POS Transaction Analyzers

Transcription

1 BY SHANNON CHISTER POS Transaction Analyzers A White Paper describing the POS Transaction Analyzer and how it works.

2 Table of Contents 2 Introduction...3 Transaction Analysis...4 How does it work?...4 How can Transaction Analyzers work specifically for POS?...5 What are the features and benefits of POSTA...5 Who is ESQ?...8 Other ESQ solutions...8 Customer transactions are the lifeline of all retail businesses.

3 Introduction 3 Customer transactions are the lifeline of all retail businesses. To ensure that your business is working according to plan, execution of your business transactions is critical. Monitoring of these transactions is paramount to the health of the overall business. A successful business has a core set of targeted statistical indicators that are defined to ensure that each level of management can monitor their functional area of responsibility in real-time and initiate corrective actions when needed. One of the top reasons why businesses lose customers today is due to transaction delays and outright failures. Customers want to be able to complete their transaction hassle free. According to a retail Queuing Behaviour Survey study conducted by MasterCard International, the research reveals that over two-thirds of consumers abandon their purchase all together if it means standing in a long line, while 75% of these shoppers will take their money elsewhere in the future. To reduce these delays, you must be able to trace your transaction data, analyze the statistical data and isolate any problem areas quickly. As Motti Tal, author of the research study writes, Transactions are the most effective early warning sensors indicating impending outages before they occur, allowing time and providing insight to address them. Another thing to consider in customer transactions for your business is, was the transaction processed as cost efficiently as possible? Analyzing the statistical data will help your business be more profitable by saving and improving in areas you may not be aware of. tion to your business with on time delivery providing transaction monitoring that will dramatically increase visibility into your customer transactions. It will help you reduce lost revenue and lower business risk by ensuring the highest possible service levels for your customers. Real-time Business Activity Management (BAMS) POSTA provides real-time analysis of transaction data to ensure that IT and the business operational personnel can monitor and maintain the highest possible service levels for your customers. It can significantly impact the way in which transactional data serves real business needs. This paper explains POS Transaction Analysis for capturing and presenting this data providing real-time business and IT status to help make decisions across all lines of businesses. POSTA can reduce costs and identify inefficiencies in your business that could be costing your business millions of dollars a year. In many instances the return on investment can be recouped in less than a year. Analysis POS Transaction Analyzer Data Reports and Queries They key to reducing delays and improving your business is by using the POS Transaction Analyzer (POSTA). POSTA provides optimiza-

4 Transaction Analysis 4 Key Features: Determine instantly if transactions are executing as expected Provides a breakdown of the types of transactions being processed Reduce mean time to repair by quickly isolating problems in critical business transactions Real-time decision support Data mining and data analysis in real time Visualization/Dashboards, Scorecard Capacity planning for future growth ETL for real time data gathering Support for industry standard data access methods (ODBC,JDBC,OLAP) How does it work? The Transaction Analyzer (TA) helps ensure continuous, real-time management of transactions hosted on any computing platform. TA s ETL agents that run on a variety of platforms to gather details on transactions processed and recorded in the Entry Journal (EJ) data files. TA can present transaction details and metrics in dynamic, customizable, web-based (WEB2.0) views that are relevant to a diverse community of business and technology managers. The Transaction Analyzer helps ensure continuous, realtime management of transactions hosted on any computing platform. Retailer Operations Business Operations POSTA IT Operations Approve/Denied Transaction POSTA Server Customer Interaction (POS/Kiosk) Transaction Transaction Processor/ Authorizer Card Issuer

5 Transaction Analysis 5 How can Transaction Analyzers work specifically for POS? POSTA offers continuous, real-time management of POS transactions, including transactions per second, denial, reversal rates, stand-in transaction rates, and interchange response times. Live dashboard views of the POSTA data provides instant snapshots of Key Business Indicators (KBI). What are the Features and Benefits of POSTA? 1. Flexible Web-Based Monitoring - Being a web-based product, POSTA enhances the flexibility of monitoring transactions by providing platform and location independence to the user. POSTA web interface displays the transaction details and can be customized based on your data. 2. Interactive Ad Hoc Dashboards - The dashboard allows you to drag and drop your data and start generating meaningful reports on your system. Simply select your data source, choose the elements and time frames you wish to view, and select the visual representation (Chart, Grid, Graph, etc.) and your power-user dashlettes are displayed. 1 2 Flexible Web- Based Monitoring Interactive Ad Hoc Dashboards 3. Powerful Ad Hoc Reports and Queries - POSTA provides an easy to use reports & Queries builder to assist in keeping the POS network running at maximum efficiency and to improve the performance of your POS Network and Devices. It also allows customers to evaluate their POS environment status and performance, and discover the causes of problems and SLA compliance failures. 3 Powerful Ad Hoc Reports and Queries

