Understanding Generic Gateways
- Persia Xenopoulou (Deactivated)
- Former user (Deleted)
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AVAILABLE FROM CRM.COM R11.0.0
Table of Contents
What are Payment Gateways?
Payment Gateways are third-party systems used to perform Payments. CRM.COM is  integrated with the Stripe Payment Gateway, however, it also supports partial handling of Payments for other third-party Payment Gateways, referred to as Generic Gateways. CRM.COM creates Requests for Payments that are intended for Generic Gateways and which can be further handled by WEB APIs. CRM.COM Web APIs can, for example, be used to collect all Payment Requests that require handling by a Payment Gateway, as well as to update CRM.COM with the results of the Payment Requests.  i.e., whether the Requests were completed or rejected.
Payment Gateways Glossary
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Payment Gateway | Third-party Systems that provide a framework for merchants to accept Credit Card and other forms of electronic payments. |
| Generic Payment Gateway Provider | The Payment Gateways for which no direct integration exists with CRM.COM. |
| Stripe Payment Gateway Provider | Stripe Payment Gateway Provider is a built-in integration of CRM.COM and the Stripe Payment Gateway. |
| Payment Request | A Request for Payment created within CRM.COM that requires processing by third-party Payment Gateways such as Stripe or by a Generic Payment Gateway. |
| "Pending Verification" Payment | Payments created in CRM.COM that require further processing by a third-party Payment Gateway. The CRM.COM Payment can only be posted once the Gateway updates CRM.COM that it was successful. |
| "Pending Verification" Payment Cancellation | Payments that have been cancelled in CRM.COM that require further processing by a third-party Payment Gateway. The CRM.COM Payment can only be posted once the Gateway updates CRM.COM that it was successful. |
| Payment Gateway Merchant Account | The Payment Gateway account owned by the business (your business), from where customer Payments will be effected and from where money is taken for refunds. |
| Payment Method | Payment Method is used to determine how a customer chooses to pay an amount of money and is defined when creating a Payment. |
| Payment Preference | Payment Preference is used to define the preferred method of paying an outstanding amount of money and is defined on the Accounts Receivable. |
Payment Gateways Key Processes and Concepts
| Processes / Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Automatic Wallet Top-up | Wallets are simple accounts which primarily handle the financial transactions involving Rewards and Prepaid Subscriptions. Funds from a Wallet are deducted usually when a Prepaid Subscription is billed or when a Rewards Participants redeem their Awards. A functionality is available which detects whether the Wallet Balance has fallen beneath a certain threshold, in which case the System automatically creates a Payment Request to Top-up the Wallet to the Payment Gateway the customer is registered with. This is particularly useful to avoid the interruption of a Subscription Service with a recurring fee, which requires automatic payments. |
| Automatic Bill Payment | Unsettled Bills can be directly paid by Requests made to the Payment Gateway. In this way, a Bill is always handled before it is due, without the customer worrying whether the Payment has been made. This functions like a Direct Debit Request, which in this case is electronically handled via a Payment Gateway. |
| Refunding Cancelled Payments | When a Payment that was handled and successfully completed via a Payment Gateway is cancelled in CRM.COM, the customer must be refunded. A request is created to be handled by the Payment Gateway and to refund the customer accordingly, deducting money from the merchant's account. |
| Communicating Payment Gateway Information to Customers | Payment Gateway Cards and Requests can be communicated to customers through email or SMS using Communication Tags which will retrieve data specific to the customer. Lists of customer accounts (known as Segments) that have Payment Gateway Requests or Cards can be created and used in various parts of the System. One of the CRM.COM areas that can make use of Segments is Notifications, which can be used to send Communications in bulk, i.e. to all customers that belong in a Segment. |
Payment Gateways Access & Viewing Controls
Business Network Characteristics define the level of access for each entry. i.e., whether it will be available for selection, viewing or editing.
