ISO 8583

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ISO 8583 Standard for Financial Transaction Card Originated Messages - Interchange message specifications is the International Organization for Standardization standard for systems that exchange electronic transactions made by cardholders using payment cards.

Contents
1 Introduction 2 Message Type Indicator (MTI) 3 0110 3.1 ISO 8583 Version 3.2 Message Class 3.3 Message Function 3.4 Message Origin 3.5 Examples 4 Bitmaps 4.1 Examples 5 Data Elements 5.1 Examples 6 External links

Introduction
A card-based transaction typically travels from a transaction acquiring device, such as a point-of-sale terminal or an ATM, through a series of networks, to a card issuing system for authorization against the card holder's account. The transaction data contains information derived from the card (e.g., the account number), the terminal (e.g., the merchant number), the transaction (e.g., the amount), together with other data which may be generated dynamically or added by intervening systems. The card issuing system will either authorize or decline the transaction and generate a response message which must be delivered back to the terminal in a timely manner. ISO 8583 defines a message format and a communication flow so that different systems can exchange these transactions. The vast majority of transactions made at Automated Teller Machines use ISO 8583 at some point in the communication chain, as do transactions made when a customer uses a card to make a payment in a store. In particular, both the MasterCard and Visa networks base their authorization communications on the ISO 8583 standard, as do many other institutions and networks. Cardholder-originated transactions include purchase, withdrawal, deposit, refund, reversal, balance inquiry, payments and inter-account transfers. ISO 8583 also defines system-to-system messages for secure key exchanges, reconciliation of totals, and other administrative purposes. Although ISO 8583 defines a common standard, it is not typically used directly by systems or networks. Instead, each network adapts the standard for its own use with custom fields and custom usages.

The placement of fields in different versions of the standard varies; for example, the currency elements of the 1987 and 1993 versions are no longer used in the 2003 version, which holds currency as a subelement of any financial amount element. As of writing, ISO 8583:2003 has yet to achieve wide acceptance. An ISO 8583 message is made of the following parts: Message Type Indicator (MTI) One or more bitmaps, indicating which data elements are present Data elements, the fields of the message

Message Type Indicator (MTI)

This is a 4 digit numeric field which classifies the high level function of the message. A Message Type Indicator includes the ISO 8583 version, the Message Class, the Message Function and the Message Origin, each described briefly in the following sections. example :

0110
0xxx x1xx xx1x xxx0 -> -> -> -> version of ISO 8583 (1987 version) class of the Message (Authorization Message) function of the Message (Request Response) who began the communication (Acquirer)

ISO 8583 Version

Position one of the MTI specifies the versions of the ISO 8583 standard which is being used to transmit the message. Position 0xxx 1xxx 2xxx 9xxx Meaning ISO 8583-1:1987 version ISO 8583-2:1993 version ISO 8583-1:2003 version Private usage

Message Class
Position two of the MTI specifies the overall purpose of the message. Position Meaning Usage Determine if funds are available, get an approval but do not post to

x1xx x2xx x3xx x4xx x5xx x6xx x7xx x8xx x9xx

Authorization Message Financial Message File Actions Message Reversal Message Reconciliation Message Administrative Message Fee Collection Message Network Management Message Reserved by ISO

account for reconciliation, Dual Message System (DMS), awaits file exchange for posting to account Determines if funds are available, get an approval and post directly to the account, Single Message System (SMS), no file exchange after this Used for hot-card, TMS and other exchanges Reverses the action of a previous authorization Transmits settlement information Transmits administrative advice. Often used for failure messages (e.g. message reject or failure to apply)

Used for secure key exchange, logon, echo test and other network functions

Message Function
Position three of the MTI specifies the message function which defines how the message should flow within the system. Requests are end-to-end messages (e.g., from acquirer to issuer and back with timeouts and automatic reversals in place), while advices are point-to-point messages (eg, from terminal to acquirer, from acquirer to network, from network to issuer, with transmission guaranteed over each link, but not necessarily immediately). Position xx0x xx1x xx2x xx3x xx4x xx8x xx9x Request Request Response Advice Advice Response Notification Response acknowledgment Negative acknowledgment Meaning

Message Origin
Position four of the MTI defines the location of the message source within the payment chain. Position xxx0 Meaning Acquirer

xxx1 xxx2 xxx3 xxx4 xxx5

Acquirer Repeat Issuer Issuer Repeat Other Other Repeat

Examples
Bearing each of the above four positions in mind, an MTI will completely specify what a message should do, and how it is to be transmitted around the network. Unfortunately, not all ISO 8583 implementations interpret the meaning of an MTI in the same way. However, a few MTIs are relatively standard: MTI Meaning Usage Request from a point-of-sale terminal for authorization for a cardholder purchase When the Point of Sale device breaks down and you have to sign a voucher if the advice times out Request for funds, typically from an ATM e.g. Checkout at a hotel Reverses a transaction Advises that a reversal has taken place

