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TopUp/Pre-Paid cards

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What are Top-Up/Pre-Paid Cards?

PaperCut NG/MF uses the concept of Top-Up Cards or Pre-Paid Cards to provide a convenient way for organizations to issue credit to users. Using Top-Up cards is optional. They are not required for simple quota management or silent logging. Top-Up cards are most suitable in a school or University environment. The system is simple, fully contained and very cost effective.

Cards are also known as:

  • Vouchers
  • Re-charge cards
  • Pre-Paid cards

To give you a bit of an overall picture, the process works as follows:

  1. The network administrator prints a set of customized cards. Each card lists a value, a “valid until” date, and a unique ID.
  2. When a user requires additional credit, they purchase a top-up/pre-paid card. Cards can be distributed from the library, cafeteria or even in the candy vending machine.
  3. The user logs in to the PaperCut NG/MF User interface and enters the card’s number .
  4. The user’s account is automatically credited with the value listed on the card. The card then becomes inactive.

PaperCut NG/MF Software has worked closely with a number of organizations to design the top-up/pre-paid card system. Over the years we have evaluated a number of payment technologies in conjunction with our education customers. These have included vending machines, smart cards, micro-payment systems, and manual processing. The top-up/pre-paid card system has been by far the most successful and cost effective, and is a great alternative or complement to the payment gateway. Top-up / pre-paid cards are also the de facto standard in other areas such as the mobile phone sector (used to handle pre-paid accounts) and iTunes Music Cards. Users, particularly students, will be familiar with the process.

High school examples

The card system is best described by walking through the payment process:

  • The user— Amy is a student at a local high school. The school uses PaperCut NG/MF for their charging. Amy is allocated $5.00 a week for printing. This week she has used all her allocation but still has one assignment to print on Friday. She purchases a $5.00 Card from the school canteen. The card contains a 16-digit identification number. She logs onto the schools intranet site, enters the PaperCut section, and enters the card’s ID number. Her account is automatically credited $5.00.

  • The administrator— Andrew is a SysAdmin at the same high school. At the start of the term he used the PaperCut NG/MF card wizard to generate 500 TopUp/Pre-Paid Card of $5.00 value. These were generated in 2 batches. The first batch was prefixed with C1 and the second batch L1. The C1 batch was sold at the school canteen and the L1 batch sold at the school library. The cards are kept secured at these locations.

    The card wizard generated a number definition file for each batch. Andrew imported these numbers into PaperCut. Andrew took the time to customize the look of the cards to include the school logo and simple instructions on how to redeem the card.

    During the year Andrew is able to track the cards sold and uses the batch prefixes to track where students purchase cards. Andrew also keeps an eye on the event log and has disciplined students attempting to guess card numbers.

What’s in this section?

Or, if you are a student or end-user, looking for information on how to top up your account, check out the article How do I redeem a top-up card?

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