TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER LICENSING AND

COMMERCIALISATION CENTRE
(TTLCC)

REPORT ON THE TESTING OF CBZ TAP-MACHINES

DEPLOYED AT HARARE

BY
Forward Abinal
13 NOVEMBER 2019
ISSUES IDENTIFIED.

1. Of the 20 Tap Machines received from CBZ Bank for

testing on the Harare CBD routes, 5 Activation Machines
where deployed to our sales agents and 3 Tap Machines
where deployed to ZUPCO Conductors for a live testing on
12 November 2019 from 08:00hrs to 18:00hrs.
2. Of the 5 Activation Machines deployed the agents reported
that not a single one could “Top-Up” an NMB BANK tap
card, giving an error message, “Card Not Active”.
However, when the sales agents attempted to do a “Top-
Up” on the same NMB BANK tap-card using an NMB Bank
issued Activation machine, the transaction successfully
went through.
3. One Sales Agent successfully activated an NMB BANK tap
card, “6094 4800 0000 0714 358” using the CBZ BANK
Activation machine, “16000069-ZKDMATOP_069” and
also did a “Top-Up” of $10 on the tap card. However on
testing the tap card on an NMB BANK Activation/Top-Up
machine the machine reported an error machine, “Card
Not Active”. The Sales Agent had to refund $20 to the
customer and returned the tap card.
4. Three Tap Machines which were also deployed for a live
test on three Harare CBD routes also experienced some
real challenges. The ZUPCO conductors could not
continue with the live tests as the machines could not “tap”
 NMB BANK tap cards as they were sending error
messages, “Card Not Active” or “Please Re-tap Card”.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The CBZ BANK Tap Machines and Activation machines

are not compatible on the platform being used by
ZUPCO Sales Agents and Conductors.
2. The “pay as you go” concept being pursued by ZUPCO
using tap cards requires that the tap cards being used by
customers be compatible across all platforms, either
CBZ Bank or NMB Bank platform. What it means is that,
a CBZ Bank tap card be usable across all platforms,
either a CBZ Bank or NMB Bank tap machine or
activation machine and vice versa.
3. The CBZ Bank tap machines and activation machines
need to be taken to their software vendor for an upgrade
with an appropriate latest software. Post that upgrade
they need to be tested off-field on the main issue of
compatibility across all platforms, that is, “NMB Bank and
CBZ Bank” tap machines before deployment for a live
test.