Spend Monitoring

Overview

Synctera Spend Controls provide you with a way to control spend on account-level through creation of rules that monitor the flow of funds to or from the account. Spend controls can for example be used to prevent fraud / unauthorized spending on the account or to support budgeting and financial goals. The below guide shows you how to manage spend controls through the Synctera Console. For documentation on the Spend Control API, see the API Guide and API Reference.

Two views:

There are two ways to set up and maintain spend control rules through the Synctera Console:

1. Through Accounts > Search/Select Account > Spend Monitoring - from this view you can:
   • List all rules that apply to the selected account
   • Instantly create rules and apply to the selected account
   • Update rules that specifically apply to the selected account
   • Unlink rules from the selected account
   • Apply an existing rule (or re-apply an unlinked rule)
     
     
2. Through Operations > Spend Monitoring - from this view you can:
   • List all rules for all accounts
   • List all accounts for a rule and navigate to account
   • Create rules and later apply to one or more accounts (through Account view)
   • Update rules that apply to one or more accounts (shared rules)

Rule setup and maintenance from the Account view

To list all applicable rules:

All rules that have been applied to the account are listed under the Spend Monitoring tab:

Note:

• In the list, you can see what rules are shared, i.e. have also been applied to other accounts (you can list all accounts by clicking on the hyperlink and navigate to a specific account - see below under Operations view - navigate to account)

To set up a new rule:

Click button "Create a new rule":

Add rule details:

• Rule name: Helps you identify the rule (tip: provide a descriptive name)
• Payment type: The rule can be set for one or more payment types. If no payment type is selected, the rule automatically applies to all payment types. Examples:
  • For a $1,000 debit control that applies to all payment types, the sum of all debit transactions is checked against the control
  • For a $1,000 ACH debit control, the sum of ACH debits is checked against the control
  • For a $1,000 Cash & Check credits, the sum of cash and check credits is checked against the control

• Direction: Rules can apply to debits (default) or credits, but each rule applies to one direction only, i.e. debits and credits do not offset each other. Some restrictions apply depending on the payment type:
  • Coming soon
• Trigger amount: The amount that triggers the rule/action
• Time range, days: We currently support a rolling window defined by a number of days, for example:
  • For a rolling window of 7 days, each transaction is checked against the sum of the applicable transactions in the last 7 days
• Actions: Define what actions the system should take when the trigger amount is exceeded:
  • Create a notification alert case: If this is set, a Spend Monitoring case will be created in Synctera's case management system for any transaction that violates that rule (for details on the case, see the Case section below). Note that the transaction goes through as normal (unless the "Decline ..." flag is also set).
  • Decline the transaction: If this is set, the transaction will be declined.

• A rule is Active by default

To update a rule:

Click on the rule in the list, make the required changes, and Save:

Note:

• All fields can be updated
• You can activate/deactivate a rule by using the toggle above the rule name
• Shared rules: Rules that apply to more than one accounts - this is clearly indicated at the top of the rule (see image below)
  • Cannot be updated from the account view, only from the operations view
  • Attempts to update a shared rule from the account view will result in a new account-specific rule. Note that the old/shared rule is not unlinked automatically.
    

To unlink a rule:

In update/edit mode (see image above), click the “Unlink” button in the lower right corner.
Note that rules can only be unlined from the Account view.

To apply an existing rule (or re-apply an unlinked rule):

Click on the “Apply a new rule” button and select the relevant rule from the drop-down:

Rule setup and maintenance from the Operations view

To list all rules for all accounts:

All rules that that have been created (shared or account-specific) are listed under the Spend Monitoring tab:

Filter rules by:

• Rule name - supports non-exact search
• Payment type
• Direction (debit/credit)
• Trigger amount - currently only supports exact match
• Status (active/inactive)

To list all accounts for a rule and navigate to account:

To list accounts to which the rule applies, click on the account-link in the “Applies to” column - click on the account in the list and navigate to the “Spend monitoring” tab:

To setup a new rule and later apply to one or more accounts (through Account view):

Click button "Create a new rule" (upper right corner):

Note that the new rule created from this view does not apply to any account yet:

The rule can be applied to an account through the Account view - see To apply an existing rule (or re-apply an unlinked rule) above.

To update a rule that applies to one or more accounts (shared rule):

All rules can be updated from the Operations view, and as mentioned above under Account view, this is the only view from which a shared rule can be updated..
Click on the rule in the list, make the required changes, and Save:

Spend Monitoring case

The Spend Monitoring case is described here.