Planet Payment — Oracle AP Setup & Payment Process Configuration

Client	Planet Payment
Industry	Financial Technology — Global Payment Processing
Oracle Version	Oracle E-Business Suite R12
Modules	AP GL
Engagement Period	2011
Project Type	Oracle AP Setup & Payment Process Configuration
Complexity	Low-Medium · AP Setup · Payment Processing · Process Flow Design · Fintech Context

Executive Summary

Planet Payment — a global payment solutions provider offering multi-currency payment processing and dynamic currency conversion services to merchants, banks, and payment networks worldwide — engaged William Delaney Consulting in December 2011 to configure Oracle AP payment processing and document the end-to-end payment workflow. The Planet Payment Set Up Steps document provided the operational configuration guide for Oracle AP payment runs, and the Process Flow (both .docx and Visio .vsd format) captured the payment approval and disbursement workflow for Planet Payment's operational team.

Payment processing companies implementing Oracle AP face an inherent irony: their business is payment processing for others, yet their internal accounts payable must be configured with the same rigor and attention to payment controls as any other Oracle AP implementation. For Planet Payment, the irony cuts deeper — a company whose core competency is international multi-currency payment processing needed Oracle AP configured to manage its own vendor payment obligations with the same reliability it guaranteed to its merchant customers.

Engagement Context

Planet Payment (NASDAQ: PLPM at the time) provided financial technology services in over 60 countries — multi-currency pricing, dynamic currency conversion at point-of-sale, and cross-border payment settlement. Their operational infrastructure spanned card networks, issuing banks, and merchant acquirers across multiple continents. Oracle AP in this environment needed to handle: technology vendor payments in multiple currencies (acquiring bank systems, card network fees, telecommunications), regulatory compliance payments across multiple jurisdictions, and the intercompany accounting for a global multi-entity structure that mirrored Planet Payment's geographic presence.

Fintech companies implementing Oracle AP in 2011 were in the early stages of what would become a major Oracle adoption wave in the financial technology sector. Planet Payment's needs reflected the fintech AP context: technology-heavy vendor base, multi-currency payment requirements, real-time payment status visibility (a natural expectation for a company in the payment processing business), and strong internal control requirements given their PCI DSS compliance obligations and the sensitivity of their business relationships with card networks and banks.

Oracle AP Configuration Scope

AP Setup Configuration

The Planet Payment Set Up Steps document provided the operational configuration guide for Oracle AP payment processing — covering the Oracle payment manager setup, bank account configuration for electronic payments, payment format selection (ACH, wire, check), payment batch parameters, and the Oracle AP payment approval workflow. For a payment processing company, the Oracle AP bank account and payment format configuration carries particular significance: the same rigor applied to merchant payment processing should be applied to the company's own vendor payments, with explicit controls over bank account setup, payment authorization, and payment format validation.

Payment Process Flow Design

The Process Flow documents (Word and Visio format) captured Planet Payment's end-to-end AP payment cycle: invoice receipt and entry, three-way match (or two-way match for service invoices), payment approval routing, payment batch creation, bank file transmission, payment confirmation, and GL posting. The dual-format delivery (Word narrative + Visio diagram) reflects a best practice in process documentation: the narrative describes the process in terms that AP operations staff understand, while the Visio diagram provides the at-a-glance flow reference that works better for training and exception handling.

Key Deliverables

Deliverable	Type	Purpose
Oracle AP Set Up Steps	Configuration Guide	Operational guide to Oracle AP payment processing configuration including bank accounts, payment formats, and batch parameters
Payment Process Flow (Word)	Process Document	Narrative description of end-to-end AP payment cycle from invoice receipt through GL posting
Payment Process Flow (Visio)	Process Diagram	Visual AP payment workflow diagram for training and operational reference

Consultant Insights

On Oracle AP for Payment Technology Companies: Payment technology companies have a uniquely informed perspective on AP payment processing — they understand payment networks, settlement timing, and electronic payment formats at a depth that most Oracle AP users do not. This creates a demanding client for Oracle AP configuration: Planet Payment's staff would notice immediately if Oracle's payment batch file format didn't conform to ACH NACHA standards, or if Oracle's payment timing assumptions differed from real-world bank cut-off times. Configuring Oracle AP for a payment technology company requires bringing technical Oracle AP expertise to a client whose domain expertise is payment infrastructure — a combination that produces highly precise configuration requirements.

On Process Flow Documentation Format: The dual-format process flow delivery — narrative Word document plus Visio diagram — addresses different user needs for the same process. AP supervisors and training developers need the narrative: it explains WHY each step exists, what happens when exceptions occur, and what the business rules are at each decision point. AP clerks and new staff need the diagram: it shows WHAT to do at each step in a format that can be posted at a workstation for quick reference. Producing only one format serves only one audience and leaves the other without the reference they need. For any Oracle process documentation, producing both formats is worth the additional effort.