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Before you begin

Integrating with Alignet’s processing services requires a prior assessment of the operating model, the brands involved, and each participant’s responsibilities. Service enablement does not depend solely on the technical integration. In certain scenarios, additional activities with card brands, payment networks, or participating institutions may be required. Before starting the project, the institution must contact an Alignet sales representative to assess the required scope, confirm service availability, and coordinate the next steps.

Contact the sales team

Contact our sales team to begin the project assessment.

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Define the participation model

Before starting the project, define the role of each participant in the transaction flow. The most common models are:

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Acquiring institution

The institution maintains its relationship with the card brand and merchants and remains responsible for transaction settlement. Alignet may participate as the technology processor responsible for receiving, validating, routing, and managing transactions.

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Payment facilitator

The payment facilitator submits transactions for its merchants or submerchants through a centralized integration. This model requires defining, among other aspects:
  • Payment facilitator identification.
  • Merchant or submerchant identification.
  • Affiliation rules.
  • Settlement model.
  • Responsibility for merchant monitoring.
  • Information required by each card brand.

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Alignet as a processor

Alignet may operate as a processor for the card brands and networks enabled for the project. Availability may vary depending on:
  • Country of operation.
  • Requested brand or network.
  • Acquiring model.
  • Available connections.
  • Required certifications.
  • Contracted commercial scope.
Alignet’s participation as a processor does not replace the regulatory, contractual, or card-brand obligations of the acquiring institution or payment facilitator.

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Prior project with card brands

When the institution requires acquiring processing, a project must first be coordinated with the corresponding card brand. This project may be required for Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, UnionPay, or other networks, depending on the requested scope. Activities may include:
1

Project registration

The institution must register or request the project with the corresponding brand or network.
2

Participant definition

The acquiring institution, processor, payment facilitators, and other participants are identified.
3

Identifier assignment

The identifiers required for authorization, processing, clearing, and settlement are confirmed.
4

Connection setup

The required links, stations, endpoints, or communication mechanisms are enabled.
5

Certification

The technical and transactional tests defined by the card brand are performed.
6

Production launch

The brand and participants confirm enablement to operate in the production environment.

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Information required from the institution

To assess the integration, the institution must provide at least the following:

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General information

  • Legal company name (VAT).
  • Country of operation.
  • Role within the ecosystem.
  • Institution type: acquirer or payment facilitator.
  • Card brands to be processed.
  • Transaction source channels.
  • Estimated transaction volume.
  • Required currencies.

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Acquiring information

  • Acquirer BIN or identifier.
  • Identifier assigned by the card brand.
  • Processor code, when applicable.
  • Merchant identifiers.
  • Merchant categories.
  • Settlement model.
  • Clearing and reconciliation flow.
  • Domestic and international configuration.

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Technical information

  • Integration architecture.
  • Endpoint addresses.
  • Source IP addresses.
  • Security mechanisms.
  • Digital certificates.
  • Required environments.
  • Messaging format.
  • Timeout and retry handling.
  • Technical and operational contacts.

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Certifications

Additional certifications may be required depending on the channel and card brand. These may include:
  • Authorization certification.
  • Clearing certification.
  • POS terminal certification.
  • Ecommerce certification.
  • 3DS certification.
  • Tokenization certification.
  • Payment facilitator certification.
  • ISO 8583 or API message certification.
  • Business continuity and contingency testing.
The required certification type will be determined during the project assessment stage.

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Institution responsibilities

The institution is responsible for:
  • Holding the authorizations required to operate.
  • Managing its contractual relationship with card brands.
  • Keeping its identifiers up to date.
  • Submitting accurate transaction information.
  • Complying with card-brand rules.
  • Properly managing its merchants or submerchants.
  • Applying fraud and risk controls.
  • Complying with security and data protection obligations.
  • Participating in tests and certifications.
  • Validating results before the production launch.

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Alignet responsibilities

Depending on the contracted scope, Alignet may be responsible for:
  • Providing API services.
  • Receiving and validating requests.
  • Applying processing rules.
  • Routing transactions.
  • Managing communication with the enabled network.
  • Returning transaction responses.
  • Providing traceability and monitoring.
  • Participating in certification testing.
  • Providing support during the integration.

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Security

The institution must comply with the security policies defined for the project. These may include:
  • Mandatory use of HTTPS.
  • Authentication through credentials or certificates.
  • IP address restrictions.
  • Sensitive information protection.
  • PCI DSS compliance, when applicable.
  • Information encryption.
  • Secure key and secret management.
  • Environment access controls.
  • Operation logging and auditing.

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Environments

The integration may include the following environments:

Sandbox

Initial environment for validating request and response structures.

Certification

Environment used to perform the required test cases.

Production

Environment enabled for processing real transactions.

Contingency

Alternative configuration when included in the contracted model.

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Production readiness criteria

Production enablement is subject to meeting the following conditions:
  • Approved scope.
  • Formalized contracts.
  • Completed card-brand project, when applicable.
  • Confirmed identifiers.
  • Enabled connections.
  • Approved certification.
  • Satisfactory end-to-end testing.
  • Validated security configuration.
  • Defined support contacts.
  • Approved production launch plan.
Submitting real transactions before completing the required validations may cause declines, reconciliation problems, or noncompliance with card-brand requirements.

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Start the project

After reviewing these considerations, the institution must coordinate an understanding and information-gathering session with Alignet. During this stage, the following will be defined:
  • Functional scope.
  • Technical scope.
  • Card brands involved.
  • Responsibilities.
  • Schedule.
  • Certifications.
  • Dependencies.
  • Implementation plan.