TOPS Software MICR Check Scanner. Choose Your Check Scanner

Transcription

1 TOPS Software MICR Check Scanner Thank you for purchasing the TOPS Check Scanning system. This system will allow you to quickly and accurately enter owner payments. Scanning checks for deposit and posting is fast and easy with full visibility and control over how each owner payment is applied. Using a full image check scanner you can make a Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) Check 21 Deposit, meaning, the deposit is made electronically so you do not have to write deposit tickets or take deposits to the bank. We also support the Magtek Mini, but it does not capture the full check image so you still have to write a deposit ticket (although generally only the date and total amount if you attach the TOPS Deposit Ticket Report), for each community, then take the deposits to the bank. Choose Your Check Scanner Compatible Scanners You can use MICR Check Scanners from the two most popular scanner manufacturers: Brand Model Magtek Excella STX (full check image) Recommended Mini (no check image) Panini Vision X (full check image) Recommended I:Deal (full check image) 1 Low Cost, Low Volume

2 Other scanner models from these manufacturers may also work. If you have a batch feeding Panini Vision X scanner, TOPS does support the high speed check scanning offered by this check scanning model. Connecting the Scanner First, turn off the computer where you wish to connect the MICR scanner. Next, simply connect the USB plug to a USB port on your computer. Make sure the USB cable is also plugged into the MICR scanner. You are done connecting the MICR scanner to your computer. Both the scanner AND the keyboard are ready to use. Turn your computer back on. The MICR scanner should show a ready light. Install Check Scanner Software If you purchased a Magtek MICR Scanner and it came with an installation CD, you must load the CD on each workstation where the scanner will be used. For Panini scanners, you may need the assistance of Heartland Payment Services to download and install the correct drivers for these scanners. If using a full check scanner, then you will have some setup steps to follow so you are ready to do Check 21 processing. You may need to setup an account with our payment processor, Heartland Payment Services to be able to make deposits into your bank. 2

3 MICR Check Scanner Overview A brief overview of the steps to follow are: Go to the Global Functions menu. It does not matter what community you are in. Select the menu tab Scan Payments Select which scanner you are using Click the Setup button if doing RDC Full Image Check Scanning. Enter the Heartland assigned Store ID s to each community on the setup screen. Exit from Setup. Click the Add button You are ready to scan the first Owner check. Go ahead and place the check into the slot on the scanner with the printed side facing the inside of the scanner loop. It will grab the check and pull it through the scanning loop. First Time Scan When you scan an Owners check for the first time, you have to select the Community and the home. The banking information from the check will automatically be recorded for that home. The next time you scan a check from that Owner, it will automatically select the Community and Owner for you filling in the entire payment screen including the Check #. You simply enter the amount paid, confirm the payment application and that s it. You re done! Post Payments After scanning the payments, you must Post them to update each Community s records. You have two options for updating: 1. Post Payments/Bank Deposit Completes the process by automatically updating each Community s records for the scanned payments. A separate Deposit Report will be printed for each Community. You are then done with the Cash Receipt processing nothing more needs to be done. Recommend: To save time, always use Post Payments/Bank Deposit 2. Create Unposted Cash Batches Creates unposted batches for each Community. You can then change the payment distributions or delete payments if needed before posting. You do have to select each Community and go to Owner Cash Receipts on the AR & Owner Collections menu to complete the Cash Receipt processing by Posting and Depositing each cash receipt batch. For more information about scanning, such as how to handle Owners of multiple homes, see the rest of the manual section that follows. The manual section for Check Scanning from the Global Functions follows. 3

4 Global Functions Scan Payments To save time and minimize the chance for errors, you can Scan the actual Owner checks themselves using a compatible MICR check scanner rather than enter them manually. This is a low cost way to automate your cash receipt processing. No coupons are needed. The Cash Application Table for each Community controls the way these payments are applied to balances due. Check Scanning With a MICR check scanner, you simply scan the Owners checks themselves. The first time you scan an Owner check, you have to select the Community and then the Home. The next time you scan a check from that Owner, it automatically knows the Community and Home to apply the payment against. You then just have to confirm the amount paid and the payment distribution, everything else is completed for you including the Check #. You have complete visibility and control over how the payments are applied to each Owner s balances due. If you use a Full Image Check Scanner which captures an image of the check, you can then complete the bank deposit electronically through creation of the Federal Reserve s Check 21 format. Through an arrangement with Heartland Payment Services, payments can be electronically deposited in any bank or to multiple banks without needing to separate deposits in any way. You simply scan the checks randomly, the TOPS Check Scanning System will handle the rest for you. Since you are doing Check 21 scanning, no need to write a deposit ticket and take deposits to the bank it is all done for you electronically. Another benefit of using a Full Image Check Scanner is, an image of each owner s check is stored in the payment history where you can view it or print it. Manual Payment Entry You can manually enter Cash Receipts here across All Communities in TOPS Professional. This will give you an efficient way to enter Cash Receipts for your communities. You have complete visibility and control over how the payments are applied to each Owner s balances due. But you cannot do a Check 21 deposit for manually entered checks, only for payments that are scanned using a Full Image Check Scanner. SCAN CASH RECEIPTS Click on the Global button on the main TOPS Professional menu. You will see the Scan Payments menu: Then click the Scan Payments menu tab. 1

