Transaction Modes

Card, RFID or Mobile? Read this Support Article to get an overview of various transaction modes available to you and when you should use them.

Transaction mode specifies how you can purchase fuel at IndianOil Retail Outlets.

XTRAPOWER Program provides you Smart Chip Cards for use in Point of Sale (POS) Terminals at IndianOil Retail Outlets. The transactions through Card are highly secure and the recommended mode of transaction. However, to cater to Customer’s requirements, additional modes (viz - RFID, Mobile) are also available for carrying out transactions.

Three transaction modes are supported in the XTRAPOWER Program:

cards
Mobile
RFID

Note: By default, Card is enabled as the Transaction Mode.

How do you know which transaction mode is currently set for your Card?

Simply go to Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 Choose Transaction Mode in your login.

You can also get the status in the Manage Cards page.

Card Transaction Mode

This is the default transaction mode, highly secure and recommended.

XTRAPOWER Cards are Smart Chip based and PIN enabled since inception. The Chip Card transactions are as per global standards ensuring transaction integrity.

User must present the Chip Card and PIN for transaction through POS Terminals. Wrong entry of PIN three times blocks the Chip Card instantly and only you can unblock the PIN.

RFID Transaction Mode

We presume that you already have fitted RFID in your fuel tank. If that is not the case and you are new to RFID based fuelling systems, you might prefer to read the benefits of RFID in the link RFID Fuel Management before reading this support article. You can also read FAQs of RFID here.

While Card is the most secure transaction mode, the RFID transaction mode comes with an additional advantage where the Vehicle is identified using RFID AVI Technology and fuel is delivered only inside the fuel tank.

Once you enroll for RFID system, and RFID Ring will be installed in your vehicle’s fuel tank. See images in Gallery section to know how this will be installed.

A unique RFID number is mapped to each vehicle by our team. You would not be able to add or modify this unique number. Upon mapping of such RFID to your vehicle, the transaction mode will be changed to RFID automatically. From now on, your vehicle will be able to purchase fuel only through RFID. No worries, however, you can change this setting any time in your login.

The below screenshot shows a vehicle fitted with RFID.

In case you have two RFID Rings fitted for each of the fuel tank in your Vehicle, you would see both RFID details in this screen.

To learn more about how to monitor the transactions when your vehicle is transacting through RFID, please deep dive into our support article on RFID Transactions.

Suppose you have a need to shift to other transaction modes, simply click on Edit, which will give you options to edit the transaction modes to the preferred mode.

Mobile Transaction Mode

As the name suggests, this transaction mode uses the mobile number of your Driver. This will come handy when your Driver has lost the Card while en route or the Card is damaged during a trip.

As these are card not present transactions, these must be used with care and caution.

Do you know? Relying only on OTP for payment transaction is less secure!

You would be relieved to know that XTRAPOWER is a payment system built on strong security foundation. Hence all our card less transactions are protected with a 2fa (two factor authentication) mechanisms.

In case of any transactions using mobile number, you would require a PIN and OTP for performing the transaction successfully.

If you want to change the transaction mode to mobile, follow the below steps:

Go to link Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 Choose Transaction Mode.

Select the desired card.

Once you click on Edit, the field Current Transaction Mode will be available for editing.

You can choose Mobile in the Current Transaction Mode.

Once you choose Mobile Number, the Mobile and Expiry Date will be enabled.

Upon clicking update, system will force you to set PIN.

We recommend the below Do’s and Don’ts while setting Virtual PIN.

DO’s

  • Set Virtual PIN uniquely for each Card / Mobile.

  • Virtual PIN to be remembered by the User for better security. It would be a good approach to set Virtual PIN like the date of birth of the User in DDMM so that the User remembers easily.

  • Set Mobile transaction only for a limited period. This will help protect financial liability in case the User loses his mobile or Card is handed over to another User.

  • Set lower limits wherever the transactions are to be done through mobile.

  • In case of loss of mobile phone of the User, it is prudent to change the Transaction Mode back to Card and avoid transactions through mobile. Or alternately, the limit can be set zero.

