Why data quality now shapes commercial card costs
By Red Maple
Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program has changed how merchants qualify for preferred interchange rates on eligible Visa commercial-card transactions. Providing additional transaction fields is no longer the entire objective. The underlying information must also be complete, accurate, and consistently transmitted with the card transaction.
For organizations using Microsoft Dynamics 365, that makes CEDP an ERP data and card-processing issue. Purchase-order numbers, product details, quantities, unit prices, tax information, freight, and other transaction data originate in Dynamics 365 and the business workflows surrounding it. If that information is missing, inconsistent, or disconnected from the card-payment process, it can affect interchange qualification and reveal broader gaps across accounts receivable, reconciliation, and reporting.
What Is Visa CEDP
Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program, or CEDP, establishes enhanced-data requirements for eligible Visa commercial-card transactions seeking preferred Product 3 interchange rates. It is a Visa program, not an industrywide rule covering every card brand or payment method.
Does Visa CEDP Apply to ACH
No. CEDP does not apply to ACH payments. Other card networks also maintain their own interchange and enhanced-data requirements.
Organizations may offer commercial cards and ACH, each with different costs, requirements, and use cases. CEDP is one part of the broader accounts-receivable strategy; it does not govern every payment collected through Dynamics 365.
What Changed Under Visa CEDP
Historically, merchants could qualify eligible commercial-card transactions for Level 2 or Level 3 interchange categories by submitting additional transaction information. The amount of required data varied by program, but Level 3 generally included detailed line-item information in addition to basic payment and tax data.
Visa introduced CEDP to place greater emphasis on the quality and consistency of enhanced transaction data. Most legacy Level 2 programs were retired in April 2026, following earlier changes affecting legacy Level 3 programs. Eligible Visa transactions must now meet CEDP requirements to qualify for preferred Product 3 interchange rates.
The key distinction is the shift from populating enhanced-data fields to submitting information that accurately reflects the underlying transaction. Static, default, incomplete, or inconsistent values may not satisfy current data-quality requirements.
Visa describes its broader enhanced-data initiative as an expansion of data capture supported by more rigorous standards and elevated validation. Visa Commercial Data Solutions explains why accurate commercial transaction data is increasingly important for reporting, reconciliation, and working-capital processes.
Why Dynamics 365 Data Matters for CEDP
Payment providers transmit enhanced transaction data, but they do not originate most of it. The required information typically begins across the merchant’s order-to-cash workflow:
Customer and account records
Sales orders and invoices
Purchase-order numbers
Product descriptions and item codes
Quantities and unit prices
Tax amounts and tax-exempt indicators
Freight, shipping, duty, and discount amounts
Extended line-item totals
This information may exist in Dynamics 365, but that does not necessarily mean it reaches the Visa card transaction correctly. Data can be lost, reformatted, replaced with default values, or excluded as it moves between the ERP, payment application, gateway, processor, and card network.
That creates a broader question than whether a provider supports enhanced data. Merchants need to determine whether each eligible Visa commercial-card workflow can produce and transmit accurate enhanced data from the original Dynamics 365 transaction.
Where CEDP Data Gaps Occur
A standard invoice payment may contain complete customer, tax, and line-item information. Other card-payment scenarios may not follow the same path. Organizations should examine:
Payments against posted invoices
Customer deposits and prepayments
Partial shipments and partial invoices
Counter sales and card-present transactionsPhone payments
Payments collected through customer portals or ecommerce
Recurring or stored-payment-method transactions
Transactions originating in Field Service, Sales, or another connected application
Credits, voids, and refunds
Each workflow may source and transmit data differently. A company could have complete enhanced data for standard invoice payments but lose important fields when accepting a deposit or processing a transaction through another channel.
Manual entry creates additional risk. If employees must re-enter purchase-order numbers, tax amounts, or product information during card acceptance, the organization is relying on a process that may become inconsistent at scale.
Default values can create similar problems. Repeating the same generic product description, product code, tax value, or quantity across unrelated transactions may populate a required field without accurately representing what was sold.
Which Teams Own CEDP Readiness
CEDP may first appear to belong to the payments team, but no single department controls the complete data flow. Finance understands the processing costs and interchange categories appearing on merchant statements. Accounts receivable understands how card payments are received, applied, researched, and reconciled. IT and the Dynamics partner understand integrations and data mappings. Operations understands how orders, inventory, taxes, freight, and exceptions are handled.