| Entity | Network Characteristics | Description |
|---|---|---|
Generic Gateway Provider | Generic Gateway Provider has no access restrictions. It can be viewed and selected by all users. | |
| Payment Gateway Requests | Global Viewing Access Entities | Payment Gateway Requests have no access restrictions. They can be viewed and selected by all users. |
| Payment Gateway Runs | Global Viewing Access Entities | Payment Gateway Runs have no access restrictions. They can be viewed and selected by all users. |
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Payment Gateways Related Modules
| Entity | Interaction of Payment Gateways with the Entity |
|---|---|
| Wallets | System can be set to automatically top-up Wallets when their balance falls below a certain threshold. |
| Accounts Receivable | The details required by the Payment Gateway (e.g. Credit Card or Bank account number) are saved on the Payment Preferences of the Accounts Receivable. |
| Bills | Billscan be settled by Payments executed through the Payment Gateway. |
| Stripe | Stripe is a Payment Gateway with which CRM.COM is integrated. CRM.COM uses the Automatic Payment Run Definitions to update Stripe with the Payments that must be handled. |
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Payment Gateways - Business Examples
The following section provides business examples of how the CRM.COM Payment Gateways module is used.
Handling Payments Online via a Payment Gateway
Business Requirement
Company ZX has its merchant account registered with Zulu Payment Gateway. Zulu is a Payment Gateway that handles Credit Card payments. Customers that wish to make their payments using Credit Cards must also have a Zulu account. Zulu is updated with the payments made in CRM.COM on an hourly basis and responds to CRM.COM with a success or error message. Payments to be handled by Zulu are the following:
- Manual Payments (customers call in to make a payment)
- Automatic Bill Payments (for unsettled Bills)
- Automatic Wallet Top-Up (when the amount of the Wallet reaches €0, it should be topped up with €20)
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CRM.COM Solution
- Configuration
- Create a Payment Method for Zulu (to be used when creating a new Payment in CRM.COM).
- Create a Payment Preference for Zulu and set the Identifier field to be the Payment Medium Identifier
(to be used when registering the customer Accounts Receivable, use the Payment Medium Identifier to save the Credit Card number.) - Create a Generic Gateway Provider for Zulu.
- Create an Accounts Receivable Classification to be used in Wallet Definitions Top-Up Rules.
- Configure Wallet Definitions "Top Up Rules" to top-up the Wallet with €20 every time its Balance reaches €0 and if its related Accounts Receivable belongs to the specified Accounts Receivable Classification.
- Configure Automatic Payment Run Definitions to create Payment Requests for unsettled Bills and Wallets that need to be topped-up. The Definition should be scheduled to be executed every 1 hour.
- User Process
- Accounts Receivable:
- When the user registers an Accounts Receivable with Zulu Gateway details, the Zulu Payment Preference must be selected and the Credit Card number of the customer provided as an Identifier
- The Classification of the account should be set to the one configured in the Wallet Top Up Rules.
- Payments
- When a new payment is created, the Zulu Presentment Preference and Payment Method should be selected.
These Payments will be created with a 'Pending Verification' Life Cycle State.Â
- When a new payment is created, the Zulu Presentment Preference and Payment Method should be selected.
- Technical Staff is responsible for implementing a communication to Zulu (every hour) to inform them of the Payments to beeffected(using CRM.COM WEB APIs to collect pending Payment Requests) and update CRM.COM with the respective responses from Zulu.
- Use GET payment_gateway_requests/get_pending to update Zulu Payment Gateway.
- Once a response is provided by Zulu Payment Gateway, CRM.COM should be updated accordingly, using the following WEB APIs:
- Use POST payment_gateway_requests/bulk/post to post the 'Pending Verification' Payments which have been successfully completed in Zulu.
- Use POST payment_gateway_requests/bulk/reject to reject the 'Pending Verification' Payments which have not been successfully completed in Zulu.
- Accounts Receivable: