General Principle

Fortress GB is an access control system deployed by many UK football clubs.

It provides two very distinct and different functionalities.

SecuTix clients with two basic sets of functionalities.

An access control system

Fortress GB is handling access control at the gates with a strong limitation:

Fortress GB does not handle retrieval of controlled tickets.

Important : 

• Fortress is called and must be UP with all mappings OK to sell tickets.
• Fortress is called and must be UP with all mappings OK to print season tickets (but when selling, we don’t call it)
• Mappings MUST have been defined before selling the tickets, even for season tickets (the printing will need data that are produced only if the mapping is defined).

Beware : Fortress GB is not the same system as the Fortress (=StadAccess) used at Stade de France. Although they are related (they are both access control systems), their behavior in SecuTix is entirely different.

General setup of the interface

See example below in screen capture. Here are the explanations of the parameter.

• Synchronous, Export contact..., bypass contact : put "false". Not used in Fortress GB
• URL : url of the fortress GB at Everton, provided by Fortress GB team.
• Login, password, Agency code, client App Id, Client API Key : values necessary to connect, provided by Fortress GB team.
• Shipment modes codes w/o Fortress barcodes generation : if a tickets shipment mode code is one of those (comma separated), no call will be done to Fortress GB for barcode generation. So we should put here the codes of all the shipment modes types of type “Load on RFID”.
• Fortress MemberId for anonymous contacts : when SecuTix buys a ticket for an anonymous contact, the following memberId is passed to Fortress GB. Value 00001 is a proposed value, that still must be validated with Fortress GB team.
• Use virtual printer : for season ticket printing. The value "Virtual" is passed as printer code to Fortress GB.
• Season codes for which season ticket card printing is authorized : as explained. Season codes must be separated by commas. A new season code may be added here when Fortress "Roll-Over" has been done.
• Forcing season ticket card print. Renewal on same card impossible. As explained. 

An external printing system

Fortress is printing the RFID cards for season tickets for SecuTix clients, with two main cases:

• Direct printing at the box-office on "real" printers
• Mass printing on "virtual" printers (ticket data are only sent to Fortress)

Setup

Fortress being two systems in once in SecuTix point of view, we need to set up two external interfaces: an access control interface and an external printer interface.

It also provides smart barcode functionality that you must activate.

Smart barcode

To activate the smart barcode (encrypted barcode understood by Fortress scanners), go in the organization screen and select "Access control type: Fortress GB"

It will generate a Fortress barcode for all the tickets linked to a seat linked to an area mapped to Fortress through an access control mapping (see below). Else it will generate a Date SecuTix barcode.

Access control

Create an access control interface of type "Fortress GB"

Fill the following values, which should all be provided by the client or by his Fortress provider.

• Url → remember to have the url authorized through SecuTix proxy.
• Login
• password
• Agency code
• AppId
• API key

All of them are mandatory.

Then fill the following mappings.

Fill area and block mappings, for every area and block of the stadium/venue that will be controlled by Fortress.

Check that the physical configuration code is the same as the stadium code defined in Fortress.

Check that the entrances' codes are the same as the gate codes defined in Fortress.

Schedule

Create a schedule running every 5' for each event that you plan to have controlled through Fortress.

Validation

Sell a ticket for each stand of the venue, wait for 5', check that those tickets can pass the gate in Fortress.

Refund a ticket, wait for 5', check that it cannot pass the gate in Fortress.

In case it where not working, check the error logs in the executions and work out until the tickets are accepted/are refused at the gates.

External printer interface

The goal of this interface is to print season tickets. It only works with season tickets.

Create at least one "Fortress GB" printer for a workstation

Create an hardware record Card printer/Fortress GB printer for the workstation that will effectively print the season tickets. Take not of its logical name.

Create an external printing interface of type "Fortress GB"

Fill the following values, which should all be provided by the client or by his Fortress provider. Those are the same one as for the access control interface (but you MUST replicate them here)

• Url → remember to have the url authorized through SecuTix proxy.
• Login
• password
• Agency code
• AppId
• API key

All of them are mandatory.

Other values

Fill the value "Parent Interface", and select the access control interface created before. It will allow the printing interface to retrieve mappings from the parent interface.

