Terminal Types

Terminal type is a way a terminal device is used. Depending on the needs of a merchant, there are four types of terminals:

• Virtual - a terminal record instance that allows merchants to accept card-not-present transactions without a physical device;
• General POS - a physical device instance that allows merchants to accept card-present chip and swipe transactions;
• Kiosk – a physical device represented as a self-service kiosk;
• Automated Fuel Pump – a physical device that is represented as a fuel pump at a gas station.

Before becoming a General POS, kiosk or automated fuel pump and obtaining a physical representation, a terminal has a terminal record within the gateway that is represented as a Virtual terminal.

In the past, all legacy systems worked only with physical terminals to process card transactions, but after the Internet became a mandatory part of business and providing the opportunity to pay by phone and Internet became advantageous, transactions without a physical terminal became necessary. That is why a representation for virtual terminals within the gateway is needed.
Virtual terminal within the gateway can be used in two ways – as a representation of the virtual terminal or as a placeholder that will be associated eventually with a physical device. In the second case, a virtual terminal is used for transaction processing before the terminal order is shipped to a merchant.

For cases when a General POS terminal is planned to be used, it is needed to choose a terminal model.

Terminal Model

Terminal model indicates the physical terminal being used and determines what functionality it can provide. It is important for a merchant to analyze what terminal functionality is required for business before purchasing a terminal model because it must correspond with business needs.
To learn more about terminal models supported by the gateway, review this integration note.



Every terminal model must have an operation mode set up to satisfy the specific needs of the merchant’s business.

Terminal Mode

Terminal mode determines how terminal processing is controlled. The terminal mode is selected for each terminal individually. Currently, Cloud and Standalone modes are supported within the system. Selection of a terminal's operation mode affects whether integration with the gateway is required or not.

Cloud mode is used when integration with POS is necessary and a terminal is controlled indirectly by the operator through POS. Cloud is a new approach that allows integration with POS without DLL libraries and associated drivers being installed. This is useful because in some cases, merchants don’t have an on-site IT team to install drivers or web services to allow DLL communications.
DLL (Dynamic-link library) is a collection of small programs, any of which can be called when needed by POS. Traditionally, terminals connected with POS through serial and USB ports. This required the installation of specific software on the hardware with the POS to send tasks and receive data in the corresponding format. To avoid installation of the additional software components, the Cloud mode was designed. A cloud-based terminal connects directly to the cloud through the router without connection to a workstation, and all calls from POS are received through the cloud. As the cloud mode imposes that terminal is controlled indirectly through POS, it means that transaction commands are sent to the terminal from POS.
You can learn more about the operating mechanism of cloud integration in this note.

Standalone mode is used when integration with POS is not necessary and a terminal is controlled directly by the operator. To send a command for a transaction to the terminal, follow these instructions:
1. Press F2 button on the terminal keypad.
2. Enter appropriate amount.
3. Select form of the payment (payment card/direct debit).
4. Select the way to run a sale (Swipe/Insert the card, manual entry or cash).
5. Run the transaction and receive response code on the terminal screen.
6. Get a receipt.



To process transactions, a terminal needs specific software installed that is right for the processing mode.

Terminal Software

Terminal software is software uploaded for processing transactions and fulfilling various tasks on a terminal. It is responsible for programming and updating the hardware. A terminal cannot operate without it. There are two purposes for the terminal: to provide a device for working with transactions and processing and to process the actual transactions.

To deal with these tasks, there are two types of terminal software:

• Manufacturer software (for example, Ingenico) is used to have and access to and operate physical built-in hardware (keyboard, card reader, etc.) and related functionality. This software cannot be customized.
• Payment software is used to fulfill business tasks via a terminal, such as processing transactions, printing customized receipts, etc. This software can be customized to correspond the individual needs of the client.

When in fulfillment, a fulfillment center installs manufacturer software first, then payment software provided by the gateway is installed. Before the installation, payment software should be signed by the responsible person on the client’s side. For this purpose, a designated toolkit is used – a specific terminal that is used only for validation of the application code. After the application is validated by a client, it is sent to the fulfillment center for subsequent provisioning of the terminals.
An unassigned application cannot be installed on the terminal used in the production environment. Terminals with unassigned applications, called mock-up terminals, can be used for testing purposes only.
Note, that along with a signing toolkit, a magic box is required for the terminal to get connected to the Internet.


