Plaid Trigger¶

Overview¶

The Plaid Trigger starts a workflow each time a new transaction appears on a bank account you have connected through Plaid, the service BaseCloud uses to read bank accounts. Each transaction starts the workflow once, with its amount, date, description and who it was from or to available to the steps that follow.

Its main use is matching money coming in to the invoice it pays, so the invoice is marked as paid without anyone checking the bank statement.

When to use this trigger:

• Mark an invoice as paid when the payment arrives.
• Tell the account manager the moment a customer pays.
• Flag a payment nobody can match, so a person looks at it.
• Keep a log of money going out above a certain amount.

flowchart TD
    A[New transaction at the bank] --> B[Trigger starts the workflow]
    B --> C[Find the invoice it pays]
    C --> D{Invoice found?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Record the payment]
    D -->|No| F[Workflow note for a person to check]

Connecting your bank¶

The trigger reads your bank through a bank connection. Add one from the Bank field on the trigger by choosing + New Connection — it is selected for you once the bank is connected — or under Settings → App Connections. See App connections.

1. Choose Plaid Bank Account and give the connection a name.
2. Select Connect Bank. A secure window opens where you pick your bank and sign in to it.
3. Choose which accounts to share.

BaseCloud never sees your bank password. It can read the transactions on the accounts you share and nothing else. It cannot move money.

Bank connections are available for banks in the United States.

Configuration¶

Builder fields¶

The Field column is the label as it appears in the task builder; Key is the name the value is stored under and referenced by.

Choose the bank connection to watch under Bank. Which accounts is optional: leave it empty to watch every account on that connection, or pick the ones that receive your customers' payments. Only amounts of at least skips smaller transactions, and Only when the description contains checks the bank's own wording for the transaction; capital letters do not matter.

How it behaves¶

• It checks about every 10 minutes. Banks usually pass new transactions on a few times a day, so a payment can take some hours to start the workflow.
• Only cleared transactions start the workflow. A transaction your bank still shows as pending is left alone, because its amount can change and it can disappear. It starts the workflow when it clears.
• Each transaction starts the workflow once.
• Nothing from before the day you first switch it on is picked up.
• It catches up on what it missed. If the workflow is switched off for a while, or the bank is waiting for you to sign in again, the workflow runs for every transaction that arrived in the meantime as soon as it can read the bank again.

Output Fields¶

Testing¶

In the trigger's Input panel, select Load my transactions to bring in the latest transactions from the last 30 days that match the trigger's settings. Pick one and run the rest of the workflow on it.

Running later steps by hand does the real thing. If a step records a payment, test with an invoice you are happy to change.

Real-World Examples¶

Mark an invoice as paid from its invoice number¶

Plaid Trigger                       money coming in
  └─ Extract Pattern (Regex)       pull the invoice number out of description
      └─ BaseCloud Accounting      Fetch Quote / Invoice with that number
          └─ If Statement          invoice found and amount equals the invoice total
              ├─ true ─ BaseCloud Accounting   Mark Quote / Invoice Paid
              └─ false ─ Workflow Note         ask a person to check the payment

Only mark the invoice as paid automatically when both the invoice number and the amount match. Send everything else to a person. See BaseCloud Accounting and Extract Pattern (Regex).

Tell the account manager a customer has paid¶

Plaid Trigger                money coming in, at least 1000
  └─ Workflow Note          tag the account manager with the amount and description

Watch large payments going out¶

Plaid Trigger                money going out, at least 5000
  └─ Email                  send the amount, date and description to the owner

Best Practices¶

• Ask customers to put the invoice number in the payment reference. It is the most reliable way to match a payment to an invoice.
• Match on more than the amount. Two customers can pay the same amount on the same day.
• Send what you cannot match to a person. A payment recorded against the wrong invoice is worse than one that waits for someone to look at it.
• Check for part payments. Compare amount with the invoice total before marking an invoice as paid.
• Pick the accounts you need. If only one account receives customer payments, choose it under Which accounts so transfers between your own accounts do not start the workflow.

Troubleshooting¶