Resources
Power Guide
A plain guide to power guide in South African payments, covering who can approve, release, reverse, and reconcile money movement.
Control points in a payment flow
Power Guide maps out who may approve, release, reverse, or reconcile money movement inside a payment process. It is useful for teams that need roles and limits written plainly before mistakes turn into losses.
Power Guide is used to set out which role may create, approve, release, reverse, or reconcile a payment step. On South African teams this often matters most where Instant EFT proof appears before settlement, where PayShap requests are triggered from mobile numbers, or where DebiCheck mandates sit with one team while collections sit with another.
List the first decision point before you map any exceptions. Record who captures the reference, who checks bank status, and who may mark an order as paid, because those three actions are often split across checkout, finance, and fulfilment. A good Power Guide prevents the common South African problem where proof of payment is treated as settlement and stock is released too early.
Roles that must be named
A useful guide names people or job functions, not vague teams. Include authority limits, reversal rules, maker-checker separation, and the exact point where merchant confirmation may be sent to the customer. In payment operations, a short role map that survives shift changes is worth more than a long policy file nobody opens.
Use Power Guide alongside process notes for Instant EFT, PayShap, or DebiCheck so each rail has its own control map. If a bank response, gateway callback, or reconciliation export decides the next action, write that source into the guide rather than relying on memory. When you message us on the contact form, include a screenshot that shows who currently approves, releases, or refunds each payment state.
Checks suited to South African rails
Power Guide should reflect the payment methods your team actually handles. For PayShap, note who may send or accept a request and what customer detail is used. For Instant EFT, state whether bank-side status, gateway response, or merchant ledger controls release. For DebiCheck, separate mandate approval from debit collection and returns handling so responsibility does not blur.
Local operating conditions affect control design more than most policy drafts admit. Load-shedding can interrupt verification steps, branch or counter staff may need a simpler authority map than head office, and courier cut-off times can pressure teams into releasing orders on weak evidence. A written Power Guide helps stop those pressures from bypassing payment checks.
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What to capture in the guide
Use the Power Guide to explain who controls each step in a bank payment flow, from customer action to bank response to merchant confirmation.
Write down the payment rail, the trigger event, the evidence accepted, and the role allowed to move money or goods at each point. Add reversal conditions, refund ownership, reconciliation ownership, and the record that proves each action happened. That gives teams one place to check when support, finance, and fulfilment read the same payment differently.