Understanding Intraday vs Prior Day Reporting

Newline provides two primary CSV reporting modes: Intraday and Prior Day. While both report on transactions and accounts, they serve distinct operational purposes, follow different delivery schedules, and should be used differently by clients.

This guide explains how the two reporting modes differ, when to use each, and how they work together in practice.

At a Glance

What Is Intraday Reporting?

Intraday reporting delivers CSV files at recurring intervals throughout the day, regardless of whether transactions occurred during that interval.

Key Characteristics

• Clients must select a delivery interval during onboarding
  (e.g., 15 minutes, 1 hour, up to 24 hours)
• Files are generated at every interval
• Header‑only files are expected when no activity occurs
• All Intraday CSVs are delivered on the same interval
• Intraday reporting runs 24/7/365
• Optimized for operational awareness rather than reconciliation

Intraday CSV Bundling (Important)

When Intraday reporting is enabled, CSV files are delivered as a bundle.

Core Intraday Reports

• Settled Transactions (Intraday)
• Updated Transactions (Intraday)
• Accounts (Intraday)

Clients cannot selectively enable or disable individual Intraday CSVs.

Feature‑Dependent Intraday Reports

These reports are not optional if all required features are enabled:

Required Features

• Virtual Reference Numbers (VRNs)
• Client Authorization

Additional Intraday Reports

• Pending Authorizations
• Denied Authorizations

Once enabled, these reports are not optional.

When to Use Intraday Reporting

Use Intraday reporting when you need:

• Visibility into transaction lifecycle changes during the day
• Early detection of settlements, failures, or authorizations
• High‑frequency operational monitoring
• Automated workflows that act continuously

Intraday reporting is commonly used by:

• Payments operations teams
• Monitoring or alerting systems
• Clients with higher transaction volume

What Is Prior Day Reporting?

Prior Day reporting delivers daily CSV files summarizing activity from the prior reporting period.

Key Characteristics

• Files begin generating at midnight UTC
  (8 PM or 9 PM ET depending on daylight savings)
• Files are typically delivered within one hour
• Reports are delivered every day, including weekends and holidays
• Header‑only files are expected on low‑activity days
• Optimized for financial accuracy and reconciliation

Prior Day CSVs

Core Prior Day Reports

• Settled Transactions (Prior Day)
• Updated Transactions (Prior Day)
• Accounts (Prior Day)

The Posted Transactions report is also a Prior Day report and may be enabled depending on program configuration and availability.

When to Use Prior Day Reporting

Use Prior Day reporting when you need:

• End‑of‑day summaries
• Stable balances for accounting
• Reconciliation against bank statements
• Lower delivery frequency

Prior Day reporting is typically consumed by:

• Accounting teams
• Reconciliation systems
• Financial reporting workflows

Why Many Clients Use Both

Intraday and Prior Day reporting are complementary, not redundant.

• Intraday answers:
  “What is happening right now?”
• Prior Day answers:
  “What happened yesterday, and how does it reconcile?”

Many clients use Intraday reporting for operations and Prior Day reporting for finance.

Weekend and Holiday Behavior

Neither reporting mode pauses on weekends or holidays.

What to Expect

• Files are delivered on schedule
• Many CSVs may contain only headers

This behavior is expected and correct.

Common Misunderstandings

“Why did I get a file with no rows?”
Because delivery is cadence‑based, not activity‑based.

“Why do Intraday and Prior Day reports differ?”
They reflect different time windows and use cases.

“Can I turn off a specific report?”
No. Reports are delivered in bundles based on enabled features.