How does Bankfeed work in BC?

To understand Bankfeed's processes and way of working in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central here is a simplified diagram.

This flowchart describes the 6 main steps in the process of processing bank statements, from the upload of the file in the system to the posted entries in Business Central.

All these steps, from receiving bank statements to Business Central, to transferring the parsed entries to the journals, and even to posting them, can be carried out in the automatically rotating job queue set up by the function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed).

For a more detailed understanding of the operating process, or in case you need to carry out certain steps manually, we go on to explain each of them in more detail.

Function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed)

This function is the main function that performs all the processes from the upload of the bank statement to the system, its parsing, to its import in the journal and even to entries posting.

This function can also be used to perform manual actions.

Each customer chooses the level of automation considering his processes and risks.

Statement Upload

In this chapter we will introduce you to statement upload process, how it works and answer most frequent questions.

How to import statements?

Statements are imported to Business Central periodically by Job Queue Entry, which is running function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed).
But sometimes there can be cases when statements are not uploaded (Job Queue Entry stopped, statement was formed later and etc.) to Business Central. Then we need to run function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed) manually.

If you mark Receive Statement Batches, statements will be uploaded to Business Central.
All uploaded bank statements will be saved in page Received/Sent Documents /Statement Batches (Bankfeed)

Where to find uploaded bank statements in Business Central?

All uploaded files will always be stored in the Statement Batches (Bankfeed) or Received/Sent Documents (Bankfeed). From here files can be Downloaded (Download Document)for review if needed, and from here it is possible to run entries parsing (Parse Statement Batch).

How to upload the same statements once again?

Bankfeed uploads only those statements which have not been uploaded before. But sometimes there can situations when the client needs to upload again statements which have already been uploaded. For example, we have imported statements into the wrong environment (Sandbox) and we want to import them into the main environment (Production). For such cases, function Mark Statement Batches as Unread which marks the statements as not received (unread) can be used.

Select the file and click to run function Mark Statement Batches as Unread. You will receive a message asking if we want to delete the related statements and lines. If you agree, entries from Statements (Bankfeed) list and the Statement Lines (Bankfeed) tables will be deleted.

Statements with status Marked as Unread can be uploaded, parsed and statement lines filled in journals (with function Process Bank Statements (Bankfeed)) once again.

Statement Parsing

In this chapter we will introduce you to statement parsing process, how it works and answer most frequent questions.

How to Parse an uploaded statement batch?

Uploaded statements batches are parsed in Business Central periodically by Job Queue Entry, which is running function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed).
If you need to run parsing, there are two ways to do this:

1. Run function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed) with selection Parse Statement Batches.

2. If only parsing needed it also can be run from page Statement Batches (Bankfeed) or Received/Sent Documents (Bankfeed). Select the statement batch you want to parse and click the Parse Statement Batch button in the action bar.

The status of the file Received changes to Parsed.

The parsing of the files creates entries in Statement Lines (Bankfeed).

Where can i see parsed Statement Batch lines?

After uploading and parsing statements, in the Statements (Bankfeed) page you can see all that statement lines before and after posting.

In this page Statement Lines (Bankfeed), which are not yet posted and Posted Statement Lines (Bankfeed), which are already posted can be filtered and seen by:

• Statement Batch ID
• Bank Account No.
• Currency Code
• Start and End Dates

Statements (Bankfeed) page can be opened through Search or from the Statement Lines (Bankfeed) page by selecting the line and clicking "Statements" in the action pane - then all lines of that statement are opened.

By clicking Manage in Lines you will be able to reach a lot of actions and functions.

What is Statement Lines (Bankfeed)?

Parsing statement batch creates Statement Lines (Bankfeed), which shows all statement transactions details from XML file and also recognition progress. It can be opened from the Statements (Bankfeed) page, by applying filters, or via Search.

Information about the recognition:

How to Refresh recognition of Statement Lines (Bankfeed)?

If, while checking Statement lines (Bankfeed), we notice that something has not been recognized because the information in the cards was incorrect, or we updated recognition formulas and we want to repeat recognition after correcting it, we can do this by clicking Refresh Recognition in the action bar.

We can also edit identified customers in Bank Statement Lines if needed, by clicking Edit Lines in the action bar. Usually, the identified information is corrected in journal.

How to skip some Statement lines (Bankfeed) from posting?

Sometimes there can be cases when we need to skip some Statement Lines (Bankfed) from posting. It can be done by using function Skip Posting, which allows to transfer the transactions from the Statement Lines (Bankfeed) to the Posted Statement Lines (Bankfeed) without posting it in the journal.

After transfer to Posted Statement Lines (Bankfeed) a line will have status Skipped Posting.

Bank Statement transfer to Journals

In this chapter we will introduce you to uploading statement lines to journal lines and managing journals.

What journal is used for statement upload, what is the different?

In the Set up Bankfeed Connection Assisted Setup, or in the Integration Setup (Bankfeed), you need to choose which journal will be used for statement uplaod. There are two options:

• Payment Reconciliation Journal
  If Payment Reconciliation Journal is used, Bankfeed transfers statement lines to it, recognition and application is done by standard Payment Reconciliation Journal Business Central functionality.
• General journal (payment or cash receipt journal template)
  If General Journal is used, Bankfeed recognizes bank transactions, transfers Bank statement lines information to journal lines and applies entries.

How to upload imported statement lines to the journal?

Statements are uploaded to selected journals periodically by Job Queue Entry, which is running function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed). But sometimes there can be cases when you need to upload journal with statement lines manually. For this run function Process Statement Batches (Bankfeed) with selection Fill Journals.

What information about the statement transaction is in the Journal?

As Bankfeed do not use any recognition logic in Payment Reconcilition Journal, in this chapter we will introduce you only with General Journal lines information.

Where can I see if the payment amount is fully applied with the recognized documents?

In the Payment Journal (or Cash Receipts Journal, depending on usage), there is a field Initial Application Full (Bankfeed), where a tick is marked when the payment amount is fully applied to the recognized documents. This field allows us to identify which payments are fully applied and which are not, and to check and adjust application.

Where Statement Lines can be found after Posting?

After posting Statement lines in the journal or using the Skip Posting function, transactions are moved to the Posted Statement Lines (Bankfeed) table.
Posted Statement Lines (Bankfeed) can be opened from the Statements (Bankfeed) page or via Search.

How to identify vendor payments which were exported from Business Central?

If you prepare and export vendor payments from Business Central, and leave it unposted until you are sure they are confirmed in bank, using Bankfeed when statement is uploaded and parsed it its checked if these vendor payments are made in Business Central, and if they are found, applications made in payment entries are transferred to Statement lines. It means, you do not need to apply them once again. Prepared payments can be deleted from the journal.

How to know which of your made payments are now back in statement?

Follow these steps:

1. Open Payment journal (in which payments were exported) batch.

2. Click Process > Match Statement Lines (Bankfeed).

3. Lines which are found in Statement Lines (Bankfeed) are marked as Matching Statement Line Exists (Bankfeed).

4. Now then you know which payments are already imported in Statement Lines, you can delete payment lines which you have prepared for export and post journal lines which are imported.

Where can i see Bankfeed error messages?

If any errors accur during bank statement upload, parsing, of journal upload, you will get an error message. To see it, in the Search box enter Log Entries (Bankfeed).

This window will display the error messages that the system has encountered when processing bank statements.