Setting a member up in CiviPlus does not move any money. Batches are what connect CiviPlus to your bank: they turn the mandates and instalments held in the system into files you send to your bank or bureau, and then record what came back.

This is the regular job in a Direct Debit month, and there are three kinds of batch. They all work the same way, so once you have done one the others are familiar.

This assumes Direct Debit is configured and members are set up. For the configuration see Setting up Manual Direct Debit; for adding members and mandates see How to put a member on Direct Debit.

What can I do in CiviPlus?

Send newly signed-up mandates to your bank to be set up, so they can be collected against.
Collect the instalments that have fallen due, and have the contributions marked as paid.
Tell your bank about Direct Debits your members have cancelled.
Put right the ones that fail, without disturbing the rest of the batch.

Before you start

What this needs: the CiviCRM : Can manage Direct Debit Batches permission, which is what puts Direct Debit under the Finance menu — if you cannot see it, ask an administrator to grant it. You also need a way to submit files to your bank or Direct Debit bureau, for example PT-X, and to know which Service User Number you are collecting under, because every batch covers one.

The five steps every batch follows

Whichever kind you are running, the shape is the same.

Create the batch and choose the Service User Number it covers.
Add the records that are waiting to go.
Save and export the batch to get the file.
Send that file to your bank or bureau, outside CiviPlus.
Come back and mark the batch Submitted once it has been accepted, or Discard it if it was rejected.

Submitting a batch cannot be undone. It changes the code on every mandate in the batch, and for a payment batch it marks the contributions as paid. Only submit once your bank or bureau has actually accepted the file. If it was rejected, use Discard instead, which releases everything in the batch to be corrected and sent again.

Send new mandates for verification

A mandate at code 0N has not reached your bank and cannot collect anything. This batch is what changes that.

Go to Finance → Direct Debit → Create New Instructions Batch.

CiviPlus fills in a Batch Name for you. Change it to something your team will recognise if you prefer.
Choose the Originator number you are collecting under. Only mandates on that Service User Number appear in the next step.
Click Next.
Under Available instructions, tick the mandates you want to include, or tick the box in the heading row to take everything on the page.
In the - actions - dropdown choose Assign to Batch and click Go. The rows move up into Added to batch.
Click Save and Export Batch to save and download the file in one go, or Save if you would rather export it later.

The export is a CSV file named after the batch, listing the contact, account holder name, sort code, account number, amount, mandate reference and code. Send it to your bank or bureau in the usual way.

When it has been accepted, return to Finance → Direct Debit → Manage Direct Debit Batches, find the batch and choose Submit. CiviPlus warns you that every mandate at 0N will move to 01 and that the change cannot be reversed. Confirm, and the mandates become collectable.

Collect the payments that are due

Go to Finance → Direct Debit → Create Payment Collection Batch, name the batch, choose the Originator number and click Next.

If the list says "None found", widen the dates. The batch opens filtered to payments due on or before today, so a collection you are preparing for next month shows nothing at all. Open Edit Search Criteria, set the Contribution Date To date to the end of the collection window you are running, and click Search. This is the single most common reason a payment batch looks empty.

Open Edit Search Criteria and set the Contribution Date range to cover the collection you are making. Contribution Status is already set to Pending and Payment Method to Direct Debit, which is what you want.
Click Search. The instalments due in that window appear under Available Payments, each showing its amount and received date.
Tick the payments to collect, choose Assign to Batch in the - actions - dropdown and click Go.
Click Save and Export Batch, and send the file to your bank or bureau.

Once the collection has gone through, find the batch on Manage Direct Debit Batches and choose Submit. Every mandate in the batch moves to 17, meaning it has now collected at least once, and every Pending contribution in it is marked Completed.

Tell your bank about cancellations

When a member cancels, set their mandate's DD Code to 0C on their contact record, then send that cancellation to your bank so it stops collecting too.

Go to Finance → Direct Debit → Create Cancelled Instructions Batch, name it, choose the Originator number and click Next. Only mandates at 0C appear, and a mandate can only be in one cancellation batch unless that batch is discarded.

Assign, save, export and submit exactly as before.

Find, export, submit or discard a batch

Everything you do to a batch after creating it happens at Finance → Direct Debit → Manage Direct Debit Batches. Filter by Batch Type and by created date to find what you are after.

View shows what is in the batch.
Export downloads the CSV again, as many times as you need.
Update lets you add or remove records, and works only while the batch is still Open.
Submit records that your bank accepted it, and moves the codes on.
Discard records that it was rejected, and releases everything in it to be batched again.

When something fails

A new instruction is rejected

A whole batch is rarely rejected, but individual mandates are, usually because the bank details are wrong. Your bank or bureau reports these back to you.

Submit the batch as normal, then find each failed mandate and set its DD Code to 0C so it is left out of future batches. Contact the member for correct details. Once you have them, set the code back to 0N and it joins the next new instructions batch.

A payment fails

If the batch has not been submitted in CiviPlus yet, the tidiest fix is to take the failed payment out of it: check the batch is still Open, choose Update, select the payment, and use Remove from batch. It stays Pending and is picked up by the next collection.

If the batch has already been submitted, the contribution has been marked as paid and needs correcting:

Find the contribution that failed and change its status to Cancelled.
On the same contribution, use Duplicate As New Pending Contribution.
CiviPlus creates a copy with the same date and lines at Pending status, ready for the next collection batch.

Ending a Direct Debit for good

Where payments keep failing, or the member has left, stopping the Direct Debit takes three steps. Doing only the first leaves instalments in the system that keep appearing in collection batches.

Set the mandate's DD Code to 0C, and include it in a Cancelled Instructions batch so your bank stops as well.
On the member's Recurring Contributions subtab, choose Cancel on the payment plan.
When prompted, confirm whether to cancel the future instalments and set the membership to cancelled. Choose both if the membership is ending.

That is the cycle. New mandates go out for verification, due payments are collected, cancellations are passed on, and the codes tell you where everything stands. To keep members informed at each stage, see How to send Direct Debit notifications and letters.

How to put a member on Direct Debit — creating the mandates this page sends to your bank.
Setting up Manual Direct Debit — where the run dates and Service User Numbers come from.
How to send Direct Debit notifications and letters — giving members notice before you collect.
Introduction to Manual Direct Debit in CiviPlus — what the Direct Debit codes mean.
Creating a Sage 50 Export file — getting the resulting contributions into your accounts.

How to run your Direct Debit batches