To learn more about the steps for manually installing terminal software, you can request the respective document from terminal support.

Configurations

Configurations are a combination of terminal settings, the main purpose of which is to regulate terminal behavior depending on the supported functionality of the terminal and the business needs of a merchant.

Configurations setup is available at two levels: the fulfillment center associated with a particular portfolio and the reseller. Terminal configurations can be set up individually for either fulfillment center or a particular reseller. In this case, the overriding mechanism is applied, i.e. the configurations of a lower entity override the default ones.

If configurations are changed, these changes are not applied immediately but at a predetermined time of a day, usually at midnight for both planned and urgent updates. This is done so that a terminal will work properly and transaction processing is not interrupted.

You can review a full list of parameters available for terminal configurations in the TMS parameters integration note.

Injection Keys

Injection keys are the keys that encrypt and decrypt data within a terminal. They are necessary for the increased security of the terminal during usage.

There are three kinds of keys that can be used in terminals:

• PIN – used for encryption of PIN value associated with customer's credit card.
• Session key - used for encryption of message authentication code (MAC) data block. MAC is used for Canadian transactions only.
• P2PE - used for point-to-point encryption of EMV and track data.

Depending on what encryption key type is used in the terminal, its algorithm can be symmetric or asymmetric:

• When one key is used for both encryption and decryption, it is the symmetric encryption algorithm (AES/3DES). Symmetric encryption is easier to decrypt, but the fulfillment center provides an additional level of security for terminals with symmetric keys. To fulfill the process of AES/3DES key uploading into a terminal, a special injection facility is needed. AES/3DES can be used for PIN, session and P2PE keys.
• When two keys – a public key (for encryption) and a private key (for decryption) – are used, it is asymmetric encryption algorithm (RSA). To upload an RSA key, an injection facility is not needed.

RSA keys can be used for P2PE keys. If an emitting bank supports RSA, then RSA encryption can be also used for PIN keys.

Injection keys are set up for encryption of data for each particular processor. Each injection key is assigned to the specific processor’s profile. Only one key can be injected to a terminal. If it is needed to process terminal transactions by more than one processor, separate terminals, injected with corresponding keys, are required.
Within the gateway, injection keys are chosen before the fulfillment of an order to indicate to the fulfillment center which keys must be installed in the terminal.


After the fulfillment processes are done and the terminal is delivered to the merchant, it is maintained through the Terminal Management System.

TMS

The Terminal Management System (TMS) is a module within the gateway that maintains a specific configuration set for a terminal and uploads updates for both manufacturer’s and installed third-party software. TMS makes it possible for terminal software to work properly and get updated. The updates are usually planned in advance and have a certain schedule, but urgent updates can also be done, if needed, through TMS. Along with software updates, TMS regulates how terminals should be configured.

To have a terminal connected to TMS host, 443 port is used. Terminal connects using IP-address that is obtained by a domain name stored in terminal parameters with network settings.

Also, TMS is responsible for identification of a particular terminal, using a unique sticker for each piece of hardware with terminal credentials.

Stickers

A sticker is a unique record with a collection of assigned credentials for a particular terminal. Stickers are placed on a physical terminal and include specific data that helps to identify a terminal and provide quick and easy access to terminal credentials. This data usually includes the terminal activation key, terminal key (a combination of the merchant ID (MID) of the merchant that received the terminal and terminal ID (TID) of the specific terminal) and terminal reference code (a combination of the account reference code and terminal reference code within a merchant’s system).

Also, the sticker includes the support phone number so that a merchant can immediately contact a support team if any problems occur with a terminal.

Fulfillment Center

The fulfillment center is a service provider or a department within the gateway owner’s company. The purpose of a fulfillment center is to fulfill a terminal order, which includes the creation of a terminal order, installment of software, injection keys and configurations, monitoring of the order's lifecycle and delivery of the terminal order to the merchant. Within the gateway, it is a virtual representation of a fulfillment center that allows for creating and maintaining terminal orders.