These teams should evaluate CEDP readiness together. Finance can establish the potential exposure by reviewing eligible Visa commercial-card volume and current interchange qualification. AR can identify payment and reconciliation exceptions. IT can trace the data transmitted through each integration. Operations can determine whether the source records contain reliable information.
How Better Payment Data Supports Accounts Receivable
The immediate reason to review enhanced data may be Visa interchange qualification, but the same connections can improve the larger accounts-receivable process. Accurate transaction and payment data can make it easier to:
Match card payments with the correct customers and invoices
Reduce manual reconciliation and research
Investigate processing-cost changes
Maintain more accurate customer balances
Improve reporting across orders, invoices, payments, and deposits
Give Finance better visibility into cash activity
These benefits extend beyond CEDP. Whether a customer pays by card or ACH, connected payment activity can reduce downstream work for AR. ACH is not subject to CEDP, but it can provide an additional payment option that may be appropriate based on transaction value, customer preference, and processing-cost considerations.
How to Assess CEDP Readiness
Review Visa commercial-card activity Determine how much eligible Visa commercial-card volume the organization processes and review the interchange categories appearing on recent processing statements. This provides a baseline for measuring changes.Inventory every card-payment path Document how the organization accepts commercial cards across Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain Management, Business Central, Sales, Field Service, customer portals, ecommerce, and connected systems. Include deposits, partial orders, refunds, and other exceptions.Trace the enhanced data For each card-payment path, determine where the relevant information originates and how it moves through the payment integration, gateway, processor, and card network. Confirm that transaction-specific values are transmitted where applicable.Test representative transactions Test tax-exempt sales, freight, discounts, partial shipments, deposits, and other scenarios that reflect how the business operates. Confirm what is transmitted rather than relying only on configuration settings.Establish ongoing monitoring Assign responsibility for reviewing interchange qualification, investigating data exceptions, testing workflow changes, and monitoring unexpected processing-cost increases.
How Red Maple Supports Connected Payment Workflows
Red Maple expands payment capabilities within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management , Business Central , Sales, and Field Service . Organizations can support card and ACH payment options while connecting payment activity with the underlying Dynamics 365 transaction.
For eligible Visa commercial-card transactions, accurate Dynamics 365 data can support enhanced-data submission and potential Product 3 interchange qualification. ACH transactions are outside CEDP, but offering ACH alongside cards can give customers greater payment flexibility and help businesses align payment methods with transaction value, customer preference, and cost considerations.
Interchange qualification depends on several factors, including card type, transaction characteristics, data quality, merchant configuration, and applicable card-network requirements. No technology or payment provider can guarantee that every transaction will qualify for a particular interchange category.
Review Your CEDP Readiness
If you are unsure whether complete enhanced data is flowing from Dynamics 365 through your eligible Visa commercial-card transactions, begin by mapping the current card-payment workflows.
Red Maple can help your team evaluate how card-payment data is captured and transmitted, identify potential gaps, and determine where Dynamics 365 workflows may need attention.
Contact Red Maple to review your CEDP readiness.
FAQs
What is Visa CEDP?
Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program establishes data-quality requirements for eligible Visa commercial-card transactions seeking preferred Product 3 interchange rates. It places greater emphasis on complete, accurate, and transaction-specific enhanced data.
Does CEDP apply to ACH?
No. CEDP is a Visa commercial-card program. It does not apply to ACH payments. Other card networks also maintain their own interchange and enhanced-data requirements.
Did CEDP replace Level 2 and Level 3?
CEDP changed Visa’s previous enhanced-data interchange structure. Changes affecting legacy Level 3 programs took effect in 2025, and most legacy Level 2 programs were retired in April 2026. Exceptions may apply to certain transaction categories.
Does Dynamics 365 automatically provide everything CEDP requires?
Not necessarily. The information may exist in Dynamics 365, but merchants should confirm that accurate values are mapped and transmitted through every applicable Visa commercial-card workflow.
Does submitting enhanced data guarantee lower processing costs?
No. Interchange qualification depends on card type, transaction characteristics, data quality, merchant configuration, and card-network requirements. Merchants should work with their payment provider to understand their specific results.
