Questions

1. What is an Auto Daily Report?

2. Who receives the Auto Daily Report?

3. How can I proceed with reconciliation concerns?

4. How can I resolve a transaction that has not posted in CivicRec or appeared in my bank account?

5. How can I process a refund or void?

6. How can I contact CSG Forte?

7. What are the reporting time zones?

8. What are the ACH/CC cutoff and funding times?

9. What are the fee models?   

10. What are the differences between service/ convenience fee and absorbed fee models?

11. What Point-of-Sale (POS) devices are offered?

12. How to install the drivers and device handler for the V400C?

13. What key additional resources do I have to consult?

1. What is an Auto Daily Report?

Designed to provide merchants with daily summaries of their previous day's activities. These reports are delivered automatically via email or sFTP ensuring that merchants have timely access to their transaction data.

By subscribing to these reports, merchants can receive detailed summaries of their daily transactions, such as a summary of received and/or settled payments information for each Forte MID/location, which helps in better managing their financial records and customer interactions. The report includes funding information by payment type and credit card brand, with a breakdown of principal, service fees and returned payments.

2. Who receives the Auto Daily Report?

Generated reports are received by the person included on the recipient list provided by the Implementation team during training step of the onboarding process. Also, users with “Merchant Admin” or “Merchant Manager” role can access Dex and retrieve the Auto Daily Reports by selecting the “Daily Transaction Report” option under the “Reports” tab, or they could directly contact the Government Support team at governmentsupport@forte.net for any additional question. 

Note: Auto Daily reports can only be generated for the past 7 days. Reports older than 7 days could be requested through governmentsupport@forte.net.

3. How can I proceed with reconciliation concerns?

Accurate reconciliation is essential for ensuring the correct recording of all payments. To reconcile payments within CivicPlus, it is necessary that you compare the CSG Forte’s Auto Daily Report Received (R) tab for each MID/location with the corresponding CivicPlus payment report.

For further details on CivicPlus reports, please refer to the resources available on their website:

• CivicPlus/Reconciling Payments with CSG Forte
• CivicRec/Recreation Management Reports Overview
• CivicGov/Community Development Reports Overview

4. How can I resolve a transaction that has not posted in CivicRec or appeared in my bank account?

This issue typically occurs due to a communication error between systems, causing the transaction to not appear in CivicRec or settle in the merchant’s bank account. These transactions often show an “In Progress - Authorized - A01” status in the CSG Forte Dex portal, indicating they have been authorized by the cardholder’s bank but have not yet been captured or finalized. Such transactions must be manually completed. Once a payment is authorized and captured, it will appear as “In Progress – Ready” status.

 

To finalize the payment, the merchants must manually capture it through the CSG Forte Dex portal and CivicRec system as outlined here: CivicPlus – Troubleshoot Transaction Capture Issues.

1. Make sure all relevant customer-related transaction details have been thoroughly reviewed before proceeding. 

2. Please confirm that you have not processed a duplicate payment for the customer.

3. Capture funds through CSG Forte Dex portal (Gateway):

    3.1. Access Dex and log in with the corresponding credentials.

    3.2. Go to “Transactions” in the left pane and the “Details” tab.

    3.3. Select the appropriate time range in the “Received” filter to locate the required payments.

    3.4. Use the checkbox to mark the required transactions. Make sure the selected transactions are labeled as “In Progress – Authorized – A01” (under the status).

    3.5. Click on the status sub-tab and choose “Authorized” option in the menu displayed.

    3.6. Tap the “Update” button to save the changes.

    3.7. Once the status is updated, click on the ellipses to the right side in the payment row and select “Capture” from the dropdown menu to finalize the payment and capture the funds.

Note: Ensure that the transactions listed are not duplicated. If the same transaction appears more than once, retain only the authorized transaction and void any other pending transactions awaiting authorization.

4. Posting the payment in CivicRec system by submitting a support ticket to CivicPlus with the necessary details for system updates.

5. How can I process a refund or void?

Refunds and voids within CivicPlus can occur under various circumstances, depending on the specific service and associated pricing structure. The CivicPlus services are eCheck and CC, and their products details for refunds and voids are:

 

Product	Description	Model	Voids and Reversals
CivicRec	Recreation Management (Parks & Recreation)	Split Fund, Dual Bill (if Dual Bill, specify which payment type is absorbed and/or service fee), and Absorbed (saving payment method on file with reoccurring payments) – P&R is the only one with this feature.	Initiated in Partner Software. ***
CivicGov	Community Development	Split Fund, Absorbed, and Dual Bill (if Dual Bill, specify which payment type is absorbed and which is set up as Service Fee).	Initiated in Dex
CivicEngage	Central & Open (Municipal Websites)
CivicOptimize	Process Automation & Digital Services
NextRequest	Public Records	N/A

***Note: For recreation management merchants using CivicRec, regardless of whether absorbed or convenience fees are applied, these transactions are processed directly through the CivicRec platform. These refunds are not completed in Dex.

