t: +44 (0)191 305 5035 e: info@unifiedsoftware.co.uk
BankVal Server is a locally hosted bank data validation application, used to validate sort codes and account numbers and to provide full lookup of UK sort codes, including clearing information and accepted transaction types.
BankVal Server is installed on your own server, accessible via the local network. It may then be used by any number of staff within your organisation.
This application is an alternative way to use the BankVal UK web service. It is useful if you need to process extremely large volumes of data, or where company policy prevents the use of externally hosted web services
BankVal Server comprises of three main components: an automatic update facility (optional), the core validation classes and an optional web service front end.
BankVal Server relies upon access to the latest Extended Industry Sorting Code Directory, modulus checking rules and weighting information and substitution rules. These three sets of information are subject to frequent changes.
BankVal Server ensures that it provides up to date validation by downloading the above information from Unified Software's servers on a regular basis. The download can be scheduled by the user as a regular task. We recommend that updates are downloaded on a monthly basis.
Or if you do not wish to use the Auto Update facility, database updates can be provided on CD.
BankVal Server provides full validation of UK bank sort codes and account numbers. Available methods (via the web service API) are:
validateAccount - this is the most commonly used feature of BVS. The user provides a sort code and bank account number. BVS first checks that the sort code actually exists. If not, an error message is returned. If this initial test is passed, BVS then retrieves the modulus rules and weighting factors specified by the relevant bank. The sort code and account number are then passed through a modulus checking algorithm which takes into account each bank's validation rules, any exceptions which may apply, non standard format bank account numbers, and so on. A message indicating whether or not the bank details are valid is then returned to the user.
getBranchDetailsStr - this performs a lookup against the EISCD for the given sort code. If the sort code exists on the EISCD, comprehensive information about the supplied bank branch is returned to the user. This includes clearing details, contact information and many other useful data. The data is returned as a string, delimited by "|".
getBranchDetailsXML - performs the same function as getBranchDetailsStr, but the result is returned as XML.
fixNonStdAccount - Some banks still operate bank account numbers which do not comply with the BACS 8 digit standard. These account numbers may be valid according to the owning bank, but they are not suitable for electronic payment processing. fixNonStdAccount converts these non standard numbers into their BACS standard equivalent ready for submission to the payments network.
BankVal Server's core Validator class can be utilited without the web service add-on in your own applications. Validator may be instantiated in either batch or single processing mode (see Javadoc for details).
BankVal Server requires the Java Runtime Environment, version 1.6. The optional JAX-WS web service add-on requires Apache Tomcat version 5.5 (may work with other servelet containers).
