What do I need to do to prepare for the Gateway Transition?

Before your transition can be scheduled you must complete some preparatory activities:

• Your agency uses credit card and ACH processors not supported by the new gateway. Prior to transition, you'll need to review and sign credit card and ACH processing agreements with our new providers.
  • If you have already engaged with our project team on this process we will review what documentation we currently have and determine what your next steps are.

• Develop a communication plan.
  • What needs to be communicated?
    • Your members will need to re-enter their saved payment information.
    • For members on Auto Pay who do not update their saved payment information, we will process a maximum of two recurring payments before disabling the profile and removing the member from Auto Pay.
  • What can you do to communicate with your members about this change?
    • Incorporate a message into the next billing statement that follows your transition.
    • Springbrook can assist you in obtaining a list of member emails for “active” CivicPay Online members who will need to re-enter their saved payment information.
    • Incorporate information about the gateway transition into your custom message fields in CivicPay Online.
    • Proceed with caution for any direct messaging to members prior to the transition event. It is not possible to create a saved payment method that is valid for the new gateway until after the transition. Prior notification could have the unintended consequence of creating frustration on the members part.

• Select a new batch cutoff time and settlement time.
  • Your settlement and batch cutoff times will change slightly.
    • The available settlement times for Bluefin differ in granularity from Merchant Partners.
    • During the transition we will align batch time settings between the Gateway and CivicPay systems. Using the chart below, we will select the closest match to your current settlement time and update your Cash Receipts Batch Cutoff Time to match it.
    • Following the transition you will need to coordinate changes to settlement and batch cutoff time with our support team. It is important you do not modify your batch cutoff time without consulting Springbrook support staff. Doing so could lead to reconciliation issues.
    • Regardless of your card processor settlement time and Cash Receipts Batch Cutoff Time, the settlement time for ACH transactions is 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern. This differs slightly from Merchant Partners ACH settlements which occur at 2:00 p.m. ACH settlement times are not configurable.
      • Settlement batching occurs within a window that begins at the listed times but may extend up to 15 minutes.

• Understand the key components (takeaways) for the transition.

• Select and date and time to transition.
  • Obtain the estimated date that merchant agreements and utility rates (if applicable) will be in place.
  • Consider your billing and recurring payments schedule. You will likely want to schedule your transition to occur after a recurring payments processing event and prior to the next recurring payments processing event. Goals are:
    • Giving customers who are signed up for auto pay time to replace their payment method before your next payment date.
    • Having an opportunity to communicate this change with your next billing.
  • We will completely handle the technical gateway transition event and you will not need to make any changes to your Springbrook environment for the transition to occur. Your IT staff engagement is not required for the gateway transition.
  • You have an option to have the Gateway Transition happen during a maintenance window in which your CivicPay Online site is offline. This is a risk mitigation choice. Taking the site offline prevents any possibility of a failed attempt to process a payment while the transition is happening. The transition should take under a minute to complete.

• Provide a primary contact who is the responsible party for communicating within your agency.

• Set up your users in CivicPay Center and CivicPay Online for access to Payments and Settlements reporting. Have users opt in to receive daily settlement emails if desired.

• Review reconciliation best practice documentation and instructions.

• You will be asked to complete a signoff prior to your transition.