As a rule, a terminal manufacturer (for example, Ingenico) or a gateway usually do not provide fulfillment services associated with physical devices. It is inconvenient to work with a large number of merchants, so makers prefer to deal with vendors which are referred to as fulfillment centers.

To fulfill a terminal, a fulfillment center must be created within the system under a certain portfolio. This fulfillment center can be used by a reseller or a merchant to place terminal orders. When a terminal order is approved and submitted to the fulfillment center, assigned terminals are fulfilled by a fulfillment center. Once fulfillment is done, the ordered terminals are shipped to the merchant.

Fulfillment can be done in two ways:

• by a gateway owner - an existing fulfillment department associated with the gateway that executes fulfillment of terminal orders;
• by an external company - a third-party service provider that executes fulfillment of terminal orders.

Whether fulfillment is done by the gateway owner or an external company, the fulfillment process is similar.

An external company may be either integrated with the gateway or not. In both cases, the fulfillment center must be created in the system before performing terminal ordering. If the fulfillment center doest not have actual integration with the gateway, the terminal ordering process is managed in a manual mode.
See this tutorial to learn how to create a new fulfillment center.

Fulfillment Management System

The Fulfillment Management System (FMS) is a module within the gateway that is responsible for fulfillment and shipping of an order based on the applied settings. It also includes tracking of the lifecycle of a particular terminal order, reviewing of statistics of terminal orders and monitoring of the fulfillment process. The module manages all order regulated operations: the creation of terminal configurations and order settings, terminal order processing and submitting the order to a fulfillment center where terminal software, configurations, and injection keys are installed.

Terminal Order

A terminal order is an object within the system that stores all necessary information about the ordered terminal(s), including fulfillment and delivery settings. In the real world, terminal orders are orders of terminals that process both EMV and swipe card transactions.

In the past, terminals were not required to process card-present transactions. A merchant could use a card reader device for this purpose (for example, ID TECH). But starting 2015, EMV card processing became mandatory for merchants that operate in industries that require a card to be present for a payment. Reading and processing of chip cards is impossible without a physical terminal. Thus, a problem for merchants emerged: how to order a terminal. The terminal order object within the system manages this task.

The terminal ordering object goes through the lifecycle of the ordering process. It can include settings for one or several terminals. An order is created for a merchant, but a reseller can place the terminal order for subsequent reselling to the attached merchants. If, for example, there are no resellers present as entities within the system, a portfolio can be an entity that places a terminal order for subsequent reselling to the attached merchants.

After the order is created, it is sent to the fulfillment center - an entity within the system that is responsible for fulfillment of the terminals that are included in the terminal order. A terminal order is submitted to the fulfillment center as a request file. The result of the order is retrieved via a response file.

As with any object within the system, a terminal order obtains different statuses during the terminal ordering process.

Order Status

Order status is an indicator that shows in which phase a terminal order currently is. A set of statuses represents a lifecycle of an order. While an order is being processed within the system, it acquires different statuses to keep participants in the process up to date.

Available order statuses are the following:

Pending – the order has been terminated during the creation process by a gateway manager.
Created – the order has been submitted to the system by a gateway manager and is ready for subsequent review.
Canceled – the order has been canceled by a submitter for some reason before the submission to the fulfillment center. After the order has been canceled, a status of the terminal in the order is put to Unassigned.
Reopened – the order has been reopened by a submitter as a result of a review for some changes to be made. The order can be reopened only before being approved.
Modified – the order has been successfully modified after being reopened.
Approved – the order has been reviewed and approved for submission to the fulfillment center.
In Fulfillment – the order has been sent to the fulfillment center for all required installations (applicable both in cases when a fulfillment center is used and when fulfillment is done by the gateway). Note that when the fulfillment center is a department of the gateway, the order obtains this status after it is created.
Failed – the order has failed during the fulfillment process.
Processed – the order has been successfully processed.
Shipped – the order has been shipped to the merchant.
Returned - the order has been returned by a submitter.

