Glossary

Vendor Type caused a lot of confusion. Please also review the definitions of the following items to understand this better. Vendor Type defines the Vending configuration used and how the Vendor appears to the Vending Server. The following are the defined Vendor Types:

Client Vendor (also called Normal Vendor for a generic name). The Client Vendor will usually have only one Vending Client.
Multi Vendor (or Multi Client Vendor) is a special case of Client Vendor. The only difference being that many Clients are linked to a single Vendor account for a Multi Vendor. This is related to the Super Vendor scenario.
Gateway Vendor has an intermediary Gateway that sends and receives all communication between the Server and the Vending Terminals of the Vendor. A Gateway Vendor is typical for a Vendor that has many Vending outlets e.g. EasyPay.
Offline Vendor. This is the normal offline CDU concept. The Server does not support Offline Vendors but it is included here for completeness.
For more detail on these Vendor Types please refer to the specific definitions for each of these types and also review the drawing of Vendor Types at the end of this document. The following terms are not Vendor Types but are related in some way: Vendor Footprint, Super Vendor, Utility Vendor

The Vendor Role defines the specific actions allowed for a Vendor. The Roles are loosely grouped into the basic Vendor Categories but may be modified on the Server for a specific Vendor. See Admin Role, Vendor Category, Operator, Vendor Type and Vending Client Type

The owner of a Vendor and is typically the entity that signs the contract with the Vendor and manages him. One Vendor Owner may have many Vendors. This link is configured on the Server similar to the way that a Supply Group is linked to an GL Owner for managing transaction data. See GL Owner

Every Vendor has its own Vendor Account. All money deposited into this account will be added to his Credit level. The monetary value of all vending transactions is then deducted from the available Vendor Credit at the time of the transaction. The minimum credit limit for every Vendor is configurable on the Vending Server. See Credit (available), Vendor Account and Vendor Certificate

This certificate is generated on the Online Vending CA for every Vendor once the contract has been agreed between the Vendor and the Utility. The certificate identifies the specific vendor by the Utility issued EAN number (ClientID) and ensures that all communication with the Vending Server is secured via TLS and this certificate. The Certificate does not directly identify the Vending Client although the Vendor (that will get the Vending Commission) is registered against all his Vending Clients on the Vending Server. Since the Vendor Certificate is stored on separate hardware, the Vendor may remove it and carry it with him. It is theoretically possible that the Vendor can insert the Certificate into another Vending Client and Vend from that Client. In that Case the Vending Server will still identify the Vendor correctly and deduct the credit from the correct Vendor Account. Similarly, the commission will also be calculated for this same Vendor Account. See Vendor, Vending Client Type, Vendor Role and Security Authority

One of the typical Vendor Roles The term Vendor may also refer to the vending entity in general, e.g. Shoprite, EasyPay, and the owner of a Spaza shop, may all be referred to as Vendors. See Vendor Role, Vendor Category, Operator, Vendor Type and Vending Client Type

A Vending Terminal is vending device that usually has a proprietary design and communication. It operates similar to a Vending Client but may also have other dedicated functions that would be transparent to Eskom. A Vending Terminal does not communicate directly to the Server but all communication is instead routed via the Vending Gateway. See Vending Gateway, Vending Client.

The Vending Gateway is an intermediary device for a Gateway Vendor. For such a Vendor all the Vend requests will be passed to the Server via this Gateway and similarly the Server will return all the responses to the Gateway. Behind the Gateway, the Vendor may have many proprietary Vending Terminals of different capabilities but all of that is transparent to Eskom since the Terminals never communicate directly with the Eskom Server. Refer to Gateway Vendor for more information on this. See Vendor Type, Gateway Vendor and Vending Terminal

A amount paid to us by a Vendor in order to secure the amounts vended.

The term has been discontinued due to confusion caused This has now been replaced by the term Gateway. See Vending Gateway, Vending Server, Vending Client and Vending Terminal