Ashrait 96 is an
Israeli specification generated by the Automatic
Bank Services company (also known as SHVA).
SHVA is a private Israeli company that was
founded by a consortium of the major banks in
Israel. The specification, also known in Israel
by the name of Ashrait 96 (which means, in plain
English, "Credit 96"), was first
written in 1996 on the basis of previous
specifications for credit card management.
The specification
defines some basics elements of the credit cards
system and processing. It is targetted for
the developer (programmer/system manager), and
covers data structures, mandatory transaction
fields, serial communication protocol with the
host (located in SHVA) and various system
parameters. The specification does not guide the
implementor how to write the code, nor does it
define the user interface. The specification is
not specific to any platform. The implementor can
design the credit system on a simple PC with
Windows NT, as well as on a small point-of-sale
terminal.
User inputs for
the transaction include the transaction amount,
transaction currency (Israeli currency, US Dollar),
method of payment (regular, immediate debit,
monthly payments etc.), transaction type (attended,
unattended, automatic) and transaction type code
(debit, credit, refund).
The specification
guides the designer to which parameters require
checking (e.g. card type, credit limits). The
order of the checking is not relevant, however at
the end of the user input sequence, the
transaction should be checked before approving it
and printing a receipt. Sometimes, the
specification requires real time communicating to
the host for approval.
The specification
itself is written in Hebrew, and written for
Israeli designers. However, most POS terminals in
Europe and the world are manufactured by big
companies outside Israel. Well known suppliers
are Schlumberger and Ingenico from France, and
others from Australia, USA, UK (Thyron), etc.
These manufacturers and others wish to enter the
Israeli market with their POS units. This
poses a problem, as the specification is written
in Hebrew, the support by SHVA is in Israel, and
the final acceptance tests for the terminal and
the Ashrait application software are very
rigorous. Aurora's contribution to this situation
is to develop the software package on the various
POS terminals and apply it to SHVA for Ashrait 96
certification.
During the last
year, the Ashrait 96 specification has been
updated. The update defines the smart card
implementation within the credit card
functionality. The Ashrait 96 specification
is a step towards complying with the EMV standard
in Israel, although as of yet EMV is not fully
implemented.
The smart card
update includes verification of the card holder
by means of a PIN code. The personal PIN
code is keyed into a dedicated PIN pad device
that includes a smart card reader.
The specification
was written for the following credit cards:
Isracard group which includes Mastercard,
Eurocard, club cards and fuel cards; Visa cards;
Diners club cards; American Express cards; and
JCB cards (cards from Japan).
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