5 Here you must select which brand of scanners you are using, either Magtek or Panini. Make your selection by clicking on the scanner brand you are using. Magtek Scanners There are differences in scanning capabilities between the Magtek scanners and the Panini scanners. With the Magtek scanners, you can only scan Owner Cash Receipts, not Misc. Cash Receipts. Also, presently, the Magtek scanner do not support high speed batch check scanning. You can only do single check scanning using the Magtek scanners. If you are using a Magtek scanner, either the Excella STX (full image) or Mini wedge (no image), click the Magtek button. You will then see the initial screen for scanning checks: Check Scanning Functions We ll go over each function on this screen. 2

6 Select Scanner First, you must select which scanner you are using. The choices are: Magtek No Images The Magtek Mini Scanner Magtek Excella STX Full Image Check Scanner Select the Magtek scanner you are using. Other Magtek models may work as well, but TOPS only supports these two scanners. Magtek Mini No Check Images No SETUP needs to be done if using this basic check scanner. It does not capture check images so deposits will still need to be made at your bank. You can simply click the Add button and start scanning checks. Full Image Check Scanners Click the Setup button to complete the information so you are ready to do Check 21 processing using Heartland Payment Processing for fully electronic deposits.. Setup Important: In order to process Check 21 deposits using our integrated Heartland Payment Services solution, you will need to setup this information (as shown on screen above): Note: You will receive in a Welcome from Heartland providing the key information (User Name and Password) and the instructions to activate your service connection. User Name the web site login. This is used to log you into Heartland s secure web site so deposits can be uploaded and processed. Password the password that goes with the User Name above. Verify Password the same password entered a 2 nd time for accuracy. 3

7 Score Limit used by Panini scanners only. Not used for Magtek scanners at this time. Store ID for each community where you are processing Check 21 deposits, you must enter basic information to assign a Heartland Store ID. Each Store ID is linked to a community bank account. This is how Heartland knows which bank account to deposit owners payments into you can edit those if and when needed. Type the Store ID for the first community, press TAB to go across the row or ENTER to move down the Store ID column entering Store ID s for other communities. Each community MUST have a Store ID to be able to scan checks, then do a Check 21 deposit to Heartland. Print Endorse Message for Magtek Excella STX scanners only, checkmark this box next to each community to have TOPS print a simple endorsement on the back of the check with the community name, date and time the check was processed. The printed endorsement will let you know you have already scanned a check, however, it should not prevent you from scanning the check a 2 nd time if necessary. Use the On/Off buttons to either activate or inactivate the Print Endorsement on the back of each check for ALL communities with Store ID s. Click the Save button to save changes to the Setup screen. Click the Cancel button to exit the Setup screen without saving changes. Click the Web Link button to connect to Heartland Payment Systems web site. It will look like this: Heartland Payment Systems Web Page From here, you login into their web site and check on the status of scanned check 4

8 All Scanners batches or get help from Heartland. Click the History button to view all the cash batches that have been scanned in order from most recent backwards to oldest. Scan Batch History Notice the History screen shows every scanned cash batch. If the batch was uploaded to Heartland Payment Services, then Heartland s Trace Number for the batch is displayed. If there is a problem with a particular batch, the Trace Number enables you to locate the batch online through your Heartland provided site. It is also used by Heartland to find the batch so they can help resolve any issues in the most efficient manner. If no Trace Number shows next to a cash batch, then that batch was NOT uploaded to Heartland. From the History screen you can do the following: Click on a scanned cash receipt batch to delete it. To select a scanned cash receipt batch, simply double click on it, or single click to highlight, then click the Select button. Click the Exit button on the History screen to return to the initial scan screen. To select a batch to see the details of each payment, either double click on the batch or single click to highlight it, then click the Select button. You will see all the checks in the batch like this: Scanned Batch - Details 5

9 Not only does it show each check in the batch, it also shows other information as well. The other information includes: Host Website the address where Check 21 Batches are uploaded. Notice you can check mark or uncheck each payment in the batch. When you check mark payments in the batch, you can then do the following: Print Checks click this button to print a copy of an owners checks in this batch. It will print a copy for those payments that are check marked. Upload Upload the scanned cash receipt batch to Heartland. You might do this if the original batch failed to upload to Heartland for some reason. You can only upload cash batches with the full check image to Heartland. It will upload only those payments that are check marked. Checks scanned with the Magtek Mini cannot be uploaded for processing. Exit Exit the details and return to the batch History screen. Select All/Clear All click these buttons to check mark or uncheck payment transactions. You can then Print or Upload the check marked transactions to Heartland Payment Services. You might use this option to upload a check that failed to upload previously. Editing MICR Info In the event a check could not be read properly by the Full Image Scanner, you can correct the MICR Info for the payment here. Simply double click on the payment in question. It will open the edit screen showing the check and the MICR Info as it was read when the check was scanned: 6 Edit Check MICR Info

