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NSI Certification and Verification Portal

NSI Guide Supplement for Bar Code Certification

Issue 1.2 - May 4, 2007

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Referenced Specifications

1.2 The NSI Bar Code Conformance Requirements Documents

1.3 Preparing for Bar Code Certification

2. Certification Against the NSI Bar Code Technical Standard

2.1 Registering your Technology within the Web-Based Certification/Verification System

2.1.1 Payment

2.2 Producing a Conformance Statement

2.3 Validation Process

2.3.1 Downloading the Validation Data

2.3.2 Performing the Validation

2.3.3 Submitting the Validation Report

2.4 Completion of Certification

3. Renewals Process

4. Certified Entity Modifications and Updates

1. Introduction

This document is a supplement to the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program and is intended to be used in conjunction with that document. This supplement is for organizations who want to certify a technology with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) Standards Initiative Certification Program for Bar Code Technology.

This Guide Supplement will guide you through all the Bar Code specific steps required for certification. Steps that are common to all NASPL Standards Initiative (NSI) certification/verification programs are described in the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program.

Note: In the event of any conflicts, this guide defers to the NSI Certification/Verification Policy and Policy Supplements, the applicable NASPL Trademark License Agreement, and the NSI Certification/Verification Agreement.

1.1 Referenced Specifications

The specification currently referenced for NSI Bar Code certification is:

• Technical Standard: Bar Codes for Instant Tickets in the Lottery Industry, Version 2, Document Number TS0601, February 2006, and any Corrigenda issued against such Technical Standard.

These are referenced by the NSI Conformance Requirements documents and are located at http://www.opengroup.org/naspl/published.

1.2 The NSI Bar Code Conformance Requirements Documents

The current NSI Bar Code Conformance Requirements document against which Bar Code technologies can be certified is:

• Bar Code Technology Conformance Requirements

1.3 Preparing for Bar Code Certification

Certification will involve validating that your organization has correctly and completely implemented the Technical Standard within your organization. The first step towards certification against the Bar Code Technical Standard is to deploy the Technical Standard within your organization. This involves making the changes necessary to your organization's business processes or technologies to ensure that they are in conformance with the requirements defined in the Technical Standard.

To achieve certification, your organization must complete both the organization-level steps described in the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program as well as the Bar Code specific steps described below.

The organization-level steps are registering your organization within the web-based certification/verification system and completing the applicable Trademark License Agreement. These steps need to be performed only once per organization.

When determining the scope of the technology you wish to certify, please note that Bar Code Terminal certification and Integrated Gaming System certification each provide certification for a set of components. The individual components within these technologies are not certified by virtue of the set being certified and cannot be represented as certified unless they have also been separately certified.

2. Certification Against the NSI Bar Code Technical Standard

Prior to registering your technology, please ensure that:

• Your organization registration has been activated within the web-based certification/verification system, as per Section 3.1, "Registering your Organization within the Web-Based Certification/Verification System", of the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program


• You are either a Key Contact or Technical Contact for your organization, and thus have authorization to register your technology.

The first step for Bar Code certification is to register your technology. The subsequent steps for NSI Bar Code certification are:

• Producing a Conformance Statement


• Downloading the Validation Data


• Performing the Validation


• Submitting the Validation Report


• Completion of Certification

2.1 Registering your Technology within the Web-Based Certification/Verification System

To register a technology to be certified, go to http://www.opengroup.org/naspl/conformance, enter the secure web server, and "Login" to the NSI certification web site using your username and password. Note: If you see a login link immediately upon accessing the system, then you are already on the secure server and may proceed directly with the login. The next step is to click on Organization Home to go to your organization's home page and select "New business practice or technology registration" (in the middle of the page).

When you register your technology, you are required to select the NSI Conformance Requirements document against which you wish to certify, provide information on your technology, and have the ability to send notes to the Certification and Verification Authority. Within the system you must specify the following:

• Conformance Requirements document - the Conformance Requirements document against which you want to certify your technology. You must select the applicable Conformance Requirements document.


• Technology Name - a product or other public name that is unique to the technology or combination of technology components being certified


• Technology Version - a release and/or version number that is unique to the technology or combination of technology components being certified


• Technology Type - you will need to select one (and only one) of the following:


• Ticket Bar Code Design


• Bar Code Reader


• Terminal Software


• Bar Code Terminal


• Server-Side Application Software


• Integrated Gaming System

Please refer to the NSI Policy Supplement for Bar Code Certification for descriptions of each of these technology types.

• Confidentiality - allows you to indicate whether you would like this certification to remain confidential for a period of time, as defined in both the NSI Certification/Verification Agreement and the general NSI Certification/Verification Policy document.


