Note that the 'Authorise Payments' screens are only visible to Administrators or the Master Administrator.

While anyone with a valid user account can 'create' debit payments within ComPay, the status of the payment must be changed to 'Authorised' before it is sent to the bank for processing. ComPay Authorisation is similar to the signing of a cheque (that is, anyone may write a cheque, but only certain people can authorise or sign prior to banking).

The Master Administrator and any person with Administrator access can authorise payments for banking and view the daily cash position for the business via the Authorise Payments screen. For example, for Treasury you can have a real time cash position of authorised payments for that day.

The Authorise Payments screen allows you to view a summary showing every transaction for the day. Here you can change the status of any payments that you have entered into ComPay that are not yet authorised.

To get to this screen, click on 'Authorise Payments' located under 'Payments' on the Main Menu.

The screen has two main areas: The 'Authorise Payment' table and the 'Daily Authorisation Summary'.

The 'Authorise Payment' table

The Daily Payments Table shows every payable and receivable transaction due to be paid into or out of your business for the current day.

The following details are displayed.

ComPay Transaction ID (Trans ID): the Transaction ID is similar to a receipt number and is unique across the entire ComPay system. The Transaction ID is only shown once a payment has been Authorised and can be given to the payee as proof that a payment has been authorised.
ComPay Client and CN (ComPay Client [CN]): the second party involved in the transaction. Can be either sender or recipient.
Transaction Source: where the transaction was generated from.
Payable Amount (Payable [AUD]): shows the transaction value being paid out from the logged in client.
Receivable Amount (Receivable [AUD]): shows the transaction value being paid in to the logged in client.
Status: shows the status of the payment in real-time to both parties involved in the transaction. The statuses available within ComPay are Pending, Held, Authorised, Partially Authorised and Deleted. The status is only available for editing when the amount is payable and has not been previously Authorised. The status of Receivable payment is displayed in grey and cannot be edited.
Change Status: if it is possible to change the status of a transaction, the words 'Change Status' will be displayed in this column.

The Daily Authorisation Summary

The Daily Authorisation Summary shows the total amount payable and amount approved for direct debit. It also shows the amount receivable and due by direct credit. It provides an 'at-a-glance' summary of the day's processing.

The amount receivable is subject to ComPay authorisation and availability of cleared funds at the ComPay client's financial institution.

Payment status

All payments entered into ComPay are assigned a payment status. The payment status signifies what consideration (if any) has been given to the transaction. Payment status can only be altered by the Master Administrator or users with Administrator access.

There are five statuses for payments within ComPay, as follows.

Pending: the default status of any new payment that has been created. A 'Pending' status, in cheque terms, simply means that the cheque has been written and is awaiting a signature. If a payment is left 'Pending' at the end of the day it will be carried forward to the next day with the same status.

Authorised: this indicates the payment has been verified and ready to process. This payment will be included in the banking for the current day. In terms of traditional payment methods, ComPay authorisation is akin to the signing and posting of bank cheques.

Partiallly authorised: this applies where dual authorisation has been set up; the payment has been authorised by the first administrator but not by a second administrator.

Held: payments with 'Held' status are similar to pending except the payment has been reviewed and physically delayed by the Master Administrator or an Administrator. At the end of the day, any payments displaying the 'Held' status will be carried forward to the next day.

Deleted: any payment that is deleted will be displayed with a 'Deleted' status on the day of deletion and will be removed from the Authorisation list once settlement has been completed.

Edit a payment

ComPay provides the ability to edit the value of a payment prior to Authorisation without the need to re-enter a transaction. This is valuable when a simple clerical error has occurred and the incorrect amount has been entered. You are limited in the amount of detail to change. In some circumstances you may find that you have to delete the transaction and re-enter it.

Follow the same process of navigation as below to reach the Payment Details screen.

Authorise, hold or delete a payment

Note that the option to change the status of a payment is only available to the Master Administrator or those with Administrator access.

To change the status of a payment click the 'Authorise Payments' link (located under 'Payments' on the Main Menu, located on the left hand side of the ComPay screen).

A list of transactions for the day is displayed at the top and the daily summary underneath shows the Authorised total Receivable and Payable amounts for the day.

Select the payment you wish to work with by clicking 'Change Status' in the Change Status column next to the payment.

A Payment Details screen will open displaying the transaction details. Below are a list of available actions.

You can:

authorise the payment;
place a payment on hold;
remove the hold; or
delete the payment.

Payment authorisation without dual authority set

Follow the steps above in 9.4.2 and click the 'Authorise' button in the Payment Details screen.

Once you have authorised a payment, click 'Submit' and it will be submitted for processing and a remittance advice will be sent. After you have submitted a payment, a final window will be shown with all of the payment details and the ComPay transaction ID. To print these details, click on the 'Print' button.

A confirmation email with tax invoices will be sent to the payer once the payment has been authorised.

Payment authorisation with dual authority set

When a client has set up dual authorisation and one user authorised the payment it will display in the New Payment Receipt screen as 'Partially Authorised'. The partial payment can also be viewed within the 'Authorise Payment' screen. To fully authorise the payment, a second user with appropriate authorisation permission must authorise the partially authorised payment.

Group Authorise

The purpose of the Group Authorise screen is that the ComPay user is able to authorise payments as a bulk function. This saves the user time and they do not have to authorise each payment one-by-one.

When the user wants to authorise payments, they just need to tick the check box in the Group Authorise column [highlighted] against the relevant payments and then click the 'Group Authorise' button.

The user will then see a confirmation payment screen which lists all the payments that have been selected for authorization. The user enters in their administrator password and then clicks the 'Submit' button.

If the user presses the 'Cancel' button then it directs the user back to the authorize payment screen.

The next confirmation screen will appear and list the payments that have been authorized. If the user presses the 'Done' button then it directs the user back to the authorize payment screen, where they will see the updated status of their payments.

Payment timetable

Remember: the cut off time for authorised payments to be included with 'today's' banking is 3:30 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Storage payments must be authorised at least 15 minutes prior to the container being picked up from a terminal to allow for processing times.

Payment errors

Remember: once a payment has been authorised, it cannot be edited by users of ComPay. In the event of an over or under payment or sending a payment to the wrong payee, the two parties need to adjust the payment independently.

Refunds

Credit card payments

With the receiver's permission, ComPay can reverse a payment made via credit card within 90 days. A written notification is required by the receiver of the credit payment advising permission to refund the payment.

Direct debit payments

No refunds can be issued by ComPay for direct debit payments. You will need to contact the receiver of the payment to seek a refund.

Note any direct debit payment through ComPay may be stopped subject to the following conditions.

Payment can be stopped if the 'Payment Time' has not passed. 'Payment Time' refers to 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST), after the payment was authorised.
Both the payer and the payee must send OneStop Helpdesk an email stating they do not wish to pay or receive the funds BEFORE the payment time lapses.
If both emails have been sent to the Helpdesk and a response has not been received by 3:00 pm EST, please contact us by phone to confirm that your request has been actioned.

OneStop will send then advise the ComPay support team to stop the payment from going through.

Note that if the Payment Time has passed, then the payment cannot be stopped, and the two parties will need to organise the reversal of funds between themselves.