SKIDATA sweb ticket interface in an overview

This interface enables admission tickets and event tickets that are sold via e-guma to be used directly at a SKIDATA turnstile.

In this article

  

Example applications

The SKIDATA sweb ticket.sales interface allows immediate passage through a SKIDATA turnstile with admission tickets from e-guma. Tickets can be created with a QR code (e-ticket as PDF), loaded onto an existing SKIDATA keycard or SwissPass, retrieved from the checkout using the pickup function, or sent by post. The following products are among the available options:

  • Single, return or day tickets for a mountain cable car with turnstile
  • Ski passes (single day or multi-day tickets)
  • Personalised subscriptions and annual tickets
  • Single entry into a facility such as a swimming pool or museum with turnstile
  • Hiking or biking day tickets
  • Event and combined tickets for several facilities or services
  • Multi-trip tickets 
Multi-trip tickets: multi-trip tickets cards with remaining credit / points cannot always be topped up online. New credit is only loaded onto the card when the original points have been completely used up.

Requirements

SKIDATA sweb ticket.sales interface licence

e-guma SKIDATA licence

Turnstiles: e-tickets with a QR code can only be offered if turnstiles are equipped with a QR-compatible scanner (UserBox). For SKIDATA keycards or the SwissPass, turnstiles must support "handsfree" detection. Please contact SKIDATA directly for clarification about the compatibility of your turnstiles with the desired tickets.

  

Costs

SKIDATA A quote for the sweb ticket.sales interface with e-guma can be obtained directly from SKIDATA. Licensing and transaction costs will be incurred.
e-guma There is a one-off charge of CHF 1,492 to activate the SKIDATA interface in e-guma.

  

Ticket medium and data carriers

In the e-guma back office, different media or data carriers can be enabled individually for each ticket.    

The buyer will be shown a corresponding drop-down menu in the online shop:

E-ticket

The E-ticket involves a print@home paper ticket. Your customers print the ticket or save it as a PDF on their smartphone. For ticket validation, all the relevant turnstiles will need to be equipped with a scanner that can handle QR-codes (Userbox). The QR code is shown in enlarged format on the ticket:

E-tickets can also be issued via the e-guma back office (with or without calendar function). E-tickets can additionally feature the personalized questions function for each ticket.

SKIDATA keycards

Tickets can also be loaded onto SKIDATA keycards, magnetic cards with an RFID chip. A keycard allows contactless, "handsfree" passage through the turnstile. SKIDATA keycards can be reloaded. Keycards are particularly suitable for day tickets or multi-day tickets. Theoretically, keycards from other areas can also be used and loaded with tickets online (provided the chip ID begins 01). Tickets cannot be loaded onto a keycard in the e-guma back office. 
For topping up a card in the online shop, the card number printed on the back of the keycard will be required, e.g. 01-1234 5678 9101 1121 3141-0:

There are various generations of SKIDATA keycards. Please check with SKIDATA to confirm compatibility with online ticket loading. 

SwissPass

e-guma offers the option of loading tickets onto the SwissPass. A SwissPass allows contactless, "handsfree" passage through the turnstile. A maximum of two active SKIDATA tickets can be stored simultaneously on the SwissPass. The SwissPass is particularly suitable for day tickets or multi-day tickets. The e-guma back office does  not support tickets to be loaded onto a SwissPass. 

Online loading of tickets onto the SwissPass costs CHF 0.50. This fee will be charged monthly by e-guma. Orders and tickets are displayed in the SwissPass portal. 

For topping up in the online shop, the postcode plus the ID printed on the SwissPass will be required, e.g. S66-242-622-820:
Contact us if you want to offer the SwissPass as a data carrier. We will coordinate with SBB to arrange the setup for you. 

Collection / pickup

Pickup is a collection option for SKIDATA tickets if the customer does not have a keycard or SwissPass. In this case, the customer will select the collection (pickup) option. Instead of the ticket, the customer will receive a pickup voucher with an eight-character booking code, e.g. Q9M6P4Z2.