10 Notice these fields under the check image: Check Number ABA Number Account Number Check Amount Correct the MICR Check Info as needed based on the information showing on the check displayed above Bank ID use the down browse arrow to select which community bank account the check should be deposited into Save Click the Save button to save changes to the MICR Check Info. Cancel Click the Cancel button to exit without saving any changes to the MICR Check Info. Rescan click Rescan to scan the check again in case the check image is bad. Once you click the Save or Cancel buttons, you will return to the Batch Details screen where you could select another payment in that Batch or exit back to the Batch History screen. From here you can select another Batch from the list or exit. Scanning Checks Starting back at first screen: Check Scanning Functions 7

11 Follow these steps for scanning checks: Click the Add button to create a new cash receipt batch. You will then see the check scanning screen where you can scan checks: Scan Screen This is where you Scan the Owner s checks using a MICR check scanner. You do NOT need OCR-A or Bar Coded payment coupons, Invoices or statements just the check itself. It reads the Bank codes from the bottom of the check. As you scan the checks you build the database of Bank data cross-referenced to 8

12 Owners. Once you have scanned a check the first time, it will know which home the checks are applied against making it much faster to scan the next time. Everything involved with scanning owner payments is done from this one screen. You are ready to scan a check. Scan Check Place the check into the slot on the scanner with the printed side facing the inside of the scanner loop. It will grab the check and pull it through the scanning loop. Scan Check First Time Scan Notice it picks up the scan line from the check and displays it on the Scanned Check # line. If this is the first time you are scanning payments, you must select the Community and the home for each payment. Thereafter, when you scan an owner s check that was previously scanned, it will automatically select the Community and the home for you. Follow these steps the first time you scan payments. Select Community Notice that the cursor is positioned at the Community ID field. It is waiting for you to select the Community. You can browse Communities either of two ways: F4 Browse Communities Browse Communities The browse window to select a Community will look like this: Select Community 9

13 Select Home Select the community by clicking on it, then click the OK button. The cursor is now positioned at the Owner Key field. It is waiting for you to select the home that this check goes against. You can type the # for the home if you know it or browse to select the home either of two ways: F4 Browse Homes Browse Homes Select Home It will default to the Preferred Access Method (Street Address, Account #, or Lot/Unit #) that is set in the Owner control file. You can change to any of the selection methods using your mouse. If you browse to select the home, it will look like this: Browse Homes Go ahead and select the home. 10

14 Complete Owner Payment Once the Community and Home are selected, the owner name and address are displayed like this: Home Selected Except for the Check Amount field, the top part of the screen should be filled in. The cursor should be positioned at the Check Amount field ready to enter the total amount paid. Amount Paid Enter the total dollar amount of the payment for this home regardless of how the payment is distributed. You can enter the amount manually or click on one of the default amounts next to the Check Amount field. The default Amounts are: F2 key F3 key Prior Balance the total amount currently due from this Owner. Current Charge the amount of their normal recurring charges. Go ahead and enter the Amount Paid. Owners with Multiple Homes If an owner owns more than one home as long as the homes are in the SAME Community, the MICR Check Scanning can handle it. If a Check is being split between homes, simply pick the Community, then pick the first home the payment is to be applied against and then the amount to be posted against that home. Then scan the check again. 11

15 Select the second home owned by this Owner by going back to Owner Key then select the next home in that community that is owned by this SAME owner. It will record the Bank info for this home also. The next time you scan a check from this Owner, you will see a screen to select which home to apply the payment against. Multiple Homes in Other Communities Unfortunately, a check can ONLY be deposited into one community bank account, it cannot be split into separate community bank accounts. Because of this, you cannot accept a check which pays for homes in multiple communities. You will see the pending cash receipt transaction displayed on the screen: Pending Cash Receipt Payment Distribution After entering the Amount Paid, you will see the Amount Due prior to the payment and the proposed payment distribution. The proposed payment distribution is based on the order specified in the Cash Application Table for this Community. You can change the proposed payment distribution if you wish. As you use the TAB key to move through the lines of the payment distribution, simply change the Distribution Amount showing. You can also use one of the buttons below to clear the distribution to manually distribute a payment. Delete erases the entry showing on the screen Clear Distribution erases the proposed payment distribution so you may re-enter it. 12

