BACs Process
Many of the show clients have a system whereby their members pay by direct debit or standing order. Where the payments are by direct debit, the BACs facility in Showbiz allows all membership records that are flagged as ‘paid by BACs’ to have certain data entered into a special file exported by Showbiz for use by the client’s banking software.
There are various banking software systems in use as the shows use different banks, so the file created by Showbiz may have various formats. Within Showbiz is a facility to set up the format of the exported file e.g. which column headings and data to apply and in what order.
The process should amalgamate any expected payments per contact e.g. if a contact is also the account contact for someone else’s membership (e.g. another family member).
The BACs process is based on the following steps:
1. Set all membership records that are to be paid by BACs to an account status of Order.
2. Run the BACs process to obtain all of the relevant data (BACs List)
3. Generate a report for reference
4. Generate the data (BACs Export) file
The relevant Showbiz user should then run the BACs Export file in their banking software.
5. When the bank statement comes in, any problem contacts should be removed from the BACs list.
6. Update the contact accounts with the relevant transactions (this will add receipts to the relevant contact accounts)
7. Re-run the BACs list so that the problem contacts re-appear (and the paid up ones disappear).
8. Restart from point 2 or use other means to obtain payment.
NB. The BACs list only displays contact that have an outstanding balance so once a contact has a corresponding receipt to the membership invoice(s), they no longer appear in the list.
Considerations
Before running the BACs process, the following considerations should be thought about:
• Ensure that the client show has a copy of the report for reference.
• Ensure that the BACs list is managed by one person and that it is run in the above listed order. Problems occur when the user decides to set all of the memberships in the list to Paid before waiting and checking the bank statement (inevitably some payments will fail due to various factors including cancellation of the direct debit by the member).