  • In case the fuelling is completed for the intended value, it is recommended to change Transaction Mode back to Card.

DON’Ts

  • Do not set same Virtual PIN for all Users.

  • Do not set easily guessable values like 1111 or the last 4 digits of the vehicle number.

  • Do not SMS the Virtual PIN through SMS. IOCL will not send Virtual PIN through SMS.

  • Do not write down the Virtual PIN

  • Virtual PIN to be remembered by the User for better security. It would be a good approach to set Virtual PIN like the date of birth of the User in DDMM so that the User remembers easily.

You have successfully changed the transaction mode to mobile.

Why the validity is restricted when I choose Mobile as Form Factor?

In case of personal usage, the Card holder owns the Card along with the mobile number and mostly continues for ever. However, in the case of business usage, the funds belong to the Organization and many times, there could be a change in mobile number or change in User carrying the Card. Hence, XTRAPOWER system considers an additional check to protect the Customers by keeping a max association validity of 30 days.

You can again change the validity in your login at any time, however, the 30 days will be calculated from the date of last successful change of the Mobile transaction mode.

This helps to keep a check at your end to ensure that the mobile number of the user and user transacting with the same card pan is one entity.

Tip: You can change the transaction mode using bulk upload of excel sheet also.

Note: At any given point of time, only one type of transaction mode will be enabled for transaction for security reasons.

RFID Transactions

Monitor how much fuel is actually delivered inside your vehicle’s fuel tank. This support article on RFID Transactions guides you how.

In case you are new to RFID based fuel management, you might prefer to read how RFID works and benefits you in saving every drop of fuel that goes inside your fuel tank in the link RFID Fuel Management.

If you have already fitted RFID in your vehicles, Congratulations! You have made the right step in improving your fleet efficiency. Now it’s time you must know how to track and monitor in the XTRAPOWER portal.

Login to XTRAPOWER portal and go to Customer 🡪 Financials 🡪 RFID Transactions. You would see a link RFID Transactions which is shown in the below screenshot.

One natural question that comes to any one’s mind is why there is a separate link? Why can’t I view the transaction in the same way I monitor other card transactions?

The answer is simple – you can view the transactions in the same way under Customer 🡪 Financials 🡪 Transactions also, however, in the RFID Transactions page you get lot more additional information.

Once you open the RFID Transaction link, you will see the page with filters to view the transactions.

In this page, you might find two new items pertaining to RFID Transactions 1) Authorization Status and 2) Transaction Status.

Let us understand what these statuses mean –

Authorization Status Transaction Status
Before fuelling your vehicle, the Fuel Dispenser seeks authorization from the XTRAPOWER Server if it can deliver fuel for the desired amount. Once the Authorization for delivering fuel to the desired amount is given to the Fuel Dispenser, the transaction status becomes “Pending”.
XTRAPOWER Server verifies the requests and if CCMS Balance and Limits are available for the Vehicle, then authorizes the Fuel Dispenser to commence fuelling. The Fuel Dispenser will again communicate to the Server with the actual amount of fuel dispensed once fuel delivery is completed.
The Authorization status at this point of time is “Authorized” (i.e. Authorized the Fuel Dispenser to deliver fuel) Upon receipt of the final fuelling data, the transaction status will be updated as “Completed”.
Once the fuelling status is updated in the XTRAPOWER, the Authorization status is converted to “Approved”. In case, fuelling was not given and the authorization is cancelled, the status will be updated as “Cancelled”

Following status combinations are possible:

Authorization Status Transaction Status Meaning
Authorized Pending Fuel delivery authorized. But final status is not received at Server
Approved Cancelled Fuel delivery authorized. But fuel was not delivered. Hence the authorization was cancelled
Approved Completed Fuel delivery authorized, fuel delivered. Final quantity delivered received at server and completed.

Looks confusing? Don’t worry, see some examples below:

In the below case, Authorization was given to deliver Rs. 250 worth of fuel, but fuel was not delivered. Upon receipt of the final fuel delivery status, XTRAPOWER Server cancels the Authorization.