0100 Authorization request 0120 Authorization Advice 0121 Authorisation Advice Repeat 0200 Acquirer Financial Request 0220 Acquirer Financial Advice 0400 Acquirer Reversal Request 0420 Acquirer Reversal Advice 0421

0221 Acquirer Financial Advice repeat if the advice times out

Acquirer Reversal Advice Repeat if the reversal times out Message Echo test, logon, log off etc Keychange

0800 Network Management Request 0820 Network Management Advice

Bitmaps
Within ISO 8583, a bitmap is a field or subfield within a message which indicates which other data elements or data element subfields may be present elsewhere in a message. A message will contain at least one bitmap, called the Primary Bitmap which indicates which of Data Elements 1 to 64 are present. A secondary bitmap may also be present, generally as data element one and indicates which of data elements 65 to 128 are present. Similarly, a tertiary, or third, bitmap can be used to indicate the presence or absence of fields 129 to 192, although these data elements are rarely used. The bitmap may be transmitted as 8 bytes of binary data, or as 16 hexadecimal characters 0-9, A-F in the ASCII or EBCDIC character sets.

A field is present when the specific bit in the bitmap is true, i.e. byte '82x is binary '1000 0010' which means fields 1 and 7 are present in the message

Examples
Bitmap Defines presence of Fields 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 14, 22, 24, 26, 32, 35, 37, 41, 42, 47, 49, 53, 62, 64 ,100 (Secondary Bitmap required to show the presence of field - 100)

4210001102C04804 Fields 2, 7, 12, 28, 32, 39, 41, 42, 50, 53, 62 7234054128C28805

8000000000000001 Field 1, 64 0000000000000003 Fields 127, 128 (secondary bitmap) Explanation of Bitmap field 4210001102C04804 01000010 = 42x (counting from the left, the second and seventh bits are 1, indicating that fields 2 and 7 are present) 00010000 = 10x (field 12 is present) 00000000 = 00x (no fields present) 00010001 = 11x (fields 28 and 32 are present) 00000010 = 02x (field 39 is present) 11000000 = C0x (fields 41 and 42 are present) 01001000 = 48x (fields 50 and 53 are present) 00000100 = 04x (field 62 is present) 0________10________20________30________40________50________60__64 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234 n-th bit 0100001000010000000000000001000100000010110000000100100000000100 bit map Fields present in variable length message record: 2-7-12-28-32-39-41-42-50-53-62

Data Elements
Data Elements are the individual fields carrying the transaction information. There are up to 128 data elements specified in the original ISO 8583:1987 standard, and up to 192 data elements in later releases. The 1993 revision added new definitions, deleted some, while leaving the message format itself unchanged. While each data element has a specified meaning and format, the standard also includes some general purpose data elements and system- or country-specific data elements which vary enormously in use and form from implementation to implementation. Each data element is described in a standard format which defines the permitted content of the field (numeric, binary, etc) and the field length (variable or fixed), according to the following table:

Abbreviation a n s an as ns ans b z . or .. or ... Alpha, including blanks Numeric values only Special characters only Alphanumeric Alpha & special characters only

Meaning

Numeric and special characters only Alphabetic, numeric and special characters. Binary data Tracks 2 and 3 code set as defined in ISO 4909 and ISO 7813 variable field length indicator, each . indicating a digit.

x or xx or xxx fixed length of field or maximum length in the case of variable length fields. Additionally, each field may be either fixed or variable length. If variable, the length of the field will be preceded by a length indicator. Type Fixed LLVAR or (..xx) LLLVAR or (...xxx) no field length used Where LL < 100, means two leading digits LL specify the field length of field VAR Where LLL < 1000, means three leading digits LLL specify the field length of field VAR Meaning

LL can be 1 or 2 bytes. For example, if compressed as one hex byte, '27x means there are 27 VAR bytes to follow. If ASCII, the two bytes '32x, '37x LL and LLL are hex or mean there are 27 bytes to follow. 3 digit field length LLL uses 2 bytes ASCII. A VAR field with a leading '0' nibble if compressed, or 3 bytes if ASCII. The format of a can be compressed or VAR data element depends on the data element type. If numeric it will be ASCII depending of compressed, e.g. 87456 will be represented by 3 hex bytes '087456x. If the data element type. ASCII then one byte for each digit or character is used, e.g. '38x, '37x, '34x, '35x, '36x. ISO-Defined Data Elements Usage Bit Map Extended Primary account number (PAN) Processing code Amount, transaction Amount, Settlement Amount, cardholder billing Transmission date & time

