Integrate cashier system

This is the integration guide for ECR providers and partners. It takes you from zero to an integration Aera has approved and a release that is ready for the stores. Your ECR (till or POS system) talks to Aera terminals through the Aera Integration Component (AIC).

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What you don't need to do
You don't need an Aera account, acquiring agreements or production terminals to build and test your integration. Aera sends you a test kit (task 2). Accounts, agreements, store terminals and the store rollout are the merchant's part: see Roll out in your stores.

Work through these 8 tasks in order.

Plan your integration

Choose local integration in the store or cloud integration hosted by Aera, and make the decisions that change what you build.

Get your test kit

Order the test terminal, test cards, menu passwords, specifications and the self-assessment form from Aera.

Connect terminal

Open the firewall, install AIC, connect the terminal and make a test payment with the ECR simulator. No code needed.

Connect your ECR

Connect your ECR to AIC, find the terminal ID, keep the connection alive, log in and take your first payment in code.

Implement the payment flow

Build the minimum message set, print receipts and recover from timeouts without charging twice.

Add optional features

Add the features your merchants need: refunds, cash services, loyalty, gift cards, reconciliation and more.

Test and get approved

Test every message, including what happens when things go wrong, and send the self-assessment so Aera can approve your integration.

Prepare your release

Switch to production (local or cloud integration) and hand your release over to store IT.

Using cloud integration? In task 3, get staging credentials and connect the terminal with Cloud integration instead. There is no simulator, so your ECR must already send Aera's REST messages before you can test.

If the merchant's store IT team helps you, they are mainly involved with:

AIC for local integration, which runs on the ECR computer or a store server
IP over USB, where each ECR computer shares its network with the terminal
firewall changes, including letting the ECR backend reach Aera and letting cloud integration callbacks in from the internet

Integration support

If you have any questions or need support for any of these steps, please send an email to our onboarding support team at [email protected].

For production issues please see your customer handbook for support alternatives.

Start with task 1: Plan your integration.

What you don't need to do

Integration support

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