Our third screencast demo is a look at our batch management feature. Batches are fully integrated into the RPM application to allow for fast, easy, and customizable bulk payment management.

Our screencast series is available in several different file formats and on two video-sharing sites. Visit the “screencasting” page to view all screencasts. As always, your feedback is more than welcome, leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the series and especially about our exciting new payment application, RPM.

This screencast is available on E-xact’s YouTube profile page.

You may also download or play a large version of the screencast.

• To download to your computer, right click on the link provided and chose “Save Link As”.
• The video requires that you install Quicktime, which you can download here for free.
• As this is a high-quality version, download times may vary depending on your internet connection.

To find out more about Batches, please visit the solutions page or feel free to contact us.

Since starting our PCI Blog, I’ve been able to discover some of the great ways that the industry is educating merchants and customers alike. There are many resource available out there and since our last entry focused on podcasts and webcasts, I’d like to identify some great blogs I’ve discovered.

Braintree Payment Solutions keep a blog that is updated frequently with fresh links, views and information about the payment card industry.

December 31 is the Next PCI Compliance Deadline: Now that the 327 Level 1 merchants appear to be getting closer to compliance, Visa is now setting their sites on Level 2 merchants that are defined as processing 1 to 6 million Visa transactions annually. There are currently 729 merchants in this category. As of August 31st, 38% were validated and 44% had submitted initial validation but were in remediation. [Braintree]

On the sidebar of E-xact’s homepage you can find out online poll, asking “Is Your Business PCI Compliant?”. So far it’s split three ways, with only 33% or those polled being fully compliant so far.

Braintree’s blog also has a helpful post about PCI Compliance Basics as here is still a long way to go for merchants who seek compliance.

Retail Solutions Online rounds up a few more facts.

…53 percent of enterprise-class companies do not meet the data security standards established by the PCI. The report also lists the top 10 reasons companies fail PCI data security audits. PCI security standards apply to all companies that store, process and transmit credit and debit card payment information. [Retail Solutions Onlline]

As a starting point, be sure to check out the official PCI compliance guide, as being aware of the requirements is the first step.

Another site, and good source for payment card news, is the Merchant Account Blog. I’ve been following it for a while now and it recently celebrated its 2nd anniversary. In a recent post they link back to a fellow local Vancouver company.

A few weeks ago Elastic Path published their Ecommerce Checkout Report which was a great breakdown of the online trends of the top 100 internet retailing websites.

One area that I found particularly interesting is that only about half of the top 100 online retailers require additional card verification (CVV2, CID, CVC, etc) information to be entered when a customer makes a purchase. [Merchant Account Blog]

What seem to be minute details could mean millions of dollars lost if security breached. The main concern of PCI (DSS) is the protection of cardholder data. With the recent deadline behind us, there is some confusion milling about regarding who should ultimately be responsible for this data.

…According to [the National Retail Federation], credit card companies typically require retailers to store credit card numbers anywhere from one year to 18 months to satisfy ‘card company retrieval requests. [InfoWorld]

The NRF is pushing for completely abolishing the storage of cardholder data by merchants. A very bold move, which steps beyond PCI and attempts to keep up with hackers and malicious information seekers. Should the responsibility now fall on the issuer, the merchant, or even the cardholder? Perhaps it’s a mix of all three.

A recent report by Forrester Research said that 81 percent of merchants retain credit card data, and that they typically keep too much of this data. Seventy-three percent store expiration dates, 71 percent store verification codes, and 57 percent, card-stripe data, the report said. [DR News Analysis]

The solution could vary from better systems for storage (or lack thereof) down to the point-of-sales being used. The main objective is to protect and secure cardholder data at all times.

For more information from E-xact about PCI DSS, keep an eye on our PCI Blog or visit our About Page for links and information.

E-xact Transactions Ltd. has been fully compliant with the industry since 2004.
[About - E-xact]

As previously announced, E-xact is proud to sponsor the Vancouver Ruby/Rails Meetup Group.

This evening the group will convene at E-xact’s headquarters in Yaletown for their October meeting. The speakers’ presentations will be liveblogged below, simply refresh this page throughout the evening to keep up to speed on all the event’s happenings.

