Solution Description
Emerald Voucher Management System
The Emerald Voucher Management System (VMS) Solution forms part of the Emerald Solution Range and can be used alone or as part of a complete airtime or value distribution system.
The VMS consists of a high-capacity voucher store, full encryption and complete life-cycle management from PIN generation to redemption. The VMS may be combined with the Emerald Realtime Distribution Framework to form the basis of a complete financial and trading solution with extensive self-management abilities.
The solution provides all the functionality necessary to generate prepaid vouchers, manage the voucher life cycle and to enable redemption of the vouchers. It is suitable for use as an airtime voucher system or for any other requirement that involves PIN-based vouchers. The solution includes a comprehensive management interface that can be used by operators, their distributors and the end-subscriber. The solution supports both printed and virtual vouchers.
The Emerald Realtime Distribution Framework
Emerald Realtime enables a network of companies, agents and customers to buy and sell virtual products from each other. The network can be structured hierarchically or semi-hierarchically.
The Emerald Core provides a platform to define virtual products and to control costs, commissions and a comprehensive set of accounts for all of the parties managed by Emerald. The system manages a set of General Ledger (GL) accounts for each party tracking, for example, credit account balances, accumulated bonus points or available airtime.
The main mechanism affecting the GL accounts is the ability for parties to run transactions between each other. Emerald transactions are very flexible. It is possible to define complex costing rules, look-up party-specific price values and then record journal entries based on these values.
One application for Emerald Realtime Distribution Framework is in Airtime Management. The distribution network consists of a Mobile Network Operator (MNO), super-dealers and airtime vendors. Each one has an airtime account controlled by the GL.
Super-dealers buy airtime from the MNO based on the products and prices defined in Emerald. The system calculates all the correct purchase prices and the quantity of airtime and transfers the airtime between the MNO and the super-dealer. The new airtime balance is shown as the available balance in the super-dealer account.
The super-dealer can in turn transfer his airtime to a vendor or load the airtime directly to a subscriber's mobile phone via integration to the MNO's IN-platform.
One of the main features of the solution is that each party registered in Emerald has the ability to manage itself and to expand the network. They do this by creating additional parties (departments, sub-dealers, etc.) and by transacting with them. They can set their own prices for virtual products and maintain full control over the process within the framework set by the MNO.
VMS adds voucher management to the Distribution Framework
VMS fits seamlessly into the Emerald Realtime Distribution Framework. When you add VMS to the main Emerald system, the parties registered in the system gains the ability to generate their own vouchers based on the relationships defined in Emerald.
A dealer can now use his available credit (or airtime) and convert cash to vouchers or airtime to vouchers when needed. There is no need to interact with the MNO, as everything is visible directly in the CAP3 console. Emerald controls the financial transaction between the MNO and the dealer and ensures that everything is accounted for. The dealer can download vouchers, print them and sell them without any intervention from the MNO. Naturally everything is recorded in audit trails and all activity and data is visible as audit trails and reports.
A very important feature of the system is the ability for dealers to quarantine vouchers or cancel them when needed. Where previously a dealer needed to call the MNO for help when vouchers were stolen or mislaid, they can now do it themselves. This improves the turn-around time and reduces the opportunity for unplanned losses.
Voucher Redemption Engine
The VMS tracks the status of vouchers. It knows which vouchers have been used and which ones are available for redemption. The real business value is only visible when a customer wants to use a voucher for purchasing a product or to use it when loading airtime to a mobile phone. In most other systems, the customer would interact with say an IVR platform, type in the Voucher PIN and receive the product from somewhere else.
With Emerald you don't need another system. Because Emerald includes the ability to interact with the customer through SMS, Web-based or USSD channels, it can use the voucher redemption to trigger a financial transaction. This transaction uses the infrastructure of Emerald to for example load airtime directly to an IN-platform or to pay for a product. This is all possible within the same product.
PIN generation
A voucher consists of a serial number and a secret PIN number. The PIN number must be difficult to guess, so it typically consists of 16 digits or more. Emerald manages the PIN generation process. Each PIN is generated with a cryptographically secure process and guaranteed to be unique. PIN numbers are distributed in a very large number space making it very difficult to guess PIN numbers.