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Using this voucher or the confirmation number, the reservation can be opened locally at the checkout (manual pickup) and the corresponding ticket produced. Alternatively, tickets can be retrieved from a self-service machine (if available). Any potential deposit fees can be charged locally. 
Alternatively, a user-defined deposit fee for the new keycard can be demanded during the online order process itself. The ticket deposit is usually shown without VAT. To do this, select the VAT setting per ticket type when entering. It is important that the VAT treatment of the card deposit is the same when the keycard is issued and returned. 
The pickup function must be licensed, enabled and configured separately by SKIDATA. Pickup is not available in combination with e-tickets.

Postal delivery

Postal delivery is a shipping function within SKIDATA. A new keycard is created by the vendor and sent by post to the buyer. Postal delivery is suitable for new subscriptions or annual tickets if the buyer does not have an existing keycard. 
It is also possible to demand a user-defined deposit fee for the new keycard. The ticket deposit is usually shown without VAT. To do this, select the VAT setting per ticket type when entering. It is important that the VAT treatment of the card deposit is the same when the keycard is issued and returned. 

The postal delivery function must be licensed, enabled and configured separately by SKIDATA. Postal delivery is not available in combination with e-tickets. It is not currently possible to add on any shipping costs.

Installation

SKIDATA

After confirming acceptance of the quote, you can enable and set up the sweb ticket.sales interface via SKIDATA.

e-guma

Contact us so we can also enable the interface within e-guma. The following details are required from SKIDATA for communication with the sweb ticket.sales interface:
  • Sales channel
  • Username
  • Password

  

Set up admission with SKIDATA connection

All products and their characteristics, e.g. period of validity, number of journeys permitted, approved turnstiles, must be configured in SKIDATA and published on the sweb ticket.sales interface. In the event of any change to the product characteristics, the catalogue will have to be republished. For any questions about this, please contact the SKIDATA support team directly and in plenty of time. New tickets will have to be tested before the planned sales launch.

As soon as a product is published on the sweb ticket.sales interface, an entry can be created with SKIDATA and linked with the product. As soon as the SKIDATA interface is enabled in e-guma, on

creation of a new entry, the button "Add with SKIDATA" will appear. For SKIDATA entries, the grey SKIDATA badge will be displayed.

In the SKIDATA section, click on the pencil symbol and select the appropriate SKIDATA product:

Characteristics of products in SKIDATA

The product characteristics configured in SKIDATA will be displayed in e-guma. Changes to these characteristics can only be made in SKIDATA. After any modification, the product catalogue will have to be republished on the sweb ticket.sales.

Name Comment
Time period Specify the time period for which the ticket has been configured.
Deposit possible (yes/no) Deposit tickets can be used on any day from the date of issue. They are valid for a defined period following their initial use. The function can be enabled or disabled for each ticket.
Contact required (yes/no) Ticket personalisation required.
Photo required (yes/no) Photo of the ticket holder is required for the ticket.
Predating possible (yes/no) The ticket can be terminated on a future date by means of a calendar selection.

Validity category

Defines the period for which the ticket is valid from initial use (deposit enabled) or from the purchase date (deposit disabled). This could be e.g. '7 days', '1 month' or '1 season'. 

Validity

This option defines the start of the ticket validity:

Name
 		Comment
Immediate The ticket is valid from the date of issue for the defined period, in this example 1 day. If the ticket should be valid on any desired day during the time period, the deposit function must be enabled. If the deposit function is disabled, the ticket is valid on the day of purchase. We recommend mentioning the validity in the online shop and possibly in the description on the ticket. For the issue date, the placeholder {{order_date}} can be used. 
Start date selectable (calendar) The first date of validity can be selected using the calendar. To do this, "predating possible" must be enabled and deposit disabled in the settings. The calendar can also be used to block specific days. For example, to ensure that 4-day tickets are no longer available on the penultimate day of the season. In addition, the first and last date of availability can be defined. Both values are optional.

If the "first day" setting is empty, tickets can be ordered from today's date. If the "last day" setting is empty, tickets can be ordered up to a max. 2 years in advance. Dated tickets cannot be changed. 

Personalisation per ticket

Personalised tickets can be issued. This might apply, for example, to multi-day, season or annual subscriptions.

If personalisation is enabled, for each ticket selected and regardless of the selected medium, contact data will be required and, if enabled, a photo:

The entered contact details will also be used for checkout. When purchasing multiple tickets, the contact details from the first ticket will be used.

