Payment Module

The module allows the generation, approval, execution, and reconciliation of payments. It is only focused on Beneficiary Payments. Only users with the required authorizations can manage the transactions. It allows for multiple user approval for actions. Payment lists can be customized to include all or some active beneficiaries.  The module supports 3 modes of payment. 

1. Digital Payment via the integration of API. Reconciliation is done via the API.

2. Payment Point Manager (PPM) App which allows for offline payments. However, it requires the internet to download and sync payment data.

3. CSV or Excel Files. This provides a means to download approved payment invoices and then upload CSV or Excel files for reconciliation.
   
   

High-Level User Stories

• Payment value : 

  • Fixed amount (main) - fixed for all active beneficiaries of that program

  • Variable amount (called “rebate in the current version, but it’s confusing)

    • Allows configuring the value to be transferred. Variable parts (or extras) are partial additional quantities that are added to the flat-rate amounts for beneficiaries in the payroll that meet certain conditions. For example, extra amounts can be set based on geolocation, disability, payment services provider, number of days worked, training attended, and other beneficiary conditions (also linked to other modules)

    • Allows two types of variable amounts: one type that should be counted towards max payment amount (default), and a type that doesn’t (e.g., withdrawal fees that can be credited to the beneficiary as an extra amount, and that might vary based on the bank/mobile account they use)

    • Allows set a combination of fixed (can be zero) and multiple variable amounts

    • Variable amounts can also include the number of uncollected past payments. This way it could be easy to customize the rules about payment backlog management.

    • Max payment amount (optional): it should be possible to set a limit per single payment (i.e. combination of fixed and variable amounts cannot be higher than X, if higher than X, pay X); as well as a total amount that a beneficiary could collect (e.g. beneficiary is entitled to 90.000). If users mistakenly try to send a payment amount higher than the balance a beneficiary is entitled to, then the system should flag those transactions. Option to restrict payment amount to reach max amount, or to reject the transactions.
      * TBC if max payment amount should be set in payments or as an attribute of the benefit plan beneficiaries are assigned.

• Payment points

  • Allows the creation of payment points. The payment points feature is the creation of subgroups in large payrolls so beneficiaries can be managed better.

  • Allows uploading of payment point criteria so payment points can be created automatically.

  • Allows viewing of payment points and criteria used in the creation of subgroups

  • Allows rejection of payment points

  • Allows a maker-checker flow for the creation and approval of payment points

• Payment Cycle

  • Allows creation of payment cycle, which are all the sensible defaults, which includes start and end date, which are used to flag payments as delivered on time, rebates configuration, amount to be received per beneficiary in the payroll, and for payrolls using the PPM App, the maximum allocated amount to be carried by the Payment Point Manager

  • Allows rejection of payment cycle 

  • Allows for a maker-checker flow to approve payment cycles before they can be used

• Payment Point Manager

  • Allows for the creation of payment point managers

  • Allows searching of payment point managers

  • Allows to view details of payment point managers

  • Allows maker checker flow to approve payment point managers

• Payroll Creation for Digital Payments

  • Allows for the creation of a payroll that can be paid digitally or electronically

  • Allows filtering of beneficiaries to select based on one or more criteria (e.g. geographical location, number of payments received, etc) ** one use case is if users want to pay only backlogs (uncollected payments). In this case, the payment might be restricted to those who have missed a certain number of payments (e.g., 2 or more payments)

  • Allow using a filter to sub-select beneficiaries who opt for using the Digital Payments option

  • Allows a summary of all invoices included in the payroll and a summary of the total and number of unique invoices

  • Allows flagging of invoices that are potentially duplicated (rule can be optionally enforced so that flagged transactions are automatically removed from payroll and separate report generated)

  • Allows the removal of individual invoices included from the payroll

  • Allows the ability to download read-only CSV files of all invoices 

  • Allows searching of invoices in payroll

  • Allows rejection of payroll

  • Allows maker-checker approval of payroll to set all invoices as read-only to prevent further updates

  • Provide a feature to generate a read-only PDF report of invoices in payroll after approval

  • Provide a summary of total invoices and balance from the digital account before payment can be started

  • Provide a means to digitally make payments via API integration to multiple or single Payment Service Providers

  • Provide individual reports of each invoice that was paid digitally by grouping successful and failures

• Payroll Creation for Payment Point Managers

  • Allows for the creation of payroll to be paid by payment point managers

  • Allow using a filter to sub-select beneficiaries who opt for Payment Point Managers

  • Allows a summary of all invoices included in the payroll and a summary of the total and number of unique invoices