16 Distribute Redistributes the amount paid in the event you enter a different amount View Check If using a full check image scanner, click this button to see the image of the check. If you click the View Check button, it will show the check image on the screen like this: Notice you have these options: Back Side displays the back of the check so you can view the endorsement, if any. Print prints a copy of the check on paper. Exit returns to the check scanning screen. Scan Next Click this button to accept the payment entry as displayed on the screen. It will clear the screen saving the pending payment entry and be ready to scan another payment. Done Click this button when you have completed scanning your LAST check and are ready to complete the process. Cancel erases any changes entered on this screen and clears the screen. Click the Scan Next button to accept the entry and payment distribution. The screen will clear so you can scan your next payment. Click the Done button to proceed with Posting and Depositing the cash receipt batch. Continue in this manner for all first time check scanning. 13

17 Post Payments Once you click the Done button on the check scanning screen, you will see a recap of the cash receipts listed by community. Batch Complete - Ready to Post Until the payments are Posted, the Owners Histories, AR module and G/L module have not been updated for the payments. They are pending. By Posting the scanned payments, you complete the cash receipt entry process for these Owner checks. All the accounting files are updated for these payments. You do NOT have to select each Community to Post and make a Bank Deposit. It is done for you right here. A separate Deposit Report is printed for each Community. You can be in ANY Community when you Post payments, you do NOT have to be in a Community where there are Cash Receipts. Use this button to scan additional payments into any of the pending batches you select. Print a report showing all the scanned payments. Posting Options Notice these options at the bottom of the screen: We will explain what each of these Post functions does. Note: Post and Deposit Recommended Choice Unposted Cash Batches creates unposted cash batches in each Community where there are 14

18 scanned payments. You then have to select each Community in turn, go to the A/R & Owner Collections, select Owner Cash Receipts and Post the batch. You would only use this option if you wanted to make a correction to a payment or fix some other problems before posting a payment. If you select this option, you must enter the Receipt Date to be used for all payments in this batch. Click the Post button. You will see this screen: Unposted Batches Receipt Date Enter the Date and press the TAB key move to OK. Press OK to continue. Post and Deposit this is your most time saving option. It lets you Post and Deposit ALL payments entered at one time. A separate Deposit Report is printed for each Community. You do not have to take any further action to complete the cash receipt processing. Click the Post button. If you selected this option, you must enter the Deposit Date to be used for all the payments in this batch. You will see this screen: Post & Deposit Deposit Date Enter the Deposit Date and press the TAB key to move to OK. Press OK to continue. You must select one of these Posting options to complete the processing of the scanned checks. 15

19 Print Deposit Slip Notice there is an option to print a Deposit Ticket. It lists all the Owners, Check # s and Amounts Paid. Your bank may accept this along with the total written on a Deposit Slip so you do not have to handwrite all the payments on the bank s Deposit Slip. Note: If you are using a full check image scanner, you do NOT need to print a Deposit Slip because you do not take the deposit to the bank. The deposit is made for you electronically. Magetek Mini If you are using the Magtek Mini scanner, no image is captured so it cannot do Check 21 deposits, you are done with your cash receipt processing as soon as the cash receipt batch is Posted. There are no more steps to complete. Full Image Scanner If you are using a full image scanner and want to create a Check 21 file so your bank receives the deposit electronically, please follow the instructions in the Upload Payment Batch which follows. Upload Payment Batch If you are using a full check scanner to create a Check 21 file so that your bank receives the deposit electronically, then after Posting the payments to update TOPS, you must Upload the Payment Batch to Heartland Payment Systems to complete the deposit to your bank(s). Batch Upload Once the Posting is complete, you will automatically go to the Batch Upload screen like the example shown above. This is where you can create a Check 21 file and upload it to Heartland so you do not need to write a deposit ticket or take the deposit to the bank. Heartland will electronically make the deposit for you in each community bank account no matter how many different banks you work with. Notice that all the payments transactions in the batch or check marked by default. This means you wish to upload each payment transaction that is check marked. 16

20 Editing MICR Info In the event a check could not be read properly by the Full Image Scanner, you can correct the MICR Info for the payment here. Simply double click on the payment in question. It will open the edit screen showing the check and the MICR Info as it was read when the check was scanned: Edit Check MICR Info Notice these fields under the check image: Correct the MICR Check Info as Check Number needed based on the information ABA Number showing on the check displayed above Account Number Save Click the Save button to save changes to the MICR Check Info. Cancel Click the Cancel button to exit without saving any changes to the MICR Check Info. Once you click the Save or Cancel buttons, you will return to the Batch Details screen where you could select another payment in that Batch or Upload the Batch to Heartland. Use the Select All/Clear All buttons to check mark and uncheck the payment transactions in this batch. Use the check mark/uncheck mark to control which payment transactions to upload to Heartland or which ones to print check images for. Click the Print Checks button to print the check images for those payment transactions that are check marked. Click the Upload button to proceed with creating the Check 21 file and uploading it to Heartland Payment Services. It will only upload those payment transactions that are check marked. If you click the Upload button, then you will see this message confirming that your file was successfully uploaded: 17

