Payment Engine
The single payment processing layer for the entire Civic platform — every module that collects money routes through Payment Engine.
Uptime SLA
Auth Latency (p99)
PCI Compliance
Payment Methods
Purpose-Built for Canadian Municipalities
How It Works
The identity journey, step by step
From first registration to golden record resolution — how a resident's identity evolves across the platform.
Online Bill Payment
A resident pays their property tax and utility bill together from their phone.
How it works
The resident logs into My Civic Dashboard, adds their property tax instalment and utility bill to the cart, reviews the total with any convenience fees clearly disclosed, and pays with their saved Visa. A receipt is emailed instantly and both accounts are updated in real-time.
Step 1 of 5
Purpose & Scope
What this module owns
Clear ownership boundaries prevent duplication and ensure every capability has exactly one authoritative home.
Owns
14Delegated to
5Account balances / billing
GL posting rules
Notification delivery
Citizen identity
Audit log storage
These capabilities are handled by dedicated modules and consumed via stable API contracts — keeping boundaries clean and ownership unambiguous.
Core Capabilities
What it does
4 capability groups comprising 8 discrete capabilities — each with API surface, business rules, and data ownership.
PCI-DSS Level 1 certified hosted payment page with tokenization — card numbers never touch municipal servers.
Hosted Payment Page
All card data entry on PCI-DSS Level 1 certified hosted page. Customizable with municipality branding. iFrame or redirect integration.
Tokenization
First payment creates a secure token; returning customers pay with saved methods without re-entering card data.
3D Secure 2.0
Visa Secure, Mastercard Identity Check — strong customer authentication, reduced fraud/chargeback liability.
Fraud Prevention
AVS, CVV verification, velocity checks, geographic restriction, IP blacklisting.
Support for credit cards, debit, Interac, digital wallets, EFT/PAD, bank transfer, cash, and cheque.
Credit Cards
Visa, Mastercard, American Express.
Digital Wallets
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay — online, counter (NFC terminal), and kiosk.
EFT / PAD
Electronic Funds Transfer and Pre-Authorized Debit via CPA Standard 005 format.
Cash & Cheque
In-person at service counters and POS terminals; batch processing and deposit preparation.
Real-World Scenarios
Who uses this, and how
3 persona-driven scenarios showing how Payment Engine works in practice — from resident registration to privacy compliance.
Property Owner
Tax Season Multi-Payment
Maria owns two properties and wants to pay both tax instalments plus her utility bills in one transaction.
Steps
- 1Maria logs into My Civic Dashboard and navigates to the payment cart
- 2She adds her primary residence tax instalment ($2,400) and utility bill ($180)
- 3She adds her rental property tax instalment ($1,800)
- 4The cart shows the total ($4,380) with no convenience fee for debit
- 5She pays with Interac Online — one transaction, three bills, two properties
- 6Three receipts are generated and emailed; all accounts updated in real-time
Outcome
One login, one payment, three bills settled. Financial-core receives three separate GL postings to the correct revenue accounts.
View scenario
Walk-in Resident
Self-Service Kiosk Payment
Ahmed visits the municipal office after hours and uses the self-service payment kiosk in the lobby.
Steps
- 1Ahmed approaches the kiosk and selects 'Pay a Bill'
- 2He scans the QR code on his utility bill
- 3The kiosk displays the account details and amount owing
- 4He taps his credit card on the contactless reader
- 5The kiosk prints a receipt and emails a copy
Outcome
24/7 payment access without counter staff. The payment is settled and reconciled automatically.
View scenario
Finance Staff
PAD NSF Recovery
A batch of PAD payments is processed and three return NSF. The system handles recovery automatically.
Steps
- 1PAD batch is submitted via CPA-005 file to the bank
- 2Bank returns 3 NSF items in the return file
- 3System automatically retries each after 3 days
- 4One succeeds on retry; two fail again
- 5Failed accounts are flagged and notification-engine sends notices to residents
- 6Staff reviews the two failed accounts and contacts residents to arrange alternative payment
Outcome
Automated NSF handling recovers one payment without staff intervention. The remaining two are escalated with full context for staff follow-up.
View scenario
Internal Architecture
How it's built
4 architectural layers comprising 24 components — from API gateway to data quality engine.
4 layers · 24 total components
Payment Engine
Every module owns a single bounded context, exposes stable APIs, and can be composed into any Civic product — that's the architecture that scales.
Krutik Parikh
Creator of Civic
Data Model
Entity Architecture
6 entities with 6 relationships — the authoritative schema for this bounded context.
Entities
Select an entity to explore its fields and relationships
API Surface
Integration Endpoints
28 RESTful endpoints across 6 resource groups — plus 12 domain events for async integration.
/api/v1/payments
Initiate a payment (returns hosted page URL or processes server-side)
/api/v1/payments/{id}
Get payment status and details
/api/v1/payments/{id}/capture
Capture an authorized payment
/api/v1/payments/{id}/refund
Process full or partial refund
/api/v1/payments/{id}/void
Void a receipt / reverse a payment
/api/v1/payments/history
Payment history for a citizen (filterable)
/api/v1/payments/receipt/{id}
Download receipt PDF
/api/v1/payments/guest-lookup
Guest account lookup (account number + postal code)
Ecosystem
Products that depend on this module
18 Civic products consume Payment Engine — making it one of the most critical platform services in the ecosystem.
Property Tax
Tax instalment payments, arrears, PAP enrollment, tax sale cancellation payments
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Utility Billing
Bill pay, PAD enrollment, deposit collection, reconnection fees
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Recreation
Program registration fees, facility booking, membership, POS for drop-in
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Licences & Permits
Application fees, renewal fees, inspection fees
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Digital Payments Portal
The self-service payment portal UI built on top of this module
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Parking
Ticket payments, permit fees, meter payments
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Court / POA
Fine payments, victim surcharge
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Animal Services
Licence fees, adoption fees
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Cemetery
Interment rights purchase, perpetual care fund contributions
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Stormwater
Stormwater charges, credit program fees
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Bylaw Enforcement
Administrative monetary penalties (AMPs), remedial cost recovery
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Tourism & Events
Event permit fees, venue booking
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Economic Development
CIP incentive applications, BIA levy collection
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Elections
Candidate nomination fees
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Receipting
POS/cashiering layer consumes payment-engine for all counter transactions
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Accounts Receivable
Invoice payments, debtor payments, payment arrangements
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CRM
Payment history display on constituent timeline
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Digital Identity Portal
'My Payments & Billing' dashboard consumes payment history APIs
View product →
Technical Specifications
Performance, Compliance & Configuration
Availability
Latency
Throughput
PCI Scope
Encryption
Backup & Recovery
Audit
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Integrate
Build on Payment Engine
Request an architecture brief, integration guide, or live demo environment for your team.