For personalised tickets with Skidata, you can use the Younger-than-{{Age}} and Older-than-{{Age}} tags to activate verification of the age and date of birth. For example, Younger-than-20 means that the ticket holder must be younger than 20 years old, Older-than-10 means that the ticket holder must be older than 10 years old. If this is not the case, an error message will appear in the shop. The key date and calculation basis are the date of purchase and the date of birth.

After uploading, the photo can be cropped by clicking on the pencil icon. Depending on the local set-up, the photo will be displayed as you pass through the turnstile.

For recurring orders by keycard or pickup, e-guma compares the data entered with orders from previous years. If the first name, surname and date of birth match, the photo and, if available, the keycard number are used. In this case, the existing ContactID is used for transmission to SKIDATA. Mit dem Tag Ticket-contact-search-deactivate kann dies pro Eintritt deaktiviert werden. On request, the data pool for the person search can be expanded, e.g. to include local sales or adjustments to the keycard during the season.

Price

Via the ticket options, the different rates such as "Adult", "Child" or "Half-fare" will be displayed. Each type of ticket must be linked with a SKIDATA tariff category. 

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By default, the price is stored in e-guma and transmitted to SKIDATA on purchase. For test tickets, a category with a price of CHF 0.00 can be set up. This allows testing to be carried out without generating any sales in SKIDATA. 

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If the calendar function (select start date) is being used, there is the option of loading the price for the relevant category in real time from SKIDATA:

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This setting can be individually configured for each type of ticket.

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This setting allows different prices to be applied for each season, e.g. pre-season, peak season, or post-season. This kind of dynamic pricing must be controlled from SKIDATA. 

Every ticket/medium must be tested prior to publication. Several tests should be conducted to check whether the turnstiles allow access during the valid period and refuse access outside this period. Test a ticket both on the date of purchase and also at least one ticket on the day after.  

Event tickets and admissions with calendar

In addition to admissions,

event tickets and admission tickets with a calendar can be linked with SKIDATA. For events or admissions with a calendar, however, there are fewer settings that can be changed than for admission tickets:

  • Event tickets with SKIDATA and admissions with calendar/SKIDATA are only available as e-tickets. Other data carriers or media are not available. 
  • The validity of the SKIDATA service is determined by the event date or the date selected in the calendar.
  • There is no option to postpone the event or rebook a ticket because the validity in SKIDATA cannot subsequently be adjusted.

We recommend creating a new product for these events in SKIDATA to ensure they are clearly demarcated from regular tickets.

The event tickets with SKIDATA /admissions with calendar with SKIDATA functionality is still in the pilot phase. Are you interested in using this functionality? Please

contact us, so we can enable the functionality for you.

Combined tickets

A ticket can include other services in addition to a SKIDATA service, e.g. it might include a meal at a restaurant. Access via the turnstiles is controlled from SKIDATA. SKIDATA does not send e-guma any information about whether or when a ticket goes through the turnstile. This means e-guma's check-in function can be used independently from SKIDATA. To manage additional services – in this case breakfast – we rely on the normal check-in. The check-in locations must be equipped with a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Combined tickets can

only be issued as e-tickets because this is the only way check-in via e-guma is possible. Check-in cannot be implemented using a keycard or SwissPass. These can only be read using specialised devices. All SKIDATA systems involved must be equipped with a QR code reader. 

Allotment pool

The allotment pool for SKIDATA tickets is a solution to limit the sale of tickets

per day. This requires selection of the validity date. Consequently, an allotment pool can only be allocated for SKIDATA admissions for which "Select start date" has been saved. An allotment can include an individual admission/ticket or multiple admissions/tickets.

Add and manage allotment pool

An allotment pool can be

added and edited under Menu -> Admissions -> Allotment pools. The first step is to specify the default capacity per day.

Then an internal label can overwrite individual days, or a new default capacity can be specified. The daily allotments do not have to be added manually, they are created continuously in the background. The default capacity defines the capacity of an automatically created daily allotment.
This capacity can be individually modified by clicking on a particular date. On sold-out days, no more tickets will be available for sale. The calendar blocks these days.

