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.

📧
Proposed Email Template
Subject: Setting up a Visa Business Data Services feed to [insert Spend Management Platform name] powered by Astrada
Dear,
I'm writing to request the setup of a Visa Business Data Services feed for commercial card program starting with [first 6 digits of card], to be sent to our spend management platform.
Specifically, we need you to configure this data feed as an API endpoint subscription to "[Spend Management Platform name] powered by Astrada”.
For step-by-step instructions, please see the guide attached.
If there are any questions or additional documentation needed, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best regards,
[Attach Issuer Bulk Enrollment Guide below]

Per the email template above, it will be beneficial to download the file linked below and attach in your correspondence with your Issuer. This will reduce back and forth, and allow them to complete the process more quickly.

📘
Issuer Bulk Enrollment Guide

If helpful, Astrada is happy to be included in any email correspondence between you and the Issuer in order to help expedite the request and provide any information that is required.

Additionally, should you encounter issues with setting up your commercial card data feed, you are free to reach out to Astrada, and someone will get back to you within 24 hours.

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:

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