Point of Sale Credit/Debit Card Machines

Transcription

1 Point of Sale Credit/Debit Card Machines Trevor Yu Part I Debit and credit card purchases are one of the main payment methods accepted in stores and restaurants. These vendors need some sort of point of sale (POS) machine that accepts user cards and performs the appropriate monetary transactions. An example of a typical debit and credit card device found in stores and restaurants is shown in Fig Although these devices provide the vendor the ability to accept card payments, they also present a variety of interface issues for the customer 1. In Part II of this document, the interface issues will be discussed in depth. POS machines accept credit cards (e.g. American Express, Visa, MasterCard) and debit cards. Some newer models have the ability to accept gift cards and checks. However this document will focus on the models with only credit and debit functionality. Depending on the type of card used, there are several different places on the device where one can place the card to make a transaction. For cards with a magnetic stripe, most POS machines have a magnetic card stripe reader on the right side of the device (see Fig. 1.1). Fig. 1.2a shows a labelled diagram how magnetic stripe cards transactions work. For cards with chips installed (smart cards), there can be two options. At the bottom of most POS machines there is a chip card reader where users can insert their smart cards by sliding them into the slot (see Fig 1.1). However the card must slide in with the chip end first and the card front facing up (see Fig 1.2b). A second option for using chip cards is to simply tap the LCD screen with the chip portion of the card. However this option is not available in every model. Another card payment method occurs by manually entering the customer s card number. Both tapping the LCD screen and manually entering the customer s number will not be discussed within this document. Additional to the credit and debit card features, the POS interface also has several other key features. One of these features is an integrated printer that typically prints two receipts per transaction. The first receipt is the Customer Copy which goes to the customer. The second receipt is the Merchant Copy which is kept by the vendor. Another interface feature is the keypad and LCD screen. The keypad has numbers 0-9 and additional buttons that allow for additional functionality like correcting an incorrect number (yellow button), cancelling a transaction (red button), feeding the printer paper (left blue button) and accessing reports screens (right blue button). The LCD screen shows the price of the transaction, user prompts (e.g. when to enter their PIN), and other additional options. 1 This proposal is a document that primarily discusses personal issues I have encountered when using POS machines. With my limited knowledge of the POS market and how the devices operate, I was unable to find any all-in-one solution for the problems I describe. A person with a greater knowledge of the market would be able to give a better answer of what currently exists and the technical feasibility of the solutions I suggest in Part III.

2 Figure 1.1. A typical POS credit/debit card machine with the various parts labelled [1]. (a) Figure 1.2 a) how to insert a magnetic stripe card [1] b) how to insert a smart card [1] Part II The primary functionality of POS devices is to provide customers the ability to use their credit and debit cards for monetary transactions. A typical transaction workflow of the device is outlined in Fig Subsequently, POS devices provide vendors the ability to accept customer card payments. Additional POS functionality includes: presenting options for adding tips and gratuities and performing refunds and adjustments to previous purchases. Since POS devices deal primarily with vendors and customers, the main stakeholders include vendors and their customers. The system lets customers use cards to make payments and it lets vendors increase their sales by accepting card payments. Some of the key functional requirements for a POS system include: Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, the ability to accept credit and debit cards, a key pad or numeric input, a display screen, a printer, and quick processing times. PCI compliance is a set of security objectives that any POS device must abide by to reduce credit card fraud. POS stations must accept credit and debit cards because without these, the device would be useless. POS devices must also have a numeric keypad so vendors can enter the price and so customers can enter their PIN. A printer is needed because for most monetary transactions, it is a legal requirement to provide the customer a receipt. Lastly, processing times should be less than 1 minute 2. Processing occurs after the user authorizes the transaction via their PIN. The transaction is checked against the user s account for overdraft or invalid credit cards. Non-functional requirements include: being small and portable, and aesthetically pleasing. (b) 2 I am unsure of whether or not there is some regulation on the maximum processing time, but I know that the system should timeout if processing takes too much time to complete.

