Handling the "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" Payment Type

Introduction

There are two circumstances where a payment type may appear as "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" in Admin > My Lists > Payment Types, on transactions, and on payment type dropdown lists:

• Case 1: "Unspecified Payment Type" means that at some point an admin saved a payment type in Admin > My Lists > Payment Types without a name (doing so is no longer possible). In most cases, that resulted in payment transactions with a blank ("no name") payment type assigned.

• Case 2: "Unspecified" means that at some point an admin saved a gateway setup in Admin > My Lists > Gateways without a choosing a payment type (doing so is no longer possible). This meant gateway payment transactions were created without any payment type assigned.

  In the second case, Shulcloud data engineers first updated where possible payments missing a payment type with a payment type that could be determined by other known information. For example, if a gateway called "Credit Card" and had payments processed through that gateway that had no payment type assigned, Shulcloud engineers assigned to those transactions the payment type that currently have set as "Credit Card" gateway. The remaining transactions were assigned "Unspecified."

Getting Started

If Case 1 ("Unspecified Payment Type") applies, first step determine how many transactions, if any, are assigned the "Unspecified Payment Type" payment type (it is conceivable there may be none):

1. Navigate to Admin Menu > My Lists > Payment Types.
2. Select "Unspecified Payment Type" in the list
3. Review the note under the title for the number

If "Not used in your site," is displayed when editing a payment type, it can simply be deleted the payment type. 

Otherwise, a count of:

• the number of transactions using the payment type
• the number of gateways using the payment type

Important: If a count of gateways is displayed, that means transactions are still automatically using the formerly nameless payment type. Be sure to review Admin > My Lists > Gateways setups to ensure appropriate payment types are being utilized.

To see a list of the transactions:

1. Navigate to Financials > Transactions
2. Set the filters:
   Type = Payments Only
   Dates = a wide range (e.g. starting 1/1/1970)
   Payment Types = Unspecified Payment Type or Unspecified (as your case may be)
3. Filter

Pay particular attention to the Notes column, as a long string (e.g. #py_1I8XVlFy8kPIscdvNL0xO03K) indicates a payment over the gateway. Or, perhaps, there are notes like "PayPal Monthly."

Updating Your Data

Method 1: Merge "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" in Admin > My Lists > Payment Types

This is the easiest and best method, especially in Case 1, if there is an existing payment type to which the involved transactions ought to be assigned. For example, the transactions are credit card payments that were somehow assigned the nameless payment type long ago. Or the transactions are checks but the manual gateway lacked the assignment of "Check" as the payment type.

If Case 2 applies, please note that they can only merge the entire group of involved transactions into one existing payment type. So, the involved transactions fall into more than one type, users will have to decide whether or not to merge all transactions into the payment type that covers most of the payments or to simply keep the status quo. If you decide against merging, you can still rename the payment type to something more descriptive, as explained below. For example, maybe you had one manual gateway for Wire Transfer and another for Certified Check and both were set up and operated without a payment type for a period of time. You could rename "Unspecified" to "Wire or Certified" and cover both types.

Important: Make sure that the settings (the four checkboxes below the Name field) of the payment type that will survive the merge are consistent with the settings of "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" (or that any differences are not of concern) as your transactions will be assigned the surviving/target payment type.

1. Go to Admin > My Lists > Payment Types 
2. Select "Unspecified Payment Type" in the list
3. Select Merge.
   
   
    
4. Choose the payment type to use instead of "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified"
5. Select Merge Now

In this example, all transactions with "Unspecified Payment Type" will be assigned the "Credit" payment type instead.

Method 2: Rename the "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" in My Lists

Use this method where there isn't an existing payment type to merge this type into. For example, maybe you had a payment type called "Credit" that was accidentally saved without a name. Simply edit the name.

1. Navigate to Admin > My Lists >Payment Types.
2. Select "Unspecified Payment Type" or "Unspecified" in the list
3. Edit the name to give the type a new and unique name
4. Review the options and make any changes as required (e.g. type is considered tax-deductible)
5. Save Changes

As noted above, this method is a good Case 2 option where the involved payments cover more than one payment type and you would prefer not merging types as a result. For example, maybe you have one manual gateway for Wire Transfer and another for Certified Check and both were set up and operated without a payment type for a period of time. You could rename "Unspecified" to "Wire or Certified."