ChipNet Cards set up within the system have two ' Purses ' . Within each purse smartcard technology allows the issuer to restrict where funds can be spent by selecting certain applications, times of the day and days of the week. In addition the second purse can be configured to allocate subsidies and discounts to the card user in question. Visitors for example may be issued with a smartcard that identifies them as 'visitors' and allows them access to certain areas at defined times with restricted free vending. From a security point of view, access is controlled and print-outs can be easily obtained to determine times and routes used.

Certain types of cashless vending and cashless catering card systems can operate with either low cost disposable magnetic cards or rechargeable cards in two formats, slim and ISO standard, EasyCard is a perfect example of this simple to use solution, ideal for schools, colleges, Universities, libraries, copy shops and business parks and office rental suites.

Users carry cards, featuring either a monetary or copy value, and the appropriate amount is deducted each time a service is used. Both analogue and digital copiers, color and black and white can now contribute valuable revenue to institutions by charging for their use. For those customers not paying in advance for services, account cards can be used, recording the use of a range of services against an individual or department.

A full range of support products offers card acceptance at vending machines, cafeterias, self-service card centers and encoding stations.

Delivering a range of solutions from "sell and forget" disposable magnetic card operated formats to combination solutions accepting disposable, rechargeable and account cards with full card personalization for access control and time and attendance tracking, EasyCard, a market leader for over 10 years meets the needs of the widest range of both customers and applications imaginable.

I found Infineer, the supplier of Easycard, by using Ask Jeeves and typing " smart card technology company with solutions to facilitate cashless vending systems". I also found them in 'Top Resource' a British business to business portal. In order that I qualified Infineer further I checked with The Automatic Vending Association - The Automatic Vending Association (AVA) has been serving the industry for over 70 years and represents all sectors - machine manufacturers and distributors, suppliers of commodities and operators.

AVA covers the UK and Ireland. AVA stands for quality and all Full Members undergo a rigorous and continuous accreditation process. Go to the Quality System page to find out more. Only when members have achieved AVA Quality Assured status are they entitled to display the AVA logo which contains the "tick" of quality.

Leading smart card specialist Infineer is a global provider of card based solutions for educational and corporate sites. It is a subsidiary of PubliCARD Inc, based in New York (www.publicard.com). Infineer is a leading provider of smart card technology and boasts expertise in both smart card and integrated circuit technology, which allows it to seamlessly integrate smart card applications and a range of consumer interface devices.

As smart cards increasingly penetrate public life, Infineer is committed to supporting smart card technology with open systems architecture. We work closely with our clients to ensure that the solutions we provide support the explosion of smart card technology around the world.

Vending Refreshment Services

Techie Talk.

ChipNet has a standard system interface that is both intuitive and easy to use. Before using the system it is necessary to understand the purpose of the system and understand how the various components that make up ChipNet, fit together.

What is ChipNet?
ChipNet is system that works in tandem with hardware and software to support the management of cashless payment solutions. Using a single card, users gain access to and tender payment for a wide variety of services typically found in campus and corporate facilities. These facilities include: Photocopiers, Networked printing, Vending machines, Cafeterias.

The card can be set up with a defined amount of cash value attributed to it. Cardholders receive a personalized card, encoded with specific details about themselves and settings specifying how, where and when they can use the card.
Each card can have two virtual purses that are used to store the cash values. A system administrator can specify the way in which cardholders spend their money and can provide for any discounts, allowances or subsidies by configuring the purses in different ways.

Who should use ChipNet?
ChipNet is used by administrators who need to manage cashless payments in their organisation. These administrators have the facility to encode cards on-site that allows straightforward card creation and management within the organisation.

Administrators may also generate reports regarding sales and card activity. The reports can be used by other members of the organisation to identify profitable lines or to monitor card activity.

There are two versions of ChipNet suited to different sizes of organisation.
MSDE edition - the MSDE edition is designed for use in small to medium organizations that have less than 2500 card users.
SQL edition - the SQL edition is designed for use within a large organization of more than 2500 card users and that requires complex information management. The client server platform allows highly scalable and flexible Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database performance, resulting in extremely efficient database management.

