Automatic membership renewals

In iMIS 20-300, a membership is represented on the web by a set of billing products that are defined by a billing cycle. Basically, a billing cycle is a set of component products. Each billing cycle sets the rules for how a membership will be presented to a prospective member or a renewing existing member.

For prospective new members to join your organization, you must be sure to define your billing cycle with the following options:

Any billing cycle (either cash-based or accrual-based) can be used for generating a renewal billing for subsequent membership periods. However, there are specific considerations that must be taken into account for allowing online membership renewals, or supporting automatic renewals through AutoPay.

Processing of automatic renewal payments through AutoPay is available only for membership renewals that have been billed using an accrual-based billing cycle. For more information, see Processing automatic membership renewals.

With AutoPay enabled for Membership, when members join an organization, or when they renew their memberships, they can select an option to have their future membership renewals automatically paid. Once a member has selected to have future membership renewals automatically paid and provided payment details, iMIS stores an AutoPay instruction record containing a token (not the account details) for use when future renewal payments are processed. To make sure membership renewal payments can be processed automatically, your organization must bill your members that have enrolled in automatic renewals using a separate billing cycle.

Note: AutoPay uses a tokenization engine (DataVault) to process credit card and bank account information for recurring payments while maintaining PCI compliance. In order to use AutoPay for recurring payments, you must have a license key. Contact ASI for more information.

The following are required in order to use AutoPay:

To process payments for Membership renewals using AutoPay, the members enrolled in automatic renewal must be billed using a billing cycle defined with the following options:

  • Add Member Type Items is enabled.
  • Ensure your defined billing cycle is set up to have an accrual accounting method. This is to ensure that all members who have signed up to automatically renew through AutoPay are billed correctly.

All members who have been billed for renewal (regardless of whether they were billed on a cash or accrual basis) can renew online. However, members renewing online will only be presented with an itemized list of billing components and the option to make modifications if certain conditions exist.

Renewals billed using accrual-based cycles (this would include members enrolled in automatic renewals) are not presented with an itemized list of products.

Renewals billed using cash-based cycles are presented with an itemized list of products if a billing cycle is defined with the following conditions:

  • Specify one Member Type only. This ensures the correct products are offered for the appropriate Member Type. This also allows the option to offer additional products that might not have been billed as part of the original renewal, for example, Voluntary Contributions.
  • The Use to display itemized web renewals option is enabled. For more information, see Creating a new billing cycle.

Note: If you do not have a billing cycle defined that meets these conditions, then existing members will still be able to renew online, but they will not be offered an itemized list of subscription products. You can continue to bill members using a single billing cycle that applies across multiple Member Types, but you must create separate billing cycles for each Member Type if you want to offer an itemized list of products during online renewal.

Any members who have not opted to automatically renew their memberships, and are billed using an accrual-based cycle, can renew online but they will not be offered an itemized list of products.

When billing members who have enrolled in automatic renewals, Staff users must choose an Ad Hoc search to select only those members who have elected to renew their memberships automatically. Staff users can select an Ad Hoc search for members who are enrolled in AutoPay (to be used with the Accrual-based billing cycle), or those who have not enrolled in AutoPay.

Organizations offering automatic membership renewal should maintain a minimum of two billing cycles:

  • Accrual-based – This billing cycle is used for those members who have elected to automatically renew their membership and have an existing AutoPay instruction. Organizations will not be able to simply search for existing AutoPay instructions, as they cannot be found using an Ad Hoc search.
  • Cash-based – This billing cycle is used for those members who have elected not to automatically renew their membership. This billing cycle can be used for Join Now transactions.

Note: Organizations must switch their billing cycle default to accrual.

An ASI-hosted tokenization engine supports the Payflow Pro payment gateway for credit card and direct debit transactions, the iATS payment gateway for US, Canadian and UK credit cards, and the SecurePay payment gateway for Australian credit cards.

To use AutoPay, you must initially configure the Staff site for automatic membership renewals.

Note: In order to use AutoPay you must have a license key. Contact ASI for more information.

Do the following:

  1. Connect iMIS to a tokenization engine:
    1. In the Staff site, go to Settings > Commerce > General.
    2. Enter the AutoPay service address. This is the address to the tokenization engine. You must have access to a tokenization engine in order to perform recurring transactions. Enter the AutoPay service address in the following format:

      3. https://localhost/DataVault0

      Where localhost is the name of a server and DataVault0 is the web site alias.

      Note: Contact ASI Hosting for more information about the ASI-hosted tokenization engine.