3 POS devices have several usability and user experience goals. The most important goal is: easy operation for the customer. This goal is the most important because if the device is inoperable by the customer, the vendor may lose money from potential card sales. Some ways to make the device easy to use include: having buttons and screen text large enough for 95% of users to accurately press them, and making buttons that are typically unused by the customer only accessible by the vendor. Another important user experience goal is having an easy learning curve for vendor operation and maintenance. This goal is important because vendors need to be able to use the device to stay in business. Other goals include: the average transaction (see Fig. 2.1) taking less than 2 minutes to complete, a visible slot for users to insert their cards, and having the device large enough to perform the above goals, yet small enough that users can hold it within one hand. Based on the usability goals, there are several questions that arise. The first of these questions is Can a customer perform a successful transaction without the assistance of the vendor?. Currently most experienced customers are able to perform the transaction without help from the vendor. However the interface presents the user with several buttons that are for the vendor. A second question is Can a successful transaction be completed within 2 minutes?. A typical transaction takes less than 2 minutes. However there are several pieces of the workflow that can slow down the process. One piece that can slow down the transaction process are the multiple card locations on the device. Another piece that slows the transaction occurs when the POS device prints the Merchant Copy before the vendor can retrieve the Customer Copy. A third usability question that should be asked is Can a vendor remember the steps to process a transaction if they were to repeat the task the next day?. In Fig. 2.1, the workflow has only 8 distinct steps which is fairly easy for a regular user to remember. To satisfy and improve on the questions listed in the previous paragraph, several user interface problems need to be addressed. The first problem is in the methods the user can enter their card. Depending on the card type, users are required to place them in different locations. Users also have to deal orient their card in the proper direction or else it will not be read. Another interface problem is with several of the device s buttons. Of particular note, most devices have a red button and a yellow button (Fig. 1.1). In instances when users have incorrectly entered their PIN, they may hit the red button thinking that it will delete the last number they entered. However, the button actually cancels the entire transaction. Other buttons such as the two blue buttons (Fig. 1.1) should not be accessible to the customer. A third interface problem can be seen when users attempt to retrieve their receipt. If the user does not remove the Customer Copy within a set time, the Merchant Copy will begin printing. If the customer wishes to have their copy, it can be a hassle to the vendor as they have to take the extra step in either neatly tearing or cutting the receipts apart. Vendor enters the price via the keypad. Vendor asks for customer s card. Customer card is inserted and device is passed to customer. Customer enters PIN via keypad. Merchant Copy receipt prints. Customer Copy handed to customer. Customer Copy receipt prints. Customer passes device back to vendor. Figure 2.1. Typical workflow of a transaction. Part III As outlined in Part II of this document, POS devices have several interface problems. That being said, there are improvements that can be made to the devices interface. One improvement involves redesigning the card reading sensor so that there is only a single location and orientation for users to

