Dynamics 365 Positive Pay File Generation for Payroll
Today’s topic is Fraud Prevention. The specific tool on the topic of Fraud Prevention is Positive Pay, sometimes referred to as SafePay. You’re thinking, that’s not new! Dynamics AX has had that for a while. The cool part is that it is, as the advertising industry likes to say, “New and Improved” for Dynamics 365 for Operations (formerly known as Dynamics AX). Let’s review the functionality and the improvements will be clear.
Consider Security for Positive Pay
Positive Pay files equip the financial institutions with information to be used to verify checks issued to vendors and employees. The information is obviously very sensitive confidential information and steps must be taken to insure the data is available to only those that absolutely need it. Specific privileges are available to make that simple.
- PayrollPositivePayProcess – necessary to allow generation of the file for Payroll, as well as confirmation and recall options
- PayrollPositivePayView – necessary to allow view access to the file for Payroll
Positive Pay Setup
First, the file format has to be set up. A discussion with the bank to determine the file format acceptable to their system is a must. Once that is determined, a Transformation Input Format, of the XML type, is used to massage the Dynamics 365 data into the required format.
Navigate to Cash and Bank Management > Setup > Payroll Positive Pay Formats (or Positive Pay Formats for setting up AP).
Click the Upload File Used for Transformation button to locate the File Location.
Next, the File Format must be assigned to the Bank account as well, by navigating to the Bank Account page.
Note: Enter a start date to avoid including all checks in the file, from the beginning of time.
So far so good? Ok, now let’s look at generating a file for the Payroll run. A file can be generated for a single bank account or for multiple banks accounts!
Generating A Positive Pay File
For a single Bank Account file, the file generation is triggered from the Bank Account page. Look for the Manage Payments tab and the Positive Pay group. Click the Payroll Positive Pay button.
To generate the file for multiple bank accounts, locate the Periodic Task:
Of course, the Positive Pay file can be viewed by navigating to the Inquiries and Reports:
From there, the details of the file can be reviewed, the file can be confirmed and recalled.
In Summary …
- No more Outbound Ports needed.
- No AIF, not supported in the new architecture.
- File format set up now part of Cash and Bank Management Setup, not System Administration!
- Files are generated on demand when needed, and no longer with a Batch job.
- Security can be managed more tightly. No longer is access to Positive Pay an all or nothing proposition. Those who need Positive Pay access for Payroll can be managed separately from those needing it for AP.
- Overall a smoother process! Enjoy!