Metadata driven methods and systems to process financial data

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed. The system identifies a first acquirer from a plurality of acquirers based on a first set of financial transaction records. The first acquirer is associated with a financial clearing house system and a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components. The system further generates a first acquirer settlement file based on the first set of financial transaction records. The generates the acquirer settlement file by utilizing the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first set of financial transaction records. Finally, the system communicates the first acquirer settlement file, over a network, to the financial clearing house system.

1 . A system including:
 a database that stores financial transaction information that includes a first set of financial transaction records; and   a settlement file generation tool to identify a first acquirer from a plurality of acquirers based on the first set of financial transaction records, the first acquirer associated with a financial clearing house system and a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components, the settlement file generation tool further to generate a first acquirer settlement file based on the first set of financial transaction records and to use the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first set of financial transaction records to generate the first acquirer settlement file and to communicate the first acquirer settlement file to the financial clearing house system.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the settlement file generation tool is to identify a first acquirer settlement metadata file from a plurality of acquirer settlement metadata files based on the first acquirer and to generate the plurality of the first acquirer dependent software components based on the first acquirer settlement metadata file. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components includes a first acquirer dependent software component and wherein the first acquirer dependent software component includes a first data field object for use to format data that is stored in a financial entry in the first acquirer settlement file. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the first acquirer settlement metadata file includes a financial entry template and wherein the settlement file generation tool generates a financial entry based on the financial template entry and stores the financial entry in the first acquirer settlement file. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the financial entry includes an automatic clearing house (ACH) transaction. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the financial entry template includes a financial entry data field name that is associated with a set of data field attribute definitions and is selected from a group consisting of a source-sink attribute, a type attribute, a format attribute, a restriction attribute, an encoding attribute, a lookup attribute, a custom attribute, and an error attribute. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components include a plurality of data field objects that are respectively used to process data that is stored in the financial entry that is stored in an acquirer settlement file. 
     
     
         8 . A system including:
 a first acquirer return file that is received from a first acquirer that is used to access a financial clearing house system that includes a plurality of acquirers including the first acquirer, the first acquirer return file further includes a plurality of financial return entries that are respectively associated with a plurality of financial entries that were processed in the financial clearing house system;   a database that stores financial transaction information for use to generate the plurality of financial entries; and   a return file loader tool that includes a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components for use to generate the financial transaction information in the database based on the plurality of financial return entries in the first acquirer return file.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components includes a first data field object to format data that is stored in a first financial transaction record in the database. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the return file loader tool receive a plurality of acquirer return files that are respectively associated with a plurality of acquirers. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components includes a first data field object utilized to process a first financial return entry data field in a first financial return entry stored in the first acquirer return file. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the return loader tool includes a return file parser object to parse the acquirer return file. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the return file loader tool further includes a plurality of acquirer independent software components for use to update the financial transaction information in the database based on the plurality of financial return entries in the first acquirer return file. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the first acquirer return file includes a first financial return entry that is an automatic clearing house (ACH) return entry. 
     
     
         15 . A method including:
 identifying a first acquirer from a plurality of acquirers based on a first set of financial transaction records, the first acquirer being associated with a financial clearing house system and a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components;   generating a first acquirer settlement file based on the first set of financial transaction records, the generating including utilizing the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first set of financial transaction records to generate the first acquirer settlement file; and   communicating the first acquirer settlement file, over a network, to the financial clearing house system.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further including:
 identifying a first acquirer settlement metadata file from a plurality of acquirer settlement metadata files based on the first acquirer; and   generating the plurality of the first acquirer dependent software components based on the first acquirer settlement metadata file.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components includes a first acquirer dependent software component and wherein the generating the first acquirer settlement file includes utilizing the first acquirer dependent software component to format data stored in a financial entry stored in the first acquirer settlement file. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the financial entry includes an automatic clearing house (ACH) transaction. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components includes a plurality of data field objects that are respectively utilized to process data that is stored in a financial entry that is stored in an acquirer settlement file. 
     
     
         20 . A method including:
 receiving an acquirer return file from a first acquirer that is used to access a financial clearing house system that includes a plurality of acquirers including the first acquirer, the acquirer return file including a plurality of financial return entries that are respectively associated with a plurality of financial entries that were processed in the financial clearing house system, the first acquirer being associated with a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components; and   generating financial transaction information by utilizing the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first acquirer settlement file.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the generating financial transaction information includes using the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to format data stored in a first financial transaction record in the database. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the plurality of acquirer return metadata files are respectively used by the return file loader tool to respectively process a plurality of acquirer return files that are respectively received from a plurality of different acquirers. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the generating financial transaction information includes encoding data that is parsed from a first financial return entry data field in a first financial return entry. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the generating the financial transaction information includes parsing the acquirer return file based on the first acquirer return metadata file. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the first acquirer return file includes a first financial return entry that is an automatic clearing house (ACH) return entry. 
     
     
         26 . A non-transitory tangible machine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
 identify a first acquirer from a plurality of acquirers based on a first set of financial transaction records, the first acquirer associated with a financial clearing house system and a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components;   generate a first acquirer settlement file based on the first set of financial transaction records, the generation includes use of the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first set of financial transaction records to generate the first acquirer settlement file; and   communicate the first acquirer settlement file, over a network, to the financial clearing house system.   
     
     
         27 . A non-transitory tangible machine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
 receive an acquirer return file from a first acquirer that is used to access a financial clearing house system, the financial clearing house system includes a plurality of acquirers that includes the first acquirer, the acquirer return file includes a plurality of financial return entries that are respectively associated with a plurality of financial entries that were processed in the financial clearing house system, the first acquirer is associated with a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components; and   generate financial transaction information by utilizing the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first acquirer settlement file.   
     
     
         28 . A system including:
 a first means for receiving an acquirer return file from a first acquirer that is used to access a financial clearing house system, the financial clearing house system includes a plurality of acquirers that includes the first acquirer, the acquirer return file includes a plurality of financial return entries that are respectively associated with a plurality of financial entries that were processed in the financial clearing house system, the first acquirer is associated with a plurality of first acquirer dependent software components; and   generate financial transaction information by utilizing the plurality of first acquirer dependent software components to process the first acquirer settlement file.