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
e-Mandate request is a web service that allows a remote system to send batched electronic requests for electronic debit order mandates to account holders for authorization.
Technical Information
- Web service: https://ws.netcash.co.za/niws/niws_nif.svc
- Method: BatchFileUpload
- Service key: Debit order service key
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. |
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)
files must contain a header record being 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 |
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 | Mandates |
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) |
Example H C74EF975-5429-4663-85FB-2A64CA0FB9EF 1 Mandates My Test Batch 20100331 24ade73c-98cf-47b3-99be-cc7b867b3080
Key record (K)
- The key record is mandatory and appears in the file between the header record and the transaction records.
- The key record is mandatory and appears 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.
Example
K 101 102 161 110 114 113 121 122 123 202 530 531 532 534 535 536 540 541 202 311
Transaction record (T)
- There must be at least one transaction record in the file.
- 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 |
101 | Account reference | |
102 | Mandate name | |
103 | Mandate active | |
110 | Is Consumer | |
113 | Surname | |
114 | First name | |
117 | Date of Birth | |
119 | Title | |
121 | Trading name | |
122 | Registration number | |
123 | Registered name | |
126 | Bank account verification number (ID number/Company registration number) | |
127 | Is ID number | |
131# | Mandate type (Bank account or Credit card) | |
132# | Bank account name/Name on Credit card | |
133# | Bank account type/Credit card type | |
134# | Branch code/Expiry month | |
135# | Filler/Expiry year | |
136# | Bank Account number / Credit card token | |
161 | Default mandate amount | |
201 | Email address | |
202 | Account holder mobile number (N10) eg. 0801234567 | |
241 | Include DebiCheck authentication | |
242 | DebiCheck mandate template Identifier | |
243 | DebiCheck collection amount | |
246 | DebiCheck first collection differs | |
247 | DebiCheck first collection amount | |
248 | DebiCheck first collection date | |
250 | Collection frequency day code | |
281 | Debit Masterfile group | |
311 | Field 1 | |
312 | Field 2 | |
313 | Field 3 | |
314 | Field 4 | |
315 | Field 5 | |
316 | Field 6 | |
317 | Field 7 | |
318 | Field 8 | |
319 | Field 9 | |
341 | Phone number | |
530 | Debit Frequency | |
531 | Commencement month | |
532 | Commencement day (debit day options) | |
533 | December debit day | |
534 | Agreement date | |
535 | Agreement reference number | |
536 | Cancellation notice period | |
537 | Allow variable debit amounts | |
538 | Request AVS | |
539 | Additional clauses | |
540 | Send mandate | |
541 | Debit day on a public holiday | |
542 | Add to Masterfile |
If one or more of the banking/card detail fields indicated by a “#“ above is included in the transaction line; all the banking/card detail fields indicated by # above become mandatory. Although not mandatory for using this web service; fields 131 – 136 must all be present in the request if one or more of the fields (131-136) are sent,
Field explanations
Field | Name | Type | Value See key legend for value requirements |
101 | Mandate reference | AN22 | The unique reference for this client. Use the Masterfile reference if the client already exists in your debit order Masterfile. |
102 | Mandate name | AN50 | The name of your client’s account on the Netcash system |
103 | Mandate active | N1 | 0 = Inactive 1 = Active |
110 | Consumer/Commercial | N | 0 = Company 1 = Individual |
113 | Surname | AN50 | Your client’s surname. For a Commercial mandate, the surname of the person who will sign the mandate |
114 | First name | AN50 | Your client’s first name. For a Commercial mandate, the first name of the person who will sign the mandate |
117 | Date of birth | N8 | CCYYMMDD |
119 | Title | N1 | 1 = Mr 2 = Mrs 3 = Ms 4 = Miss 5 = Dr 6 = Prof |
121 | Company trading name | AN50 | trading name of the company signing the mandate (leave blank for individuals) |
122 | Company registration number | AN50 | registration number of the company signing the mandate (leave blank for individuals) |
123 | Company registered name | AN50 | registered name of the company signing the mandate (leave blank for individuals) |
126 | Bank account verification number | AN | This field contains the identifying number linked to the bank account. (EG: ID number or Company registration number of the account holder) |
127 | Is SA ID number | N1 | Indicates whether field 126 (Bank account verification number) is an SA Identity number. 0 = Not an SA ID number 1 = SA Id number (SA ID numbers will be validated before being sent to the bank) |
131 | Banking detail type | N1 | 1 = Bank account 2 = Credit card |
132 | Bank account name | AN30 | The name of the bank account to be debited |
133 | Bank account type | N1 | If Bank account: 1 = Current 2 = SavingsIf Credit card: 1 = MasterCard 2 = Visa |
134 | Branch code/Expiry month | N6 | If Bank account: The branch code of the account to be debited. Must be 6 digits (pre-fill with zeroes if less than 6 (EG: 051001)If Credit card: MM – The two-digit expiry month of the card (EG: 02) |
135 | Expiry year / Filler | N4 | If Bank account: 0 If Credit card: CCYY – The four-digit expiry year of the card (EG: 2021) |
136 | Bank account number/CC token | AN36 | If Bank account: The bank account number to be debited. Must be 6 digits (pre-fill with zeroes if less than 6 (EG: 051001)If Credit card: The PCI credit card token |
