TouchNet Project Information Guide

Purpose: This guide is organized to provide a walk through of all meetings and background information related to the Touchnet Project.  The intent is to provide a clear outline of all collected requirement information to aid in framing out next steps in developing a set of project activities to address the college needs associated with PCI compliance.

Audience: College Subject Matter Experts (SME) interested in PCI Compliance

Background

Enhancement Request 41, was submitted to the Working Group to resolve the issue that Colleges were not in compliance with PCI (Payment Card Industry) requirements for taking Credit Cards at the cashier window and able to return payments back to original credit card. The request was to support PCI Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE). On May 1, 2019, the Working Group gave approval and escalated this enhancement request to the Steering Committee. On May 7, 2019, the Steering Committee approved the submitter (John Ginther, (Retired) Director for Accounting and Business Services, SBCTC) to Pursue a request for proposal (RFP). A Vendor Evaluation & Scoring Team (VEST) rated the three vendors that responded and named TouchNet as the apparent success vendor on October 1, 2020.

What is PCI Compliance?

Payment Card Industry (PCI) is mandated by credit card companies to help ensure the security of transactions. This is not a law, but mandated by the contracts that the merchants sign with credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) and the banks that handle the payment processing.  

Important Dates

  • October 19, 2019: All merchants in the USA, Canada, and Latin America must send credit return authorization messages on Visa transactions.
  • April 14, 2020: Issuers will be entitled to initiate charge backs on return transactions when the merchant fails to obtain an authorization for Visa transactions. The issuer holds liability for an authorized return submitted for settlement. The merchant holds liability for an unauthorized return submitted for settlement. Merchants need to ensure their POS will authorize returns.
  • July 2020: All merchants in the USA, Canada, and Latin America must send credit return authorization messages on MasterCard and Discover transactions.
  • July 1, 2020: Return / Refund Visa transactions will be included in the Zero-Floor Limit and Authorization Misuse Process Integrity Fee Assessment. Unauthorized returns submitted for settlement will be reported as a Zero-Floor Limit non-compliance transaction. Authorized returns not submitted for settlement and are not reversed will be reported as Visa authorization Misuse non-compliance and merchants may notice higher fees on their merchant statement.
  • July 17, 2020: Issuers may initiate a late presentment charge back for a MasterCard refund transaction submitted after the refund transaction presentment time (5 Days)  
RFP Timeline

In 2020, an RFP was released June 22, 2020 with a due date of August 2020.  

EVENT
DATE & TIME
RFP issued
June 22, 2020
Optional Letter of Intent Due
June 30, 2020
Vendor Pre-Proposal Teleconference
June 30, 2020
Response to Pre-Proposal Conference Questions Posted
July 7, 2020
Final Vendor questions, comments, and complaints due
July 21, 2020
Written responses to final Vendor questions, comments, and complaints
July 23, 2020
Vendor Responses and Client References due
August 3, 2020
Evaluation of Responses & Testing Vendor Services
August 3-7, 2020
Notification of Apparent Successful Vendor
August 12, 2020
Vendor requests for debriefing due (Optional)
August 14, 2020
Contract Approval & Signature
December, 2022

VEST (Vendor Evaluation and Scoring Team) Committee

Three vendors responded to the RFP. The VEST awarded 80% of points based on technical and management considerations and 20% on pricing.

 

Governance Meetings

10/06/2020 Steering Committee:
Integrated Point-of-Service/Sale Credit Card RFP [Action]John Boesenberg discussed a secure payment gateway for point-of-service credit card. The RFP was developed based on requirements and John presented results from the Vendor Evaluation and Scoring Team (VEST) for the RFP. Three vendors responded to the RFP. The VEST awarded 80% of points based on technical and management considerations and 20% on pricing.

 

