Payments and reconciliation

The Payments screen is where you check that every payment TillPoint recorded is backed by real money: a cash entry, an M-Pesa receipt from Safaricom, or a card terminal record.

Go to Payments. You need permission to view reconciliation. Confirming, rejecting and resolving payments needs the separate reconcile permission. See Roles and permissions.

Caution

Never treat a payment as successful because of a customer’s phone screen, an SMS or a message on the till. Resolve every review item against the provider’s own records, such as your M-Pesa statement.

How M-Pesa payments reach TillPoint

Customers pay to the branch Till Number. TillPoint does not send a payment prompt to the customer’s phone.

1. When the customer pays, Safaricom sends the completed transaction to TillPoint. It is stored with its receipt code, amount, Till Number and time. The customer’s phone number is not stored.
2. At checkout, the cashier chooses M-Pesa, types at least four characters of the customer’s receipt code, and picks the matching transaction.
3. Once a receipt is attached to a sale, it cannot be used for another sale.

See Checkout for the cashier’s side of this.

Transactions that cannot be matched, such as those sent to an unknown Till Number, duplicates, or late arrivals, are kept for review instead of being thrown away.

Payment summary

Three cards at the top summarise the payments in the list:

• Confirmed value is the total of confirmed payments.
• Transactions is the number of payments shown.
• Needs attention counts payments that need review or have failed, plus any unmatched M-Pesa records.

If there are unmatched, duplicate or late M-Pesa records, a Provider evidence needs review warning appears. Do not collect a second payment from the customer until the original transaction has been resolved.

Finding a payment

The payments table shows the Receipt, Method, Status, Provider reference, Date & time and Amount.

• Type in the search box to find a payment by TillPoint receipt number, M-Pesa receipt code or provider reference.
• Use the state list to show All states, or only CONFIRMED, PENDING, FAILED or REVIEW_REQUIRED payments.

Confirming or rejecting a payment

A payment marked REVIEW REQUIRED needs a person to check it against the provider’s records. If you have the reconcile permission, the Action column shows Confirm and Reject.

To confirm a payment you have verified:

1. Find the transaction on your M-Pesa statement or provider portal.
2. Select Confirm on the payment.
3. Enter the Verified M-Pesa receipt code.
4. Under Reason and evidence checked, say what you checked, for example the statement and time you looked at.
5. Select Confirm payment.

To reject a payment that is not backed by real money:

1. Select Reject on the payment.
2. Under Reason and evidence checked, explain why.
3. Select Reject evidence.

Both decisions are recorded with your name and reason.

Provider bill receipts

The Provider bill receipts section deals with M-Pesa payments made against customer credit bills. Each credit bill has its own bill reference, which the customer uses as the account reference when paying.

When automatic allocation has been switched on for your branch, a verified M-Pesa receipt that carries the exact bill reference is applied to that bill on its own. TillPoint never allocates automatically from an amount alone, an SMS or a phone screen. Everything else goes to the review queue.

Four totals sit at the top of the section: Received, Allocated, Open excess and Unmatched.

Open review queue

The Open review queue lists provider receipts that need a decision. Each row shows the Provider code, the Bill reference sent, the Reason, the amount Received and any Excess.

Reason	What it means
UNMATCHED REFERENCE	The receipt had no bill reference, or the reference did not match any credit bill.
OVERPAYMENT	The receipt was for more than the bill still owed.
EXCESS UNALLOCATED	Part of the receipt was applied and some money is left over.
REVERSED	The receipt has been reversed.

Resolving a receipt

If you have the reconcile permission, each row offers:

• Allocate applies the receipt to a credit bill. Available only while the receipt has not been used.
• Record reversal records that the provider reversed the payment. The bill’s balance is restored, and the original payment stays on record.
• Add evidence adds a note to the case without changing any money.

To record any of these:

1. Select the action on the receipt.
2. For Allocate, enter the Credit bill reference. Enter an amount under Amount to allocate (blank for full receipt), or leave it blank to apply the whole receipt.
3. Under Reason and provider evidence checked, explain what you checked. This needs at least eight characters.
4. Enter the Provider statement or reversal reference from your provider’s records.
5. If your role cannot approve M-Pesa exceptions yourself, a manager enters their PIN under Approving manager PIN.
6. Select Record exception.

An allocation can never be more than the bill still owes or more than the receipt amount. Any money left over stays open for reconciliation.

Receipt reconciliation

The Receipt reconciliation table lists every provider receipt with its Bill, Status, the amounts Received, Allocated and Excess, and Received at. You can select Record reversal on a receipt that has been applied to a bill.

Select Export reconciliation CSV to download the full list as a spreadsheet. Compare it regularly with your own M-Pesa statements.

Card payments

Card payments taken on a separate PDQ terminal are recorded at checkout with the terminal’s reference details. TillPoint never asks for or stores the card number, PIN or security code. Card payments appear in the payments table with the other methods.

To compare cash, M-Pesa and card totals for a period, use the Payments & cash report in Reports.