161 | Mandate amount | N | The amount of the mandate (in cents) |
202 | Mobile number | N11 | The mobile number of the person signing the mandate |
201 | Email address | AN50 | The email address of the account holder. one email address is permitted |
241 | Include DebiCheck authentication | N1 | Indicates whether DebiCheck authentication is requested in addition to the Mandate 0 = Do not request DebiCheck authentication 1 = Request DebiCheck authentication |
242 | Debicheck mandate template Identifier | AN | The identifier of the DebiCheck template to be used to generate this mandate eg.: NCDCT000000001 |
242 | Debicheck mandate template Identifier | AN | The identifier of the DebiCheck template to be used to generate this mandate eg: NCDCT000000001 |
243 | DebiCheck collection amount | N | The amount of the DebiCheck mandate (in cents) |
246 | DebiCheck first collection differs | N1 | 0 = Amount of the 1st debit is the same as 243 DebiCheck collection amount 1 = Amount of the 1st debit differs from 243 DebiCheck collection amount |
247 | DebiCheck first collection amount | N | The amount of the 1st collection (in cents) |
248 | Debicheck first collection date | N8 | CCYYMMDD |
250 | Collection frequency day code | N8 | Collection day frequency code e.g. MNTH_01. Refer to the Frequency code table |
281 | Debit Masterfile group | AN | Links this mandate to an existing group (Validation will fail if the group does not exist) |
311 | Field 1 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
312 | Field 2 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
313 | Field 3 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
314 | Field 4 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
315 | Field 5 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
316 | Field 6 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
317 | Field 7 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
318 | Field 8 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
319 | Field 9 | AN50 | Custom User Defined data (Extra data can be stored with this mandate record) |
341 | Phone number | N11 | The phone number of the person signing the mandate: e.g. 27211230000 |
530 | Debit frequency | N1 | 1 = Monthly 2 = Twice monthly (bi-monthly) 3 = Three monthly (quarterly) 4 = 6 Monthly (semi-annually) 5 = Annually 6 = Weekly 7 = Twice weekly (bi-weekly) |
531 | Commencement month | N2 | 01 – 12 (MM) |
532 | Commencement day | AN100 | 01 – 31 or Last day of the month. Forward slash-separated list of options EG: 05/15/25/LDOM ( Last Day of Month) |
533 | December debit day | AN100 | 01 – 31 or Last day of the month. Forward slash-separated list of options EG: 05/15/25/LDOM( Last Day of Month) |
534 | Agreement date | N8 | CCYYMMDD |
535 | Agreement reference number | AN50 | Agreement reference |
536 | Cancellation notice period | N2 | 01 – 60 |
537 | Allow variable amounts | N1 | 0 = Do not allow variable amounts 1= Allow variable amounts |
538 | Request AVS | N1 | 0 = Do not run Bank account verification check 1= Run Bank account verification check |
539 | Additional clauses | AN | The ID of additional clauses to be included in the mandate (Comma separated list) |
540 | Send mandate | N1 | 0 = Do not automatically send mandate for signature 1 = Automatically send valid mandates to the account holder for signature |
541 | Debit day on public holiday | N1 | Alternate debit day if debit day, if selected debit day falls on a non-business date 0 = Preceding ordinary business day 1 = Very next ordinary business day |
542 | Add to Masterfile field | B | 0 = False |
NOTE: If the optional fields are to be included in the transaction records, they must be specified in the key record (K).
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 amount 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. If field 161 is not specified in the key record, this will be the sum of all the 162 fields. |
End-of-file indicator | ‘9999’ – Indicates there are no more records. |
Example
F 2 0 9999
Retrieving the Load Report
Postback option
Where the postback option in your NetConnector profile is utilised, the load report is automatically posted back to the URL specified.
Polling option
You will need to request the load report using the file token received from the BatchFileUpload method call.
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:
Example public string RequestFileUploadReport(string ServiceKey, string FileToken) { // initialise client NIWS_NIF.NIWS_NIFClient client = new NIWS_NIF.NIWS_NIFClient(); // call the RequestFileUploadReport method equal to a string variable // the same service key used for the bactch file upload string Request = client.RequestFileUploadReport(ServiceKey, FileToken); // close client after response is received client.Close(); // use response to output to UI // service will respond with the result of the file uploaded return Request; }
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 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 |
5 |
Batch Value |
AN15 |
TOTAL OF BATCH |
6 |
Action Date |
AN8 |
CCYYMMDD |
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 |
Retrieve Batch Status
Click here for the Netcash Retrieve batch status file format. Retrieve Batch Status is a web service that allows a user to retrieve up to the last 10 (ten) batches uploaded to the Netcash system. The web service will return all batches, whether they were uploaded via the web service or manually created via the Netcash web site.
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