21 Batch Upload Upload Successful Be sure the Message says Transmission succeeded. If so, click the OK button to clear the message. If the Message says anything else it means the transmission failed. You just check the following: - Does this computer have an open connection to the internet - Is your firewall blocking the outgoing transmission of the file - Do you have the correct User Name, Password and Store ID s on the Setup screen. Once you have fixed the issue that is blocking the transmission, you simply do the Upload again on the above screen or you may go to the History screen and Upload the batch from there as well. Heartland has protection against processing duplicate payments. Trace Number For successful transmissions, the Trace Number assigned to the cash batch by Heartland is recorded in the Batch History. You can always check the Batch History to see if the Trace Number is shown. If there is a problem with a particular scanned cash receipt batch, the Trace Number enables you to track it through the Heartland provided site and it is used by Heartland to check into and efficiently resolve any problem. Click the Exit button to exit from the Batch Upload screen without proceeding. 18

22 Panini Scanners The Panini Vision X model of scanners offer the option of high speed batch processing rather than single-feed check scanning. This is an option that must be purchased from your Panini dealer. The Panini Ideal scanner does not offer batch scanning, only single-feed check scanning. Using the Panini scanners, you can scan two types of cash receipts: Owner Cash Receipts Misc. Cash Receipts You can mix these kinds of cash receipts into the same cash batch. If you are using a Panini scanner, either the Vision X or Ideal, both full image check scanners, click the Panini button. You will then see the initial screen for scanning checks: Check Scanning Functions We ll go over each function on this screen. Select Scanner First, you must select which scanner you are using. The choices are: Vision X Single Feed or Batch Processing capable Ideal Single Feed scanning only 19

23 Select the Panini scanner you are using. Other Panini models may work as well, but TOPS only supports these two scanners. Click the Setup button to add Heartland required information, like login credentials, community Store ID s, etc. so you are ready to do Check 21 processing for electronic deposits.. Setup Important: In order to process Check 21 deposits using our integrated Heartland Payment Services solution, you will need to setup this information (as shown on screen above): Note: You will receive in a Welcome from Heartland providing the key information (User Name and Password) and the instructions to activate your service connection. User Name the web site login. This is used to log you into Heartland s secure web site so deposits can be uploaded and processed. Password the password that goes with the User Name above. Verify Password the same password entered a 2nd time for accuracy. Score Limit This is a score setting for Heartland s auto-payment OCR check amount reading service. Heartland can read the check amounts for you and download the amounts into your open cash batch in TOPS, if you wish. By default, the Score is set high at 997 out of a possible This is to make sure the auto-payment amounts you receive back from Heartland are correct. But you can lower the score if you wish to get back more auto-payment amounts, but you risk receiving incorrect amounts by doing this. ** Warning ** OCR reading of the check amounts is never 100% accurate, you must separately verify that the automatic payment amounts received back from Heartland are the correct amounts of each check. 20

24 Store ID for each community where you are processing Check 21 deposits, you must enter basic information to assign a Heartland Store ID. Each Store ID is linked to a community bank account. This is how Heartland knows which bank account to deposit owners payments into you can edit those if and when needed. Type the Store ID for the first community, press TAB to go across the row or ENTER to move down the Store ID column entering Store ID s for other communities. Each community MUST have a Store ID to be able to scan checks, then do a Check 21 deposit to Heartland. Print Endorse Message for Magtek Excella STX scanners only. There is no endorsement printing option for Panini scanners. Use the On/Off buttons to either activate or inactivate the Print Endorsement on the back of each check for ALL communities with Store ID s. Click the Save button to save changes to the Setup screen. Click the Cancel button to exit the Setup screen without saving changes. Click the History button to view all the cash batches that have been scanned in order from most recent backwards to oldest. Scan Batch History Notice the History screen shows every scanned cash batch. If the batch was uploaded to 21

25 Heartland Payment Services, then Heartland s Trace Number for the batch is displayed. If there is a problem with a particular batch, the Trace Number enables you to locate the batch online through your Heartland provided site. It is also used by Heartland to find the batch so they can help resolve any issues in the most efficient manner. If no Trace Number shows next to a cash batch, then that batch was NOT uploaded to Heartland. From the History screen you can do the following: Select - To select a scanned cash receipt batch, simply double click on it, or single click to highlight, then click the Select button. Delete - Click on a scanned cash receipt batch to delete it. Exit - Click the Exit button on the History screen to return to the initial scan screen. To select a batch to see the details of each payment, either double click on the batch or single click to highlight it, then click the Select button. You will see all the checks in the batch like this: Scanned Batch - Details Not only does it show each check in the batch, it also shows other information as well. The other information includes: Host Website the address where Check 21 Batches are uploaded. Notice you can check mark or uncheck each payment in the batch. When you check mark payments in the batch, you can then do the following: Print click this button to print a copy of an owners checks in this batch. It will print a copy for those payments that are check marked. Upload Upload the scanned cash receipt batch to Heartland. You might do this if the original batch failed to upload to Heartland for some reason. 22