See the two different cases below.

The first case in S. No 1 is a normal transaction where Authorization was given for Rs. 10 and fuel was delivered for Rs. 10. Server received the final fuel delivery status and updated the status as “Completed”.

The second in S. No. 2 is interesting. Here the Authorization was given for Rs. 200 but fuel was delivered only for Rs. 54.45. Server received the final fuel delivery status and update the status as “Completed”

The second case is the biggest benefit you would have when you shift to RFID based fuel management, where for every fuelling transaction you know exactly how much was requested by the Fuel Dispenser and how much fuel was actually delivered inside your vehicle’s fuel tank.

When you see the transactions under Customer 🡪 Financials, you would the debit only for Rs. 54.45 as can be seen in the below screenshot.

Tip: Sometimes you might find a discrepancy between your Balance in actual CCMS Balance and Transaction screens. This is normal, as there could be few transactions in Authorized and Pending status. In such cases, things would normally be settled end of the day. If you find this for a longer period, create a service ticket to enable us to address your concerns.

To see actual images of how transactions are controlled through RFID, visit Gallery.

When fuel is the major cost for any fleet operator, saving every drop is essential. You must always know how much fuel quantity is delivered inside your vehicle’s fuel tank to keep control of costs and drivers of course. Thanks to IndianOil’s RFID AVI technology solutions, this is made possible now for you. Go ahead and try the best solution available in India today.

Limit Management

For controlling your fuel spends, XTRAPOWER offers you a flexible and versatile limit management. Read this Support Article to explore how you can exercise effective controls.

A limit is a value you assign to your Card to enable it to transact upto the assigned value.

For example, let us assume that you have Rs. 50,000 in your CCMS account. You have given a Card to your Driver and do not want him to withdraw the entire amount for fuel. So, you set a limit of Rs. 10,000 for the desired Card. Now irrespective of higher balance available in your account, your Driver can use the Card only upto Rs. 10,000.

While the above is a fairly simpler use case, your daily fleet operations are really complex. That’s why you need a dynamic and configurable engine to effectively control your Card spends to optimize your working capital.

Before we read further on limit management, let us start with a basic question you may have in your mind – Is it necessary that I should set limits for my Cards? The answer is “It is up to you”. However, please note that in case you do not wish to operate through limits, you would be providing an “Unlimited” drawing power to your Drivers to use your account. Isn’t it like driving a vehicle without a brake?

Having a basic understanding of what a limit is, let us move forward to see what the various types of limits that are available to you.

Account Level Limits:

  • CCMS Limit – This is the amount in Rupees assigned by you. During purchase of fuel, this limit would be reduced and your CCMS Account debited appropriately.

  • CCMS Limit Type – There are three options here for you:

    • Daily CCMS Limit – The amount set will be available for use on every calendar day. For example, if you set Rs. 2000, the User can purchase fuel upto Rs. 2000 on every calendar day.
    • One Time CCMS Limit – When you set this limit, User can purchase fuel upto the specified amount till the time full limit is used. This value will keep reducing till it becomes zero.
    • Unlimited – This gives unlimited withdrawal powers to the User.

You can view an example in the below screenshot:

Card Level Limits:

  • Cash Purse Limit: This is the maximum amount that a Card can have in its own Wallet (Remember you have two wallets – one at central level called CCMS Account and one at card level called Cash Balance)

  • Sale Transaction Limit: This specifies how much value can be swiped at a single time.

  • Daily Sale Limit: This specifies how much value can be swiped in a day in either one or multiple swipes.

  • Monthly Sale Limit: This is the maximum limit card can transact in a month.

  • Daily Credit Limit: This is a credit limit assigned by the Credit Partner at a Card level.

An example of all types of limits are illustrated in the below screenshot:

Note: In case you have set CCMS limit type Unlimited, transaction will still happen only within the Card limits of Sale Transaction Limit, Daily Sale Limit and Monthly Sale Limit.

Merchant Level Limits:

  • Merchant Withdrawal Limit: When you take fuel under a credit facility offered by a Merchant and need to make payments to the Merchant you need to set a limit for the Merchant to enable him to withdraw / square off the credit transactions.