• General Notes - this is an area for you to provide any notes to the Certification and Verification Authority about this registration. Anything included in this area will be confidential between you and the Certification and Verification Authority.

In addition, you will need to specify the certification contacts specific to certification of the technology you are registering:

• Primary Technical Contact - the primary contact for all notices, status updates, and issues related to certification for this technology. The Primary Technical Contact and the Alternate Technical Contact, if specified, along with the Key Contacts, are the only users who will have the ability to manage the progress of this certification through the system. The Primary Technical Contact is the person primarily responsible for submission of all certification information to the Certification and Verification Authority and is the primary point of contact in your organization for the validation process.


• Alternate Technical Contact (optional) - the back-up for the Primary Technical Contact. Will receive the same information on the certification progress as the Primary Technical Contact and also has the same abilities within the system to progress the certification registration through the certification process.


• Finance Contact (optional) - the contact for any payment and/or invoicing issues related to this certification; if not specified, will default to the organization Finance Contact


• Marketing Contact (optional) - the contact for any marketing-related certification issues for this technology; if not specified, will default to the organization Marketing Contact, if one was specified

Once you have completed all fields, select the "Submit for registration" button. You will then be presented with the NSI Certification/Verification Agreement, which you must accept in order to proceed with this technology registration. The final step in the registration phase is providing payment information, as detailed in Section 2.1.1, Payment, below.

You are then returned to you organization's certification home page, from which you can select the "Next" link for the technology being submitted. Through use of the "Next" link, the system will guide you through the steps that you need to follow to certify a technology.

2.1.1 Payment

Details concerning payment procedures common to all NSI certifications can be found in Section 4.1.1, "Payment" , in the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program.

After submission of your payment information and receipt of payment by The Open Group, you may return to your organization's home page via the "Organization Home" link and then select the "Next" button for your registration.

2.2 Producing a Conformance Statement

This step must be completed before the Certification and Verification Authority can begin the validation process for your technology.

A Conformance Statement describes your technology and how it meets the conformance requirements. Your Conformance Statement will be linked into the Register entry for the technology once it is certified. A Conformance Statement Questionnaire is available for each Conformance Requirements document at: http://www.opengroup.org/naspl/conformance/docs/csqs.html. The currently available Conformance Statement Questionnaire is listed below, corresponding to the Conformance Requirements document:

• Bar Code Technology

You must complete the relevant questionnaire to create a Conformance Statement for your technology. See Sections 2.3 and 3.3 of the general NSI Certification/Verification Policy document for further information on the purpose of the Conformance Statement.

Within the web-based certification/verification system, you have the ability to create a new Conformance Statement, edit a Conformance Statement Questionnaire that is in the process of being completed, and finally, when ready, submit the completed Conformance Statement to the Certification and Verification Authority. This is done by going to your organization home page, selecting the "Next" step button for your technology, clicking the "Conformance Statement" link and then selecting the "Create/edit/submit Conformance Statement" button. Please see Appendix A, "Using the Editing Tool", in the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program for information on using the editing tool to create, edit, and submit your Conformance Statement.

The Conformance Statement Questionnaires have common front matter, which asks for the following information about your organization, the technology to be certified, and rationales for any requirements of the Technical Standard that your organization did not implement.

• Submitter Information - Your organization's name and your name as author of the Conformance Statement. The organization name that you registered will automatically be entered in the Conformance Statement Questionnaire by the web-based certification/verification system.


• Technology information - This includes the type of technology implemented, a unique identifier for the technology implementation, and an itemization of the constituent components of that implementation. The technology type that you selected during registration will automatically be entered in the Conformance Statement Questionnaire by the system.

The Conformance Statement Questionnaires also contain questions specific to the set of conformance requirements against which your technology is to be certified. These questions are intended to characterize how your technology meets the conformance requirements.

• Type of Bar Code Implemented - This will be one or more of the following: (1) Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) Bar Code, (2) Lottery-Specific Bar Code, and (3) Integrated U.P.C. and Lottery-Specific Bar Code. For the latter two bar code types, there is an additional question concerning support for specific bar code Format ID options. (Note that, although a default value, "All mandatory and optional fields", is automatically preselected, it can be unchecked and other options selected.)


• Validation Environment information - This includes a unique identifier and version number for the Validation Harness along with details on the platform on which conformance was demonstrated. For a Ticket Bar Code Design, this will also include information on the printing of the bar code.


• Operational Environment information - If applicable, this specifies the environment in which you guarantee the conformance of the technology being certified.

