Before you start

Please download the suggested API integration process flow document and use it as a reference when developing.
Kindly adhere to the Netcash brand guidelines when developing.

 

Programmers Guide

Refer to our Programmers guide for more detail on how to apply the required methodology in this document.
Ensure that the settings for developers are adhered to before you proceed with your implementation.

 

Web Service Methods

The list of Netcash web service methods can be found here.

 

Quick Start Guides

Quick Start Guides will help you understand this service and get you started.

Overview

DebiCheck is a preferential debit order system requiring the bank account holder to give specific electronic permission (via their bank) prior to any debit order being processed.

Contract Types

  1. Fixed: terms of the contract remain unchanged. For example, a gym contract.
  2. Variable: contract terms may change. eg, a home loan may vary in line with the prevailing interest rates. *Note
  3. Usage-based: terms of the contract change regularly. eg, a cellphone bill may vary monthly based on usage.

Authentication Options

Registered Mandate Service (RMS)
When a request from the bank to the customer to approve a mandate is not actioned by the customer, and the request expires, you can register a “RMS Mandate” against the customers’ account with the same detail as agreed in the underlying contract. When an RMS Mandate is registered, the customer will not be required to authenticate the mandate, however they will be able to dispute or suspend (place a stop payment) against the mandate.
RMS must be requested in the DebiCheck authentication process and must be registered within 10 days of the original authentication.

Important

A new record must be added to the Debit Order master file where the Account Reference does not already exist. DebiCkeck Authentication can only be processed if the Debit Order master file entry exists.

 

Disputability

This service allows a remote system to request DebiCheck authentication on an existing mandate not initiated via the Netcash electronic mandate service.

The Debit order Master file entry will be updated with the DebiCheck mandate authentication where the Account Reference (101) supplied exists.

Technical Information

 

Input

Requests to the web service is sent as a string.

Example:  public string BatchFileUpload(string ServiceKey, string File)

Output

Successful request

If the method call was successful and the file is being processed, the web service will return a file token which is used to retrieve the load report

Example:  20000000.2550236530.0483.2.2

 


Unsuccessful request

If the method call fails, the web service will return an error code:

Code Description
100 Authentication failure. Ensure that the service key in the method call is correct
102 Parameter error. One or more of the parameters in the string is incorrect
200 General code exception. Please contact Netcash Technical Support.
203 Collection day frequency code is invalid for the Installment occurrence selected

Input File Structure

Each file has the following mandatory records:

H – Header record identifies the upload and passes instructions to the Netcash server to determine the purpose of the file.
K – Key record must follow the header record. The key record describes the transaction records which follow. The format defined in the key record is used to validate the record structure and content.
T – Transaction records follow the key record. The fields in the transaction records must conform to the layout defined in the key.
F – Footer record must be the last record in the file and confirms that the file is complete.


Header record (H)

Every file must contain a header record as the first record in the file.


Record Structure

Field Name Type Value
1 Record Identifier AN H
2 Service Key AN Service GUID
3 Version AN 1
4 Instruction AN Purpose of the file
5 Batch name AN Your identifier
6 Action date N CCYYMMDD
7 Software vendor key AN The key issued by Netcash to identify the software origin of transactions. (only used by Netcash ISV‘s else use the default value: 24ade73c-98cf-47b3-99be-cc7b867b3080)

Field explanations

Field Explanation
Record Id “H” – Identifies the record as a header
Service key Debit order service key
Version “1” – This is the Netcash version of the file specification
Instruction DebiCheckAuthentication
Batch name Use this field as an identifier of your batch.
Action date Current date
Software Vendor Key The key issued by Netcash to identify the software origin of transactions. (only used by Netcash ISV‘s else use the default value: 24ade73c-98cf-47b3-99be-cc7b867b3080)

Key record (K)

  • The key record is mandatory and must appear in the file between the header record and the transaction records.
  • The key defines the content, order and length of the transaction records in the file. It can be likened to the column headings in a spreadsheet.
  • The key lists all the possible fields contained in the subsequent transaction records, even if not every transaction record contains data in all the fields.
  • While the file is customizable, it is recommended that keys are listed in ascending numerical order for ease of debugging and support.

Transaction record (T)

  • There must be at least one transaction record in the file.
  • The transaction records must conform to the order of the fields as described in the key record.
    (In the example above, the account reference (field id 138) is defined as the first field in the record, therefore, every transaction record MUST have the Budget as the first field or it will fail validation)
  • Every transaction record must have the same number of fields as defined in the key record (K).
  • Empty fields should be replaced by a blank tab or a default value, where one has been defined.
    Where fields are left empty, the Netcash system will assume spaces or zeroes for fields defined in the key record.

Mandatory fields

The fields indicated by are mandatory for the specified instruction.