An example of all Merchant limit is shown in the below screenshot:

Read our Support Article on Merchant Credit Settlements to know more on how to square off payments to Dealers.

Note: If limits are not available, the transaction will be declined even if other parameters are correct.

What CCMS limit type is ideal for me?

It depends on your business requirements. Let us now see two illustrations below:

Illustration 1:

If your vehicles follow a specific route every day and you are pretty much sure how much fuel you need on a daily basis, then you should ideally set CCMS Limit type as “Daily Limit”.

Illustration 2:

If your vehicles are having a different trip every time, where the distance travelled could be different, then there is a chance that fuel requirement would vary for each trip. In this case, you should ideally set CCMS Limit type as “One Time Limit”.

Note: You can set limits even if you do not have funds in your CCMS Balance.

Tip: You can any time modify any or all limits any point of time. You can set limits through SMS, Mobile App, Web Portal (through screen or excel upload) or even through APIs.

What happens if limit is not utilized?

If there is no transaction on the card, the limit set by you will not be consumed and remain as it is.

Where can I view the limits?

You can view limit for an individual card in the link Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 Mange Cards

In case you desire to view limit for all Cards at one go, please check the below links:

Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 View All Card Limits

Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 View All Card CCMS Limits

Note: In this screen, you would see the actual remaining limit currently available against One Time Limit and original limit value set by you against the Daily Limit.

I am seeing something called Remaining CCMS Balance, what is it?

This is the calculated CCMS Balance to give you an indication how much balance you still have after accounting for the limits set. In case this is negative, this means that you need to recharge your account with an equivalent amount to enable all your Cards to transact.

Let us learn this through few examples here.

Example 1: The below screenshot shows that you have an actual CCMS Balance of Rs. 607930.54, set limits for Rs. 451023.74, hence the calculated Remaining CCMS Balance is Rs. 156906.80. That means, all the Cards can transact upto the limits set by you and after the transactions, if you will still be left with a CCMS Balance of Rs. 156906.80.

Example 2: Remember we read earlier that you can set limits even if you do not have adequate CCMS Balance. The below screenshot shows that you have an actual CCMS Balance of Rs. 1968.50 only, but you have set limits for Rs. 80,000, hence the calculated Remaining CCMS Balance is – Rs. 78031.50 This means that you need to recharge your account for an amount Rs. 78031.50 to ensure all cards transact.

Example 3: See another case where this Remaining CCMS Balance is showing nothing.

If any one of your Card is having a limit set as “Unlimited”, you will not get any value in the Remaining CCMS Balance as depicted in the screenshot. Once you change such limit type from Unlimited to either Daily or One Time, the Remaining CCMS Balance will be displayed.

How do I know who has modified the limits?

You can easily monitor who has modified the limits in your login itself in the links:

Customer 🡪 Cards 🡪 View Limit Change Audit

Customer 🡪 Financials 🡪 Limit Audit Trail (provides changes in limit type additionally)

To illustrate we have set One Time Limit as Rs. 1000, then Rs. 5000 and again changed the limit type from One Time to Daily with a value of Rs. 700. Let us see this in below screenshots in cards view and in audit trail view:

Card’s view illustrating the limits:

Audit Trail’s view illustrating the limit modifications:

Tip: Modified by INTERNAL indicates that there is a sale transaction

If you have a large fleet operation where multiple team members are involved in this process, we can even send you a custom report on limit modifications. Please mail us or create a service ticket with subject Limit Audit Trail Report.

The web portal will allow you to see the limit audit trail only for the last 15 days. You can download these reports regularly. In case you wish to get the limit audit trail for older periods on an exceptional situation, do write to us or create a service ticket to enable us to serve you.

To conclude, limit management is a powerful and dynamic tool to enable you to oversee your Card spends at all times. With learnings from several lakhs of Fleet Operators for 18+ years, XTRAPOWER brings you an exhaustive and robust limit management engine to suit any business requirements. Do write to us with your feedback if any other use case needs to be developed for you.