For each order, it is possible to review the entire status history in order details.

Order Type

Order type regulates on what terms a merchant obtains terminal(s). Within the gateway, there is an opportunity not only to buy a terminal but also to exchange or return it if it was ordered and activated within the system and if it malfunctions or defects are present.

Within the gateway, three types of orders are represented:

• Purchase – a merchant buys or rents a new terminal.
• Exchange – a merchant exchanges one terminal for another. For the exchange option to be available, another terminal has to be ordered and activated within the gateway. Exchange can only be done if a previously purchased terminal has a defect, malfunction or has been injected with a wrong injection key. Note that some fulfillment centers have a specific period during which the exchange of a terminal can be done. After this period, this option is unavailable.
• Return – a merchant returns a terminal to a fulfillment center and receives their payment back. This can be done if a merchant does not want to use a previously purchased terminal because of its physical features or if it is not required for processing anymore. Note that some fulfillment centers have a specific period during which the exchange of a terminal can be done. After this period, this option is unavailable.

The way a merchant pays for an order depends on available payment arrangements.

Payment Arrangement

The payment arrangement regulates how a terminal is expected to be paid for. There are two payment arrangements available within the gateway:

• Purchase – a merchant pays full price for a terminal;
• Rental – a merchant pays monthly rental fee with the possibility of paying off the total terminal cost if needed.

To deliver a physical terminal to a merchant, it is necessary to set a list of shipping methods that will be chosen in the future for each terminal order individually.

Shipping Method

As a rule, there should be set two basic shipping methods for the fulfillment center:

• Regular method is the most affordable for a merchant. Usually, it takes 3-5 days. This method is used by default.
• Urgent method is much faster and used for orders with high priority. Usually, it takes 1-2 days.

Depending on the fulfillment center, shipping methods can vary. Additional alternatives with different terms can be provided. Several methods can be added as urgent alternatives: a delivery in 24 hours and in 2-3 days, for example, along with several regular methods which might include two weeks, three weeks and a month.

Email Notifications

Email notifications are emails that inform users about the current status of an order and include important information that is needed for further processing of an order. Notifications are indicators of the current lifecycle phase of an order.

During the terminal ordering process, email notifications are sent to a merchant’s email indicated during the terminal order submission. Additionally, copies of these notifications can be sent to a reseller associated with the merchant and to terminal managers. For notification copies to be sent, it is necessary to set up respective settings within the system.

There are five phases of the terminal ordering process when notifications can be sent:

1) Receipt – notification is sent when an order has been created.
2) Approval – notification is sent when an order is in “Created” status, including information about a submitted order as well as the assigned ID within the system.
3) Modification – notification is sent when an order is in “Modified” status and informs the receiver that the order has been modified after it was reopened.
4) Cancelation – notification is sent when an order is in “Canceled” status and informs the receiver that the order has been canceled.
5) Shipping – notification is sent when an order is in “Shipped” status and informs the receiver that the order is being shipped. Additionally, it provides the activation code and serial number(s) of terminal(s). If configured, this notification also contains a tracking number that allows a user to keep track of the shipping process.
6) Return - notification is sent when an order has been created for order return.



Templates for notifications available within the system can be found in the Setup perspective on the Email Templates form.

Step-by-Step Terminal Ordering

Pre-ordering settings

For ordering terminals through the gateway to be possible, the system must be configured in the proper way. The steps include the following:

1) Create a fulfillment center. It must be done no matter whether fulfillment is handled by an external service provider or by a fulfillment department of the gateway owner’s company. To learn how to create a fulfillment center, review this.

2) Add available terminal models. It is possible to add models to a terminal order until it is sent to a fulfillment center. To learn how to add a terminal model within a fulfillment center, review this tutorial.

3) Set configurations. It is possible to assign different configurations to different terminals within an order. When this is necessary, multiple configuration sets can be created. To learn how to set up configurations for a fulfillment center, review this tutorial.

4) Assign injection keys. It is possible to assign different injection keys to different terminals within an order. Injection keys must be associated with the processor through which the merchant is going to process transactions. To learn how to add an injection key, review this tutorial.