6 Transaction Analysis 6 POSTA processes transaction logs in real-time to provide statistics such as approved and denied transactions. What can POSTA do for Retailers? POSTA can greatly benefit retailers by providing the statistical data for: Cashier Matrix Register / Lane optimization Fee structures Monitor and report on SLA s for Interchanges Provide sales by hour, district and region Transactions by Register Type (i.e., Self Checkout or Lane) 4. Easy System Administration POSTA allows you to keep your data safe by building the security levels that you prefer. This allows the regular review of permissions granted to individually owned accounts and accounts used by automated processes. 5. Real-Time Transaction Management POSTA processes transaction logs in real-time to provide statistics such as approved and denied transactions. The operations staff can then take appropriate recovery actions when the abnormal conditions occur. This ensures continuous management of your POS network. 6. Ability to Create Thresholds - A threshold can be created to define acceptable operational rules for specific transactions based on Key Performance Indicators. 7. Detailed Transaction Monitoring Data that is captured can be utilized and reported on to help you learn what opportunities you may have to help improve your business. 8. Ready-to-Go Views - POSTA is equipped with a pre-defined ready-to-go view. You will be able to view the transaction information of all the entities right after you log in to POSTA Web Interface. 9. User-Defined Views - POSTA provides you with the ability to create User-Defined Views depending on your business specific requirements. POSTA gives you the preference of creating new views or renaming, modifying and deleting existing views.

7 Transaction Analysis Import Custom Entities & Owner Financial Institution ID s (FIIDs) - POSTA provides the ability to import your business specific entities and owner FIIDs to its environment. This feature can be used in scenarios where the names of certain entities/owner FIIDs have been modified or new ones have been added. 11. Mechanism to Send Alert on Failed Conditions - POSTA is equipped with the ability to configure thresholds for the POS environment. You can specify the attributes like Severity, Polling Interval and Monitoring Status. Automated alert capabilities provide instant notifications to be sent to the internal database, to the NT Event Log, or EMS events on the NonStop Host/Switch in case of a violation. 12. Pin Point Impact of Outage - POSTA provides the opportunity of tracking the effect of outages on your business in real-time as and when they occur. You can immediately see when and where a problem occurs on your POS network, identify the root cause and take steps to rectify the problem before it affects your customers. This helps you to deliver across-the-board extreme customer service. What can POSTA do for Processors? POSTA can greatly benefit processors by providing the statistical data for: Monitoring other interchanges and their transaction rates Ensure traffic is meeting the Service Level Agreement You can immediately see when and where a problem occurs on your POS network, identify the root cause and take steps to rectify the problem. Written by author Shannon Chister, former Business Analyst, Home Depot Corporation.

8 Who is ESQ? 8 Our products and services guarantee higher returns in a highly cost effective manner. ESQ Business Services and its affiliated organizations have been providing premier IT management solutions to fortune 500 customers since We provide end-to-end solutions for your retail businesses such as: Operational Business Intelligence, ATM Network Management, Transaction Management, System Integration, Performance & System Management and Real-Time Business Activity Management (BAM). Our products and services guarantee higher returns in a highly cost effective manner by synergizing IT and business strategies. With its unique approach to Transactional Business Intelligence, ESQ is one of the leading solutions providers worldwide. If you would like to know more about our customers and solutions, please visit us online at Other ESQ Solutions SST OPERATIONSBRIDGE (SSTOB): A comprehensive solution to manage your ATM/ KIOSK/POS Register peripherals and network. One of the most advanced concepts in management combined with Real-Time Business Activity Management (BAM) makes this very unique solution a must have for retailers and financial institutions. Fully integrated with world leading CRM systems, it provides in-depth knowledge into your transactional network. ATM Transaction Analyzer (ATMTA): If you are serious about retaining a satisfied customer then this is a must have solution that helps you track performance of your ATM transactions. ATMTA provides up to the minute status of your complete ATM transactional world with in-depth statistical analysis of your transactions. Keep track of your authorizers and their performance. Up to the minute means you will know when an authorizer is falling behind in processing your transactions or in some cases is not authorizing transactions at all. Keep track of your host connections to meet your SLA s Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 336, Cupertino, CA , ESQ Business Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.