Requirements as defined in RFP
  • Funds must go directly to each community and technical college Bank. Merchant fees would go to the vendor. Each college can collect the convenience fees and send them to the vendor or the convenience fees may also go to the vendor.
  • Solution must be a validated payment application (PA/DSS) approved by the PCI council.
  • The application must provide a solution for online stores outside of regular tuition and fee payments.
  • Ability to exclude certain types of payments from a convenience fee.
  • Integration with the Campus Solutions pillar of PeopleSoft and prefer that the vendor is a certified partner.
  • Accommodate unlimited merchant ID’s and depository banks.
  • Ability to accept international payments.
  • Solution to processes refunds.
  • Solution to processes charge-backs.
  • Describe how rejected ACH transactions work. How are the accounts adjusted?
  • Does the solution have the ability to determine which stores do and do not assess a convenience fee?
  • The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is expected to participate in the state’s mandatory use contract for Merchant Bankcard Services, administered by the Office of the State Treasurer. The current agreement is with Key Bank Merchant Services. Vendor must be able to adhere to the following requirements:
    • Must be fully PCI DSS compliant.
    • Must be able to use Key Bank merchant accounts (Merchant IDs) issued through the Office of the State Treasurer. These MIDs and any associated hierarchy numbers including but not limited to Terminal IDs will be setup in the tax id of each participating college.
    • Must be fully certified for Card Present and Card Not Present transactions, connecting to Fiserv processing platform, preferably through a Fiserv payment gateway or directly to North or Nashville front end system, however can also connect to Fiserv through a currently certified third party payment gateway.
    • Certification must include EMV and contactless technology support.
    • Vendor must provide make and model of any hardware that will be used for card reading at the POS.
    • Vendor must provide specific name and version number of any software that will be used for processing transactions in each location accepting card payments.
    • Vendor must identify and describe in detail all middleware solutions required or being proposed as value added service to existing transaction processing solutions.  
TouchNet Resources

TouchNet is a Global Payments company and leading provider of integrated, comprehensive, and secure commerce and credential solutions for colleges and universities. For more information about TouchNet, please visit the vendor's website.

TouchNet payment Center Video

TouchNet Demonstration

Demonstration by TouchNet vendor was held on 06/22/23 at 10am, and open to all colleges.  The demonstration was held during the regularly schedule Accounting Tips and Tricks meeting, over 160 people attended.   If you missed the meeting, please review the meeting recording.

An email on 06/27/23 was sent out to the BAR listsrve with the following message:

There was a lot of great information and insight that was shared during the demonstration, and we want to thank you for being candid and honest. We heard you and took this information back and shared it with the leadership team. Originally, we shared with you that the next step was to gather nominations for a College Advisory Group with the following schedule:

  • Initial communication on 6/27
  • Nominations submitted by 7/14
  • Member selection notifications by 7/18

Given the feedback we received on concerns for year-end close priorities, current resource constraints and overall change fatigue we thought it would be best to take a brief pause on this step.

What we are proposing is to put this project on hold until we can create an action plan that better fits with the college’s needs. It is important for the PMO Team to have the support of the colleges as partners, as project work is a team effort. We hope this helps calm any angst that was created during the demonstration meeting. We will be reaching out to you all soon with a more feasible approach. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about this pause, as we are very open to hearing you and tailoring our approach to ensure our joint success.

College Involvement

TouchNet College Advisory Group

There are many ways college staff can stay apprised of TouchNet Project activities or can get involved.  Below are key communication channels with college engagement possibilities:

Group responsibilities include:

  • Participate in Semi-Monthly (Tuesday morning) to give feedback on project activities or questions
  • Be available for Ad-Hoc Feedback Loops (as needed) on College Business Practices
  • Participate in Requirement Clarification Sessions 
  • Provide Early Feedback on Solution Design Materials
  • Participate in Solution Design Feedback Sessions as Change Champions and Thought Leaders
  • Respond to Surveys for Solution Design Decisions
  • Provide Input on Testing and Training Plans
  • Participate in User Acceptance Testing

Nominations process completed on 08/18/23!  Please see Action Plan for nomination process.

Membership List

The following college subject matter experts have been identified as members of the TouchNet College Advisory Group, through an official nomination and voting process completed on August 18, 2023.

Representing Finance Administrator

  • Carrisa Brown- Centralia College
  • Christy Campbell- Clark College
  • Deanna Shedley- Grays Harbor College
  • Dexter Smith- Lake Washington Institute of Technology

Representing Head Cashier

  • Colleen Cooper- Pierce College District
  • Kristin Gamez-Metivier- Renton Technical College
  • Lisa Cook- Skagit Valley College

Representing Cashier

  • Brooke Sackman- Community Colleges of Spokane
  • Kendra Ferrer-Highline College
  • Sophia Santos- South Puget Sound Community College

Representing Enrollment Services

  • Gladys Monroy-Columbia Basin College

Representing Business Analyst

  • Carol McCarthy- Everett Community College
  • Wright Harrison- Green River College

Representing Data or Reporting

  • Brandi Sutton- Tacoma Community College

Representing IT with an Integration Perspective

  • Steve Garcia- Wenatchee Valley College

 

Advisory Group Member Connections with Councils/Commissions

Advisory group members who are also members of a specific council or commission may be called upon to provide insights into the activities of this group.  

Advisory group members will be provided periodic status update slide deck materials enabling them to share their work on this group.  

Councils and commissions seeking a project status update presentation from the Project Management Office can reach out to Christyanna Dawson ([email protected]) to request an update at an upcoming council or commission meeting.

