Salary | Creditor Payments

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

Netcash offers a web service called ‘NIWS_NIF’ used to send batched outbound Payment files to a Netcash account and then to the National Payment System. Netcash’s outbound payments are similar to internet banking payments with the added benefit of

• faster clearing times – all Netcash payments clear at midnight of the Action date. Thus, no interbank waiting time as all beneficiaries are paid simultaneously; irrespective of the bank, branch -or account type.
• reduced -and fixed transaction charges – Netcash payments are billed at one (1) fixed transaction charge irrespective of bank, branch, or account type unlike most commercial banks do.

Contact Netcash for more information.

Technical Information

NIWS_NIF is an asynchronous web service which exposes multiple methods. The method BatchFileUpload allows an external system to submit a batch file of salary -or creditor payments for processing.

Compact Upload File Specification

Click here for the Netcash Compact Payment file upload file format. The compact file format is used where large number of transaction records are UPDATED for processing of a Payment batch. New line items can not be loaded with the Compact Payment file upload file format.

The Service

Once you have built the file call:

• Web service: https://ws.netcash.co.za/NIWS/niws_nif.svc
• Method: BatchFileUpload
• Service key: Salary payments service key or Creditor payments service key

Input

Requests to the web service are sent as strings

Example

public string BatchFileUpload(string ServiceKey, string File) {
  // initialise client
  NIWS_NIF.NIWS_NIFClient client = new NIWS_NIF.NIWS_NIFClient();

  // call the BatchFileUpload method equal to a string variable
  string Request = client.BatchFileUpload(ServiceKey, File);

  // close client after response is received
  client.Close();

  switch (Request) {
    case "100":  // Authentication failure
      break;
    case "102":  // Parameter error
      break;
    case "200":  // General code exception.
      break;
    default:  // successful
      return Request;
  }

  // use response to call RequestFileUploadReport method
  return Request;
}

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:

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. These fields 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, being the first record in the file.

Record Structure

Field explanations

Example

H C74EXXX5-5499-4663-85FB-2A6XXXXFB9EF 1 PaySalaries My Test Batch 20100331 24ade73c-98cf-47b3-99be-cc7b867b3080

Key record (K)

• The key record is mandatory and must appear in the file between the header and transaction records.
• It defines the content, order and length of the transactions records in the file. It can be likened to the column headings in a spreadsheet.
• All the possible fields contained in the subsequent transaction records are listed, even if not every transaction record contains data in all the fields listed.
• It is good practice to list keys in ascending order to assist where debugging and support are required.

Example

K 101 102 131 132 133 134 135 136 162 252

Mandatory fields

The fields indicated by are mandatory for the specified instruction.

^{See the full API key legend for value requirements}

Key	Field name	Update	PaySalaries DatedSalaries Realtime DatedPayments
101	Account reference
102	Account name
103	Beneficiary active
104	Delete beneficiary
131	Banking detail type
132	Bank account name
133	Bank account type
134	Branch code
135	Filler
136	Bank account number
161	Default amount
162	Amount
201	Email address
202	Mobile number
251	Default Beneficiary statement reference
252	Beneficiary statement reference
281	Payment recipient / beneficiary group
301	Extra 1
302	Extra 2
303	Extra 3

Optional fields

If the optional fields can be included in the transaction records, they are to be specified in the key record (K).

Optional fields

If the optional fields are to be included in the transaction records, they must be specified in the key record (K).

Transaction fields

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 explanations

Example

F 2 0 9999

Example of input file

H 78e30d1e-aa36-0000-XXXX-dcd68866XXXX 1 DatedSalaries Batch_Name 20131204 24ade73c-98cf-XXXX-XXXX-cc7b867b3080
K 101 102 131 132 133 134 135 136 162 252
T EMP001 A Employee 1 AB Employee 1 632005 0 40600000004 110200 Dated sal test
T EMP002 X Employee 1 X Employee 2 198765 0 2060000001 200000 Dated sal test
F 2 310200 9999

Example of string file (C#)

string fl =
"H\t78e30d1e-aa36-0000-XXXX-dcd68866XXXX\t1\tDatedSalaries\tBatch_Name\t20131204\t24ade73c-98cf-XXXX-XXXX-cc7b867b3080" +
Environment.NewLine +
"K\t101\t102\t131\t132\t133\t134\t135\t136\t162\t252" +
Environment.NewLine +
"T\tEMP001\tA Employee\t1\tAB Employee\t1\t632005\t0\t40600000004\t110200\tDated sal test" +
Environment.NewLine +
"T\tEMP002\tX Employee\t1\tX Employee\t2\t198765\t0\t2060000001\t200000\tDated sal test" +
Environment.NewLine + "F\t2\t310200\t9999";
string FileToken = BatchFileUpload("78e30d1e-aa36-0000-XXXX-dcd68866XXXX", fl);

Processing deadlines

• All times in 24hr format.
• Action date is the date the transaction is processed on the recipient bank account.
• TIP: See request action date web service.
• Business days are the days between -and including Monday to Friday but do not include public holidays and/or weekends.

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: Salary/Creditor Payment 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 batch 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)

Load report message (occurs multiple times – once per error record)

Load report trailer (occurs once – the last line in the report)

Upload report example (successful):

###BEGIN MY TEST BATCH SUCCESSFUL 01:59 PM R1.00 20160410
###END 01:59 PM

Upload report example (successful with errors):

###BEGIN MY TEST BATCH SUCCESSFUL WITH ERRORS 01:29 PM R1.00 20160410
Acc Ref :XI5 Line :3 Account details could not be validated. Please check the fields Bank account type, Branch code and Account number.
Acc Ref :XI5 Line :3 Bank account number has incorrect length (min 4, max 11 characters)
Acc Ref :HCOS1 Line :5 Beneficiary statement reference has incorrect length (min 4, max 20 characters)
Acc Ref :HCOZ1 Line :6 Beneficiary statement reference has incorrect length (min 4, max 20 characters)
###END 01:29 PM

Upload report example (unsuccessful):

###BEGIN MY TEST BATCH UNSUCCESSFUL 01:23 PM R1.00 20160410
###ERROR: A system error occurred. Please contact Netcash R0.00 20160410
###END 01:23 PM

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