Online School Payments ,School Payments Online, School Payment Solutions

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Describe the registration process for parents to setup their profile online.
   Any parent, guardian, interested party, or student may go online to browse the activities available from all schools. Once they have selected the activities to purchase, they will be prompted to enter their username and password or create a new account, if they do not have one. The online shopper gets the option to create a username and password of their choice. They also enter their name and email address as well as answer a security question to be used if they forget their password. Finally, the new user will add students to their profile. These students will be entered and saved to their specific profile to be used for later purchase.
   
   
2. Are the screens intuitive and user friendly?
   Our screens are extremely easy to use, if you can use Amazon.com you can use Online School Payments (OSP). The Online School Activity Funds (OSAF) solution utilizes a navigation structure based on Microsoft Word.
   
   
3. Do you offer check or debit payment as well as credit payments?
   Anything with a Visa/MasterCard or American Express logo is accepted including Debit and Check Cards. eChecks can also be accepted but are discouraged because of the NSF possibility and the processing time to be deposited (3-5 days).
   
   
4. How are refunds handled in the system? Are they immediately visible in the parent’s on line account history?
   A parent would contact the school for a refund. The school then has the option to refund the credit card that was used to make the purchase or issue a manual check. Refunds are immediately visible after the bookkeeper completes the refund
   
   
5. Are there any marketing services offered to inform parents of the new service?
   We would be happy to share with the district what other schools have done to promote the site and will work closely with school representative to provide ongoing marketing materials and support to notify parents of new online features and functionality.
   
   
6. Will the parents need to register your site as a trusted site on their personal computer in order to access it? What are the minimum hardware requirements to ensure your system’s compatibility, reliability etc? Are their any restrictions/limitations with Mac.
   Both the OSP and OSAF solution utilizes SSL certificates from the pre registered and trusted SSL vendor Verisign. By purchasing from Verisign, most modern browsers do not require the additional steps to add the web site to their trusted site list. Because these are web based solutions there are minimal requirements for hardware and all known browsers are compatible with the OSP solution.
   
   
7. How will the school treasurer identify the payment made on the web to the student?
   During the online checkout process, the purchaser must assign a student to each activity in their shopping cart. This student is tied to that purchase and can be viewed in a variety of reports as well as the email that is sent out to the school treasurer and sponsor after the purchase.
   
   
8. Are the reports available for the school treasurer standard or customized?
   A standard suite of reports are available for the school treasurer including sales by date, sales by activity, and sales by sponsor/teacher. However, more reports can be created or the existing reports can be customized.
   
   
9. Will the parent be able to view multiple children online when making a payment?
   Yes, the parent will be able to view all children they have setup in their profile and there is no restriction on adding different students to the different activities selected for purchase online.
   
   
10. Is the payment and transaction history available for parents to view? If so, for how long?
    Payment and transaction history is available for parents to view online when they login under their profile. On the order, payment information is also available, but only the last 4 digits of the credit card are visible. There is no limit to how long the history is available.
    
    
11. During checkout, is the parent able to review the information before final submission?
    Yes, the final stage of checkout is the review. This review shows the activity selected as well as the school, the activity price, and the student assigned to the activity. The review page also includes the totals for the order and the option to go back should anything need to be edited.
    
    
12. Do capabilities exist to integrate with other external applications such as Peoplesoft and WinSNAP?
    Yes, the OSP and OSAF solutions utilize industry standard XML technology to import and export data to third party applications such as Peoplesoft.  Existing API's exist to facilitate data exchange using WebServices.   Currently integrations exist for Microsoft Dynamics GP and TRA's SchoolFunds Online.
    
    
13. What encryption methods are used?
    Multiple encryption methods are used including SSL, IPSEC and RC4. The level of encryption and technology depends on the component of the solution being accessed.
    
    
14. Is sensitive application data encrypted at rest?
    All sensitive data is stored in a secure encrypted format while at rest or in transit.
    
    
15. Is the payment application service provided by your company following VISA's Payment Application Best Practices (PABP) and is it PCI Compliant?
    All OSMS products meet and exceed industry standards for data security and encryption. Data security is a foremost priority for OSMS and we actively monitor and maintain our compliance with all industry regulations including those outlined in the PABP and Payment Card Industry (PCI) guidlines.