System Overview

9 System Overview

This chapter explains the main features of Voucher Manager and describes the basic functionality of the system.

This chapter contains the following topics.

Vouchers Introduction

Vouchers are credit coupons which are used to add value to wallet balances.

Telcos can create and distribute the vouchers according to their preference and need. They can be distributed in card form or as mail-out discount offers. They may be purchased from the telco.

CCS provides systems for:

Creating voucher types and batches
Securing vouchers (through PINs)
Redeeming vouchers
Automatic deletion of archived vouchers

Note: Vouchers are sometimes referred to as scratch cards.

Voucher data

Each voucher contains this data:

Product types they can be used for
Balance type to credit
Amount to be credited
Expiry date for each new bucket
- Pre-Use expiry period sets date a voucher must first be used or its balance will expire
- Balance expiry period sets the time after a voucher is first used after which any outstanding voucher balance will expire

Vouchers used for recharge may affect multiple balance types.

Voucher states

Here is the list of voucher and voucher batch states:

Created
Active
Frozen

When you create a voucher batch the batch state is set to Created. You must set the batch state to Active if you want to redeem the vouchers in the batch. You may also need to set the state of each voucher within the batch to Active.

Note: A voucher may only be redeemed if it is in an active state and the voucher batch it belongs to is also in an active state.

Reported voucher state

The status of an individual voucher or a range of vouchers within a batch can be updated. This means that individual vouchers within the batch may have different states to the batch itself. When the batch and voucher states are different, the batch state may override the voucher state so that the reported state of the voucher is different to its actual state.

This table shows what the reported voucher state will be for the available voucher and batch states.

Actual Voucher State	Created Batch	Active Batch	Unavailable Batch
Created	Voucher reported as created	Voucher reported as created	Voucher reported as frozen
Active	Voucher reported as created	Voucher reported as active	Voucher reported as frozen
Frozen	Voucher reported as created	Voucher reported as frozen	voucher reported as frozen
Deleted	Voucher reported as created	Voucher reported as deleted	voucher reported as frozen

Redeeming vouchers

Vouchers can be redeemed by:

Providing voucher details using the IVR menu set up in a control plan
Customer service representatives using the Voucher Recharge tab on the Voucher Management screen.

Redeeming a voucher changes wallet balances and voucher status. Voucher recharges add value to the personal wallet by default. The business wallet can be selected using normal wallet selection features. If the subscriber only has one wallet, their recharge is automatically applied to that wallet. Wallet balance changes are made using VWS's voucher subsystem.

Automatic voucher deletion

Vouchers that have been redeemed will be archived on a weekly basis. The archived vouchers will be automatically deleted from the VWS after a configurable number of weeks have elapsed.

The number of weeks to keep archived vouchers is set on the AVD Configuration tab. This tab also displays the date ranges for which redeemed vouchers will be deleted.

Security

Voucher PINs

Vouchers generally come with a PIN. PINs validate the voucher by number.

Note: Voucher PINs are different from Bad-PIN counts for credit cards.

For more information about how PINs are generated and checked, see CCS Technical Guide.

Generating GPG keys

A public and private GPG key can be generated from a pass-phrase. The private key is held only by the print shop and used only to decode the encrypted batch file. The public key is used to encrypt the file and must therefore be supplied to the operator who will be responsible for generating the voucher batch file.

For more information about using GPG keys with exported files, see Print Shop Operations Guide.

CB-10 voucher security

If CB-10 voucher security functionality is installed and activated on your system and the HRNGEN private keys and SHA hash keys are generated, you can use CB10 and CB10 HRN encryption when creating voucher batches. The authentication rules for generating CB10 and CB10 HRN encryption parameters are configured on the Security tab on the CCS Service Management screen.

Note: For more information about CB10 authentication rules, see CCS User's Guide. For more information about enabling the CB10 voucher security feature, see Installation Guide.

Power Charge Scenarios

A scenario is an alternative set of multiple balances that is associated with a voucher type. When a voucher is redeemed, a subscriber can select a particular scenario from the different options available for redeeming the voucher.

Note: It is possible for a scenario to increment a balance, or extend the expiry date for the balance, or both.

Examples of scenarios

A single voucher can be redeemed in multiple ways, depending on the options available at redemption. The subscriber is presented with a list of scenarios and prompted to select one.

For example, a voucher can be redeemed one of the following ways:

120 minutes of international calling (180 minutes during a special promotion)
200 short messages made within a 30 day period (300 SMS during a special promotion)
Gold customers will receive an additional 10% on their chosen option

Redemption rules

Scenarios are applied and redeemed according to the following rules:

The default scenario value ‘0’ will always be applied in addition to any selected scenario.
The scenario name selected by the subscriber must match a scenario defined against the voucher type for the recharge to occur.
If only one scenario exists against the voucher type, no scenario needs to be selected.

Redemption notifications

When a subscriber's account is changed due to a voucher being redeemed, a real-time wallet notification is sometimes sent to the subscriber's handset.

For vouchers which are redeemed with a scenario, a notification template must be configured for each scenario. The notification template is selected by matching the scenario number to the digit on the end of the notification template name.

Example: For a basic recharge notification with two scenarios, the following two notifications must be configured:

BasicRecharge1
BasicRecharge2