Level 3 Payment Processing with Braintree

Personify ThreeSixty has introduced Level 3 Payment Processing for Braintree payment handler. This enhancement allows for the transmission of granular transaction data during the settlement process, enabling potential discounts on interchange fees for organizations.

By providing this extra layer of data, your association can often qualify for lower processing fees. This guide details how to enable, configure, and process Level 3 transactions using the Braintree payment gateway in Personify ThreeSixty.

Level 3 Interchange Qualification: Per industry-standard regulations from Visa and Mastercard, Level 3 interchange optimization is a specialized program designed to reduce risk and improve reporting for Commercial and Government transactions.

• Eligible Cards: Reduced Level 3 interchange rates apply exclusively to commercial products, including Corporate cards, Business cards, and GSA/Government-issued spending accounts.
• Personal/Consumer Cards: Transactions made with personal consumer credit cards are classified as Level 1 transactions by default. According to card network rules, personal cards are ineligible for Level 2 or Level 3 rate reductions, regardless of the amount of line-item data or supplemental information (such as commodity codes or shipping details) transmitted during the settlement process.

Note: This functionality has been introduced and supported starting with the 770 SP3 Hotfix 5.4 release. To utilize Braintree as a payment handler, your organization must be upgraded to this specific version or later.

Key Terminology:

• Level 3 Data: Advanced transaction details required for corporate card qualification.
• Commodity Code: A numeric code used to classify products (e.g., UNSPSC code).
• Settlement (SALE): The process by which authorized funds are finalized and transferred to the association's bank account.

1. Important Prerequisites for Level 3 Processing

Before activating Level 3 in Personify ThreeSixty, you must ensure your merchant account and data are correctly configured.

A. Mandatory Merchant Account Enablement

To process Level 2 and Level 3 data, your association must first coordinate with Braintree.

• Action Required: Your individual merchant or association must contact Braintree Support directly to request enablement for Level 2 and 3 processing via "submit for settlement."
• Sandbox Environments: This activation is NOT required for Braintree Sandbox accounts. You can test Level 3 logic and generate sample data in your Sandbox without additional enablement.

B. Update Product Commodity Codes (UNSPSC code)

Level 3 data require a detailed classification for every product involved in the transaction.

• Action Required: Every Product record in Personify ThreeSixty (e.g., Merchandise, Event Product, Subscription) must have a valid Commodity Code (UNSPSC code) populated.
• Critical Validation Rule: If the Commodity Code (UNSPSC code) is null or blank for any item in an order, the entire order will not be processed with Level 3 data. This rule applies to both single-line and multiple-line orders. If one line is invalid, the entire order reverts to standard processing.

C. Postal Code Requirement

The Postal Code field must not be left blank in the Payment Address screen at the Organization Unit level. Providing a valid postal code is mandatory for processing Level 3 data with these providers.

2. Activating Level 3 in Application Settings

Once the prerequisites are met, you must activate the Level 3 logic within your Braintree application settings. This is a system-wide setting that controls whether enhanced data is extracted and transmitted.

To Enable Level 3 Processing:

1. Navigate to your Application Settings for payment processing.

   

2. Locate the section for Payment Processing.

3. Click to configure the specific Braintree gateway instance you wish to modify.

   

4. Set the Level 3 Enabled parameter to Y (Yes). (Default value is N (No)).

   

Important Note: When Level 3 Enabled is set to Y (Yes), Level 2 processing is internally considered enabled as well. Level 3 information will only be created when this parameter is explicitly set to N (No).

3. The Level 3 Processing Workflow: Authorization to Settlement

It is vital to understand that Level 3 data is not captured at the initial point of sale (Authorization). Instead, it is extracted, formatted, and transmitted during the secondary Settlement phase. Level 3 entries are created specifically for the settlement transaction (SALE).

Step 1: Authorization (Initial Payment)

When a customer makes a purchase and pays with a corporate Visa or Mastercard, the transaction is initialed and authorized just like any standard payment.

1. Authorization: Funds are authorized and held. The initial gateway transaction record captures standard details (e.g., total amount, card details, customer name).
2. Product Details: At this stage, the detailed line-item information (product name, quantity, unit price, commodity code) is not yet present in the gateway’s transaction view.

Step 2: Settlement (Capturing Enhanced Data)

In Personify ThreeSixty, the final capture and transmission of Level 3 data occur when you finalize the transaction via the daily settlement batch job.

Step 3: Verification (Reviewing Gateway and System Results)

After the settlement job completes, the gateway transaction record will be updated, moving from "Authorized" to "Submitted for Settlement." You can now verify that the enhanced Level 3 details were captured.

System Verification:

Personify ThreeSixty uses the following new database tables to store the generated Level 3 data for auditing and review:

• ccp_req_ans_Level3 (Stores Master/Header data)
• ccp_req_ans_Level3_DETAIL (Stores individual line-item data)

Gateway Verification:

If you review the transaction details within the payment gateway (e.g., Braintree Sandbox), you will see the additional line-item and master data sections have been populated with data pulled directly from the Personify ThreeSixty Order and Order Items.

Refer to the Required Fields article for information on the master and detail data captured by Braintree for Level 3 processing.

Managing Level 3 Database Growth

Because Level 3 processing involves capturing extensive line-item details for qualifying transactions, the associated database tables (ccp_req_ans_Level3 and ccp_req_ans_Level3_DETAIL) can grow significantly over time. It is vital to manage this data retention to ensure optimal system performance.

Automated Data Purging

To address this potential growth, we have created an automated maintenance process.

A specific SQL Job (Level3_2_Purge_Data_Job.sql) is included with the integration. When configured, this job will automatically identify and remove Level 3 transactional data that is more than one year old.

Recommendation: We highly recommend that administrators configure this job during the initial setup to manage long-term database storage efficiently.

Summary of Key Rules

• Settlement Timing: Level 3 data is captured during settlement, not at the initial time of the operation.
• Validation: If a commodity code is missing on an order line, Level 3 information will not be created for that transaction.
• Gateway Support: Clients must ensure that Level 3 processing is also enabled on their merchant account side with Braintree to receive this data.

By leveraging Level 3 processing, Personify ThreeSixty users can have a more professional, enterprise-grade financial workflow while simultaneously reducing the cost of doing business.