JCM Global has introduced its FUZION 2.2 software update as it continues to build on its pioneering system solution to take casinos to the next level as the transaction and payments technologies leader.
FUZION, which has been deployed for five years, has been regularly updated.
FUZION Drop Management is the most important new feature. Casinos can create a drop schedule for their floor, and FUZION will track the progress of each cashbox from the casino floor all the way back to the count room. Drop teams will be able to see any cashboxes they’ve missed and which type of cashbox to bring to the floor, according to Chris Blevens, JCM’s product manager of systems.
The drop and count process will be measured for time, allowing the managers to optimize their schedules. It tracks cashbox fullness over time, as well as how long it takes to replace a full cashbox and how much it costs them in down time, Blevens said.
“This is where casinos can track all of the cash boxes they plan to collect for the day, and the FUZION system is going to report the whole duration of replacing those cash boxes on the casino floor,” Blevens explained. “We can see the pace of the drop, and then we are able to see the progress as they come back to the count room. It’s something count room managers can use to be more efficient in their process.”
The second new feature is FUZION Intelligent Recommendations. Users can create filters to identify cashboxes that meet their criteria. FUZION will evaluate all cashboxes on the floor and add the cashboxes that match to the schedule. They can filter:
“They can use recommendations from the system on what are the best cashboxes to pull,” Blevens said. “The vision is they will continue to drop certain sections of the floor and use Intelligent Recommendations to add in cash boxes on top of that. They might have bandwidth to drop 400 cash boxes per day, and they can use Intelligent Recommendations to give them another 20 games. After they have seen it, we’ve had some customers want to do an entire dynamic drop schedule where FUZION lists the best 300 cash boxes to pull for the day. They can pull those specific cash boxes and leave the rest. There’s no reason to pull a cash box that’s only 5% full.”
The Asset Configuration Widget is another new feature. It lets operators see when slot technicians are making mistakes to correct it before it becomes an audit problem, said Blevens.
“If they make a mistake while they’re configuring their slot machine or JCM devices, FUZION is able to communicate between the machines on the floor and our devices.” he said. “If they don’t match, we will notify the technicians to get out and fix those things.”
Another 2.2 update is AML Serial Number Assessment. iVIZION analyzes the serial number for each bill and verifies if the pattern belongs to the bill series that’s been recognized by the validator.
FUZION can monitor for these events and can change the security level.
“Every time a bill is inserted into our iVIZION, we are analyzing that serial number, and we know the patterns of what’s allowed for a $100 note versus a $50 note, versus a $5 note,” Blevens said. “We’re comparing what’s in the acceptable range of serial numbers. If it doesn’t meet that criteria, the system will flag this as suspicious activity. We can send alerts and reject bills with our FUZION system when we detect that behavior.”
The notification panel can be used to see any events that have occurred to which the user has subscribed. FUZION users can receive alerts through the notification panel, emails, or text messages. Once the event has been addressed, it will automatically be removed from the list. If the user isn’t concerned with the event, they can dismiss it.
“We’re going to give specific status updates,” Blevens said. “As soon as you log in, you will have a notification panel telling you what you’re looking for in FUZION so you don’t have to dig around and find those things.”
The 2.2 upgrade has been in GLI for testing and certification is expected soon; JCM is planning to make it available to casinos by the end of March, Blevens said. The updates will be showcased at the Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow & Convention in San Diego in early April.
Data helps casinos make better decisions, said Blevens.
“The way FUZION has typically been used is for monitoring the cash boxes and seeing how full they are on the casino floor,” he said. “Drop Management was the main feature we wanted to highlight which will help to manage the whole collection process for them.”
JCM, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary, has been helping companies do business better, smarter and faster, said Katie Gehrke, marketing and communications manager.
“We’re always looking for ways to build on the technology that we already have and ways to make it better and enhance the user side of the experience,” Gehrke said. “Talking about capturing the serial numbers, it’s a feature we had, but now it’s taking it to the next level with verification to make security better for our customers.”
“We were tracking serial numbers previously, but we’re now using them to help customers make security decisions with our validation,” Blevens added.