Add allotment pool to an admission

Membership of an allotment pool can be defined in the settings for an admission or ticket. Likewise, the duration of a ticket will be defined from the selected date. This means, for example, for a 3-day ticket, the allotment can be restricted to three consecutive days.
When a date is selected in the online shop, the relevant number of days will be indicated:
An admission/ticket can only be assigned to one allotment pool.
Are you interested in using this functionality? Contact us, so we can enable and configure the allotment pool for SKIDATA tickets.

Orders

The ticket orders are listed as normal in e-guma. Via the search functionality, you can look for orders by name, ticket number, SwissPass ID or keycard number. 

For an order, the cancel button reveals which media or numbers were used. The medium and card numbers are also specified in the confirmation email sent to the customer.  

In the details of each order you can see, whether the transfer ot the order from the DTA server to the local SKIDATA system, has been successfully completed, is still pending, or has failed, or if the status cannot not be retrieved at all. 

Cancellation

If an order is cancelled in the e-guma back office, the tickets of this order are immediately invalid and can no longer be used at the SKIDATA turnstile. Tickets that have already been used at least once in SKIDATA can no longer be cancelled. This requires a cancellation or refund within SKIDATA.

Use of tickets

The ticket and its usage can be retrieved in the SKIDATA ticket tracking via the SKIDATA Permission Serial Number. This can be printed as a placeholder on e-tickets {{skidata_permission_serial_number}}. Keycards or SwissPasses can be read at the readers provided for this purpose.

Issue tickets via e-guma back office

You can only issue e-tickets via the e-guma back office. No tickets can be issued for which SKIDATA keycard, SwissPass or pickup are the selected medium. 

Customer data

For every order, a new customer file is created in SKIDATA. The following customer details are transmitted via the interface:

  • First name
  • Surname
  • Email
  • Whether the individual placing the order is registered for the newsletter

Accounting

Your e-guma ticket shop is an additional sales channel for SKIDATA tickets. The sums for tickets sold go directly into SKIDATA and appear as a separate point of sale or as a separate location in the SKIDATA reports.
With the sales report from e-guma, you can get a summary of the tickets sold via the shop and the relevant means of payment. You can use this report for recording payment receipts (Acquirer, Postfinance, etc.). Credit card payments for tickets and vouchers will be credited to you directly by the acquirer.
SKIDATA calculates the licence fees and transactions separately. The anticipated costs are included in the sweb ticket.sales quote from SKIDATA.    

Testing of online tickets

The sweb ticket.sales interface is a complex software-server construct and depends on numerous configurations and settings. Even small changes in SKIDATA, in the local network infrastructure or in e-guma can lead to tickets no longer working at the turnstile.
You can edit configurations and settings in e-guma affecting your SKIDATA products. Please test your tickets at the turnstile after making adjustments. In particular, we recommend making test bookings after the following changes:  
  • Before new season or after season time updates
  • Changes to your network infrastructure, firewall or renewal of certificates
  • New products in SKIDATA or on the sweb ticket.sales server
  • New types of personas
  • Additional medium such as pick-up or SwissPass
  • Change of validity start date, e.g. selection of start date in the calendar or depot
Test whether passing the turnstile is possible during the validity period or is refused outside the validity period. Test a ticket both on the date of purchase and at least one ticket the day after. 
You can create a hidden or temporary ticket category "Test" with a price of CHF 0. For tests of the pick-up function, please use test tickets with the original price or CHF 1. If these ticket variants are marked "Test" in e-guma, no costs are incurred by e-guma. 
Please note that you cannot cancel used tickets in e-guma. Sales from test tickets with an amount must be cancelled in SKIDATA or in your accounting.

Restrictions

  • The SKIDATA Handshake interface is not currently supported.

Planned functionality

We intend to upgrade the SKIDATA interface regularly with additional functionality:

  • Renew existing subscription

Demo

The train journeys and ski tickets in our demo shop are linked with a SKIDATA test environment. Test the processes here and order test tickets. For the SwissPass ID, you can enter 111 and e-guma will replace this number with the SwissPass test ID S29-526-357-245. For the test keycard in a test order, you can use keycard numbers 111 or 222.