1. Display the Supplier Payment Batch window
2. Select the invoices to include and create a Payment Batch
3. Review the Batch, perhaps modifying the payment amount for or removing individual invoices
4. Process the Batch, either creating an EFT file for upload to your bank or printing cheques (or writing manual cheques if you wish), or both, depending on the settings for individual suppliers
5. Commit the EFT and/or Cheque payments separately when processing has been confirmed

To display the Supplier Payment Batch window select the Reports | Batch | Pay Suppliers menu

On the Create New Batch tab of the Supplier Payment Batch window, select the range of invoice types you want to pay and click Refresh if necessary to reload the grid. Note that you can select any type of invoice, not just invoices batched by the type of supplier. The grid displays all invoices of the selected types with outstanding balances.

For invoices that have been batched together, the Invoice Batch is displayed on one line instead of the individual invoices comprising it - you get the chance to modify the payment amount for individual invoices or remove them altogether in the next step. Any invoices in the invoice batch that have already been fully paid are automatically excluded, and any partly paid are only included to the extent of the unpaid amount.

You can include suppliers whom you pay by EFT together with those you pay by cheque - that's all sorted out in the final stage.

Click Create Batch when you have selected all the invoices you wish to pay.

After the Payment Batch has been created, select the Review Pending Batches tab.

Any batch that has been created but has had neither an EFT file created nor cheques printed is classed as pending. You can have as many pending Payment Batches as you need. Whilst ever a payment batch is pending you can modify the amount to be paid for individual invoices or remove some altogether.

Note the following regarding the Pending Batch window above:

• Invoices in the Batch are grouped by payment type and supplier. Each group row displays the current total amount to be paid, and the grand total is displayed below the grid. Suppliers are also identified by their location, in case you have large suppliers with several branch locations.
• If a supplier has a Payment Review Warning flagged that fact will be highlighted on both the supplier's group row and the payment type group row.
• If an invoice has already been partly paid, the maximum amount that can be paid is the unpaid balance.
• You can quickly collapse or expand all the group rows using those buttons, or right-click on a group row to access a finer degree of control.
• When an invoice or supplier group row is selected you can click the Open Supplier button to quickly access more information about the supplier.
• The Print button prints a detailed listing laid out in the same way as this grid.
• You can cancel the entire Payment Batch (after confirmation) by clicking the Unbatch Batch button.
• If you select an individual invoice row you can remove it from this Batch by clicking the Remove Item button. If you select a supplier group row and click the button you can remove all invoices for that supplier from the Batch.
• If you make any changes to the Batch you must click the Resave Batch button to save them.

In addition to removing invoice(s) and/or suppliers from the Batch on this tab, you can also modify the amount you wish to pay against a particular invoice. Click or double-click in the Pay Amount cell for the invoice concerned and enter the new amount. You cannot enter an amount larger than the amount outstanding. The new amount is highlighted with a yellow background (an asterix on the printed report) and the totals for the group rows and overall are updated accordingly.

You can close this window (resave first if any changes have been made) and modify the details for a supplier (including payment options). When you return to the Payment Batch window the updated details will be used, for example if you entered the supplier's bank details and checked the Use Bank checkbox on the Supplier window, the supplier would be moved from the Pay by Cheque group to the Pay by EFT group.

If you don't want to make any changes on this tab you can do nothing and move straight on to the Process/Commit Batch tab, otherwise make whatever changes you need and resave the batch first.

On the Process/Commit tab you create the EFT file for uploading to your bank and/or print cheques, as appropriate for each individual supplier in the Batch (you can also indicate you have written manual cheques, bypassing cheque printing). Because these processes can potentially experience errors, your supplier's accounts in Grain Trader are not updated with payment transactions until you also Commit them. For example:

• You may have data formatting errors in a supplier's bank details (Grain Trader cannot of course verify the details you have are correct - that can happen only when the transaction enters the banking system)
• You could run out of toner or have a paper jam in the printer while printing cheques

You can have as many Payment Batches in different stages of processing as you need. The Batch Status grid shows all the batches with transactions of either EFT or cheque type that have not yet been committed. Select the Payment Batch to work with from this grid.