26 You can only upload cash batches with the full check image to Heartland. It will upload only those payments that are check marked. Exit Exit the details and return to the batch History screen. Select All/Clear All click these buttons to check mark or uncheck payment transactions. You can then Print or Upload the check marked transactions to Heartland Payment Services. You might use this option to upload one check that failed to upload previously. Editing MICR Info In the event a check could not be read properly by the Full Image Scanner, you can correct the MICR Info for the payment here. Simply double click on the payment in question. It will open the edit screen showing the check and the MICR Info as it was read when the check was scanned: Edit Check MICR Info Notice these fields under the check image: Correct the MICR Check Info as Check Number needed based on the information Check Route # showing on the check displayed above Check Account # Check Amount Bank ID use the down browse arrow to select which community bank account the check should be deposited into Save Click the Save button to save changes to the MICR Check Info. Cancel Click the Cancel button to exit without saving any changes to the 23

27 MICR Check Info. Once you click the Save or Cancel buttons, you will return to the Batch Details screen where you could select another payment in that Batch or exit back to the Batch History screen. From here you can select another Batch from the list or exit. Click Add New to start scanning checks. See the manual section titled Scanning Checks below for a full explanation. You can select a listed check by either double clicking on the payment transaction or single click, then click the Select button. Either way will open the payment transaction so you can view the details. Highlight a listed payment transaction by clicking on it, then click the Delete button to permanently delete that transaction from the scanned cash receipt batch. Click the Exit button to exit from the Scanned Checks function. Scanning Checks Starting back at first screen for Panini scanners: Check Scanning Functions 24

28 Follow these steps for scanning checks: To begin scanning checks, click the Add New button. You will see this screen where you can start scanning checks: We ll explain each function on this screen. First, you must click the Initialize button to activate your Panini scanner. If the scanner does not react within a few seconds, then it means either the scanner is not attached properly to your computer or the Panini drivers are not properly installed on your computer. Once your scanner has been initialized, you are ready to scan checks. If the Start Feeding button is still faint with a greyed out look, it means your scanner has not been Initialized. Manual Feed - click the Start Feeding button to begin scanning checks. You can scan checks as rapidly as you can feed them into the scanner. Batch Feed - If using a Batch Feeding Panini Scanner, simply place a group of checks into the feeder, then click the Start Feeding button. The number of checks your Panini Batch Scanner can handle is based on the scanner and batch feeder options you selected when you purchased the scanner. As you scan checks, you will see each scanned check displayed on the screen: Scanned Checks 25

29 Notice it shows the image of the last check scanned, then lists all the scanned checks in the box on the right side of the screen. No communities, owners or payment amounts are shown at this point. Click the Stop Feeding button to tell the scanner you are done scanning all checks. The scanner waits for you to give it control signals when to start scanning and when to stop scanning checks. Click the Finish button to proceed with entering check amounts, checking how the checks are applied to owner balances, then Posting the scanned payments to the Owner Payment Histories and Uploading the cash batch to Heartland to complete the Check 21 deposit. Note: You MUST click the Finish button before proceeding with the Post and Upload of the payments. You cannot Delete any payments from the batch until you click Finish. If you want Heartland Payment Services to scan your checks to auto-complete the payment amounts for each check so you do not have to enter the amounts, click the PreUpload button. It will upload the check images to Heartland where they will use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to read the check amounts. It is usually a quick turnaround to receive back the check amounts, normally less than 5 minutes. Only the checks scanned with a Panini scanner and within the current cash batch will be part of this pre-upload to Heartland. 26

30 Notice that no communities, owners or amounts show for the scanned checks at this point in the process. Using the Pre-Upload button to auto-complete the check amounts is NOT the same as uploading a scanned payment batch to Heartland to complete a Check 21 deposit. You must still perform this step later in the scanning process to complete the deposit of the scanned checks. If you use this service, you will see this processing message as the checks are uploaded: Once the pre-upload of the cash batch is received by Heartland, you will see this acknowledgement message with the Trace # assigned by Heartland: ** Warning ** OCR reading of the check amounts is never 100% accurate, you must separately verify that the automatic payment amounts received back from Heartland are the correct amounts of each check. Click the Save and Exit button to save all the scanned payments. Click the Exit button to exit from the Scanned Checks screen. If you have scanned checks that have not been saved, you will be prompted to save them before exiting. 27

31 Click to select a listed check, then click the Delete button to delete that check from the cash batch. The listing of checks that can be deleted looks like this: Hint: Until you click the Finish button on the Scan Checks screen, the Delete button is not available. Get Check Amounts If you are using Heartland s auto-payment amount service to get the OCR read check amounts, follow the steps below: Open Cash Batches Notice the cash batch just scanned has Ready to Edit next to it. 28

