Why is file import the way into Merlin?
Merlin Business Software publishes no API or developer documentation on any Merlin or Aptean domain, and it deploys on-premise — so no outside card platform can push transactions in directly. Transactions arrive the way Merlin supports: as an imported file. The job is producing a file Merlin's importer accepts first time.
What does the manual version look like?
Without tooling, accounts teams download the card statement, work through it line by line in a spreadsheet — coding each purchase to the right nominal code and department — chase cardholders for receipts, reshape the columns to what Merlin's importer expects, and upload. Every statement column that does not line up with the importer is a failed import or a miscoded entry waiting to happen.
How does Vergo automate the import?
Vergo removes every step except the upload itself. Spend on Vergo cards is captured as it happens; cardholders code each transaction and attach the receipt from their phone at the point of purchase. Vergo then generates a custom-built CSV export matched to Merlin's import format — the columns and values Merlin's importer expects, not a raw bank export. Your bookkeeper downloads the file and imports it into Merlin. No re-keying, no mapping exercise, and no pretence of an API sync — Merlin publishes none, and the matched file does not need one.
What ends up in Merlin?
Each card transaction lands as an importable line — date, amount, supplier, and the coding applied in Vergo — while receipts stay attached to the transaction in Vergo as the audit trail. The ledger ends up exactly where an API sync would leave it, via an upload that takes minutes rather than an afternoon.
What does setup involve?
A one-time exercise. Vergo matches its export to the import format your Merlin installation expects, and your nominal codes and departments are reflected in Vergo so cardholders code spend against the structure your accounts team already uses. Because Merlin runs on-premise and publishes no API, nothing needs to be installed alongside it and nothing is required from Merlin or Aptean — the file is the interface. From then on the routine is fixed: spend on Vergo cards, coding and receipts captured at the point of purchase, and a matched CSV downloaded and imported on your chosen cadence. Reconcile the first import carefully; after that the file shape is known, and the monthly card-statement project shrinks to an upload measured in minutes.
Can I link a company card feed directly to Merlin?
No — Merlin Business Software publishes no public API. Card transactions come in by file import, and Vergo's custom CSV exports are matched to Merlin's import format.
Do transactions arrive coded to our nominal structure?
Yes. Coding happens in Vergo at the point of spend — nominal code, department, category — so the exported file carries finished entries, not raw statement lines.
How often should we run the import?
As suits your close; the export is available on demand. Weekly or month-end are the common rhythms, and either way the import itself takes minutes.
What about receipts and VAT records?
Receipts are captured at purchase and stay attached to each transaction in Vergo, giving you a searchable supporting record alongside the entries imported into Merlin.
