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X9.37 Specifications

X9.37 Specifications summarizes the various x9.37 industry specifications, all of which are supported by X9Assist and the X9Ware SDK.

Standard Description
DSTU Introduced in 2003 as part of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, the DSTU is the original and most commonly used image exchange standard which establishes the basis for U.S. check image exchange between two financial institutions. The DSTU continues to be widely used since it is the most basic of standards and it generally accepted throughout the industry. X9Ware fully supports the X9.37 DSTU standard.
X9.100-187 X9.100-187 was introduced in 2008 as an updated replacement for the DSTU. It is used as the basis of the specifications that have been adopted by many financial institutions as a DSTU replacement, and clarifies many of the gaps that existed within the original standard. X9.100-187 standard was updated in 2013 and 2016. Each of the X9.100-187 standards has an associated Universal Companion Document (UCD) which is an extension that contains commonly accepted by financial institutions and third party processors. X9Ware provides support for X9.100-187-2008, X9.100-187-2013, X9.100-187-2016, X9.100-187-2008-UCD, X9.100-187-2013-UCD, and X9.100-187-2018-UCD.
X9.100-180 X9.100-180 was published in 2006 with the intention to address many of the business requirements that were identified with the DSTU. The biggest desirable change was the ability to support credits, along with separate debit and credit totals in trailer records. Unfortunately, the various record types and fields within X9.100-180 became so different from the DSTU that adoption of this standard became extremely difficult. The X9.100-187 UCD was the industry response to X9.100-180, allowing specific needs to be addressed in more straight forward ways. As a result, X9.100-180 is largely unused by most financial institutions. X9Ware provides support for X9.100-180-2006 and X9.100-180-2016.
CPA 015 Canadian Payments Association Standard 015 (CPA 015) is an extension to X9.100-187 and defines how image exchange has been implemented within Canada. This standard addresses currency requirements in support of CAD and USD and supports cross border exchange between banks. X9Ware provides full support for the CPA-015 standard.
Cross Border X9Ware has implemented various extensions to the X9.100-187 standards in support of cross border exchange. These extensions are limited to accepting routing numbers in a variety of formats including 4-4 and 5-3 as required by Canadian financial institutions.
FRB The FRB provides electronic check image exchange services, based on the DSTU which is fully supported by X9Ware.
EndPoint Exchange Endpoint Exchange provides electronic check image exchange services based on the DSTU which is fully supported by X9Ware.
ViewPointe ViewPointe provides electronic check image exchange services based on the DSTU which is fully supported by X9Ware.
SVPCo SVPCo provides electronic check image exchange services based on the DSTU which is fully supported by X9Ware.

X9Assist Configurations

The X9Assist Configuration Editor supports the definition of unique x9 configurations that are used for file validation. This is standard functionality within X9Assist. Each x9 configuration consists of four components: an x9 rules file; a TIFF rules file; a messages file; and an options file. The combination of these components provides the basis for all x9 file validation within X9Assist. The most important of these is the x9 rules file, which defines all x9 record types, fields, and field level validations. The TIFF rules file is equally important and defines the validation rules that are applied to images. In a more secondary role, the messages file defines all error messages including their text and severity levels. Finally, the options file defines X9Assist program options to be applied during overall processing.

X9Assist Configuration Editor

The Configuration Editor is invoked from the Editors menu bar and will display a panel that provides both inquiry and update to the configuration table.CCD File Automated Detection

When an x9 file is opened, X9Assist will attempt to use the appropriate x9 specification for validation based on the contents of the type 01 file control header. This automated detection is selected from the Validate function on the menu bar, using the “auto” option.

It may not be possible for X9Assist to always identify the appropriate x9 specification based on the file header content. Because of that, the Validate menu function allows the user to explicitly identify which x9 specification is to be used for the validation process. In certain situations, it may be desired to validate a file using several x9 specifications in rapid succession in order to see what types of errors are generated based on which standard is used for validation. X9Assist easily supports this type of analysis using the Validate function.

CPA015 (Canadian) Support

X9Assist currently has logic that attempts to automatically identify CPA and CPA Print files based on the contents of the x9 file name and the type 01 file control header. This X9Assist strategy will evolve over time and X9Ware LLC certainly welcomes user comments as to how we can improve the process. The CCD auto-detect process utilizes several mechanisms, which are as follows:

  • CPA 015 files are identified using the standard file naming conventions that are documented within the CPA Standard 015 specification. An incoming x9 file name that matches this detection process will be internally assigned the UCD Indicator of “C” to facilitate mapping by the X9Assist binder.
  • CPA 015 files are also identified based on the contents of the destination and origin routing numbers in the type 01 file header. This assignment first requires that the standards level be set to “03”. The binder will then determine if the immediate destination and immediate origin RT fields are both in ‘CP00RSNNN’ format, then the x9 file is assumed to be CCD. Similarly, if the immediate destination RT is in the ‘CP00RSNNN’ format and the immediate origin RT is in ABAmod10 format, then the x9 file is assumed to beCPA 015. In this situation, X9Assist will internally assign the UCD Indicator to a value of “C” to facilitate mapping by the X9Assist binder.
  • X9 files not matching the above criteria are assumed to NOT be a CPA file. X9Assist will continue with the automated x9 file type detection process, which will result in the assignment of one of the alternate x9 specifications (UCD, x9.100-187, etc).
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