After you preview a lockbox file and confirm what each cheque will do, you can import the rows to create payments in Finance & Billing. This article explains how to run the import and read the results.
Use this when you are ready to commit a lockbox file's previewed rows as payments. Do not use this to test what will happen before you commit. First use Preview What a Lockbox Import Will Do, because Rhythm commits the import as soon as you select the button and does not show a confirmation dialog.
Prerequisites
- You need a lockbox file that has already been previewed, with a bank account, batch, and payment type set. See Set Up or Change a Lockbox File if you haven't configured one yet.
- You need to be signed in to Console for your account. You do not need any specific permission beyond being signed in to run this import.
- Review the preview rows before you import. Rhythm does not ask you to confirm after you select the button, so the payments commit immediately.
Import a Lockbox File's Payments
- Go to Integrations › Rhythm Lockbox, then open the file you already previewed by selecting Edit. If you are still in the upload wizard, continue from there.
- Step through to the Lockbox File Preview step, then review the rows one more time.
- Select Process Payments.
- Wait while Rhythm processes each row in order. Larger files can take longer.
- On the Success step, note the Imported and Not Imported counts.
- Select Continue to Results to return to the lockbox files list.
Result
Rhythm creates one payment in Finance & Billing for each row it can successfully apply, then marks the lockbox file Completed. The Imported count shows how many rows became payments, and Not Imported counts rows that the preview marked No Action. If a row's payment attempt fails, Rhythm leaves it out of both counts, so Imported and Not Imported may not add up to the total rows in the file.
Warning
Do not run the import a second time on the same file. Reprocessing sends every previewed row through payment creation again, and Rhythm does not check whether those rows were already imported. A second run creates another set of payments instead of skipping rows already paid. Those duplicate payments can also flow into an automated accounting export your association downloads, where they can be difficult or impossible for the receiving system to correct later.
How Rows Are Processed
Rhythm processes rows one at a time and records the outcomes after the whole batch finishes. If a row's payment attempt fails, such as when Finance & Billing refuses it, Rhythm marks the row Payment Failed without more detail and continues with the remaining rows instead of stopping the import.
Tip
If the Success step's counts look wrong, or if a large file seems to have stalled partway through, open the file's results view from the lockbox files list instead of running the import again. The results view shows exactly which rows became payments, which failed, and which were skipped, without creating anything new.
If It Fails
- The import shows an error and won't proceed. Rhythm reports a general failure to process the file's rows. Check that the file's bank account and batch still exist and are open in Finance & Billing, then try again.
- Processing succeeded but the file's status update failed, or you paused or exited before the process finished. Payments may already have been created even though the file still shows In Progress. Leaving the page or pausing partway through can leave the file in this same state. Check the file's results before you import it again, so you don't create duplicate payments.
- A specific row shows Payment Failed. Rhythm does not record why the row failed. Check that row's matched invoice and payment amount directly in Finance & Billing to understand what went wrong.
- A row looked fine when it was imported, but shows a failure later. Some payment types, including cheques, can take additional time to validate. If that validation fails after the file already shows Completed, the payment can still turn out to have failed, even though nothing looked wrong on the day you imported it.
Related
See Find, Review, and Delete Lockbox Files for reviewing an import's results afterward, and Preview What a Lockbox Import Will Do for checking rows before you commit them.