BC Express Pay
The BC Express Pay (BCEP) Internet payment system provides a generic payment processing interface and transaction recording and reporting system for BC provincial government eService applications wishing to offer online credit card payment functionality. BC Express Pay is a government standard and supports over 30 ministry client applications.
The main components of the BCEP system are:
• Client Application Web Service: A single generic interface between the client applications and the Electronic Payment Service Provider (EPSP). This web service was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005. The requests and responses exchanged between the client applications and the web service are SOAP-wrapped encrypted XML messages. The web services are deployed to IIS on Windows Server 2003.
• Transaction Processing: A set of Oracle stored PL/SQL procedures that process the web service requests via secure socket communications with the EPSP. This insulates the client applications from the complexities of the EPSP interface.
• Transaction Detail Manager (TDM): A centralized database (Oracle 10g) of transaction records containing the details for all web service requests and their corresponding responses. The database also contains the client application details and authentication information for the administrative website.
• Reconciliation Processing: An automated process of daily reconciliation between the TDM and reconciliation files from the EPSP provided via the Provincial Treasury's VMS mainframe. Discrepancies are recorded and exception reports are emailed to ministry client administrators and Provincial Treasury personnel.
• Administrative Website: A website available to both the client administrators and Provincial Treasury personnel for manual transaction detail management. This includes performing refunds, reporting, and exception handling. This ASP.NET website was written in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005 and utilizes a separate .Net administration web service for communicating with the TDM and EPSP. The administrative website is protected by reverse proxy and SiteMinder authentication for IDIR logon of ministry client administrators. The administrative website is deployed to IIS on Windows Server 2003.
The design of BC Express Pay was based on the successes of the Payment Broker system which JASCO designed and developed for the OneStop Business Registry. The OneStop Business Registry was the first application to connect through Provincial Treasury's Internet Payment Program (IPP). JASCO supported Payment Broker from 2001 through to 2008 when the OneStop Business Registration system migrated to BC Express Pay.
BC Express Pay was launched in 2006 and was an immediate success for its first partner, the Criminal Record Checks eService for the Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General, which JASCO also designed and developed. Following the successful launch of the BC Express Pay system, JASCO received an award of excellence from the Ministry of Finance for "outstanding performance and lasting contribution".
In 2007, JASCO completed development of the second major release to the BC Express Pay system. This successful implementation included recurring payment functionality - the ability to pre-register a credit card with the electronic payment service provider against which future transactions could be processed. JASCO developed further functionality to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General's Criminal Record Checks eService to pilot this new functionality. In 2007, JASCO also developed a custom interfaced for integrating the Liquor Distribution Branch's Wholesale Order Management Oracle eBusiness Suite with BC Express Pay.
In 2008, JASCO redeveloped the internal functionality of the BC Express Pay system to connect to a new Electronic Payment Service Provider with minimal external impact to existing BCEP clients. JASCO received mutiple awards of excellence from Provincial Treasury "in recognition of the exceptional service on the migration of all Internet Payment Program (IPP) clients to the BC Express Pay systems and the successful migration of the province's existing BC Express Pay clients to a new payment service provider".
The Banking / Cash Management Branch of Provincial Treasury, Ministry of Finance, was recognized for the BC Express Pay system during the 2009 Premier's Innovation and Excellence Awards.