Understanding the structure of ChipNet
A typical ChipNet system consists of one or more PCs running the application software and several smartcard terminals, all are connected by a local area network. Each time a user makes a purchase using a smartcard, the cost is deducted from the appropriate purse and the transactional details are recorded in the database.

Card details and purse values are updated by the back-office application allowing accurate management information regarding sales and card activity to be produced.

ChipNet allows system administrators to ensure that this process runs smoothly by giving them the ability to issue cards, revalue cards, replace lost cards and keep terminals up-to-date with new price lines, changed prices and even add new terminals.
There are several types of terminal or application that are currently available. These are: Catering, Vending, Copying, Card Centres.

ChipNet allows organisations to plug-in their own applications. For example, a university may develop and plug-in a library application allowing cardholders to borrow books and pay library fines using their cards.

Understanding the ChipNet environment
ChipNet has a standard Windows interface that is both intuitive and easy to use. Before using the system users should become familiar with the main ChipNet windows so that it is possible to use the system efficiently.

Understanding purses
All cards set up in ChipNet system will have at least one purse and most cards will have more than one purse. Purses can be thought of as separate pockets holding separate amounts of money. This section provides information about the types of purses available. These are: Personal purse and Control purse.

The personal purse
All user cards must have a personal purse. The personal purse contains the user's personal value and a user can add value to this purse using a card centre.

The personal purse may be set up as either cash or units. By setting up a personal purse as units it will only be suitable for use in photocopying and print release terminals.

The personal purse may be set up so that it is only valid on particular days of the week and so that its value can only be spent on particular applications, such as catering or copying.

A maximum value can be specified for the personal purse. This prevents cardholders from having large amounts of value on their cards.

The control purse
User cards may also have a control purse. A control purse contains value that is normally provided by the organisation. The user cannot add to this value and it can only be spent on the applications for which it was intended. The value in the control purse can take different forms depending on the way it is set up. For example, the control purse can be set up as a discount amount and when the cardholder purchases a particular item using their personal purse, they are given a discount as specified by the control purse.

A system administrator can choose if a card has a control purse. This section explains the following types of control purse. These are: Subsidy, Departmental cash, Discount, Allowance, Departmental Units

The following sections explain each type of control purse.
Subsidy
A subsidy purse normally stores a recurring entitlement amount. This is usually a set value, which is issued automatically to the user on a regular basis, for example, daily, monthly, bi-monthly. For example, a subsidy purse may be added to cards for school children that are entitled to free school meals, and must use their cards each day to pay for these meals. Alternatively the total entitlement amount may be stored in the subsidy purse when the card was issued and is deducted from until the amount reaches zero.
Departmental cash
The departmental cash purse will normally store an entitlement amount chargeable to a particular department and will operate in much the same manner as a subsidy control purse. The entitlement amount may be automatically recurring or maybe a set amount that is deducted from until it reaches zero. For example a cardholder may be provided a photocopying allowance by their department. The cardholder will be able to use the card to make photocopies or to subsidise purchases up to the value of the entitlement. The costs incurred are charged to the cardholder's department.
Discount
The discount purse deducts a specified percentage from the cost of any item purchased using the card. For example, a cardholder may be entitled to 20% discount on all healthy price lines in catering terminal. The system administrator can specify when the discount will be active and at which terminals the discount will be available.
Allowance
An allowance purse stores a recurring entitlement amount in a similar manner to a subsidy purse. The major difference is the allowance purse amount originates from a reservoir amount on the card and is topped up to a predetermined value each day from this reservoir. The reservoir amount cannot be revalued at a card center. For example, parent may wish a child to have a set value each day available for lunch only. Using the allowance purse, the parent can send in an amount to be placed in the reservoir and specify the value to be available each day. The system administrator creates the allowance purse with this requested value as the limit and specifies its use at the catering terminals. Each day the pupil presents the card at a terminal the allowance purse value will be topped up to the predetermined value. The reservoir amount is only deducted by the amount needed to topup the allowance purse to its predetermined limit, NOT by the limit amount.
Departmental units
The departmental units purse will normally store an entitlement amount chargeable to a particular department and will operate in much the same manner as a departmental cash purse except with units. The entitlement amount may be automatically recurring or maybe a set amount that is deducted from until it reaches zero. For example a cardholder may be provided with an entitlement by their department for photocopying and printing up to the value of the entitlement. The costs incurred are charged to the cardholder's department.