5) Add shipping methods. It is necessary to set at least two shipping methods, regular and urgent. Currently, regular stands for UPS ground shipping (UPSGROUND as Item Number within the shipping method's profile), urgent stands for UPS next day air shipping (UPSNEXTDAYAIR as Item Number within the shipping method's profile). To learn how to set a shipping method within the gateway, review this tutorial.

6) Configure a provider’s profile and terminal order notifications. Depending on the company that does the fulfillment (external service provider or gateway department), profile settings should be as follows:

• If an external service provider is used as a fulfillment center, the following profiles should be set:
  • Fulfillment center profile
  • Email notifications profile
• If a gateway owner is used as a fulfillment center, the following profile should be set:
  • Email notifications profile

To learn how to configure a profile, review this tutorial.

Ordering procedure

Terminal ordering steps include:

1) Terminal creation. The order that is going to be created has to be attached to a particular terminal. This terminal must be created in advance.
To learn how to create a terminal, review this tutorial.

2) Order creation. Depending on the company that does fulfillment (external service provider or gateway department), profile settings should be the following:

• If an external service provider is used as a fulfillment center, an order is placed on the Merchant or Fulfillment perspective on the Create Order form;
• If a gateway owner is used as a fulfillment center, an order is placed on the Merchant perspective on the Create Order (Extended) form.

To learn how to create an order, review this tutorial.

3) Order confirmation. When the order is submitted, the creator of the order receives a Receipt email notification. If notification is not received, it can be resent on the Order List form. To learn how to re-send a notification, review this tutorial.
After review, the order should be approved. To learn how to approve an order, review this tutorial.

4) Order fulfillment. Done by a fulfillment center. Orders are usually submitted to the fulfillment center on a set schedule regulated by a timer (every three hours during a business day). Before a terminal is sent to a merchant, it gets registered in TMS using connectivity parameters that are returned in an API call (to learn more about API calls available through TMS API, review this documentation section). After received, these parameters are stored in a separate file within the terminal. After initialization is done, the terminal is managed by the TMS server. After terminal fulfillment is done, the ordered terminal is assigned with a unique serial number and activation code. Before shipping, the fulfillment center runs terminal diagnostics to verify that it is in the Provisioned status, all required connections are operating, and no error messages are present.

5) Order shipping. Done by a fulfillment center. When the order is ready to be shipped, the submitter of the order receives a Shipping email notification. While the order is in shipping status, the order delivery status can be checked on the fulfillment center portal using the tracking function. To learn how to set up tracking information for orders, review this tutorial.

6) Terminal connection and activation. After a terminal is received by a merchant, it must be connected and activated. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Place the terminal on a free surface, which doesn’t restrict usage of the terminal’s display, keyboard, and card reader.
2. Ensure that you have arranged the terminal’s cables to prevent them from possible damage or dangerous contacts.
3. Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the ETH port in the terminal and the other end to a router or a network point.
4. Connect the power cord to the round jack in the terminal. Note that since the connection works under conditions of an ultra-low voltage (SELV), you must use only joining parts approved by Ingenico. Don’t use different or longer (more than 3m) external cables other than indicated and/or supplied by the manufacturer.
5. Make sure that you have received an activation code. It can be obtained in two ways: via an email notification or via the user interface on the Details form under the Terminal perspective.
6. Turn on the terminal.
7. When the terminal menu is displayed, select Diagnostics from the menu to verify if the terminal parameters are correct.
8. Press “OK” or the green button. If the device is connected correctly, all parameters on the screen are shown with no ‘’error’’ indicator. To learn more about terminal diagnostics, review the Terminal Diagnostics guide.
9. Press “OK” or the green button to return to the main menu.
10. Select Activation Code in the terminal menu.
11. Enter the activation code. To learn more about terminal activation, review Terminal Order Management Guide.
12. Press “OK” or the green button.

Congratulations! You have activated your terminal and can now use your terminal for processing transactions.

Post-ordering Procedures

After the terminal is activated, it is important to monitor its activity and provide maintenance when needed in a timely manner.

