POS/ACCESS CARD PROGRAMS

USCard Services supports a variety of campus wide transaction processing applications by combining the campus ID badge with a powerful array of point of sale and "access" programs. 

We make extensive use of a system and related application software called Optim 9000. The Optim 9000 (On-Line Privilege Transactions Information Management) System is a licensed software product of AT&T CampusWide operating on a UNIX operating system. The system is expandable and connectable. We can upload, download, and link to existing computer systems based upon your application specific needs. 

The Optim 9000 System is an information system with relational databases controlling cardholder access to various activities or functions based on predetermined criteria. Privileges describe the activities a cardholder may perform. Each privilege contains information that describes when and where a cardholder can exercise the privilege.
We can create as many as 9,999 privileges and within each privilege, 999 plans. This gives us virtually unlimited flexibility in assigning privileges to university cardholders. The plans, which govern the use of a privilege, can control many aspects of the privilege such as:

• Expirations
• Holiday/no holiday/holiday only participation
• Exchange/no exchange
• Periodic resets
• Warnings
• Limits: repeat use, daily, transaction
• Time period exclusions
• Fixed charges
• Discounts

The system supports three types of cardholder activity:

1. Credit/Debit. When a cardholder exercises a credit/debit privilege, the system accesses an account of the same type of payment. Thus cardholders can have multiple account types and access funds accordingly. Point of sale applications and administration of meal plans use this functionality.

2. Count. Count accounts contain count balances displayed in units of whole numbers. When a cardholder exercises a count privilege, one of the units is subtracted and the cardholder has one less unit remaining in that particular count account. Activity Card Status along with yearbook distribution represent privileges handled this way.

3. Yes/No. Yes/No privileges do not require an account. They require only a "Yes" or "No" definition, A "Yes" allows the cardholder to exercise that privilege while a "No" denies the privilege. Student status for access to Lyon's Center is an example of this capability.

The Optim 9000 system controls cardholder access to certain activities through the utilization of a reader device that scans magnetically encoded information cards. The card is encoded with up to 40 characters that depict a company code number, site code number, ID number and issue number. The system accounts for and reports on all readers, locations, cardholders and card activity. Each time the system grants or denies access to an activity, the system records the transaction in a log file. All other functions performed on the system are also recorded in transaction logs, including any changes made to data residing on the system.