4 insert their card. A second improvement can be done by remapping the buttons so that customers will not have access to vendor-specific buttons. A third improvement could be to add a printer cutter to the integrated printer that would automatically cut the Customer Copy after it has finished printing. In order to make inserting a card into the device unambiguous to all users, the current methods of inserting a card could be consolidated into a single input. For example, we can remove the magnetic stripe card reader perform all the card reading in the slot at the bottom of the device. The magnetic card reader would be replaced with a double-sided bidirectional magnetic card reader on both sides of the device s bottom slot. This solution solves the orientation issue for the magnetic stripe. However, it does not solve the orientation issue for chip cards. The chip cards issue can be solved by making the chip reader double-sided and requiring the chip portion of the card be inserted first. Remapping the buttons on the POS device is a simple solution that can reduce the frequency of incorrect buttons pressed. Many novice users can mistakenly press the red button rather than the yellow button when attempting to erase an incorrect input. One solution could be to remove any button not useful to the customer from the device and place them on a separate, connected interface that is only used by the vendor. This would simplify the interface for the customer as they would be presented with fewer buttons and would not accidentally hit a button that they should not press, creating more work for the vendor. Buttons to be included on the separate interface could include: the red cancel transaction button, the blue feed printer paper button, and the blue button that is used access the reports screen. When a POS device prints both the Merchant Copy and the Customer Copy before the vendor has time to tear off the Customer Copy, the task of separating the two copies is not a big deal. However when a vendor is pressed for time and there are customers waiting, detaching the Customer Copy can create some frustration for the vendor and an impatient customer. A solution is to add a receipt cutting device that automatically detaches the receipt from the rest of the roll after it has finished printing. The cost for implementing the solutions listed above is relatively high in comparison to the average cost of a POS device (~$200-$400). The additional hardware components include: two magnetic card readers, one extra chip reader, and one printer cutter for detaching the receipts. The following costs were determined by doing a quick average of several relevant products on AliExpress.com. The magnetic card reader is roughly $30 each, the extra chip reader is about $25, and the sensor is around $30. Since the listed hardware components are currently much larger than the POS machine itself, there would need to be some R&D performed to reduce their size. An estimated cost for R&D of the smaller versions will be roughly $138,000 for 2 years 3. Remapping the buttons to another interface would require a simple rewiring of the circuit and a possible enclosure for the repositioned buttons. Adding the software logic to handle the new card readers, chip reader, and printer cutter will be done in software. The remapping and additional software logic will take an estimated 120 hours (3 weeks) to test and complete 4. Lastly, increasing the timeout value between printing the Customer and the Merchant Copies is a simple change in software that should take less than an hour to complete (i.e. ~$0). In total, the estimated cost of implementing the aforementioned solutions will be about $115/unit and $138,000 for R&D over 2 years. However due to economies of scale, the total costs in implementing the proposed solutions will tend to decrease based on the number of units produced. 3 This number was determined by looking at the salary (~$69,000/year) for researchers in the United States [2]. To reduce the hardware component size, we can translate Moore s Law to decreasing hardware size by half every 2 years. The chip reader and printer cutter are relatively small, so we can ignore R&D investments into them. The typical size for a magnetic card reader is about 17cm. Therefore applying Moore s law for 2 years will decrease the device to a workable size. This results in a R&D cost of ~$138,000 without taking into account inflation. 4 The value of 120 hours was arbitrarily chosen, but for most Agile technology companies, 3 weeks is the typically amount of time per sprint.

5 References [1] Moneris Solutions. (2013, June 21). Moneris HiSpeed 6200 Operating Manual [Online]. Available: Guides/~/media/Files/HiSpeed_6200_737_MOM_e.ashx [Jan 18, 2015]. [2] Spirit Softworks. (2004) Salary Survey for User Experience Design and Usability Professionals [Online]. Available: [Jan 18, 2015].

6 EECE418 Assignment 1: Self Assessment Report Name: Student #: Date: Note: each element must have a justification; otherwise it will be assumed Strongly disagree. If additional space is needed for a justification, use a separate page and label justification with the Assessment. Assessment 1. Title page includes all elements. 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly Agree n/a = Not applicable. 2. The primary functionality of the interface is described well. 3. How each function is accessed is described clearly. 1

7 4. All the relevant stakeholders are identified. 5. The impact of the interface on each stakeholder is described well. 6. The functional requirements from the users point of view are identified well. 7. The non functional requirements from the users point of view are identified well. 8. Constraints on the system related to the user experience are clearly described. 9. The list of usability and user experience goals is clearly articulated. 2

8 10. The priorities assigned to the items in the list of usability/user experience goals are well justified. 11. From the prioritized list of goals, three main usability and user experience questions are identified. 12. For each usability and user experience question identified, the performance of the current system is well analysed and documented. 13. The list of goals have objectifable measures for evaluating the user interface. 14. Three significant problems with the interface have been identified. 15. All the problems identified are related to the user experience. 3

9 16. None of the problems identified are technical issues. 17. None of the problems identified are nice to have features. 18. Three possible solutions are clearly identified. 19. For each problem, the solution presented is well thought out and described how it solves the problem. 20. The budget captures the main costs associated with each solution. 21. The budget doesn t miss any obvious costs. 4

10 22. The budget doesn t have any irrelevant costs. 23. The figures in the budget are well justified from reliable sources. 24. The presentation of the report is easy to read. 25. There are no grammar or spelling errors in the report. 26. Material over the recommended 3 pages (i.e. appendices, tables, figures, text) is well justified. Comments: 5

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