PayCloud and Autopay, Clubessential will assist in basic setup, including converting the payment token for use.  Many settings, however, are easy to use, and enable you to define/manage the process.

Club Settings/Payments

The Club Settings/Payments tab allows Users to optionally define blackout dates to prevent auto payments from being scheduled by Members. This feature helps Clubs manage Cash Flow, Club Payments, and Processing in a timely and effective manner. Users can set Blackout days for One-Time Payments as well as Scheduled Payments. 

For example, some Clubs choose to blackout the last few days of the month for Scheduled Payments and leave One Time payments open. At this point, the Club has consolidated Cash Flow for any Scheduled Payments to the earlier days of the month, but still allows Members to pay them via One Time payment if they need to pay on any of the latter days of the month. This allows for a much smoother reconciliation experience at month-end. Place a check in the box next to the day(s) to be blacked out.  

Payment Notifications

Users have multiple options for changing Payment Notifications for Members and Admins.

Member Notifications

Turn on email notifications to your Members by checking the Payments Processed and/or the Payment Error settings. 

When the Payment Processed setting is enabled, an email will be sent to the Member confirming the successful payment.  The Payment Error setting generates an email to Members when payment was attempted, but not successfully processed.

Future Scheduled Payment, if checked, will send a reminder email to the Member 3 days before their scheduled payment.

Missing Payment Account, if checked, will send a reminder to the Member three days before the scheduled payment date for all those without an associated payment account.

Payment Failure

Anytime a payment processes, but is later reversed due to insufficient funds (NSF), wrong account number, or other error the Member will be notified by email.

As an example, let’s assume a Member submits a payment with a Valid Routing Number, Valid Account but it later NSF’s when CE Payments pulls the funds from the Member’s Bank Account. At this point the original submission of the payment was picked up as successful so we need something to offset the original payment because it has now failed. That said, same as refunds, 2-3 days after the payment failure, funds for the original payment will be pulled back out of the Club’s Bank Account, and CE Payments will create an automatic Credit Settlement Batch and Payment Batch that will move these funds back into Accounts Receivable (to offset the original successful payment).

Admin Notifications

Users can edit Admin notifications to send when a Payment has Failed, and update the email to which the notification will go, under Club Settings, then Payment Notifications.

CE Payments Funds in Transit GL Account

During Implementation, a Clubessential Implementation Specialist will have worked with the Club Controller to create a new Cash & Equivalents GL account called something along the lines of “CE Payments Funds in Transit”. This GL account is created to act as a Holding Account for funds as they are in transit to the Club’s Bank Account, and will be debited in a Payment Batch anytime a Member makes a payment online, and in Daily POS Batches containing a Credit Card at POS Transaction.

The value of having Clubessential as your payment processor is that they are the institution that will be depositing the funds for these payments into the Club’s Bank Account; and because of this, they know exactly when those funds are going to settle. 

When a deposit is made to a Club’s Bank Account for either their online payments or their Credit Card at POS Transactions, an automatic Settlement Batch is generated that will move these funds out of the CE Payments Funds in Transit Account, into the Club’s Operating GL Account, as well as any expense per-transaction fees the Club may be incurring.

For reconciliation purposes, the exact day and the exact amount of the deposit that is on the Club’s Bank Statement will line up directly with the exact day and the exact amount of the Settlement Batch that was generated in the Back Office. Reconciling at this point is one-to-one.

Please see the T-Chart here for a visual representation of this workflow.

In the next section, we will review how to Post these Payment and Settlement Batches as they populate in the Office.

Payment Batches & Settlement Batches

Online Payments and Settlements for online payments automatically flow into Office for easy posting.  In this section, we will review both the Payment and Settlement Batches.

Payment Batches

As soon as a Member makes a payment in PayCloud (or the Club submits a payment on behalf of the Member) a Payment Batch is automatically generated in Membership → Approve Payment Batches in Office. Online Payments are designated by the Cash Receipt Type column on the Approve Payment Batches grid. ACH payments are grouped in a batch with the Cash Receipt Type PayCloud ACH, and Credit Card payments are grouped by PayCloud CC.

The User will want to double click the batch to review and post it. These Payment Batches will Debit the CE Payments Funds in Transit GL Account created during Implementation, Credit Accounts Receivable, as well as list the Members who made payments on that particular day.

Click Post Batch to post the payment to the Member’s account and offset their balance.

Settlement Batches

With CE Payments, Users can expect funds from their online Member payments, and Credit Card at POS Transactions to be deposited to the Club’s Bank Account within 2-3 business days of when the transactions were submitted. 

