What are Directives?

Directives are the payment processing settings for your depository accounts. These Directives manage how payments are labeled and processed for check (ACH), credit card, and cash transactions. 

What do Directives Do?

The most concise description of what Directives do is they deliver payments to the right depository account. The Directive’s available settings are determined by the payment method—card, check, or cash:

Card Directives: 

• Activation status controls if the directive can be used to process transactions
• Set which card types can be accepted for payments
• Directive name

Check (ACH) Directives: 

• Activation status controls if the directive can be used to process transactions
• Assign the Authorization-required SEC code for payments made toward the Directive: ARC, CCD, PPD, RCK, TEL, or WEB (learn more about Authorization Requirements and NACHA-mandated SEC codes here)   

Cash Directives: 

• Activation status controls if the directive can be used to process transactions
• Directive name

Managing Directives

An account admin can make some updates to Directives from within their PDCflow account, including updates to:

• Directive Name: set the visible name for the Directive that should appear on payment details
• Activation Status: set a Directive to Active or Inactive (if a Directive is set to Inactive, future payments can be reassigned to another available and valid Directive)
• Allowed Card Types: set a Card Directive to accept specific card types 
• SEC Code: assign the Authorization-required SEC Code for a check Directive (learn more about Authorization Requirements and NACHA-mandated SEC codes here) 

To access these settings, navigate to CONFIGURE > DIRECTIVES to view and update Directives.

Inactivating a Directive

If a Directive should no longer be active or available for future payments, you can inactivate a directive:

To access this setting, navigate to CONFIGURE > DIRECTIVES and click the edit (pencil) icon next to the appropriate Directive. Change the Activation status to Inactive. If there are valid Replacement Directives available you will have the option to select one. Assigning a Replacement Directive moves any active records (scheduled transactions, outstanding FLOWs, or post-dated transactions) from the Directive being deactivated to the Replacement Directive. To move all active records to a different directive, make a selection here. When you’re finished, click Save Directive. 

Activating a Directive

If you need to activate an inactive Directive, navigate to CONFIGURE > DIRECTIVES and click the Active Only button then select Inactive Only. Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the appropriate Directive. Change the Activation status to Active. When you’re finished, click Save Directive. 

Other Directive Updates

For security reasons, many sensitive settings can only be updated by contacting our Customer Success Team. To initiate other updates to a Directive, send an email with your PDCID, your contact info, and non-sensitive information about the needed change to support@pdcflow.com. 

For information about migrating Directives via API integration, view our Schedule Service documentation here or contact our API Developer Support Team.