Our Payments solution known as LINKS, provides a secure and complete payment solution including financial document production and electronic payments. When combined with our reconciliation solution it becomes a complete cash management platform for businesses and financial institutions, allowing them to effectively manage their critical financial transactions.
Image Processing Stream
Links incorporates a module for the intelligent capture and processing of the accounts payable function. This solution provides a facility for the automated image processing and capture of incoming invoices, which require pre-approval prior to payment. The facility includes the following features:
- Intelligent matching of invoices to templates, using an internal knowledgebase
- Smart field matching that associates fields and records with known data
- Conflict resolution notifies operators where errors occur
- Result is a highly automated system that learns from the input stream and creates a machine readable record of paper inputs
API Processor for Input Streams
Links provides extensive support for smoothly integrating payment advice streams from systems such as:
- Accounting systems such as Oracle, Great Plains, JD Edwards, Peoplesoft, MFG-PRO, Sun and MYOB
- ERP systems such as SAP
- Asset Management systems, including custom developed solutions
- Image processing from systems such as B-Wize
The API processor performs a set of functions that transform the input stream, including:
- Error checking and validation processing
- Contingent rule processing
- Reformatting to standard structure
- Creation of status codes and control codes that will control the workflow of each payment advice through the Links system
Exact Configuration & Control
Links has a Business Rule engine that provides exact control over the way in which transactions are processed. This includes detailed control over such items as:
- The association of payments to funds and accounts
- The numbering process for payments and cheques
- Exact business rules that identify the form of payment, the target for payment and the mechanism for providing associated payment/remittance advices
- Rules governing statements, orders and invoices
Links also provides fine grained, fully audited control over the process workflow. This includes:
- Flexible authorisation groups
- Contingent rules mapping what authorisation is required for a payment or a transaction
- Sequential control over how a transaction moves from one status to another in the workflow
- The mechanisms for signing cheques and forms
Every action and every change of state is fully audited and logged in Links, and comprehensive reporting and enquiry capabilities are provided with the audit log.
Total control over forms
Links incorporates a sophisticated Forms Manager that delivers complete control over the layout of cheques, letters, foreign drafts, statements, remittance advice and faxes. This includes detailed control over such items as:
- The correct logo and exact logo placement
- The position and format of each component on the form
- Eliminates the need for expensive pre-printed stock
- Multi-page formats, including when to break, which stock and which tray for follow-on pages
- Printer errors, cancels and other control conditions even with numbered stock
Outbound API Control
Links includes extensive support for outbound payment interconnections through its Outbound API Processor. Over time Links has developed a comprehensive understanding of the exact requirements of a diverse range of target systems. The Outbound API Processor undertakes the following tasks:
- Creates an outbound message in the exact correct format for the target
- Determines the appropriate response codes and conversation with the target
- Handles the scheduling of outbound messages, including error handling and reporting
Target outputs include:
- Cheque printing systems
- Fax and Email systems
- Bank Interfaces
- Host systems
Cheques and Other Financial Forms
One of the most powerful features of LINKS is its comprehensive support for cheque issuance. Just some of the features include:
- Dynamic content on the cheque, contingent on business rules and form design
- Multi-bank and multi-account control
- Multi tray paper stock
- Total control over cheque number sequencing
- Total control over signatures
- Comprehensive fraud control features
Cheque Issuance
LINKS also provides detailed support for the printing of:
- Remittance advices
- Invoices
- Purchase orders
- Statements
These financial forms can also be distributed by:
- Fax gateway, with comprehensive logs and controls
- Email gateway (including PDF or TIFF attachments)
Bank Interfaces
Links provides a complete set of interfaces to Australian and International Banks, including:
- Electronic Funds Transfer (Debit and Credit) with Australian and International ACH payments
- Bulk Credit Card Payments (Australia and New Zealand)
- Specific bank domestic and international payment file formats for all major Australian banks
- SWIFT
Host Interfaces
As part of its external API control, Links provides outbound transmission of payment and advice information to a variety of host systems. This enables host systems to be updated with the outcome of payment processing, and to conduct reconciliation of payments and other transactions. Important features of this outbound host interface are:
- Host system notification of payment items processed or reconciled
- Journal and adjustment transactions from Bank Statements, including full General Ledger coding
- Payment Host Reply files
- Detailed transaction information for upload to host data systems
Reconciliation
The reconciliation module within Links enables customers to perform automatic reconciliation of positions. The module has evolved to meet the needs of customers, and can deliver up to 95% automatic matching. Features of the module include:
- Interfaces to electronic bank statements, Bpay, lock box and credit card data
- Tracks cashbook and bank statement balances
- Multiple banks, multiple accounts and multiple currencies are all supported
- Configurable rules for matching, including matching sequences
The module provides automated support for:
- Automatic matching
- Automatic clearing
- Tolerance matching, by amount, date, begins with, ends with and exact
- One-to-one, many-to-one and many-to-many matching
- Clearing of reversed transactions
- Updates
Cash Management
Links forms a complete cash management and reporting system, by combining the various control modules with a comprehensive reporting and analysis function over all aspects of the system. A subset of the reports that comprise this capability include:
- Account balance report (summary and detail)
- Fund report
- Activity reports
- Bank Statement report
- General ledger report
- Currency report
- Clearing account report
- Receipt report
- Detailed reconciliation report
- Activity log report
- Batch processing report