Data Element 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Type b 64 n ..19 n6 n 12 n 12 n 12 n 10

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

n8 n8 n8 n6 n6 n4 n4 n4 n4 n4 n4 n3 n3 n3 n3 n3 n3 n2 n2 n1 n8 n8 n8 n8 n ..11 n ..11 n ..28 z ..37 n ...104 an 12 an 6 an 2 an 3 ans 8 ans 15 ans 40

Amount, Cardholder billing fee Conversion rate, Settlement Conversion rate, cardholder billing Systems trace audit number Time, Local transaction Date, Local transaction Date, Expiration Date, Settlement Date, conversion Date, capture Merchant type Acquiring institution country code PAN Extended, country code Forwarding institution. country code Point of service entry mode Application PAN number Function code(ISO 8583:1993)/Network International identifier (?) Point of service condition code Point of service capture code Authorizing identification response length Amount, transaction fee Amount. settlement fee Amount, transaction processing fee Amount, settlement processing fee Acquiring institution identification code Forwarding institution identification code Primary account number, extended Track 2 data Track 3 data Retrieval reference number Authorization identification response Response code Service restriction code Card acceptor terminal identification Card acceptor identification code Card acceptor name/location

an ..25 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 an ..76

Additional response data Track 1 Data

an ...999 Additional data - ISO an ...999 Additional data - National an ...999 Additional data - Private a3 an 3 a3 b 16 n 18 an 120 Currency code, transaction Currency code, settlement Currency code, cardholder billing Personal Identification number data Security related control information Additional amounts

ans ...999 Reserved ISO ans ...999 Reserved ISO ans ...999 Reserved National ans ...999 Reserved National ans ...999 Reserved for national use an .7 Advice/reason code (private reserved) ans ...999 Reserved Private ans ...999 Reserved Private ans ...999 Reserved Private b 16 b 16 n1 n2 n3 n3 n3 n4 n6 n 10 n 10 n 10 n 10 n 10 n 10 Message authentication code (MAC) Bit map, tertiary Settlement code Extended payment code Receiving institution country code Settlement institution county code Network management Information code Message number Date, Action Credits, number Credits, reversal number Debits, number Debits, reversal number Transfer number Transfer, reversal number

ans ...999 Data record (ISO 8583:1993)/n 4 Message number, last(?)

n 10 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 n 10 n 12 n 12 n 12 n 12 n 15 n 15 n 15 n 15 n 42 an 1 n2 n5 an 7 an 42 an 8 n 16 ans 25 n ..11 n ..11 ans 17 ans ..28 ans ..28

Inquiries number Authorizations, number Credits, processing fee amount Credits, transaction fee amount Debits, processing fee amount Debits, transaction fee amount Credits, amount Credits, reversal amount Debits, amount Debits, reversal amount Original data elements File update code File security code Response indicator Service indicator Replacement amounts Message security code Amount, net settlement Payee Settlement institution identification code Receiving institution identification code File name Account identification 1 Account identification 2

ans ...100 Transaction description ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for ISO use ans ...999 Reserved for national use n ..11 Authorizing agent institution id code ans ...999 Reserved for national use ans ...999 Reserved for national use

ans ...999 Reserved for national use 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 ans ...999 Reserved for national use ans ...999 Reserved for national use ans ...999 Reserved for national use ans ...999 Reserved for private use ans ...999 Reserved for private use ans ...999 Reserved for private use ans ...999 Reserved for private use ans ...255 Info Text ans ..50 ans .6 b 16 Network management information Issuer trace id Message Authentication code

ans ...999 Reserved for private use

Examples
Field Definition n6 n.6 a..11 b...999 Meaning Fixed length field of six digits LLVAR numeric field of up to 6 digits in length LLVAR alphanumeric field of up to 11 characters in length LLLVAR binary field of up to 999 bytes in length

External links
ISO 8583 overview DL-ISO-8583 Open-source implementation, written in C GPL'd ISO8583 Framework .NET ISO-8583 Framework jPOS ISO-8583 Framework in Java j8583 library, in Java ISO-8583 '93 based POS Terminal - HOST protocol (Italian) iso8583.info FREE OnLine ISO 8583:1987 & ISO 8583:1993 messages encoder and decoder Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8583" Categories: ISO standards | Payment systems | Electronic commerce This page was last modified on 21 January 2009, at 11:41. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c) (3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.