2.3 Validation Process

During the validation process, the Certification and Verification Authority will work with you in progressing your registration through the process. At any point in time, you will be able to see the status and progress of the validation process in the web-based certification/verification system by selecting the "Next" step button for your registration from your organization's home page.

In cases where your organization has responsibility for progressing the validation process, notification will be sent to your Primary Technical Contact and Alternate Technical Contact regarding what is required of your organization.

In preparation for the validation process, you should download and carefully read the NSI Bar Code Validation Specification. This document provides details concerning the format of the Validation Data, the design and implementation of the Validation Harness, performance of the validation process, and the contents of the Validation Report, including the format for the Validation Results.

2.3.1 Downloading the Validation Data

A Bar Code Technology that is being submitted for certification will be validated using a unique set of Validation Data that has been generated based on the contents of the Conformance Statement you have submitted. You will be notified by email when this Validation Data is available for download and provided with an appropriate link on the system for accessing the file to be downloaded.

2.3.2 Performing the Validation

The Validation Specification provides information on setting up your validation environment and creating the Validation Harness that will be used to perform the validation of your Bar Code Technology, using the Validation Data downloaded from the system. The Validation Specification also contains information on the documentation you will need to submit to the Certification and Verification Authority after you have performed the validation, including the format for such documentation.

2.3.3 Submitting the Validation Report

After performing the validation process, you should return to the system. From your organization home page, you may select the "Next" steps button for the entity being certified, where you will have the ability to upload your Validation Report and documentation for your Validation Harness.

2.4 Completion of Certification

Once your submission, including the validation process, is complete and a NASPL Trademark License Agreement is in place, you will be notified of successful certification within 10 business days. If for any reason the submission was not complete, you will be notified so that any corrections can be made and resubmitted. This step, which is common to all NSI Certification and Verification Programs, is described in further detail in the Guide to the NSI Certification and Verification Program.

You should note that certification is valid for a defined period as stated in Section 9.1, "Duration of Certification", of the general NSI Certification/Verification Policy document. At the end of that period, if you wish your technology to remain certified, you will need to renew your certification as defined in Section 3, Renewals Process, below.

3. Renewals Process

When your technology is certified, it remains so for a defined period, after which it must be renewed or the technology will no longer continue to be certified. At any time, you may use the web-based certification/verification system to obtain the renewal date for each of your certified technologies.

Renewal implies that your technology continues to conform for the duration of the renewal period.

Around three months prior to the expiration of your technology's certification, your Primary and Alternate Technical Contacts will be notified that renewal is due. They must respond to the Certification and Verification Authority within 30 calendar days indicating whether or not your organization would like to renew certification; otherwise, your certification will expire on the renewal date. Renewal may be subject to a re-validation of your technology and must be completed prior to your renewal date.

Renewal is performed using the web-based certification/verification system. You may access the renewals page from your organization's home page in the system. When you select the certified technology to be renewed, you will be presented with a web renewal form to complete.

Please see Section 9, "Renewal", of the general NSI Certification/Verification Policy document for further information on the requirements and process for renewal.

4. Certified Entity Modifications and Updates

Any modifications to your Certified Entity must be made in accordance with the requirements defined in the NSI Certification/Verification Policy. You should read the requirements in the policy documents thoroughly since they describe multiple scenarios related to technology changes. In some cases, the modification or update necessitates a new certification, whereas in other cases, you may update your existing certification.

Updates to your technology's certification are performed using the web-based certification/verification system. You may access the updates page from your organization's home page in the system. When you select the certified technology to be updated, you will be presented with a web form to be used to indicate to the Certification and Verification Authority the type of change.

The types of changes that may be made to a technology certified against the Bar Code Technical Standard are defined in Section 5, "Certification/Verification Requirements for Modifications of a Certified/Verified Entity", of the NSI Policy Supplement for Bar Code Certification.

If the "Certification Requirement" identified in the policy document is either "Certification Information update" or "Conformance Statement update", you must complete the web form to provide information on the requested change and provide the Certification and Verification Authority with any required information or documentation. Upon review and acceptance of such information or documentation and receipt of payment for amending your registration, the Certification and Verification Authority will update your certification information.

If the "Certification Requirement" is "New Certification", then this change is considered a new technology and is subject to a new certification. In this case, your organization should register this technology for certification using the "new business practice or technology registration" link accessible from your organization's home page.

Any other change must be communicated to the Certification and Verification Authority within 30 calendar days of such change. The Certification and Verification Authority will then determine what the associated validation and certification requirements are for such change.

For other help on registering your business practice or product please also see The Frequently Asked Questions File. You may also contact the NSI Certification and Verification Portal Certification and Verification Authority