 

Key Field name Mandatory

See key legend for value requirements
Type Description
101 Account reference AN32 The reference of the Debit order Master file account
102 Account name AN50 The name of the Debit order Master file account
111 ID number AN13 SA ID number
127 Is ID number N1 0 = Not an SA ID number
1 = is an SA ID (CDV validation applied before submission to the bank)
132 Bank account name AN30 The name of the account holder
133 Bank account type N1 1 = cheque
2 = savings
134 Branch code N6 The six digit branch code
136 Account number N16 The bank account number
201 Email address AN50 Email address of account holder
202 Mobile number N11 Mobile number of account holder
242 DebiCheck template identifier AN14 The reference of your pre-defined DC template as created on the Netcash system EG: NCDCT000000003 *See important note
243 DebiCheck collection amount N In cents
246 DebiCheck first collection differs N1 0 = first collection amount is the same as field 243
1 = first collection amount is different to field 243
247 DebiCheck first collection amount N In cents
248 DebiCheck first collection date N8 CCYYMMDD
250 Collection frequency day code AN7 Collection day code *See codes here

NOTE: These fields are not required in the input file as they are hard-coded in the Netcash system

131 Banking detail type Only bank accounts are permitted (assume 1)
135 Expiry year / Filler Pertains to credit cards only (assume 0)
241 Include DebiCheck authentication Assume 1 (True)

The template on the Netcash Account must be setup for TT2 (batch) authentication. This specific service does not offer real-time authentication and data sent to this endpoint will processed as a “Batch Instruction” (non realtime) – irrespective of whether the template is set to process the data as realtime.

Footer record (F)

The footer record indicates that the complete file has been received. It must be the last record in the file. If the record is not present, the system will fail the file without processing any transaction records.

Structure

Field Name Type Value
1 Record Identifier AN F
2 No of transactions N A count of the transaction records
3 Sum of amounts N The sum of the monetary fields (in cents)
4 End-of-file indicator N 9999

 

Field explanations

Field Explanation
Record Identifier “F” – Identifies the record as a footer
No of transactions This is the count of all the ‘T’ records in the file.
Sum of amounts This is the sum of all the values in the 161 fields.
End-of-file indicator ‘9999’ – Indicates there are no more records.

 

Example  F 2 0 9999

 

Postback option

A postback feature has been activated for this service.
Data regarding each DebiCheck authentication will be sent to the postback URL  when received from the account holders’ bank.
The data received will be sent to the postback URL as setup in the NetConnector profile settings of the Netcash account.


Using the file token, call:

  • Web service: https://ws.netcash.co.za/niws/niws_nif.svc
  • Method: RequestFileUploadReport
  • Service key:  Debit Order service key

Requests to the web service are sent as strings

Example:  public string RequestFileUploadReport(string ServiceKey, string FileToken)

Output file

File content

Only errors are reported in the file. If all the entries in the file are successfully validated, the Load report header will contain “SUCCESSFUL” and there will be no detail messages.

 

File structure

The report is tab delimited with a linefeed character as line terminator.

Load Report

Output file

File content

Only errors are reported in the file. If all the entries in the file are successfully validated, the Load report header will contain “SUCCESSFUL” and there will be no detail messages.

 

File structure

The report is tab-delimited with a linefeed character as a line terminator.

Load report header

(occurs once at the start of each load report)

Field

Name

Type

Value

1

Record identifier

AN8

###BEGIN

2

Batch name

AN

{your batch name}

3

Result of upload

A13

SUCCESSFUL / UNSUCCESSFUL /
SUCCESSFUL WITH ERRORS

4

Start time of report

AN8

HH:MM AM/PM

 

Load report message

(occurs multiple times – once per error record)

Field

Name

Type

Value

1

Unique reference

AN25

The unique reference you supplied in (p2)

2

Line number

AN

Line :{line in your file where error was found}

3

Error message

AN

The error message

OR

1

Record identifier

AN8

###ERROR

2

Error message

AN

The error message

 

Load report trailer

(occurs once – the last line in the report)

Field

Name

Type

Value

1

Record identifier

AN6

###END

2

End time of report

AN8

HH:MM AM/PM

Response

Netcash receives the file of DebiCheck authentication requests and processes them via the sponsoring bank. Requests are sent to the issuing bank via Bankserv for authentication by the account holder. Responses are returned via the same channels.

Once received by Netcash, the responses are posted back to the URL configured under the Debit order section of the Netconnector menu.

 

"AccountReference": <merchant account reference>
"ContractReference": <contract reference>
"Process": Initiation
"Status": Accepted / Rejected
"RMS": true/ false
"Timestamp": yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffK
"type": DEBICHECKRESULT

Examples

Status: Accepted
Client response: Accepted

Accepted

Status: Cancelled
Client response: Accepted

Cancelled

Status: Rejected
Client response: Rejected

Rejected

Status: Rejected
Client response: No response

Netcash brand guidelines

Please refer to the Netcash brand guidelines here when using any logos, images, icons, labels, descriptions, and references to Netcash in your software.

Testing

See Testing section for more details. If you require any integration assistance contact our technical support team

Netcash may provide example/sample/demo ‘code snippets’ and/or external links in this Technical Document. Such are for guidance purposes only and may not function on every developer’s system/s. Netcash disclaims any and all liability for the usage of guidance resources provided -and you as the Developer; must accept full responsibility for the usage of such. While every possible effort has been taken to ensure compatibility across multiple system configurations, the contents of this document cannot be guaranteed to work on all systems, with all operating systems -and/or with all system configuration/s.