32 Simply double click to open the batch of single click to highlight it, then click the Select button. Cash Batch We ll discuss each function on the Cash Batch screen. Get Check Amounts If you are using Heartland s auto-payment amount service to get the OCR read check amounts and already done the Pre-Upload function, use the Get Check Amounts to get the updated check amounts from Heartland. Simply click Get Check Amounts and after a few seconds, you will see the amounts filled in on the check list for any checks that were successfully read by Heartland s OCR check reading service. Accuracy Score You can set the accuracy score for Heartland s auto-payment amount in the Setup screen. By default, the score is set high at 997. That is to make sure the amounts read by Heartland are correct. You can lower the score if you wish, but doing so may decrease the accuracy of the check amounts being read by Heartland s OCR check 29

33 amount system. Auto Check Amounts Added Any payment amounts that Heartland can read that have an accuracy score that matches or exceeds the threshold amount from the Setup screen will be inserted into the cash batch and will be displayed next to the check transaction. ** Warning ** OCR reading of the check amounts is never 100% accurate, you must separately verify that the automatic payment amounts received back from Heartland are the correct amounts of each check. Complete Check Payments Notice the menu tabs above the check image. For any checks that do not show a community, owner or the Check Amount completed, you must complete the payment transaction before you can Post the cash batch and Upload it to Heartland to complete the Check 21 deposit. Likewise, for any Misc. Cash Receipts you must select the community, enter the Check Amount, then distribute the payment to GL Account # s before it can be Posted and Deposited. View Check Shows a listing of each check in the scanned cash batch. You can perform the button functions at the bottom of the screen, but you cannot edit the check transactions from View. You must switch to Owner Payment Distr. or Misc. Check Distr. in order to edit the check transactions. 30

34 You can t make changes to the payment transaction in the View mode, you must switch to one of the other menu tabs to edit the payment. Owner Payment Distr. Click this menu choice to complete any owner check transactions that are missing the community, owner or Check Amount. Payment Distribution Details Here you can select the community, owner, enter the payment amount and control how the payment is applied to the owner s balance due. We ll explain each function on the Owner Payment Distr. screen. Click Select Owner to open a browse list where you can select the community, then the owner. 31

35 By default, it will show the owners in the current community. To change communities for this payment, simply click the down browse arrow on the Community line at the top of the screen: When you check communities, it will change the list of owner to the ones in that community. Searching for Owners You can search for the owner using the filtering boxes above the owner list. This will help narrow the search list to just the owners that match so you can quickly locate the owner for this payment. For example, you could enter the owners last name, like Johnson in the Search For field (or any portion of the name), then either have it search in All Fields (the default) or select the field from the drop down list using the down browse arrow. Pick from any of these data fields to narrow your owner search: Here s an example of how the owner search drills down to just the matching owners: 32

36 As you type the search data, like the owner s last name of Johnson, it narrows to the search to show just the matching owners as shown above. Either double click on the owner to select or, if highlighted, click the Select button. Check # The check # should be displayed here from the check scanning. If it is wrong for any reason, you may correct it here. Date The check date. It defaults to today s date but it can be changed if needed. Amount Enter the total amount on the check regardless of how the payment should be distributed. Once entered, it will automatically distribute the payment against the owner s balance due based on the community s Cash Application Table. Bank ID It defaults to the community bank account from the AR Control File (Setup > Owner Data & AR Setup) as the bank account to use for deposits. Click the down browse arrow to select any other community bank account for a particular check. Click the View Check button to view the owner s check. Click the Auto Distr. button if you have changed the Amount field and wish to have TOPS distribute the new amount based on the community s Cash Application Table. Payment Distribution You have full visibility and control over how payments are applied against balances due. Notice the payment distribution area of the Owner Distr. screen: 33

37 You see a complete breakdown of the Amount Due by charge code prior to this payment. You can then manually distribute the amounts against the charge codes as you wish. It will show the Ending Balance so you make sure you are distributing the payment to get the right ending balances for this owner. You cannot Save or exit from the payment amount distribution until the Remaining Amount is $0.00. Click the Add Code button to add a charge code to this owner that is not shown. Select Charge Code If you proceed with distributing the payment against a charge code that is not shown, you will be creating a credit balance for this owner under the new charge code. Click the Save button to save any changes made to the scanned payment or payment distribution. A complete owner check payment would looks like this: Completed Owner Payment 34

38 Each payment in the scanned cash batch must have the following: Community Selected Owner Selected Check # Date Amount Paid Bank ID Payment Distribution If any of these items are missing or incomplete, the batch cannot be Posted/Deposited to TOPS AR system or uploaded to Heartland for processing the Check 21 deposit. Misc. Cash Receipts One of the benefits of the Panini check scanning system is that you can scan both owner checks and misc. cash receipts. Both kinds of cash receipts can be contained in one cash batch. No need to separate the Misc. Cash Receipts into a separate batch or presort checks before scanning. Examples of Misc. Cash Receipts are: Insurance Proceeds Tax Refunds 35