1. Initiate refund in CivicRec software: Merchant can contact the CivicPlus support if they have any questions. This refund will return the principal amount to the customer; however, if a service fee refund is needed, they need to proceed with the next step.

2. Contact CSG Forte support to refund service fee: A separate request must be submitted by the registered primary contact to the CSG Forte Government Support team at governmentsupport@forte.net to recover the associated service charge including:

• Merchant ID
• Merchant Name
• Date of Payment
• Customer Name 

6. How can I contact CSG Forte?

For any questions about their Auto Daily Report, balancing issues or reconciliation concerns, CivicPlus merchants can contact CSG Forte's Government Support team at governmentsupport@forte.net or call 866-290-5400 Option 3.

7. What are the reporting time zones?

The respective reporting time zones used by CivicPlus and CSG Forte are:

8. What are the ACH/CC cutoff and funding times?

The cutoff time refers to the closing of the transaction window, at which point all cumulative transactions are submitted to the ACH network, whereas the funding time denotes when the funds from a transaction are deposited into the merchant’s bank account.

Most CivicPlus merchants are configured with cutoff times for batch transactions based on the schedule outlined in the table below, which includes transactions processed from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM. Corresponding ACH transactions will be initiated on the following business day.

9. What are the fee models?

There are two fee models used for payments processing through CivicPlus and CSG Forte: the Convenience Fee model and the Absorbed Fee model. The first model allows merchants to pass the payment service fee to customers, while the second model has the merchant absorb this fee. These models determine how the payment service fee is handled and its impact on customer receipts, cards on file, refunds, and other related aspects. Below are the key differences between these two models.

Differences
Convenience Fee	Absorbed Fee
This is a fee added to the transaction when a customer uses a non-standard or more "convenient" payment method (e.g., paying online or by credit card instead of by check or in person).	Refers to a payment processing fee that the merchant chooses to cover rather than passing it on to the customer.
The customer pays this fee in addition to the payment amount.	The merchant absorbs the cost; the customer pays only the original transaction amount.
Must be disclosed to the customer prior to payment.	The fee is not visible to the customer.

10. What are the differences between service/ convenience fee and absorbed fee models?

CivicPlus customers should reference CivicPlus Help Center article CivicPlus Pay and CSG Forte Convenience Fee Model Best Practices. This article references important information related to customer receipts, saved cards on file, refunds, and more, as noted below.

Note: 

• Convenience Fee model: when a merchant needs to refund the service fee, they must adhere to the two-step procedure outlined in question 5.
• Absorbed Fee model: CSG Forte bills and auto-debits the merchant monthly for convenience fees collected on each transaction and other monthly fees. The merchant receives an email invoice on the 5^th and their bank account is auto-debited on the 10^th of each month.

11. What Point-of-Sale (POS) devices are offered?

The following devices are offered by CSG Forte to CivicPlus:

Note: 

• The devices provided by CSG Forte for CivicPlus do not support Apple & Google Pay.
• For devices ordering and details click here or here.
• For V400C installation, refer to the next question.

12. How to install the drivers and device handler for the V400C?

There are two types of V400C terminals installation:

• For cloud-based V400C terminals: No installation of the device handler or USB driver is required.
• For V400C terminals connected via cable: You must install both the Forte Device Handler and the Verifone USB Driver. We recommend performing the installation with administrator rights to ensure the software is available for all users on the computer as described on the V400C-Setting Up Payment Device Handler.

Once installed, contact techsupport@forte.net or call 866-290-5400, option 5, to complete the set-up of the Point-of-Sale terminals.

Note: If the card reader is configured by Forte for an Ethernet connection, the Ethernet cable must be plugged directly into the device’s port. Do not use a dongle or adapter for this connection, if one is present. Additional information can be found here.

13. What key additional resources do I have to consult?

* CSG Forte Merchant Resource Page – Dex Training
* Payments + CSG Forte for Rec – Recreation Management Help Center
* Indicate a Bad Payment – Recreation Management Help Center
* CSG Forte Convenience Fee Models in Rec – Recreation Management Help Center
* General Ledger Detail Report – Recreation Management Help Center
* Add a Card on File – Recreation Management Help Center
* CSG Forte Saved Payment Methods – CivicPlus Platform