What is Rollover?
Rollover describes the process that permits a card with a subsidy or departmental purse to have its value automatically appear when presented at a terminal. For example, a student on a daily subsidy amount will present their card at a terminal and that terminal will place the subsidy amount for that period into the subsidy purse. This card is said to have rolled over.
There are two types of rollover:
Replace rollover - by using a replace rollover the system administrator can specify that any unspent value on the card at the end of period 1 be replaced by a specified maximum value at the start of period 2.
Add rollover - by using an add rollover, the system administrator can specify that any unspent value on the card at the end of period 1 be added to by a specified maximum value at the start of period 2.

The system administrator can also specify that no rollover be used. This ensures that the allowance on a card is not renewed regardless of any unspent subsidy and the value of the allowance will decrease to zero as it is spent. Add or Replace rollovers have rollover periods and amounts. A rollover period is the time period after which the remaining value will be added to or be replaced by the rollover value in the control purse.

Reports
ChipNet allows for the creation of a variety of reports summarising the information within the system.
The reporting facility is very powerful and allows administrators to analyse the behaviour and spend of cardholders within the system. The creation of these reports is possible because all transactional information is located in a central database, which is kept up to date via the local area network.

Each time a cardholder purchases an item with their card, the transaction details are recorded and relayed back to the central database. Reports can be run to establish card and sales activity.
There are several types of reports including: User reports, Terminal reports and Revaluation reports.

User reports
The user reports permit the analysis of the purchasing behaviour of the cardholders in the system. It is possible to specify the users that should be included in the report by filtering for different groups or individual users.

Terminal reports
The terminal reports are useful for analysing information specific to the activity at each terminal. For example, a report summarising users' spending trends per terminal or a report specifying the price lines sold at a specific terminal can be generated. It is possible to specify the terminals that should be included in the report by filtering for different groups or individual terminals.

Revaluation reports
It is possible to run a revaluation report to list details of card revaluations that have occurred at a card centre or at an administrators PC. It is possible to specify the terminals that should be contained in the report by filtering for different groups or individual terminals.

Glossary
Add Value Rollover
Add Value Rollover automatically adds any leftover subsidy on a card to the next day's allowance.
Anti-passback
Anti-passback disables the use of the control purse for a specified amount of time (minutes) after use to prevent the control purse being used within this time period
Control purse
The control purse carries value that is controlled by the system. The user cannot change the spend value of the control purse and there are restrictions on how the user can spend their control purse. The control purse can be set up as one of the following types: subsidy, discount, departmental cash, departmental units or allowance.
Department
A department is a category to group similar PLU items in the system.
Discount
A discount describes a reduction in price a user receives when purchasing discount-enabled items.
Hotkeys
Hotkeys are shortcut keys that are used on point of sale terminals to select a PLU item with a single keypress.
Hotlist
A hotlist is maintained in each terminal and is a list of serial numbers of lost or stolen cards. If a card is lost or stolen, it is necessary to hotlist it to prevent it being used at any terminal.
Price Lookup (PLU)
A PLU is a number representing an item within the system.
Personal Purse
The Personal Purse carries the user's personal cash. Unlike the control purse, this purse has no restrictions as to where and when it can be used.
Replace Value Rollover
Replace Value Rollover function automatically replaces the value in the Control Purse regardless of any remaining unspent amount.
Replacement Card
A replacement card is a card that is created to replace either temporarily or permanently a lost, stolen or forgotten card.
Revaluation
Revaluation is an increases or decrease by a specified amount to the value on the card.
Subsidy
A Subsidy is a set amount of money that is credited to a user's card on a regular basis, for example, daily, monthly or bi-monthly.
Terminal
A Terminal is a machine, such as a copier controller or POS till which can be used with an Infineer card.