39 Vending Machine Income Community Room Rental Both the owner cash receipts and the Misc. Cash Receipts can be remotely deposited using Check 21. Highlight the scanned check in the list, then click the Misc. Check Distr. menu tab. In a cash batch mixed with owner cash receipts you can have a Misc. Cash Receipt as well. There is no need to separate Misc. Cash Receipts from owner cash receipts. The example below shows a Misc. Cash Receipt in a batch with owner cash receipts: Misc. Cash Receipt We ll explain each step for completing a Misc. Cash Receipt. Reference Enter a description of the Misc. Cash Receipts. Example Refund of Insurance Each Misc. Cash Receipts MUST have a Reference entered so you know what the payment was for. The Reference field is limited to 25 characters. Check # The check # should be displayed here from the check scanning. If it is wrong for any reason, you may correct it here. Date The check date. It defaults to today s date but it can be changed if needed. 36

40 Amount Enter the total amount on the check regardless of how the payment should be distributed. You will distribute the Misc. Cash Receipt against GL Account # s in a later step discussed below. Bank ID Before you can select a Bank ID you must select the community. If you do not select a community, the Bank ID will remain blank. Once a community is selected, it defaults to the community bank account from the AR Control File (Setup > Owner Data & AR Setup) as the bank account to use for deposits. Click the down browse arrow to select any other community bank account for a particular check. Click the Select Community button to open a browse list of communities. Select Community Double click to select the community or single click to highlight it, then click Select. Click the View Check button if you need to view the check itself. It displays at the top of the screen above the Misc. Cash Receipt distribution. Click the Select G/L Account button to open a browse list of the Chart of Accounts for this community. Unlike owner cash receipts where payments are automatically against charge codes distributed according to the Cash Application Table, with Misc. Cash Receipts you must distribute the payments directly against GL Account # s based on 37

41 why you are receiving this payment. You will see the Chart of Accounts list so you can select a GL Account: Select Account Double click to select the GL Account or single click to highlight it, then click Select. Distribute Amount You can select as many GL Account # s as you wish entering the amount to be credited to each one. For each new GL Account # selected, it moves the remaining balance to complete the distribution of the amount paid to the new line, but you can overtype it to enter a different amount. You cannot exit from the distribution area until there is $0.00 in the Remaining Amount above the payment distribution. This is to prevent an out of balance situation where the payment distribution does not match the total amount paid on a check. Click the Save button to save any changes made to the scanned payment or payment distribution. A complete Misc. Cash Receipt check payment would looks like this: Completed Misc. Cash Receipt 38

42 Each payment in the scanned cash batch must have the following: Community Selected Reference Check # Date Amount Paid Bank ID Payment Distribution If any of these items are missing or incomplete, the batch cannot be Posted/Deposited to TOPS AR system or uploaded to Heartland for processing the Check 21 deposit. Click the Batch Summary menu tab to check the status of each scanned cash receipt batch. Recommendation: We recommend viewing the Batch Summary before Posting to make sure the batch is complete. Once you click the Batch Summary menu tab, you will see a summary of the scanned cash receipt batch: Batch Summary 39

43 This displays the status of the batch showing the total number of scanned checks and total amount in the batch, regardless of the amount for each community. Total Validated Checks should match the total number of checks in the batch. Total Incompleted Checks If this is any number other than zero (0), then you have checks that still need to be completed. There are missing either: Total Checks this should match the Total Validated Checks. If it does not, then there are Incompleted Checks. Total Checks Amount the total amount of the scanned check batch regardless how much will be deposited in each community. Once you have reviewed the Batch Summary and made sure the batch is complete and ready to be Posted, you can proceed with the Post function. Click the Print button to print a report showing all the payments in a scanned check batch. This can be a handy way to proof a batch if there are any Incomplete Checks showing in the Batch Summary. Post Payments When you are done entering check amounts and distributing payments so there are no Incomplete Checks showing in the Batch Summary, you are ready to complete the process. Until the payments are Posted, 40

44 the Owners Histories, AR module and G/L module have not been updated for the payments. They are still pending. By Posting the scanned payments, you complete the cash receipt entry process for these Owner checks. All the accounting files are updated for these payments. Batch Ready to Post You do NOT have to select each Community to Post and make a Bank Deposit. It is done for you right here. A separate Deposit Report is printed for each Community. You can be in ANY Community when you Post payments, you do NOT have to be in a Community where there are Cash Receipts. Click the Post button at the bottom of the batch screen. You can be on any of the menu tabs for the Panini batch scanning when you click the Post button. Here the Post function will updated the owner payment histories for these scanned payments and also complete the bank deposit in TOPS. Enter Deposit Date 41