Setting Up Transaction Approvals

Define user-level transaction limits for check cashing with Portico Transaction Approvals. Transaction Approvals allows you to give check cashing ability to all of your front line staff, but limit the dollar amount employees are allowed to cash without obtaining additional authority or approval. You can also require approvals for check cashing transactions when the member has a delinquent loan, when all the member’s accounts have zero balances, or when the member has a negative share balance. In addition, Portico will stop a check cashing transaction if the account is dormant.

How does it work?

Portico will identify a check cashing transaction using the following logic:

Is the transaction on the Transactions - Deposits, Withdrawals, Payments, Transfers tab?
Does the Checks Received Total plus Drafts Cleared equal the From Side Total?
Does the Cash Disbursed Total (greater than zero) plus any To GL Total (Fee) equal the To Side Total?
Does the From Side Total equal the To Side Total?

If the answer is Yes to each of these questions, Portico will verify the following during a check cashing transaction:

If any other activity is indicated on the tab including share deposits or loan payments at the same time a check is cashed, the transaction is no longer identified as a check cashing transaction. The indicated approvals will not apply and different override rules will be invoked.

Check Cashing Limit: Portico will evaluate the total of all the checks, including on-us checks, and compare it to the user’s check cashing limit. If the total checks cashed is greater than the user’s limit, the transaction will be interrupted and an approval will be required to continue the transaction. If the total checks cashed is within the user’s limit, the transaction will continue without asking for an approval.
Negative Balance Share: Portico will check all the member share account balances to determine if any of the accounts have a negative actual balance. If the largest negative balance is outside the user’s approval parameters, the transaction will be interrupted and an approval will be required to continue the transaction. If the balance is within the user’s approval parameters, the transaction can continue without asking for an approval or be stopped for acknowledgment based on the credit union-defined approval option.
Delinquent Loan: Portico will check all member loans to determine if any of the member loan accounts, including vendor credit card, mortgage and education loans are delinquent. Portico calculates the delinquent days using the current date and the loan due date. If the longest delinquency period is greater than the user’s approval parameters, the transaction will be interrupted and an approval will be required to continue the transaction. If the number of delinquent days is within the user’s approval parameters, the transaction can continue without asking for an approval or be stopped for acknowledgment based on the credit union-defined approval option. If a member has a delinquent method B loan, the user can be given authority to approve the transaction or the user can request an approval. There is no delinquent day calculation for method B loans.
Zero Balance Account: Portico will check all the member share, certificate and loan balances to determine if all of them have a zero actual balance. Negative balances are not included in this evaluation. If all of the accounts have a zero balance, the transaction will be interrupted and an approval will be required to continue the transaction.

In addition, Portico will check the Dormant check box on the Contact Information tab before allowing any member financial transaction on the Transactions - Deposits, Withdrawals, Payments, Transfers tab, including check cashing. If the member is dormant, the transaction will be stopped. The system edit cannot be bypassed with an approval or override.

When processing a check cashing transaction, Portico will perform all the system edit checks, including the dormant member check, before verifying the approval limits.

If a check cashing transaction requires approval, the Approval dialog box will appear. The Approval dialog bog can list a single approval or multiple approvals.

If the user is able to approve the transaction themselves, the Approval dialog box will display with the user’s name in the Approver field. A user can approve the transaction themselves if they have the Approvals – User can approve self security permission and the user is setup to approve the specified transaction.

If the user performing the transaction cannot approve the transaction, the Approval dialog box will display a blank Approver field. The user must select an override/approval group from the drop-down list, then an approver from the drop-down list. The approver can enter the password and click Submit.

The user can also select an override/approval group from the drop-down list, then an approver from the drop-down list and click Remote Approval to initiate remote approval.

Note: If your credit union does not use Remote Override, the Remote Approval button will not appear.

If a single approver does not have permissions to approve all the approval messages, you can request approval for individual messages by selecting the check box next to the message and selecting a approver from the drop-down list.

Once all messages have been approved, the Submit button will appear. Click Submit to complete the transaction.

How do I set it up?

The following steps summarize the process for setting up Transaction Approvals:

Identify which check cashing approvals your credit union would like to implement.
Define the default parameters for the selected approvals keeping in mind that the default parameter will be the value used by the majority of users at your credit union.
Define the user-specific parameters for those users that are not subject to the default value. This can be less or more than the default value, but at least one user must have a value greater than the default so check cashing transactions can be approved and completed.
Use an existing override group or create a new override group and assign approvers to the group using the Override Group - New/Copy/Update window. These are the supervisors that can approve a check cashing transaction. If you already have override/approval groups set up, you may need to only review the current settings and make adjustments as necessary.
Assign staff to the override group using the User Assignment - Update window. These are the tellers that are requesting the approval for a check cashing transaction. If you already have users assigned to the override/approval group, you may need to only review the current settings and make adjustments as necessary.
If using the Always Require Approval option on any approval, determine if any users will be allowed to approve their own transactions. If yes, you must add the user to the Approvals - User security group which contains the permission Approvals – User can approve self. If a user does not have this permission and the Always Require Approval check box is selected on the Approvals window, the user will not be able to approve their own transactions even if the transaction falls within their approval parameters.
Using the Approvals window, set up specific approval limits for the users that will be assigned a value more or less than the default value. For approvers/supervisors assigned to the override/approval group, these limits should be greater than the default value so check cashing transactions can be approved and completed.
Set up default approval limits and activate the approval type on the Approvals window. These will be the default settings for all users at the credit union, who do not have a user-specific parameter.

Be sure there are approvers/supervisors assigned to the override/approval groups that have been assigned approval parameters that will allow them to approve check cashing transactions as necessary. For example, if the default check cashing limit is $500.00, then you will need to make sure you have some approvers/supervisors assigned a higher limit and assigned to an override/approval group so they can approve a check cashing transaction for more than $500.00. If there are no approvers/supervisors assigned to an override/approval group that is assigned to a user, the user cannot request an approval and the transaction cannot be completed.

Security Permissions

The following security permissions control view and maintain access to the tabs and windows supporting transaction approvals. Users must be assigned to the security group listed or you can add the permissions to a credit union-defined security group using the Security Group Permissions – Update window.

Permission	Security Group
Portico – User Maintenance – Approvals – Menu Option	Portico – Security – Administrator Portico – All Functions – View Only Portico – Security – View Only
Portico – User Maintenance – Approvals – Maintain	Portico – Security – Administrator
Portico – User Maintenance – Approvals – View Only	Portico – Security – Administrator Portico – All Functions – View Only Portico – Security – View Only
Portico – Profile – User Profile – Approvals - Maintain	Portico – Security – Administrator
Portico – Reports (Security) – Approval Report – View Only	Portico – All Functions – View Only Portico – Security – Administrator Portico – Security – View Only
Portico – Reports (Security) – Approval – Menu Option	Portico – All Functions – View Only Portico – Security – Administrator Portico – Security – View Only
Approvals – User can approve self	Approvals – User