Introduction:

There will be two 20-30 minute presentations for the October Meetup

• 1. A Returned Merchandise Authorization System - Dave Dumaresq
• 2. Introduction to JRuby - Teera Kanokkanjanarat

Live Blog Begins at 7:00pm PST on October 9, 2007

WIFI is available via E-xact’s contribution to FreeTheNet.ca. To read more about the Free The Net initiative in downtown Vancouver, visit Vancouver.FreeTheNet.ca or view the Flickr map.

7:05pm: The first presenter is Dave Dumaresq, speaking about an RMA System (Returned Merchandise Authorization System). Here is a bit of background from the Meetup site:

Last year Dave and a friend wrote a Rails application that manages returned merchandise authorization (for tracking products that are returned to manufacturer for repair). The application uses a tabbed layout and work queues to provide a work-flow user interface which allows authorized users to create new RMAs, receive units for repair, log repair work and create packing slips for shipment back to the customer. Work Queues and Wizard work flows are implemented using RJS for snappy Ajaxian views.

7:15pm: Dave’s reporting on the modules of his RMA system, and various features. The room is open to comment and ask questions, in fact it’s encouraged.

7:30pm: The second presentation of the evening is by Teera, speaking about JRuby.

7:40pm: To begin, a brief intro to JRuby. It’s basically a Java implementation of Ruby interpreter with full support from Sun. It provides an alternative implementation, Ruby + JVM. It’s currently in JRuby 1.0.1 release and is compatible with Ruby 1.8.5, most pure Ruby code works (IRB, Gems, Rake).

7:45pm: Why use JRuby? It incorporates Ruby code from the Java side, it has native unicode support, it has excellent performance, and it’s making the way to enterprise. Is it a passing phase/buzz word or something worthwhile and worth introducing to developers?

8:05pm: After a quick demo more questions arise. “Mixing multiple languages in the same piece of source code - just doesn’t seem as evil anymore.” Most do see this as the wave of the future, as a way to simplify and speed up processes for web 2.0. On the other hand, many have rejected JRuby in the past in favour of other code bases and share their own stories about implementations, and performance.

Note the poll at the bottom of the page. If you already have had an introduction to JRuby (or not), how likely are you to use it?

[Poll=2]

For more information about Vancouver Ruby/Rails uses visit the Ruby Central blog, or the Meetup.com account.

E-xact Transactions is looking for a unique individual wishing to be a key team member in the creation of software solutions for the Internet financial transaction business world. Located in Yaletown, the E-xact development environment is based around a Web 2.0 tool environment utilizing Ruby on Rails, Trac and SVN.

As a QA Test/Support Specialist at E-xact Transactions, you will be responsible for learning and creating test strategies, formulating test cases, constructing test file/data suites, automating key test cases, executing existing testing procedures, identifying defects and problems that show up during testing, logging defects, producing clear defect reports and giving status of the test effort to the client. You may also be required to review code for compliance to security standards.

This role requires strong interpersonal and technical skills to work effectively and efficiently with both programming staff and customers in order to resolve software defects. In the end, you are the final gate between development and the customer and therefore your role is crucial to the success of the company.

In addition, the activity of QA Testing of development products naturally flows into the support of our customer base. From time to time you will be responsible for manning support phone lines, logging customer issues, requests, and defects and being the customer voice to the organization.

Requirements:

You must understand and be adept with the different types of testing, the principles of Change and Configuration
Management, the principles of Quality Processes and the intricacies involved in a full-project life cycle. You are eager to improve and learn improvement and quality concepts.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field or a proven record of success. For Coop candidates, you must be in your 3rd or 4th year.

• Organized and accountable

• Proficient in developing and implementing test plans and test scripts.

• System-level understanding, in particular, the interaction and relationships between multiple subsystems.

• Strong technical understanding of database design.

• Working knowledge or interest in automated testing software

• Knowledge of SOAP, Web Services, VB.net, PHP, Delphi, C#, SQL Server, Windows OS;

• Candidates with interests and ability to work with Web 2.0 technologies such as L.A.M.P. (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) or Ruby on Rails will be strongly considered. Experience with IIS is also an asset.

• Experience and understanding of object oriented programming preferred.

• Exceptions to these requirements will be considered based on exemplary skills, training, and record of success.

To apply, email: jobs [at] e-xact DOT com