How to import credit card transactions into ACS Realm

Why is importing the only automated path into Realm?

ACS Realm does not publish a public API. ACS Technologies maintains API documentation for legacy Access ACS and MinistryPlatform, but Realm is excluded, and Realm's named integrations are vendor-built connectors rather than an open developer platform. That leaves Realm's own import tools as the way card activity gets into its accounting side from any outside system.

What does the manual version of this process look like?

Without automation, the month usually runs like this: download the card statement, chase staff for receipts, work out what each charge was for, retype every line into Realm, and assign the fund and account for each one. For a church or nonprofit running fund accounting, the coding is the slow part — every transaction needs the right fund, not just the right expense account, and the person doing data entry often was not the person who made the purchase.

How does the import work with Vergo?

Vergo moves the capture and coding upstream of the import, then hands Realm a file it can load directly.

1. Spend happens on Vergo cards. Each transaction is captured at the point of sale with merchant, amount, and date, and the cardholder attaches the receipt from their phone.

2. Coding happens in Vergo. Transactions are coded to the correct fund and account as they occur, by the people who made the purchases, instead of being reconstructed at month-end by the bookkeeper.

3. Vergo generates the import file. Vergo provides custom-built CSV exports matched to Realm's import format — the columns and values Realm's import routine expects — so nothing needs re-mapping in a spreadsheet first.

4. Load the file in Realm. The import itself is a short, controlled step inside Realm, and the transactions post with their coding already in place.

What should the finance team check on each import?

Treat the import like any batch posting: confirm the batch total matches the export total, spot-check a few lines for fund and account accuracy, and confirm the period is correct before posting. Because the coding was done at the point of spend and the file matches Realm's expected format, these checks are quick — the import stops being the place where errors are found and fixed.

Is this a sync?

No, and it should not be described as one. There is no API connection between Vergo and Realm, because Realm does not publish one. It is a file-based workflow where the manual work — retyping, receipt chasing, coding — has been automated, and the import is the one deliberate step that remains.