Each voucher may also include a Voucher Verification Value (VVV) printed in clear text on the back of the voucher. The VVV makes it possible to prove ownership of a particular voucher – the MNO can redeem a voucher based on VVV and Serial number if for example the PIN number is lost.
Voucher Store
The Voucher Store is a core component of Emerald VMS. It consists of two databases; one storing archive information and audit logs and the other is the PIN store. The PIN store is designed to be highly available, with multiple replicas of a voucher stored on multiple servers.
Distributed voucher store
This design ensures that vouchers are always available for redemption, even when parts of the system are down for maintenance or due to unexpected failure. To ensure the security and integrity of the sensitive data, Emerald does not require any external third party databases. The database is replicated to all the nodes in the system, ensuring maximum sustainable throughput. The Voucher Store contains all the active vouchers available for redemption by subscribers. All the vouchers are stored in an encrypted and secure format.
The voucher store grows with your company through a concept called horizontal distribution (HD). When you need additional throughput or capacity, it is simple to add additional capacity. No downtime is required.
Product definition
Emerald enables you to create many different voucher-based products such as different airtime denominations and bulk SMS bundles. The Operator can easily define the products online using the CAP3 interface and specific parameters such as face value, SKU, expiry date and product code.
Auditing
Emerald keeps a detailed audit log of all operations performed on the vouchers. Every operation on every individual voucher is recorded. This makes it possible to track the voucher throughout its life-cycle and to determine exactly what physical persons were involved in each step of the process.
Voucher Management
Users can generate batches of airtime vouchers provided they have sufficient permissions. Emerald generates a batch of vouchers in an inactive state, only valid for redemption once the user activates the batch. A voucher batch consists of a number of vouchers, each with the following attributes:
- a unique voucher serial number;
- a PIN code (used for voucher redemption);
- an expiry date;
- an airtime value.
When a user generates vouchers, he enters the number of vouchers required for each of the available products. The system then starts a process that generates the required vouchers guaranteeing unique PIN numbers. The user can then download this batch as an encrypted file suitable for importing into POS systems or printing. At this stage the vouchers are not active and cannot be redeemed.
When the physical vouchers have been distributed, the user or Operator can activate the voucher batch. The vouchers are only valid when activated and the dealer can then sell these vouchers to subscribers.
Voucher Sets
Voucher sets allow dealers a great deal of freedom in the way that they manage their vouchers. Voucher sets functions independently from voucher batches – a set can comprise vouchers from any number of batches. Users can now manage a voucher (identified by the serial number) at any stage in its life cycle.
To simplify such operations, voucher sets consist of ranges of vouchers that are grouped together according to their serial numbers (serial number from and to).
Voucher sets can be used to:
- Activate vouchers;
- Enable vouchers for download;
- Quarantine vouchers (so that they cannot be redeemed);
- Cancel vouchers;
- View status reports.
Redemption interface
Emerald VMS includes a 3rd party interface based on CORBA that can be used by systems to redeem vouchers managed by Emerald.
Management Interface
Emerald Voucher Management System uses the standard CAP3 management console that allows you to control, configure and monitor the entire system using a web browser in a format that is user-friendly and understandable.
CAP3 is a single interface to the entire distributed system. All configuration changes can be applied without restarting the system while transactions are active.
Technical Specifications
SecurityEncryption – Voucher batch files are encrypted using GPG cryptographic software. A company must enter its public key in CAP before it can download a voucher batch. Activation – Voucher batches are initially in an inactive state; the vouchers in a batch cannot be used until the activation process has been completed. Status Control – Vouchers can be quarantined or cancelled if they have been compromised. PINs – Voucher PINs are not visible in the CAP interface, until the voucher has been redeemed (and has therefore become unusable). Voucher Sets – Any number of vouchers can be separated from a larger batch, and can be then be activated separately from the original batch's vouchers. |
ReportsCurrent Vouchers Status Report Voucher Redemption Report Voucher Batches For Period Report Voucher Ranges Report Voucher Set Status Report |
Server Operating Systems
Client Operating Systems
Hardware
|