Introduction
In this article, you will learn how to configure payment notifications for GoCardless within the Perfect Gym system. This feature supports notifications for Direct Debit transactions, specifically under BACS requirements (UK market), and cannot be used with other payment providers. We’ll guide you through the setup process, highlight important considerations, and provide details on the available notification types.
- This article describes how to configure Go Cardles notifications - Mandate created and Recurring payment schedule.
- This article will be helpful for PG Champions and System Administrators
Before you start
Before you start configuring notifications, please remember that the templates provided in this article are only examples. You should carefully review and follow the GoCardless notification requirements for BACS to ensure compliance.
To enable the notifications feature, contact the Perfect Gym Support Team.
Keep in mind that the proper wording and inclusion of mandatory information in the notifications are the responsibility of the club's business owners. While this article guides you on configuring rules in Perfect Gym, the content of the notifications can be adjusted to fit your preferences and needs.
In case of the custom notification messages different than provided templates, your company will need to submit new notification content to GoCardless for verification.
To properly configure notifications:
- Ensure you are already familiar with the Automation Center and the process of setting up basic notifications.
- Use a custom HTML template for these notifications, as it is necessary to include a footer with GoCardless information and a privacy notice.
Perfect Gym can handle only mandatory notifications. That means not all types of events will trigger notification sending. PGM will not handle any mandates or payments created via Instant Bank Payments flow or mandate cancellation. These if enabled on merchant account will be sent by GoCardless.
Perfect Gym handles only mandatory notifications. This means:
- Notifications are sent for specific events, such as mandate registration and recurring payments.
- Notifications are not sent for mandates or payments created via the Instant Bank Payments flow, nor for mandate cancellations. In such cases, GoCardless handles notifications directly.
Instant Bank Payments flow is triggered when your configuration allows members to register new bank account via GoCardless web page and/or make a payment.
PGM will handle mandate registration cases when bank account is added by following applications:
- PGM,
- API with /MemberPaymentSource/AddDirectDebitPaymentMethod endpoint,
- Client Portal with built in form without redirect to GoCardless site.
Payment notifications are only supported when transactions are initiated with the billing module and do not include ad-hoc payments created through API or Client Portal. Only membership transaction types are included in the PGM notifications and any other type of transactions (eg. joining fee, prorata, admin fee, etc.) are treated as one-time payment that do not follow recurring schedule. Therefore payment for other transaction types will be sent by GoCardless.
Fast Lane
- Contact Perfect Gym Support to enable the GoCardless notification feature.
- Navigate to PGM / Automation / Automation Rules.
- Click Add Automation Rule and select GoCardless Notification in the Action field.
- In Event field select Mandate created or Recurring payment schedule.
- Configure the notification template, ensuring the inclusion of required tokens and attachments.
Instruction
Contact the Perfect Gym Support Team to activate the GoCardless notification functionality. Once enabled, you can access and configure the GoCardless Notification action in the Automation Center.
1. Go to PGM -> Automation -> Automation Rules
2. Click Add Automation rule
3. In the Action field select GoCardless Notification
Remember that the message must contain a footer with GoCardless details, an attached Direct Debit Guarantee and Direct Debit logo.
4. In the Event field select one of the following options:
- Mandate created - to send notifications each time a new mandate is created without the consumer's presence
- Recurring payment scheduled - to send notifications about the first payment or to inform clients about changes to the next recurring payment.
For more details about these options, see the next section of the article.
5. Configure Automation rule
- Prepare an attachment with the Direct Debit Guarantee and add it in the section Static Attachments by uploading a file.
- In the Notification content section click on Add content template and select the Template dedicated for GoCardless Notifications a footer with GoCardless details and a privacy notice.
Regulatory footer and privacy notice content:
Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, registration number 597190, for the provision of payment services.
GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.
To create a custom footer, refer to the Perfect Gym Knowledge Base article for detailed instructions on how to create and edit custom templates.
GoCardless - Automation Events
Notifications for mandate setup
Each time a new mandate is created without the consumer's presence, the system must send a notification to inform the client that their bank details have been saved for future payments. This includes scenarios where a new payment source is added via PGM or the Client Portal and excludes cases where the user is redirected to the GoCardless website to complete the process.
For this scenario to configure notification in PGM Automation Center select event Mandate created. Rest of the notification template is a standard looking form. Use presented tokens to fill in dynamic values and remember to use compulsory wording and tokens including:
- [ACCOUNT_HOLDER],
- [BANK_ACCOUNT_NUMBER],
- [BANK_CODE],
- [CREDITOR_NAME],
- [CREDITOR_EMAIL],
- [CREDITOR_PHONE],
- [CREDITOR_REFERENCE]
Message template:
Notifications for recurring payments
For these types of notifications, always select Recurring Payment Scheduled in the automation rule's event field. For both rule configurations, ensure that you add a static attachment with the Direct Debit Guarantee and a footer with GoCardless information.
We recommend splitting these notifications into two separate automation rules:
1. First payment notification – this notification informs the client about the recurring charge for their membership and its frequency.
2. All future recurring payments – this notification is sent only if the membership charge amount differs from the last payment, indicating that the recurring amount has changed.
Configuration examples:
-
First payment notification
In the conditions section also set [IS_FIRST_PAYMENT] equals to true.
Message template:
-
All future recurring payments
In contrast to first notification set condition [IS_FIRST_PAYMENT] equals to false.
Message template:
You can use additional text and available tokens to extend message but always make sure to include mandatory data.
Available tokens
- [ACCOUNT_HOLDER] - first and last name of the account holder
- [BANK_ACCOUNT_NUMBER] - masked bank account number
- [BANK_CODE] - sort code or bank name if sort code not present
- [CREDITOR_NAME] - the creditor’s trading name
- [CREDITOR_EMAIL] - the creditor’s email address
- [CREDITOR_PHONE] - the creditor’s phone number
- [CREDITOR_REFERENCE] - the creditor's name combined with reference number (the scheme-unique identifier against which payments are submitted)
- [MANDATE] - mandate reference number
- [PAYMENT_AMOUNT] - payment amount for the currently charged transaction
- [RECURRING_AMOUNT ] - general membership amount established as the recurring payment for the contract (this can be different from the payment amount if payment includes other transactions than just one regular membership installment)
- [RECURRING_PERIOD] - name of the payment plan intervals
Payment plan intervals are configured in PGM/Settings/Payment Plan Intervals
- [PAYMENT_DATE] - date of the predicted charge by GoCardless
- [PAYMENT_ID] - payment identifier
- [PAYMENT_TITLE] - transaction title assigned by PGM
- [TODAY_DATE] - date when the notification is sent to the client