The official WooCommerce Payfast gateway plugin does not add custom database tables. It writes Payfast-side references (Payfast payment ID, ITN signature, payment method, recurring subscription token) into wc_orders_meta on each order. The default orders screen cannot filter or sort by any of these, so reconciling a Payfast statement or auditing ITN failures means opening orders one at a time.

SleekView reads those meta keys and promotes them to typed columns. pf_payment_id becomes a searchable Payfast reference. payment_method (Payfast's variant: card, EFT, instant EFT, Masterpass, SnapScan, Mobicred) splits funding sources in one filter. Recurring tokens become groupable so subscription cohorts surface without a CRM lookup. Saved views like "EFT pending" or "recurring renewals last 7 days" replace per-order audits.

Edits route through WooCommerce's CRUD layer so order notes and audit trails stay intact. Payfast-side references stay read-only because editing them locally would silently desync the order from the actual transaction. Per-role masking hides PII like billing email from staff who do not need it.

Payfast's strength is covering the messy reality of South African payments: card, EFT, instant EFT, SnapScan, Mobicred and Masterpass all on one gateway. That breadth turns into a problem on the default WooCommerce orders screen because every transaction shows up as "Payfast" with no way to split funding methods at the list level. An EFT in pending clearance, an instant-EFT capture, a card subscription renewal and a SnapScan in-store payment all look identical.

Finance reconciles by exporting and pivoting. Ops cannot see which EFTs are slow to clear and which fulfillment to hold. Subscription ops cannot isolate failed renewals.

Promoting the gateway's meta keys to typed columns turns those bottlenecks into normal saved views. For SA stores running real Payfast volume across multiple methods, the setup pays back in the first reconciliation cycle and keeps paying back every EFT clearance day after that.