(preliminary text 12/2/96)

This feature is implemented as of December 1, 1996, and provides a means for StockBoy customers to provide their employees with direct deposit electronic transfer of payroll checks.

The software utilizes industry standard transmission standards, but your financial institution may have specific requirements and/or changes that might require additional programming considerations. Contact your StockBoy dealer for details on how to initially set-up this feature with your bank. This feature must be INSTALLED with telephone assistance from your Customer Support team.

General Overview

Each employee must have additional information placed in their master file at {5-2} ... their bank's ABA # (sometimes referred to as the Routing number or the Routing & Transfer number or the Routing & Transit number) (a nine digit number), and their checking or savings account number (up to 17 digits). When BOTH of these items are filled in, the system assumes that the employee wants to activate PDD (payroll direct deposit) and it will schedule this information to be sent to the bank on the next transmission as a 'pre-notification'. This pre-note entry MUST be sent in to the bank for validation at least 10 days PRIOR to the first 'real' transaction. Pre-note entries DO NOT AFFECT the employee's bank account; a payroll check is still printed.

Following the payroll Update Run, the system optionally prints the Payroll Posting Register, the Direct Deposit Stub report, and the Master Stub Report. These printouts are 'print and clear' -- you can re-print them as many times as you like, but once you say that you don't want to print them, they are erased forever. The Direct Deposit Stub report prints payroll stubs identical to the ones that appear on payroll checks. These stub printouts can be handed to your employees as confirmation that direct deposit is taking place in lieu of receiving a physical check. The Master Stub report prints all stubs for all employees included in the Update Run as a master copy to be kept by the office for future reference. The master report includes employees with printed checks as well as direct deposit.

Following these reports, the payroll clerk can print checks, run additional payroll updates for different departments, and/or transmit the electronic payroll file to the bank via modem. The check batch and the transmission file work in a similar fashion -- the files accumulate data from different payroll Update Runs until the data is printed and cleared. With the check batch, you print the checks and erase them. With the transmission batch file you transmit the data to your bank then erase the file. Just as the check batch can contain checks from several different Update Runs, so can the transmission file. While you could transmit the file after each Update Run, some banks charge a flat fee for each transmission file regardless of its length -- so you could save some service charges by 'batching' up your transmissions.

Getting Started

1) StockBoy version 7.2 with release date of 11/30/96 or later

2) Hayes compatible modem (U.S. Robotics preferred) on a known SIO port.

3) A phone line hooked to the modem for occasional use (usually the line hooked to your fax machine works fine). The line will only be used for a few minutes each payroll period on an outgoing call. It will never be used to answer the line.

4) You'll need to establish this service with your bank. In most instances you will need to inform them your software (StockBoy) will NOT be sending an 'offset debit' in the transmission file, and that your direct deposit mechanism should be setup to automatically have the employee's checks drafted out of your pre-determined checking account number. You may also get the opportunity to determine how you wish the bank to respond to pre-notification entries - by phone, letter, or fax.

5) Your company's bank's ABA#, your payroll checking account number, and your company's federal tax ID #.

6) On the technical side you will need the speed and protocol settings for the transmission as well as the phone number to access for the transmission. You'll also need the receiving bank's ABA# and name. Depending upon your bank's computer system, you may also need a series of access codes and passwords with which to navigate the bank's software. All this information must be obtained from your bank.

7) Contact Customer Support to INSTALL this feature.

8) With assistance from Customer Support edit the 'PDDMSTR.STOKvvee' file to include all pertinent transmission information (from #4 #5 and #6 above), and to include the initialization codes for your brand of modem. If your bank supports 'trial runs' you can submit sample batch files for testing purposes with assistance from customer support..

9) Get signed authorization from each employee that wishes to have PDD, gathering their bank's ABA# and their checking or savings account number.

10) Input the ABA and checking/savings account number into each employee's master file - thus scheduling a 'pre-note' entry in the next transmission batch.

11) Verify with the bank that the pre-notification information was successfully received (the bank will usually notify you by mail or phone or fax). If the pre-note was successful, you can change the employee's master file from 'PRINTED CHECK' to 'DIRECT DEPOSIT' ten days after pre-note was sent. The computer will track the date the pre-note was sent and will not let you change the setting until 10 days after. If the verification failed (incorrect ABA or checking account numbers, etc), you can edit the ABA or checking/savings account information for that employee, thus setting up another 'pre-note' to be sent on the next transmission -- starting the process over again.

Setting up the Employee Master File

Editing the employee master files is simple. When the PDD is activated the software will automatically display four new fields on the employee screen. They are accessed by letters P,Q,R,S, and T and are labeled 'Status', 'Pre-note', 'ABA #', 'Account Number',and 'Account Type.'

Status: can be either Printed Check or Direct Deposit. The Status defaults to Printed Check. The Status ALWAYS automatically gets set to Printed Check anytime you edit either the ABA, Account Number, or Account Type fields (since any change there will result in the pre-notification process starting over). The status can be changed from Direct Deposit to Printed Check at any time, but can only be changed from Printed Check to Direct Deposit 10 days after the pre-note has been sent. When the Printed Check status is FLASHING, it means that the 10 days have elapsed and that you CAN change the status to Direct Deposit. The status never changes to Direct Deposit automatically. You should wait for the verification of the pre-note from the bank --- then manually change the status to Direct Deposit. The computer will not allow you to change to Direct Deposit inside of 10 days from the date of pre-note under any circumstances.