    3. Select the Automatic payments for billing renewals option:
      • (None) – No option selected.
      • Allow users to enable – Users can enable automatic payments.
      • Disabled – Automatic payments are not allowed.
      • Enabled by default – Automatic payments are enabled by default.
      • Required – Automatic payments are required.
    4. Save these settings.

      5. Note: You can review the status of your AutoPay setup by referring to the AutoPay status page. As you progress through your setup, the links in the AutoPay status page will change from red to green.

  2. Enter gateway information through the Advanced Accounting Console. You can also set up multiple gateways in the Advanced Accounting Console. Do the following to add a payment gateway:
    1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Finance > Options > Configure accounting options > Credit Card Auth.
    2. Click New and select a payment gateway from the Gateway drop-down list:
      • Select Payflow Pro for US
      • Select iATS for Canada
      • Select SecurePay for Australia
    3. Select Immediate Authorization for credit cards.
    4. Enter an Account Code value.

      5. Note: This value cannot be changed once the record is saved.

      This value displays in the Select a Value window that is displayed when you use the lookup icon on the CC Auth Account field on the Cash accounts (Finance > Options > Set up tables > Cash accounts) setup page.

      Note: Account Codes cannot include spaces.

      The Account Code is used to identify which gateway settings should be synchronized with and used by the tokenization engine. This identification happens in the iMIS web.config file. The following Account Codes are available out-of-the-box:

      • DVPAYFLOWPRO
      • SECUREPAY
      • IATS

      If you want to use a different Account Code, make sure to update the web.config file. The Account Codes listed in the authorizationAccounts list in the web.config file use the tokenization engine for payment processing.

      <add name="DataVaultPaymentGatewayProvider" 
type="Asi.PaymentGateway.DataVaultPaymentGatewayProvider, 
DataVaultPaymentGatewayProvider" 
authorizationAccounts="DVPAYFLOWPRO,SECUREPAY,IATS" />
    5. Enter a meaningful description for the authorization account in the Account description field. This information displays as read-only data on the CC Auth Account field on the Cash accounts setup page.
    6. Enter a UserName (this is the user name supplied by the gateway).
      • For SecurePay, enter the Merchant ID in this field.
      • For iATS, enter the Agent value in this field.
    7. Enter the Password you were given by the gateway provider during the sign-up process. Verify your password.
    8. Click Save.

      9. Note: After you click Save, the following warning message is displayed:
      If adding a code for a merchant account, be sure to add the new code to your web.config files.
      This message is displayed as a reminder to review the Account Codes in your web.config file. This message will be displayed regardless of whether you have updated your web.config file.

  3. Synchronize your payment gateways with the ASI-hosted tokenization engine. Simply adding and saving a payment gateway in iMIS will not synchronize this information with the tokenization engine.

    Do the following:

    1. In the Staff site, go to Settings > Commerce > Automatic payment gateways.
    2. Click Synchronize gateways with DataVault synchronizes the gateways you defined and saved in iMIS with the ASI-hosted tokenization engine.
  4. Add a new payment method/cash account tied to the gateway you added:
    1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Finance > Options > Set up tables > Cash accounts.
    2. Click New.
    3. Enter a Code for the new payment method/cash account. For a direct debit, the first two letters control the country for the direct debit, for example:
      • CA = Canada
      • US = USA
      • AU = Australia

      4. Make sure the correct payment gateway is linked to the appropriate cash account: Payflow is used for US direct debits.

      The default Code prefix is US. The prefix determines the region-specific information needed for your payment methods. It is advised that you use the default Code as other countries might be supported in the future.

    4. Enter a Title.
    5. Select the Type. Enable the Credit Card or Direct Debit option.
    6. In the CC Auth Account field, use the look-up icon and select the Account Code that corresponds to the gateway you want to use.
    7. Click Save.
  5. (optional) Add the payment method/cash account to a payment method set:
    1. In the Staff site, go to Settings > Commerce > Payment method sets.
    2. Add the payment method/cash account to both the Public and the Staff payment method sets. Select the payment method set, then click Add new.

      3. Note: To create a new payment method set, see Create a payment method set for more information.

    3. Enter a Display Name.
    4. For the Payment Method, select the payment method/cash account you created previously.
    5. Click Save.
  6. Publish the Automatic renewals navigation item, if necessary:
    1. In the Staff site, go to RiSE > Site Builder > Manage sitemaps.
    2. Select the Staff site from the drop-down list of sites in the left pane.
    3. Click Publish in the top gray bar.

      4. Now the Automatic renewals navigation (and sub-navigation items) should be displayed on your Membership menu.

While setting up AutoPay, Staff users can review status messages that provide more information about the status of the AutoPay configuration and set up.