If any issues occur with a terminal device, the following functionalities are available for identifying the problem:

• Terminal diagnostics. If there is an issue with a terminal, the diagnostics should be run via the terminal device. To learn about common errors that occur within the terminal system, review this guide.
• Terminal logs analysis. If a diagnostic of the terminal does not help and it is necessary to analyze the terminal’s activity within a particular period of time, the terminal logs should be examined. To learn how to review terminal logs, review this tutorial.

If any changes are necessary for a terminal device, the following functionalities are available:

• Configuration of the terminal. Configurations are uploaded to the terminal from TMS during the initialization process and every time when they are changed in the gateway or through the API. To learn how to review terminal configurations, review this tutorial. To learn how to change configurations for a particular terminal or for a group of terminals, review this tutorial.
• Updates of the terminal. Usually, terminal updates are done by the gateway support team. Update profiles contain the update scenario used for terminals assigned to a portfolio. Also, updates can be applied to terminals that are assigned to any particular segment. A segment is a group of terminals that is used to download updates for certain terminals. To learn how to set a segment for a terminal, review this tutorial.
• Exchange/Return of the terminal. When exchange or return of a terminal is necessary, the terminal must first be deactivated. To learn how to exchange or return a terminal, review this tutorial.

For terminal management access, the following PINs are used:

• Manager PIN - allows to access and modify terminal parameters. The settings for parameters are the same for the ones configured in the gateway. If a parameter is locked in the gateway, it cannot be changed via the terminal.
• Admin PIN - allows to trigger internal processes that are run by timer (for example, get-parameters request).
• System PIN - allows to access Telium Manager settings (for Ingenico terminals only).

If any of the PINs are needed, address the request to the gateway support.

Reporting on Terminal Orders

The task of a Terminal Order Manager is not just to create a terminal order but also to keep a track of the ordered terminals. For this reason, there is a need to obtain this information from the gateway. This can be done in two ways:

• via a series of user interface forms associated with a terminal order;
• via a designated report called Terminal Order report.

The report can be downloaded from the user interface and uploaded to the integrated system for cross-reference. It is available for generation broken down by a definite terminal order or status, contact person, merchant, account or reseller. The report can be downloaded in XLS or CSV.

The dashboard contains the following columns:

• reseller.id - identifier of a reseller generated by the gateway
• reseller.name- name of a reseller assigned within the gateway
• merchant.id - identifier of a merchant generated by the gateway
• merchant.name - name of a merchant assigned within the gateway
• account.id - identifier of an account generated by the gateway
• account.name - name of an account assigned within the gateway
• terminalOrder.fulfillmentCenterId - identifier of a fulfillment center generated by the gateway
• terminalOrder.createDate - the date when a terminal order was created in the gateway
• terminalOrder.trackingNumber - tracking information provided by a fulfillment center
• terminalOrder.shippingName - name of the person/organization indicated as the one to receive the order
• terminalOrder.shippingStreet - street where the order is to be delivered to
• terminalOrder.shippingCity - city where the order is to be delivered to
• terminalOrder.shippingState - state where the order is to be delivered to
• terminalOrder.shippingCountryCode - code of the country where the order is to be delivered to
• terminalOrder.shippingZipCode - zip code where the order is to be delivered to
• terminalOrder.shippingDate - date when the order was sent by the fulfillment center
• terminalOrder.contactName - name of the person indicated as the one to receive the order
• terminalOrder.contactPhone - phone number of the person indicated as the one to receive the order
• terminalOrder.email - email of the person indicated as the one to receive the order
• terminalOrder.orderType - type of the order. To learn more about available order types, follow this link
• terminalOrder.orderId - identifier of the order generated by the gateway
• terminalOrder.fulfillmentNumber - identifier of the order in the fulfillment center’s system
• terminalOrder.shippingMethod - type of the shipping method applied to the orderю To learn more about available shipping methods, follow this link
• terminalOrder.paymentArrangementType - type of the payment arrangement applied to the order. To learn more about available payment arrangement types, follow this link
• terminalOrder.details - list of the ordered terminal models
• terminalOrder.status - status of the order. To learn more about available terminal order statuses, follow this link