Questions / Issues Regarding Octopus Value Loading and Financial Collection:
1)Is the system completely standalone, or do they have linkage into their University's financial systems and/or the Innopac's fines/billing system (e.g. through an e-commerce module, etc.)?
-completely standalone, no linkage. Therefore in the case of collecting overdue fines, our staff has to perform two sets of procedures, one for Innopac, one for Octopus.
2)Cost tracking / audit trail
a)accuracy?
-very accurate, according to PolyU
b)method of access
-for cir counter, use one universal password to login machine because there is no value added function, just collecting fines.
-for adding value in photocopy centre, each individual staff has independent password.
c)are patron details tied to payments of fines etc - in what way?
-when collecting fines, the patron remaining balance will be printed on receipt, but PolyU gives all receipt to patrons and do not keep record of their information
d)data security, privacy, confidentiality
-according to PolyU, no record of users' information stored in the POS system
e)Reliability/Consistency of data at both ends - local records and Octopus' corporate records?
-PolyU claims that there is no discrepancy so far.
f)Experience with the model of cash register they use
g)reliability
-Yes, vendor is UCR
h)prompt availability of repair staff
- yes, usually within one day
i)ease of use / training
- upon installation, they will give a one-time training. Subsequently when there is problem, they will provide telephone help disk and teach their staff how to do programming of the POS on their own.
- for the time being, PolyU did the programming all by themselves. However when addinga totally different function, all the keys had to be re-programmed again.
j)would they recommend the one they use, or a different model?
- the current model of POS is just a 386 PC, very slow and costs very expensive, around $40,000 with 10% annual maitenance. Suggest us to buy touch screen and a faster machine.
k)Promotion/Awareness
how did/do they promote the existence of the service(s)?
- did not
l)what is the reaction of users, especially to any fines/bill payment use?
- no preference, because they have smart card, so far Octopus payment accounts for only 25% of transactions
m)Limitations on card loading - do they have times when the system will not permit them to add value to a card, e.g. because it is too early in the day/week and not enough money has been collected yet - or perhaps collection data has not yet been transferred to Octopus?
-yes, it depends on when the data are uploaded and when did Octopus transfer the money back to HKUST, has to workout with Octopus
n)Any issues of modifying procedures to ensure that collection uploads are done in the morning instead of the end of the day, etc?
- circulation counter- do uploading at 1:30 am
- Photocopy counter - do uploading in the morning
o)Physical security - what needs to be done when the Library closes to ensure that no one can use the system to add value to a card if they stay behind in the building or otherwise gain access to the system? Passwords, keylocks, campus smartcards, etc.?
- each users who can login has independent password
- they have no student assistants
- the POS can have a physical lock, so staff could go away for a while and others could not open the POS cash register.
- also even if thief got the password, there is a limit for each POS can add value to - only upto the amount of cash entered that day - and each Octopus card can only add value to $950.
Clara
