CASH-IN EZ Wedge & TellerCounts Product Overview

Transcription

1 A Brief Wedge Primer: CASH-IN EZ Wedge & TellerCounts Product Overview Over the last 30 years, cash counting equipment such as bill counters and bill discriminators have become a standard fixture on teller lines, providing a very useful level of automation and productivity by speeding up the constant chore of counting currency. These days, the machines are extremely accurate and many offer a sophisticated level of counterfeit detection. However, though the tellers save lots of time, the automation isn t as complete as it should be the tellers still have to manually enter the piece counts or dollar values from the counter into their teller application. This can be time consuming and introduces the possibility of error, particularly when the teller platform requires entry by denomination. The Add-On Technologies wedge interface products overcome this limitation by automatically populating the cash received entry fields in the teller app. The term wedge as used in this context means to type, extremely fast. The wedge interface makes the piece or amount entries into the same entry text boxes or list that the teller normally uses to make their manual entries. Imagine a teller manually making the denominational entries into this window: 1) The teller counts the currency by machine. 2) They write down the totals by denomination (if the machine is any distance from the workstation). If the teller app requires entry by amount (or the teller has that option and prefers using it) the teller browses the machine display to read and list the amounts. 3) At their workstation, they begin copying in the entries. In the window shown here, they start with the $100 entries in the Count column and press TAB twice to accept each entry. TAB once moves to the Amount column, TAB again moves back to the Count column in the next lower denomination. 4) The piece count entry with TAB, TAB is repeated for each denomination. Denominations that didn t get counted still require the TAB, TAB key sequence to move to the next denomination count field. Now, imagine the teller using a wedge interface: 1) The teller counts the currency by machine. 2) When counting is complete, the teller presses the Print function key on the machine. 3) The denominational Count fields are all accurately populated within 2 seconds. In the window shown here, the entry highlight would be set to land in the $1.00 coin field so the teller could begin making coin entries. Add-On Technologies, Inc. Page 1 7/8/2010

2 How Add-On Wedges Work: All wedge products have a configuration utility that allows for on-site setup to assure compatibility with any teller application. There is no integration and no changes made whatsoever to the teller platform. Add-On wedges simulate hardware keyboards and use a simulated keystroke philosophy to make count entries into the same teller app fields that tellers normally use for entries. This same strategy has long been used by popular hand-held bar code reader devices to translate bar codes into typed digit streams for inventory control programs. CASH-IN EZ-Wedge hardware wedge - This 2 x 2 x 1 interface box connects between the currency machine printer output port and any PC USB port on the teller workstation. It simulates having a 2 nd USB keyboard attached to the workstation (Windows allows more than one keyboard). That keyboard is dedicated only to making bill count entries into the teller application. When currency counting is completed, the teller presses the Print function key on the bill counter. Most bill counters have the option to connect a small audit printer to record each transaction. Add-On wedges use that printer output (without needing an actual printer) to obtain the denominational counts. The EZ-Wedge converts that information into a format that simulates manual teller entries by keyboard. The teller application doesn t know or care that the entries came from a wedge device instead of from a real keyboard entered by a person. The entry speed is much faster though, than even the fastest teller could ever match. As an example, the window at the right requires a piece count entry for each denomination counted. Without an EZ-Wedge, the teller will type the digits for each count on their number keypad and then press the ENTER key to accept that count and move to the next denomination entry. With an EZ-Wedge, the teller just leaves the entry highlight in the 100s row, counts the bills on the machine, and presses the Print function button on the machine. The EZ-Wedge sends in the digit keystrokes for the counts just as the teller would, including the ENTER keystroke between each denomination. The difference is, the wedge is incredibly fast in doing it. From the viewpoint of the teller app, an extremely fast teller made the entries through a 2 nd attached keyboard. It doesn t realize that the keystrokes were simulated from an interface that isn t really a keyboard. Add-On Technologies, Inc. Page 2 7/8/2010

3 The CASH-IN EZ-Wedge is recognized in Windows Device Manager as both a USB Human Interface Device and a USB keyboard. The properties for the USB Human Interface Device item above show it as CASH-IN. There are no drivers or software to be installed to use the CASH-IN EZ-Wedge. Windows already includes the built in USB keyboard drivers that the EZ-Wedge uses. EZ-Wedges can be pre-configured at the factory or dealer headquarters for your teller application, providing a seamless installation process. The EZ-Wedge requires one spare USB port on the teller PC. It can be used on any Windows PC that supports USB. Add-On Technologies, Inc. Page 3 7/8/2010

4 TellerCounts software wedges - TellerCounts is a Windows application that provides a software-based approach to moving the bill counter totals into the teller platform cash received window(s). TellerCounts comes in both Standalone and multi-user versions. Standalone permits one teller PC to be used with one bill counter. Generally used in the commercial teller window. TellerCounts Standalone can be run as a Windows Service, or minimized on the Task Bar. Can also be used in a windowed Overlay mode that lets the teller see counts accumulating at the PC before the counts get entered into the teller platform. Overlay mode allows for mutilated bill entries to be merged with machine counts prior to the teller app wedging process. Multi-User permits any number of users to share a single bill counter online with their teller workstations. Multi-user systems come in 3 flavors: Wireless, (uses USB-powered radio modems and a small keypad near the bill counter), RS-485 (the same keypad connected by cable to the teller stations), and Base Station (uses a base station PC for the bill counter connection, and sends counts to the teller workstations over the LAN). TellerCounts Standalone and the Multi-User Base Station connect the PC to the bill counter using a special USB cable provided with each TellerCounts kit. A USB driver is installed during the TellerCounts software installation. Only one USB port is required. The USB connection is automatic there are no Virtual COM Ports to choose from. The USB driver is pre-installed, so there is no driver setup or.inf files to search for when the cable is plugged in. Serial cable to machine connects here. USB Direct Driver Converter TellerCounts uses standard built-in Windows functions to simulate keystrokes through Windows memory. Add-On Technologies, Inc. Page 4 7/8/2010

5 M inimum PC Requirements (TellerCounts): Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista, Windows 7. Administrator rights required to install and setup. 650MHz 32bit(x86) or faster processor. 512MB of RAM. 800 x 600 screen resolution. CD-ROM drive unless installing TellerCounts from a jump drive or network folder. 20MB of free hard disk space. One spare USB port. Add-On Technologies, Inc. Page 5 7/8/2010