Collections

Collections are a way for you to collect funds from your customers regularly as per the terms of the pre-authorised mandate. With an authorised mandate, you can collect funds from your customer by uploading batch files to our SFTP server.

note

• The collections issued have to abide by the mandate that was authorised by your customer.
• It is possible to collect outside of the terms of a mandate. However, a successful collection that does not abide by the terms of the mandate can be disputed by the customer. This dispute will most likely be approved due to the collection being in breach of the mandate.

Initiating Collection Requests via SFTP

The diagram below depicts initiating a collection request via Stitch's SFTP. The outcome of the collection request is one or more of two types of files: a REPLY file and an OUTPUT file. The REPLY file indicates whether the collection batch file you submitted was valid or not and whether the submitted line items are valid or not. The OUTPUT file that indicates whether the collection line items succeeded or failed.

As a part of the collections process, you will be expected to submit a collection batch containing all the collections you want actioned.

sequenceDiagram participant Client participant Stitch Client->>+Stitch: upload collection files(s) Stitch->>Stitch: validate file schema Stitch->>Stitch: validate file content alt Collection file is valid Stitch-->>Client: collection REPLY file indicating successful submission Stitch->>Stitch: process collections Stitch-->>-Client: daily collection OUTPUT file indicating successful or failed collections else Collection file is invalid Stitch-->>Client: collection REPLY file indicating required corrections end

SFTP connection

In order to upload and submit collection files to Stitch and to receive REPLY and OUTPUT files from Stitch, you will need to make use of SFTP to allow for file exchange.

Your SFTP credentials will be configured during the onboarding process. Once your access and connectivity has been configured successfully, you may proceed to submit your batch collection files.

SFTP directory structure

You will have access to a directory within the SFTP server that only your user can access. You will have access to Incoming, Outgoing and Archive folders.

The directory structure will be as follows:

Folder	Description
/	Root folder
/Incoming	You will receive incoming collection-related files in this folder. These will be: REPLY files with the validation and submission results OUTPUT files with collection results
/Outgoing	You will drop the collection files to be processed here. Example of these files are: Collection files Corrected collection files
/Archive	Files will be archived regularly to reduce clutter within the Incoming and Outgoing folders. This folder will be the root of the Archive directory and it's structure will mimic the root-level (/) structure.
/Archive/Outgoing	The archive subdirectory containing archived outgoing files
/Archive/Incoming	The archive subdirectory containing archived incoming files

Archiving of files

Files will be archived regularly to reduce the clutter in the folder and to make searching within the folder easier.

• Collection OUTPUT files that are uploaded in the Outgoing folder will be archived once they are processed.
• Collection REPLY files in the Incoming folder will be archived every 30 days.

Notifications of file uploads

Any new REPLY and OUTPUT file uploads will be communicated to you via webhooks, removing the need for you to poll for folder changes.