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Changes to Accommodate the New Electronic Payment Process

Posted Date: 03/21/2018

Changes to Accommodate the New Electronic Payment Process

The State of Arkansas has partnered with WEX to use virtual credit cards as a method of paying our vendors. This new payment method is only available for payments made from Treasury funds via the nightly payment run. 

Payments made from Non-AASIS House Bank or House Banks other than ‘TREAS’ are not affected and will continue with no changes, regardless of fund.

Vendors are currently being contacted to ask if they are interested in being paid with a virtual card. Vendors must enroll with WEX in order to receive payment via this method. Enrollment is voluntary for vendors. 

If a vendor elects to enroll, only the new payment method will be permitted for payments from the TREAS house bank (funds held in Treasury).

What Will Change?

The new payment option works with existing AASIS processes. 

Invoices will process through the nightly payment run as they currently do, but the money will be directed to a bank account swept by WEX as they issue the virtual cards. Agency Accounts Payable staff will see new payment method ‘E’ and associated Partner Bank Type ‘EPAY’ on invoice entry and posting transactions. The payment method indicates the invoice will be paid via virtual card, and the partner bank directs the money to the appropriate bank account.

For enrolled vendors, payment method ‘E’ and Partner Bank Type ‘EPAY’ will be the only selections allowed with House Bank ‘TREAS’.   

Agencies will be provided with methods to track the status of the virtual cards.

Invoice Entry and Posting

For invoices to enrolled vendors against ‘TREAS’ house bank, agencies will see the following changes:

1. Payment method ‘E’ is included in the drop-down list on FB60, MIRO, and other transactions; it should also be in any input files used to create vendor invoices (BSEG or Z_GLT_PARK).
2. Partner Bank Type ‘EPAY’ will be added to enrolled vendors.
3. There are new error messages on invoice transactions (FB60, FBV0, MIRO, etc…)

                o      “Payment Method ‘E’ required for this vendor.”

                            *    If a vendor has elected enrollment in this payment option, agencies can no longer use ‘W’ or ‘A’ on invoices to that vendor with House Bank ‘TREAS’.                                            
                            *     Invoices to any house bank other than ‘TREAS’ will not receive this error on enrolled vendors.

               o       “Payment method not authorized for vendor.”

                           *     If the vendor is NOT enrolled, Payment Method ‘E’ is not permitted.

               o        “Partner Bank Type must be EPAY for payment method E.”

                          *     If the Payment Method is ‘E’, the only Partner Bank Type permitted is ‘EPAY’ and it is required.

 Nightly Payment Run

The nightly payment run process will not be affected by the new payment method. Invoices with payment method ‘E’ will go through the payment run with the other invoices and be included in the ZWARR_DETAIL report. 

Reporting

Agencies will have two options for tracking the status of the virtual cards:  The WEX payment portal and a new transaction to be deployed in AASIS. 

      >  WEX will provide each agency with access to a portal where agency users can see the status of each payment. This will be available to no more than two users per agency.

     >  WEX will provide data to AASIS as cards are redeemed by the vendors. AASIS will provide a report that combines the WEX data with ZWARR_DETAIL data so agencies can see which vendors have received payment and when. More to come             on this transaction later.

 When Will the Changes Begin?

Vendor enrollment is underway now. Payments using this payment method should begin next week, 3/26/2018, for enrolled vendors. DFA-Office of State Purchasing will be updating vendor master records to include Payment Method ‘E’ as WEX notifies them of enrollments.

Until the vendor master records are updated to include Payment Method ‘E’, DFA-Office of Accounting will be blocking invoices to enrolled vendors and assisting agencies with correcting the invoice.

Payments using Payment Method ‘E’ will be restricted to a limited number of vendors for a few days until Office of Accounting has verified the process is working correctly.