The card system
PaperCut Software International Pty. Ltd. has worked with a number of organizations to design the TopUp/Pre-Paid Card system. A number of payment technologies were evaluated over the period of two years. These technologies included vending machines, smart cards, micro-payment systems, and manual processing. The card system proved to be the most successful and cost effective solution. The card concept is now the de facto standard in other industries such as pre-paid mobile phones.
The PaperCut MF card system is 100% software based. There is no need for special hardware such as smart card readers or special vending machines.
The card system is included as standard with PaperCut MF. The system includes:
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A card wizardThe Card Wizard is a Microsoft Windows application that integrates with Microsoft Word used to create Top-up/Prepaid cards. application for assisting with the process of creating new cards.
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A web page for end users to enter card numbers.
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A security framework for tracking card redemption and implementing fraud prevention.
The card system is best described by walking through the payment process:
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The user— Amy is a student at a local high school. The school uses PaperCut MF for their charging. Amy is allocated $5.00 a week for printing. This week she has used all her allocation but still has one assignment to print on Friday. She purchases a $5.00 Card from the school canteen. The card contains a 16-digit identification number. She logs onto the schools intranet site, enters the PaperCut section, and enters the card's ID number. Her account is automatically credited $5.00.
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The administrator— Andrew is a SysAdmin at the same high school. At the start of the term he used the PaperCut MF card wizard to generate 500 TopUp/Pre-Paid Card of $5.00 value. These were generated in 2 batches. The first batch was prefixed with C1 and the second batch L1. The C1 batch was sold at the school canteen and the L1 batch sold at the school library. The cards are kept secured at these locations.
The card wizard generated a number definition file for each batch. Andrew imported these numbers into PaperCut. Andrew took the time to customize the look of the cards to include the school logo and simple instructions on how to redeem the card.
During the year Andrew is able to track the cards sold and uses the batch prefixes to track where students purchase cards. Andrew also keeps an eye on the event log and has disciplined students attempting to guess card numbers.