HUB: J4M Evolves — New Features for More Flexible Validation Management

Web validation is an established feature of parking management. For parking operators, it can be a practical way to let merchants offer parking discounts to their customers, while creating a structured relationship between the parking facility and the businesses around it.

Validation programs can involve multiple merchants, different discount structures, and specific commercial agreements, all of which need to be managed and monitored over time.

Three recent enhancements to J4M, HUB Parking Technology's Web Validation Platform, focus on these activities, introducing new capabilities both in the merchant application and in the way validation billback is configured and managed through JMS.

More flexibility when applying validations

Different merchants may wish to offer different parking incentives: that is why J4M does not apply a one-size-fits-all approach. With the recent updates to J4M make these options more flexible, making it easier for merchants to find the validation they need when processing a ticket, and apply multiple validation options to the same ticket.

This is especially useful when a parking agreement is based on more than one condition. For example, a merchant may want to apply a parking benefit linked to a customer's purchase and combine different validation amounts on the same parking session.

The process remains straightforward: the merchant scans the ticket, selects the required validation, and can add another validation when needed. Validation options are also displayed in alphabetical order, and individual validations can also be modified or removed before the operation is completed.

This is a critical improvement in day-to-day use, giving merchants more control over the validation they are applying and making the process easier to manage when different discounts or conditions need to be combined.

These enhancements are not limited to new implementations: existing customers using the J4M application can also benefit from the evolution of the solution and the features added over time.

Making validation agreements easier to manage – operators to merchants

The second major update concerns the relationship between parking operators and merchants.

Validation can be used to support local businesses as a loyalty boost: a shopping mall, for example, may allow its stores to offer discounted parking to customers, or, in a city center, a municipality or parking operator may apply the same approach to make a specific parking facility more attractive to visitors and support nearby commercial activities.

In these scenarios, the parking benefit offered to the end user (driver) is not necessarily absorbed in full by the parking operator. The merchant can instead take part in the cost of the parking benefit through a billback agreement.

Through JMS Management System, the parking owners and operators can enable or disable merchant billback and define how charges are calculated, whether based on the discounted amount, a fixed fee for each validation, or a percentage of the validation value.

This update allows to adapt the validation program to the actual agreement established with each merchant, rather than applying a single model to every business.

Flexible Merchant Billing Models

The third J4M update improves how merchant validations can be collected, managed, and billed over time.

On one hand, instead of treating each validation as an isolated transaction, operators can define a billing cycle and decide how the related amounts should be accumulated and charged. Depending on the commercial agreement, validations can be collected over a configurable period, such as a month or a quarter, and included in a consolidated billback report.

JMS provides visibility of all validations associated with each merchant, together with the corresponding amounts, making it easier to manage periodic billing processes. The final invoicing step is not automated by default, allowing operators to integrate billing with their existing financial processes and commercial requirements.

On the other hand, J4M can also support payment through the merchant's credit card or a prepaid wallet. With a wallet-based model, merchants can continue using the validation service while sufficient credit is available, with each validation automatically deducted from the available balance.

This gives operators the flexibility to manage merchant billing through periodic invoicing, automatic payments, or prepaid models, depending on the agreement in place with each merchant.

The value of these solution updates goes beyond the simplification of the validation process: easier for the merchant providing parking owners and operators with a more structured way to manage who can offer parking benefits, under which conditions, and how those benefits are accounted for.

The operator can define different billback rules for different merchants, monitor the validations being used, and keep the associated costs under control. In parallel, merchants have a simpler and more flexible way to apply the parking benefits agreed with the operator. This can make validation a more effective tool for building relationships with businesses nerby a parking facility or withing a city center.

J4M continues to progress based on a clear-cut principle: more flexibility without adding unnecessary complexity.

About HUB Parking Technology

HUB Parking Technology is the brand of FAAC Technologies that develops, manufactures, installs, and provides after-sales services for Parking Access and Revenue Control Systems. HUB controls all product phases from design to code writing, to distribution, installation, and post-installation support through an extensive network of company branches and value-added partners worldwide.

HUB product range, Jupiter, is designed for long term performance, to future-proof the operators and owners’ investments: thanks to scalable features and enhanced serviceability, it streamlines the parking experience for users while providing a profitable and easy to manage solution to operators. HUB software allows PARCS management 24/7 from anywhere, through a multi-tenant cloud and/or on-premises architecture. Consumer mobile apps for reservation and operator apps for validation complete the system range with solutions catering to transient and contract parkers. Visit www.hubparking.com to learn more.