  • Allows flagging of invoices that are potentially duplicated

  • Allows the removal of individual invoices included from the payroll

  • Allows the ability to download read-only CSV files of all invoices 

  • Allows searching of invoices in payroll

  • Allows grouping of invoices using approved paypoint criteria

  • Allows grouping of invoices using newly created paypoint criteria

  • Allows assignment of approved payment point managers to pay point

  • Allows splitting of paypoint that surpass the limit configured per payment point

  • Allows searching of invoices in payroll

  • Allows rejection of payroll

  • Allows maker-checker approval of payroll to set all invoices as read-only to prevent further updates

  • Provide a feature to generate a read-only PDF report of invoices in payroll after approval

  • Provide a feature to generate read-only PDF invoices per payment point of payroll

  • Provide a summary of total invoices and the total to be paid by each individual payment point manager 

  • Allows each Payment point manager to download invoices assigned to them on the PPM Mobile App

• Payroll Creation for Ad-hoc payment with CSV Upload

  • Allows for the creation of payroll using a defined CSV which can be uploaded with beneficiary/details of people to be paid to

  • Allow using either Digital or Payment Point Managers for payment of invoices

  • The option selected will follow the required modalities.

• Digital Payment Reconciliation 

  • Allows reconciliation data to be pulled via API for single or multiple Payment Service Providers

  • Correlate and summarize invoices that were paid and those that were not 

  • Allows a search functionality for all payments completed with status details from the Payment Service Provider

  • Allows to see the batch summary of invoices paid and channel used in making payment

  • Allows to either accept or reject using the maker checker flow that the summary on the MIS correlates to the summary provided by the  Payment Service Providers

  • A rejection should clear the upload so it can be rerun again

• Payrolls for Payment Point Manager Reconciliation

  • Allows Payment Point Managers to sync payments completed offline to the MIS

  • Allows all relevant data captured by the Payment Point Managers on the PPM app to be saved on the MIS. These data include pictures, geo coordinates, and other details of the beneficiary as at the time the payment was disbursed

  • Allows a search functionality for all payments completed with status details from the Payment Point Manager

  • Allows to see a batch summary of invoices paid and summary per Payment Point Manager and the Payment Points

  • Allows to either accept or reject using the maker checker flow that the summary on the MIS correlates to the summary provided by the  Payment Point Manager

  • A rejection should clear the upload so it can be rerun again

• Manual CSV/Excel File reconciliation 

  • Allows the upload of CSV/Excel files which detail which invoice has been paid

  • Allows customization to capture other data collected during payments

  • Provides real-time validation as the Payment file is imported 

  • Provide summary after payment file is imported

  • Allows a search functionality for all payments completed with details 

  • Allows to see the batch summary of invoices paid and summary per uploaded payment file

  • Allows to either accept or reject using the maker checker flow that the summary on the MIS correlates to the summary provided by the file

  • A rejection should clear the upload so it can be rerun again

• Payment History

  • Allows to search all past payments with details of what option was used to complete the payment

  • Provide a means to visualize  all payments to a beneficiary with a summary

  • Provide a means to visualize all payments to a household with  a summary

• Dashboard and Reporting

  • Provide a dashboard with filters to monitor all indicators for invoices and payments

  • Provide downloadable reports for payrolls or other indicators

Reconciliation Use Cases and Details

Depending on the Social Protection (SP) program, beneficiaries may fall into two categories: those with a balance from which payments are disbursed and those with no associated balance.

For beneficiaries with a balance, it's crucial for the reconciliation process to track missed payments due to various reasons. This ensures that specific invoices are marked as unpaid, allowing beneficiaries to receive the payments they missed. This not only benefits the beneficiaries but also helps the SP program maintain accurate financial records, showing the successful disbursement and outstanding amounts.

There are currently three methods for addressing missed payroll payments:

Generate a separate payroll for undelivered transactions, which can be executed multiple times until all beneficiaries receive their payments or until program stakeholders determine it's unnecessary to generate further payrolls for undelivered transactions.

Automatically provide missed payments as back payment top-ups the next time a payroll is generated. However, there can be a limit on the number of back payments allowed. For example, configuring a limit of 2 would mean that beneficiaries missing 3 payments are eligible for only 2 back payments.

Take no action and refrain from updating the beneficiary balance. Since the beneficiary did not receive the money, their balance remains unchanged.

In the case transfers without balance, the approach is simpler. There is no interaction with the beneficiary's balance. Each transaction is considered as stand alone, and the focus is on ensuring that all reconciliation summaries and reports highlight the fact that not all bills or invoices were paid