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Though the majority of the messages and related data elements have been designed for
financial transaction interchange, they share some commonalities with public transit
electronic fare payment transactions.
4.1.2 Applicability to UTFS Effort
ISO/IEC 8583 lacks transit industry specific data elements and message types that need
to be defined by APTA. The addition of this new information requires their submission
to ISO/IEC, the international standards body that controls and maintains the changes to
the standard. The timeline for an effort such as this is largely unknown, but estimated
to be lengthy. For all the benefits offered, this standard may serve as a model for
UTFS
WP4 efforts.
Of all the standards and specifications analyzed, ISO/IEC 8583 is the most established
and widely implemented standard throughout the world. Financial data exchange
of
all magnetic stripe based credit card transactions follows this standard. Following the
advancements in the card technologies, ISO/IEC 8583 has been updated to
accommodate mostly contact based smart card transactions. Its financial industry focus
led
to the presence of a variety of clearing and settlement transactions exchanged
between entities. Though it is mostly used for on-line real time “request-response”
type
transactions, the standard provides details for batch
and file transfer mechanisms.
4.1.3 Common Message Structure
ISO/IEC 8583 provides a common message structure, which defines three main sections
for
each message as illustrated in Exhibit 4.1-1.
Exhibit 4.1-1 Common Message Structure
Message Type Message Bitmap(s) Data Elements
Message type consists of two elements, a version number and a message type identifier.
The version number is allocated to indicate the version of the ISO/IEC 8583 standard
followed by the interchange. The message type identifier is a three digit numeric field
identifying the following:
• Message class
• Message function
• Transaction originator
Message class identifies whether it is a financial, administrative, or network
management type of a message. Message function specifies if it is a request, response,
notification or advice. The transaction originator digit identifies the originator of the
message (e.g., issuer or acquirer).
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