Overview

Type of Reason/OP_Type_Of_Reason_Free is a setting located under Financial Settings > General Settings > e-Payments, in the Transaction properties for addressing for Free Value Payments sub-group.

What This Setting Does

This setting defines the preselected, default “reason” type that will be recorded on the transaction that Classter automatically creates when it addresses (matches) an online Free Value Payment. The reason explains, for accounting and reporting purposes, what the payment was for. This setting controls how that reason is determined automatically, since Free Value Payments are not pre-linked to one exact installment.

Where It Is Used

This setting is used automatically in the background rather than being read from any staff-facing page. It is applied by the automatic addressing process that runs when an online Free Value Payment is completed, so its effect is visible afterward rather than on a configuration screen.

• Main Menu > Financial > Transactions > Online Payments: once a Free Value Payment has been automatically addressed, the resulting transaction (carrying the reason determined by this setting) can be reviewed here, where each payment row shows whether it has been addressed and links to the transaction that was generated.

Business Logic / Behavior

• The available options define how the reason is derived: set automatically by the system, taken from a fixed free-text value, chosen from existing predefined reason options, or derived automatically from a payment plan/arrangement.
• If the free-text option is selected here, the actual text used is configured separately in the related free-text reason setting.
• This setting only has a practical effect when automatic transaction addressing for Free Value Payments is enabled.
• Leaving this unset results in the automatically created transaction having no reason populated, since this setting is tied to automated transaction creation.

Example(s)

At International School Alfa, a Student’s family makes a $600 Free Value Payment toward a $600 spring-term tuition installment due March 1. The finance office sets Type of Reason (Free Value Payments) to use a fixed free-text reason, and then enters “Tuition Balance Payment” in the related free-text field, so the automatically addressed $600 transaction shows a clear, consistent reason without staff intervention, regardless of the amount paid.

When to Use

This is a dropdown selection rather than a toggle, so it is relevant whenever the institution wants automatically addressed Free Value Payment transactions to carry a specific, predictable reason.

Configure this setting alongside automatic addressing for Free Value Payments so that generated transactions are self-explanatory in reports and statements. If Free Value Payments are always addressed manually by staff, this setting is less critical since staff can choose the reason themselves at that time.

Notes

• Prerequisite: Free Value Payments and automatic transaction addressing for Free Value Payments should be enabled for this setting to be used.
• Related settings: Reason Free Text/OP_FreeText_Reason_Free (Financial Settings > General Settings > e-Payments > Transaction properties for addressing for Free Value Payments), Payment Method/OP_Payment_Method_Free (Financial Settings > General Settings > e-Payments > Transaction properties for addressing for Free Value Payments), Payment Account/OP_Payment_Account_Free (Financial Settings > General Settings > e-Payments > Transaction properties for addressing for Free Value Payments).
• K-12 vs Higher Education: This setting behaves the same regardless of whether Higher Education Mode (Enable Configuration for Higher Education/Xrisi_parametropoihshs_kolegiou) is enabled or disabled.