Go to Settings > Commerce > AutoPay status.

The status messages will provide the following information:

  • Is the AutoPay service address correct?
  • Can iMIS communicate with the tokenization server?
  • Have the user ID and password been configured and saved?
  • Can iMIS authenticate the login credentials?
  • Has an appropriate gateway been configured?
  • Has the Automatic payments for billing renewals option been configured?

You can review setup status messages, and you can return to this page during your configuration to review your status and progress.

Prospective members can elect to enroll in the automatic payment of membership renewals when they join your organization and existing members can enroll when they renew their membership. When members select this option, their membership is paid through AutoPay when their next renewal is billed.

In order to offer automatic payment of membership renewals, your Cart content should include an Auto Pay Instructions Creator content item. This content item is displayed to website users only when there is a Join Now product or an accrual renewal invoice in the Cart. If your Cart does not already include the Auto Pay Instructions Creator content item, edit the Cart content record to add this content item in the location you would like it to appear on the Cart page.

You can generate invoices for those members who have enrolled in automatic membership renewals with a credit card, debit card, or using a direct debit from a bank account. You can then submit the invoices for payment processing and retrieve transaction information. The following steps will walk you through the process of generating membership renewal invoices, submitting them for payment, and retrieving completed payments to update the paid invoices.

For new members who enrolled in automatic payment of future renewals when they joined, and selected to make their payment using a Direct Debit bank account, an invoice is generated for their initial payment. These invoices are ready to be submitted to the tokenization engine.

For existing members who are enrolled in automatic payment of future renewals, you must generate invoices for them before you can submit them to the tokenization engine for processing. This step can either be done at the same time as you perform your regular renewal billing or you can run this billing right before you submit the invoices. Either way, you must have an ad hoc search available that differentiates between members who have enrolled and members who have not yet enrolled.

  1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Membership > Bill membership fees.
  2. Click New, then select your accrual-based billing cycle in the Select a Cycle to Process list.
  3. Select the Renewals checkbox under Billing Options.
  4. Select your Effective Date.
  5. Click Run.

Once you have accrual-based membership dues renewal invoices for members who have enrolled in automatic payments for membership, they are ready to be sent to the tokenization engine.

Note: Any payments sent to the tokenization engine will be processed immediately. Direct debit payments are sent immediately but might have a delayed response from the bank. The tokenization engine does not check due dates. This action is performed when you provide a date for Due for collection on or beforewhen submitting invoices for payment. Do not submit any invoices that are not yet due for payment.

Do the following to submit automatic renewal payments:

  1. In the Staff site, go to Membership > Automatic renewals > Process payments.
  2. On the Submit payments tab, enter a Due for collection on or before date to identify which invoices are due for collection. The due date on membership dues renewal invoices is the begin date of the membership billing period for the renewal.
  3. Click Find. A list of all of the matching invoices is displayed. This includes any invoices that you have generated, as well as any new invoices created for members who have enrolled using a direct debit bank account since.
  4. Click Submit invoices for payment. You will receive a notice that the invoices have been submitted for payment.

Once the payments have been processed by the tokenization engine, you must retrieve them to update the invoices in iMIS:

  1. In the Staff site, go to Membership > Automatic renewals > Process payments.
  2. On the Retrieve processed payments tab, review the detailed list of invoices that have been submitted for payment but have not yet completed processing.

    3. Note: By default, invoices are arranged with the most recently submitted invoices first.

  3. Click Retrieve processed payments. Each time you click this button, you will see more invoices move from the submitted list to the processed list.

    4. The values in the Result column are marked Completed when payments are successful.

Staff users can also look up the status of membership renewal payments without needing to perform any of the processing steps:

  1. In the Staff site, go to Membership > Automatic renewals > Review payments.
  2. Search for completed automatic renewal payments using your desired criteria.
  3. Review records for the invoice (using the Invoice column) and other payment details.

Staff users can edit the automatic payment instructions for membership renewals. Staff users can cancel currently active membership renewals, or reactivate previously canceled membership renewals.

  1. Go to Membership > Automatic renewals > Enrollments.
  2. Search for a membership renewal. You can search by First name, Last name, iMIS ID, or Type. You can also click Find to see all automatic payment instructions.
  3. Click the name on the membership renewal you want to edit.
  4. Click edit.

  5. You can change the Status:

    • (Select)
    • Active – Activate a previously cancelled automatic payment.
    • Cancelled – Cancel an automatic payment.
  6. Enter the date you cancelled the membership renewal, as well as a reason for the cancellation.
  7. Click Save & Close.