If you need to change the payment date, click the Reset Date button to enable the date picker, change the date and click Save Date.

At any time you can print either a detailed report, showing details similar to the Pending Batch grid and report, or a Summary report which shows the totals and payee or bank account details for each supplier. You can also reprint these reports for past batches by ticking the “Include batches that have already been committed” checkbox near the bottom of the window and selecting the batch to be printed.

To create an EFT file for the Batch, click the Save EFT File button. A familiar Save File dialog will allow you to select a folder and filename. By default, EFT files are created in the following format: Databasename_EFT_yyyy-mm-dd_batchno.aba This format ensures that you can easily identify the file and it will not be overwritten except by re-creating the same file from the same batch on the same day.

When Grain Trader processes the EFT transactions in the batch it does basic data validation, mainly looking for missing or invalid data (eg spaces in an account number or too many digits). If any such errors are found the process will abort although the file will still be created, without the records causing the error(s); a deliberate error is also written to the EFT file so that, if uploaded, your bank would reject it. This preserves the integrity of the entire Payment Batch. The errors found are logged to a text file and you are prompted to review the file:

At this point you should review the error log and correct the cause(s). You can then return and click Save EFT File again to re-create the file.

When the EFT file is created successfully you are advised and the Commit EFT button becomes enabled. In addition, the EFT status in the Batch Status grid is updated to show that the EFT file has been created but not committed.

When you commit the transactions, the supplier accounts are updated with the new payment details, linked to the invoices. If you have partly paid any invoices, their unpaid balances will become available for payment again either on the Create Batch tab or via the Supplier window. In addition, the EFT status in the Batch Status grid is updated to show that the EFT file has been created and committed.

When you select a Batch for processing that includes cheque payments, the cheques as currently defined are listed in the Cheques grid. If required, you can either modify the Payee or Split a payment into two (or more) cheques with different payees.

Select the payment to be modified in the Cheques grid. The Payee details will be displayed in the data entry boxes to the right of the grid. Click the Modify Payee button and you can change any of the data except the amount, then click Save Cheque.

Select the payment to be split in the Cheques grid and click the Split Cheque button. You can only split a supplier's payment, not a payment that is already split from a supplier (ie the Supplier and Payee must be the same). Enter all the details in the data entry boxes to the right of the grid, including the amount to be split into the new payment. You cannot create a split payment of equal or greater value than is currently available to the supplier, ie the total payment amount less any amounts that have already been split. Click Save Cheque to complete the process.

You can remove a split cheque and restore the split amount to the supplier by selecting a split payment and clicking the Remove Split button.

When you have finished making any desired changes to the cheques to be issued you can print them.

If you only have a few cheques you may prefer to hand-write them, in which case you can tick the Manual Cheques checkbox. This has the same effect as printing the cheques, except that you don't actually print them. From Version 3.3.1, when you tick the checkbox the Cheque No column on the Cheques grid is filled with the word “Manual” against each payment to indicate you are using a manual cheque. These cells also become editable, so you can enter the actual cheque number if you wish.

If you will be actually printing your cheques click the Print Cheques button to display a dialog box where you can enter the first Cheque Number to be used:

The default number displayed is one higher than the last cheque number printed; that number is saved after each cheque print run. To manually change the next number to be used use the Utility | Global Options menu, Banking | Cheque Style branch. When you click OK on this dialog, cheque numbers are allocated to each cheque and the Print Preview window is displayed, ready to actually print your cheques:

A number of cheque formats are available to suit partially pre-printed cheque forms, however we can design a new one for you and make it available if required.

If your cheques did not print successfully for some reason you can repeat the above procedure. After your cheques have been printed successfully you are ready to commit the transactions.

When your cheques have been printed (or if you selected Manual Cheques) the Commit Chqs button becomes enabled. In addition, the Cheque status in the Batch Status grid is updated to show that cheques have been printed but not committed.

Click the Commit Chqs button to finalise the payment process.

When you commit the transactions, the supplier accounts are updated with the new payment details, linked to the invoices. If you have partly paid any invoices, their unpaid balances will become available for payment again either on the Create Batch tab or via the Supplier window. In addition, the Cheque status in the Batch Status grid is updated to show that cheques have been printed and committed.