Introduction

This guide walks you through the process of setting up a corporate card data feed to Astrada in order to enroll your card portfolio and share card and transaction data with your Spend Management Provider.

• Step 1: Contact your Issuing Bank relationship manager and request to set up a corporate card data feed via Visa Business Data Services APIs to be sent to your Spend Management Provider's Astrada endpoint.
• Step 2: Obtain 'RPIC' identifiers and confirmation of corporate card data feed setup from your Issuer.
• Step 3: Provide 'RPIC' identifiers to your Spend Management Provider

Step 1: Contact your Issuing Bank relationship manager

In order to complete your Visa onboarding, you will need your Issuer to configure a corporate card data feed to Astrada via Visa Business Data Services APIs (part of the Visa Commercial Platform).

To do this, you will need to make the request to your bank relationship manager to enable Visa commercial card data to send to your Spend Management Provider.

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Proposed Email Template

Subject: Setting up a Visa Business Data Services feed to [insert Spend Management Platform name] by Astrada

Copy: [email protected] and [Your SMP contact]

Hi [Bank Relationship Manager],

I'm reaching out to request setting up a Visa corporate card program and securely configure a data feed to be sent to our spend management platform - [SMP Name].

To help with this, I've copied my contact at [SMP Name] and their PCI compliant partner for real-time card transaction data, Astrada ([email protected]), who will jump in and help handle the set up directly with your team.

Astrada can guide you through each step and is available to answer any questions.

Thank you,

[Name]

Once Astrada is copied on your email thread, we will work directly with your Issuer to complete the setup. You do not need to manage the back and forth - Astrada handles the technical configuration on your behalf.

We will include the Issuer Guide for Visa Bulk Enrollment in the outreach to the Issuer. This lays out step-by-step, in a simple manner, what the issuer will need to do on their end to to configure the feed properly.

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Issuer Guide to Visa Bulk Enrollment

For any support related to onboarding, please contact [email protected].

Step 2: Obtain Company ‘RPIC’ Identifiers from Issuer

Visa identifies card programs based upon four identifiers: The Region ID, Processor ID, Issuer ID, and Company/Corporate ID. These are often referred to as the ‘RPIC’. You will need your Issuing Bank to provide these identifiers to your Spend Management Provider to activate your feed.

Upon enabling your data feed, the issuer will relay the identifiers to you. If these identifiers are not provided when the Issuing bank confirms your setup, please request them from your Issuing Bank.

Your feed will not be able to be activated until you provide your ‘RPIC’ identifiers to your Spend Management Provider.

Your Issuing Bank may also ask you to sign a data release waiver. This will need to be completed by one of your organization's signatories in order to complete the setup of your card feed. Neither Astrada nor your Spend Management Provider can assist in the completion of this waiver.

Step 3: Provide RPIC to your Spend Management Provider

Provide the ‘RPIC’ identifiers to your Spend Management Provider to pass on to Astrada to activate the data feed.

Once activated, this will complete your Visa commercial data feed setup. You will shortly be able to benefit from this real-time feed with your Spend Management Provider.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: The Issuer says they support file-delivery via VCF (Visa Commercial Format) files. Do they also support API-delivery via Visa Business Data Services (VBDS)?

A: All issuers on the Visa Commercial Platform (VCS) can support API-delivery. If you already support VCF (Visa Commercial Format) file delivery, you are operating on the same Visa Commercial Data platform that supports Visa Business Data Solutions APIs (VBDS APIs). Enabling APIs does not require a new system; it is an additional configuration and data delivery option within the existing platform. VBDS APIs provide an alternative method for delivering data via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that can complement your current file-based processes. Instead of sending a scheduled file, an API allows two systems to exchange data directly and in near real time, aiming to reduce manual steps and improve speed.

Q: What if the Issuer does not participate in the Visa Commercial Platform?

A: If you do not currently participate in the Visa Commercial Platform, you have two options:

1. Connect with your Visa Account Executive to inquire about signing up.
2. Encourage your corporate customer to reach out to the Spend Management Platform to leverage Astrada’s Individual Enrollment option instead.