Meeting Dates/Meetings Minutes

TouchNet Meetings

Meeting Minutes will be posted after each meeting.  For more information please contact Christyanna Dawson at [email protected]

Current Meeting Schedule (Group meets 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every Month):

  • Tuesday, 10/15/24
  • Tuesday, 11/05/24
  • Tuesday, 11/19/24
Meeting Minutes
October Meetings
Tuesday, 10/01/24-Meeting Canceled (no updates)
September Meetings
August Meetings
Tuesday, 08/20/24-Meeting Canceled (no updates)
July Meetings
Tuesday, 07/02/24-Meeting Canceled (no updates)
Tuesday, 07/16/24-Meeting Canceled (no updates)
June Meetings
Tuesday, 06/04/24- Meeting Canceled (no updates)
April Meetings
Tuesday, 04/02/24- Meeting Canceled (no updates)
March Meetings
Tuesday, 03/19/24
Tuesday, 03/05/24- Meeting Canceled (updates sent via email)
February Meetings
Tuesday, 02/20/24- Meeting Canceled (no updates)
January Meetings
Tuesday, 1/02/24- Canceled due to the Holiday/First week of Winter Quarter
November Meetings
Tuesday, 11/21/23- Canceled due to the Holiday week
October Meetings
Tuesday, 10/17/23- Canceled Demonstration Rescheduled to 11/07
Tuesday, 10/10/23- Ad hoc due to TouchNet Conference
Tuesday, 10/3/23 - Canceled due to TouchNet Conference
Kick-off Meeting

The TouchNet College Advisory Kick-off meeting was held on Tuesday, August 29th from 10am-11am.

Voting Process **Completed**

Email Sent to the following Groups via LISTSERVs on 08/14/23: Business Affairs Commission (BAC), Business Accounting and Reporting (BAR), ctcLink Points of Contact, ctcLink Business Analysts.

Email message:

Good Morning

As you know, we are in the process of forming a TouchNet College Advisory Group to provide guidance and support for the TouchNet Implementation. We need your help to select the advisory group members from the 18 who expressed interest with no college having more than one person from their institution represented. For more information about the TouchNet project please visit the TouchNet Information Guide.

Membership

13-15 members with expertise in at least one of the following areas:

  • Individuals in the Cashiering areas:
    • Head Cashiers
    • Representing Cashiers
  • Individuals representing the Business Office (controller or person in charge of posting, and or reconciliation of student financial accounting lines).
  • Individuals from the Enrollment Services area with a perspective of student’s enrolling in classes and handling payments.
  • Individuals from college IT technical area with an integration perspective.
  • Business Analyst Individual with background in Student Finances.
  • Individual with background in data/reporting.

The advisory group will have the following responsibilities:

  • Participate in Semi-Monthly (1st and the 3rd Tuesday 10am-11) meetings to give feedback on project activities or questions
  • Be available for Ad-Hoc Feedback Loops (as needed) on College Business Practices
  • Participate in Requirement Clarification Sessions
  • Provide Early Feedback on Solution Design Materials
  • Participate in Solution Design Feedback Sessions as Change Champions and Thought Leaders
  • Respond to Surveys for Solution Design Decisions
  • Provide Input on Testing and Training Plans
  • Participate in User Acceptance Testing

How you can help!

Please select members from each functional area from the list of interested participants in the attached Excel sheet.

Selections should be based on candidates’ stated experience with an eye toward a diverse combination of backgrounds, expertise, and college types to ensure a well-rounded perspective.

We would appreciate your prompt response by 08/18/23 as we hope to finalize and announce the selections by early next week.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your support in this important initiative.

Voting results were sent via email on 08/21/23.  Member List 

College Nominations **Completed**

18 People were nominated by peers or self nominated for the TouchNet College Advisory Group.

Message that was sent out via email  for Nominees:
We are seeking nominations from the college community.   Individuals may nominate themselves or others with the support of  supervisors/college leadership. While a college may nominate multiple  individuals from a single college, the college advisory group will  consist of 13-15 members, with no college having more than one person  from their institution represented.

Nomination Period Opens: 07/27/2023

Nomination Period Closes: 08/10/2023 (5:00pm)

Candidates will be peers selected.  Each college will have the opportunity to vote for the candidates that best represent our system.  Your information on your nomination form will be visible to your peers, to help them cast their vote.  Voting will begin Monday, August 14th and close Friday, August 18th.

Selected participants will be notified no later than Tuesday, August 22nd. 

Kickoff meeting will be held Tuesday, August 29th from 10am-11am.

Regularly scheduled meetings will begin on Tuesday, September 5th.

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