As mentioned, when Clubessential deposits these funds, an automatic Settlement Batch is generated in General Ledger → Approve Journal Entry Batches in Office. These Settlement Batches are designated by a checkmark in the ‘Is CE Payments Settlement Batch’ Column on the Approved Journal Entry Batches grid, shown below. Again, these Journal Entry Batches represent Funds actually being deposited into the Club’s Bank Account. 

The User will want to double click the batch to review and post it. These Settlement Batches will move funds out of the CE Payments Funds in Transit Account, into the Club’s Operating GL Account, as well as expense any per-transaction fees the Club may be incurring. 

In addition, Users can view the payment batch (If this is a Settlement for Online Payments), or the daily POS batch (If this is a Settlement for Credit Card at POS Transactions) and Member name of the transactions that are making up the settlements and fees.

For reconciliation purposes, the exact day and the exact amount of the deposit that is on the Club’s Bank Statement, will line up directly with the exact day and the exact amount of the Debit to the Operating GL Account on the Settlement Batch. Reconciling at this point is one-to-one.

CE Payment Settlement Report

To view payment and settlement data, go to Interactive Reports, and select the CE Payment Settlements report. Use this report to easily view a summary of Payment Batches, POS Batches (If using CE Payments for Credit Card Transactions at the POS) and details of the individual transactions and related settlements (if settled). 

Once inside the report, there are various report parameters available.

1. Start Date - Set to the first day of activity you want included in your report.

2. End Date - Set to the last day of activity you want included in your report.

3. Endpoints - Used to designate the URL of your Payment Portal within Paycloud if you have more than one URL established.

4. Filter By - Used to filter your report to any of the following: 

   • All Transactions

   • All Payments

   • All Tickets

   • Settled Payments

   • Unsettled Payments

   • Settled Tickets

   • Unsettled Tickets 

5. Group By - Used to group your report by Transactions or Settlements.

6. Funds in Transit Accounts - Used to specify a Funds in Transit Account if more than one is established.

7. Expand All - Used to expand the detail of the report.

After completing the parameters, click View Report to generate the report.

Click on the + next to the Transaction Batch number to expand to a detailed view of individual Member Payments, Credit Card at POS Tickets, and Settlements where applicable.

Additional details regarding the specific breakdown of the distribution of the settlement (payment vs. fees) can also be seen by expanding the Member item.

CE Payments Dashboard

During Implementation, you Implementation Specialist will have sent the Users at the Club an Invitation to join their Club’s specific instance of the CE Payments Dashboard. This Dashboard is used to view additional information about Online Payments, and Credit Card at POS Transactions.

Transfers

Transfers contain the Credit Card & ACH Payments made to a Club, as well as any Credit Card at POS Transactions.  

The Buyer column will list the Member’s name, if the Transfer is an Online Payment, and Credit Card at POS Transactions will be designated by a dash (-) in the Buyer Column.

Click on a Transfer to view more details.

If viewing an Online Payment Transfer, the User will see a masked version of the Bank Account or Credit Card that was used, the Member who submitted the payment, as well as the fee for that particular transaction (Includes both Member paid fees if using fee pass through, and Club paid fees). Users may also issue a Refund for any Online Payments (Can also use the Refund feature in PayCloud as well).

If viewing a Credit Card at POS Transfer, the User will see the Ticket Number associated with the transaction at the POS, as well as the Fee for the Transaction.

Failed Transactions

In the event a transaction fails, the state of the transaction will read FAILED in the Transfers feed. Select the failed Transfer to view additional details.

The User can then view the Reasoning for the failed transaction in the Response Messages field, shown below.

Settlements

Settlements contain funding from Clubessential to the Club’s Bank Account for your Transactions. From this view, Users can see the status of funding, transfers count, date created, processor, amount, total fees (Includes both Member paid fees if using fee pass through, and Club paid fees), and the Net Amount to be deposited into the Club’s Bank Account. Users may click on a settlement to view more details.

In the General Info tab of the Settlement, the User can view the Settlement Total, Total Fees (Includes both Member paid fees if using fee pass through, and Club paid fees), and the Net Settlement that will be deposited into the Club’s Bank Account.

The Transfers tab will show Users the Fees and Funding Transfers that are making up a Settlement.

The Funding Transfers tab will show Users the Transactions that are making up the Settlement only (No Fees).

Disputes

If a Member disputes a transaction, the charge will be listed in this area. For further information on handling Disputes please view our CE Payments - Handling Disputes manual.

Best Practices

• Each morning navigate to  Membership → Approve Payment Batches to post any payments that were made online, and then navigate to General Ledger → Approve Journal Entry Batches to post any Settlements.

FAQs