Fill the values "sales channel code/point of sales code", to define which point of sale will do the virtual printing.

Fill the value "printer names for direct printing" with the logical names (separated by commas) of all the printers that will be directed to Fortress for direct printing.

Then fill the following mappings.

Fill a product mapping in the access control interface for every season ticket that will need to be printed in Fortress. (the product must be created in Fortress in parallel)

The fact that the access control interface is the parent interface makes it owner of all the mappings.

Schedule

Create a manual schedule for virtual printing of tickets. 

Validation

Sell a season ticket mapped to Fortress and print it on the Fortress printer. It must be printed by the Fortress printer (check in the execution logs for errors if it does not print)

Validation 2

Add an additional match on this season ticket, wait for 5' and see if the ticket can pass the gate (it should). If it does not pass, check in the access control logs to find the error.

Mapping of concepts

SecuTix concept	Fortress GB concept	Mapping data type	Mapped value
Performance	ProductDescription.	Performance	Product description's code
Season Ticket	ProductDescription	Product	Product description's code
Tariff	Price band	Audience sub category	Price band code
Physical configuration	Stadium	Physical configuration	Stadium code
Area	Stand	Area	Stand code
Block	Area	Block	Block code
Entrance	Service	NA	NA

• Concerning product mappings : Fortress matches are mapped to SecuTix performances. But, in an external manager context, we must create a mapping for a product in ordre to tell SecuTix that this product is handled by Fortress GB. In consequence, every event or competition must be mapped at least to a value of -1, not used by Fortress GB, but indicating that this product is "managed by" Fortress GB.
• If no mapping is defined for the tariffs, physical configurations, areas, blocks and entrances, the object's code will be transmitted to Fortress.
• All the mappings must be defined (run batch "check mappings" to check that point). If a mapping is missing, SecuTix cannot guarantee the system's behavior.

Season ticket printing and mass printing

• Season ticket printing and mass printing use specific "Fortress" printers, which are virtual printers as seen from SecuTix.
• The most important part of their setup is their logical name, which is the name they have in Fortress setup.
• Mass printing uses a specific printer name. Ask your fortress contact to provide it to you.

Batches

• Read catalog : reads all the objects information accessible from Fortress system and dumps them into the logs. Read only batch.
• Check mappings : compares the mappings defined in SecuTix with the objects in Fortress. Throws an error if a mapping is missing. If a mapping is missing, SecuTix cannot guarantee the system's behavior.
• Create missing tariffs : finds all the tariffs associated to products managed by Fortress and checks if they are known in Fortress. If not, creates the missing tariffs in Fortress. How to run the create missing tariffs batch ?
• Create missing events : once provided a given event code, creates all the performances not existing yet in Fortress. How to run the create missing events batch ?
• Check access control : once provided a given event code and a date, AND an access control report from Fortress, compares the tickets associated to the given performance with the tickets in the access control file. Then, logs the differences. Those ones are considered as errors if valid tickets from SecuTix are not known in Fortress. Warning if tickets in Fortress file do not exist in SecuTix.

Data organisation

1. When a ticket is created, Fortress generates
   1. a standard barcode, which is stored in SecuTix ticket's barcode and in ExternalManagerMovement barcode field.
   2. an Adult barcode, stored in external manager movement externalValue2 field, which is then available on ticket editor with field named zzz_customParameter02
   3. a Concession barcode, stored in external manager movement externalValue3 field, which is then available on ticket editor with field named zzz_customParameter03
   4. a ticket identifier,stored in external manager movement ticketReference and externalValue1 field, which is then available on ticket editor with field named zzz_customParameter01
2. When a season ticket card is printed, secutix stores season start and season end dates in card validity dates

Problems we met

• Error when printing season tickets (and mass printing) :  do you have a FortressGB printer badge printer associated to your workstation ?
• This printer must be declared in your badge printers list and NOT in jour ticket printers list.
• To find errors in the logs of Kibana, do not forget the english timezone. Maybe that your problem was logged one hour ago.

Setup screen capture

Image RemovedBeware : Fortress GB is not the same system as the Fortress (=StadAccess) used at Stade de France. Although they are related (they are both access control systems), their behavior in SecuTix is entirely different.