Pre-note: This field has three states: BLANK (no pre-note scheduling, no PDD activity pending, Status must be Printed Check). 'TO BE SENT NEXT BATCH' means that the ABA #, Account #, and Account Type have been filled in. The computer will automatically send a pre-note message during the very next transmission, but the employee still receives a printed check.. 'SENT MM/DD/YY' means that the computer has sent the pre-note on the date shown. This does NOT mean that the pre-note was successful!!! There is no electronic means to verify the pre-note, your bank must respond to you by mail, fax, or phone. Ten calendar days after the date shown in the 'SENT' message, the Printed Check status will be blinking on the screen. This alerts you to the fact that the 10 days have elapsed, and IF the bank has validated the pre-note you may change the status from Printed Check to Direct Deposit. You do NOT HAVE to change the status at this time (the employee can continue to receive Printed Checks). The computer will NOT automatically change the status. Even if the pre-note was SENT and validated, that employee will continue to receive a printed check until you manually change the status field. When the status field is changed, the pre-note message stays the same as a reference for the computer.

If you edit either the ABA#, Account #, or Account Type, the pre-note field automatically reverts back to 'TO BE SENT NEXT BATCH' and the status is set to PRINTED CHECK, and the pre-notification process starts over again.

ABA# and Account #: These two fields must contain the employee's bank's ABA# (9 digits) and the employee's checking account number (up to 17 digits). Do not include letters or dashes or punctuation of any kind!! The StockBoy software cannot validate this information when you input it --- only the receiving bank pre-notification system can determine whether or not the data is good. Be careful during input!

Account Type: This can be either "C" for Checking or "S" for Savings. The computer defaults to 'C' when first setting up a PPD employee.

Payroll Update Run

There are no major changes in the Update Run procedure. With PDD activated, the system will automatically perform some additional functions at the conclusion of the printing (or not) of the Payroll Posting Register.

First, the system prompts you to print the Direct Deposit Stub report. This printout provides one sheet of regular white paper per direct deposit employee, and includes the same information as would appear on the voucher (stub) of a printed payroll check. The employee name and address is printed so that you can mail this sheet with standard windowed envelopes. Only employees with direct deposit will receive a printout.

At the conclusion of the report, the system asks if you wish to re-print. You can re-print as many times as you like, but once you decline to re-print, the file is PERMANENTLY ERASED.

Next, the system prompts for the Master Stub Report. This report can be used as an office-copy of all payroll voucher stubs for all employees that were involved in the Update Run, regardless of their check status. This printout is handy if an employee loses his stub and needs a photocopy. Like the Direct Deposit Stub printout, you can re-print as many times as you wish, but once you say 'no' the file is gone forever.

Both of these stub reports include information only from the current Update Run. There is no way to combine a series of separate update runs into one stub report.

Next, the system routes you to the Mandatory Journal Printout if you have activated the direct transfer of the payroll to the General Ledger.

Do NOT edit the employee master file fields involving PDD during the Update Run. The system checks to see if any changes are made to the Status, Prenote, ABA#, Account#,or Account Type fields and will change the employee back to Printed Check if it detects any.

Transmit the Direct Deposit File

Option #8 on the main Payroll menu is 'Transmit the Direct Deposit File' and logically works the same way as the check batch. Both the check batch and the direct deposit transmission file will accumulate data from multiple Update Runs until they are 'printed and cleared.' With the check batch, you print the checks, OK them, and the check batch is erased. With the transmission file, you perform the transmission, acknowledge the transmission, and the file is erased.

The check batch printing and the transmission are NOT linked to each other. You may do either at any time without regard to which one goes first. If you forget to print checks or if you forget to transmit the file, the next Update Run will simply add to the data.

When you are ready to transmit, make certain that the phone line hooked to your modem is clear of traffic. If you have an external modem - turn it on. There is only one prompt to start the transmission, "Enter Effective Date." This is the date that you want the direct deposit to happen -- this is the date that money will be taken from your company's payroll checking account and the date that the deposits will be made in the employee checking accounts.

This date MUST be two days in advance of today's date. The StockBoy software defaults to two days in advance. If you want your direct deposits to occur on Friday, you must transmit on Wednesday. The Effective Date is very, very important -- if you put in the wrong date (too far into the future) the banking activity will take place on that date -- period! The system will not let you enter a date that is earlier than two days from 'today.' (Although you could change the computer's system date and time to trick it.)

The system will confirm that you want to transmit, then will initialize the modem and send the file to your receiving bank without any further operator intervention. It is not always possible for the source computer (yours) to determine whether or not the receiving computer got the file OK, but transmission error messages are very easy to spot on the screen. If you received an error you will have the opportunity to re-transmit or to quit without transmitting.

Technical

The actual transmission file is called 'PDD.DAT' and can be exported to a DOS diskette for transmission via DOS/Windows utilities using the bank's RS232 protocol with XMODEM. The <CTRL U> keystroke at the first Effective Date prompt will automatically export the file to floppy disk. After the transmission sequence is complete (successfully or not) the file is renamed 'PDD.OLD'. This gives your technical staff a chance to recover the entire transmission file manually if necessary. Obviously, the very next time you transmit, the previous 'PDD.OLD' will be replaced.

The system uses a file called 'ACHDAT.PAYRvvee' to build the transmission file 'PPD.DAT'. The 'ACHDAT' file is created (and added-to) during the Update Run. This file can be utilized to re-create 'PPD.DAT' in the event of transmission failure. 'ACHDAT.PAYRvvee' is renamed to 'ACHDAT.OLD' after the transmission sequence is ended.

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