Skyware Local Stand Alone Service

Skyware Systems is cloud based, and interacts with the local hard interfaces at your Property. The Skyware Local Stand Alone Service is only available/used for those Properties using the credit card Gateway service Shift 4. This Skyware service is LOCAL to your Property. Local installations are not cloud based, meaning it will be found on one of the computers at your location. It interacts with the local Shift 4 service interface program, and enables the communication between your Skyware system and the credit card gateway processor. If the Shift 4 gateway or communication program has had problems and gone down, usually the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service will restart when Shift 4 does, but on occasion it may need to be restarted locally (similar to when the "Interface Not Running" error appears in Skyware, and there is no communication between the Skyware and non-Skyware parts of your system).

When using the Pin Pad/EMV device for a credit card transaction, if Skyware and Shift 4 are not communicating, after 3-4 seconds instead of activating, the device will display the error message "Unable to activate EMV device". If this error message appears it means that the local interface program is not running, and thus there is no communication between the local Skyware service and the Shift 4 parts of your system.

Note: If Shift 4 is currently experiencing difficulties, a different error message relating to the issue will be displayed.

If you receive the "Unable to activate EMV device" error message, please check the EMV transactions screen to ensure that the transaction was recorded. If the error truly lies in the communication between Skyware and Shift 4, there will be a record of it in the detailed list for the specific Pin Pad/EMV device, that shows the transaction request was not "picked up" and sent, and instead timed out. This means that the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service is not active and therefore not communicating, and will need to be restarted on-site.

Note: To check on the EMV transactions and to restart the local service may both require a manager or manager privileges on Skyware.

 

 

(After receiving the "Unable to activate EMV device" error message):

 

The EMV Transactions screen is reached from the EMV Stations configuration screen:

 

EMV Stations

 

From the quick menu (left) choose Manager's Screen to be taken to the Manager's Commands screen.

Quick Menu with Manager's Screen option selected

OR

Full Menu

 

The Full menu has four sections, Registration, Status, Cashier and Other.

Full Menu Table

From the Full Menu Other section (bottom right) select Other =>

Other Section of Full Menu with Other option selected

This will display the Other Front Desk Tasks Menu, which is divided into four sections: Other List 1, Other List 2, Documents and Web.

Other Front Desk Tasks Menu

Select the Manager's Screen => command in the Other List 2 to open the Manager's Commandsscreen.

Manager's Commands Menu

 

Select Configuration => from the Manager's Command Menu, to be taken to the PROPERTY AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATION screen.

Manager's Commands Menu with Configuration option selected

Note: Alternately, you may also be able to select Configuration directly from the Quick Menu, if the menu has been set up to include the Configuration option.

 

Select Interfaces from the Sub-Systems area of the Property and System Configuration screen.

Property and System Configuration menu with Interfaces option selected

This will take you to the INTERFACES MAINTENANCE menu screen.

Interfaces Maintenance Menu

This is the Interface maintenance area, and each entry can be selected for viewing or further configuration. Interfaces area commands are divided into four sections:

Channel Interfaces, Texting Interface, Other Interfaces and Other Interface.

Select PinPad (EMV) Stations from the Other Interfaces section of the Interfaces Maintenance menu.

Interfaces Maintenance Menu with PinPad (EMV) Stations option selected

When selected, the EMV Stations screen will open.

 

The PinPad (EMV) Stations screen display is split into two frames, with the left side of the screen listing any already configured PinPad (EMV) Stations for the property and the right side containing the fields you need to complete in order to add or edit a PinPad (EMV) Station for the property. Also on the right you will see EMV Transactions - there is a field below the configuration options that will display any transactions performed using the particular Pin Pad (EMV) station, with details of that transaction (such as time sent, any error that occurred, if the transaction timed out etc). This table is display only.

EMVStations screen example

Note: When the EMV Stations screen is first opened, by default the transactions displayed will be for the first device in the list order on the left. If no transactions have occurred with the device, the field will be empty.

 

Click on the relevant device from those listed on the left (the one which displayed the error message) to open the EMV Transaction screen for the particular pinpad/EMV device.

EMV Transaction screen example

The list of transactions that have occurred using the selected device will be listed on the left, with the details of the selected transaction displayed on the right. By default the transaction displayed will be the first in the list order on the left.

 

Look at the list to check that the attempted transaction occurred. Every transaction attempt is recorded by its Sent Date/Time, with the most recent at the top. Click on the desired transaction entry to display the details on the right.

Note: IF there is NO transaction attempt record here, the issue is not with Skyware.

 

Successfully completed transaction attempts will have the word "No" in the Timed Out column, and ALSO have an entry in the Completed field, showing the Date/Time of completion, and the details section will have the picked up check box as well as the completed check box checked, and show the Date/Time the transaction was picked up and the Date/Time the transaction was completed.

EMV Transaction screen example with successful transaction details shown

IF the transaction instead timed out (meaning that Skyware and Shift 4 are not communicating), the Timed Out column will say "Yes" instead of "No", there will NOT be an entry in the Completed field on the left, and in the details section on the right, the Picked Up check box will not be checked, instead the Timed Out check box will be checked, and there will be no Date/Time entries.

EMV Trnsaction screen example showing details of a timed out transaction attempt

Note: If instead of the Timed Out check box being checked, the error box is checked, there will also be an entry in the error field describing the error which occurred. Errors relate to Shift 4 directly, rather than the communication between Shift 4 and Skyware.

 

If the transaction is shown as having timed out, Skyware and Shift 4 are not communicating, meaning that the transaction request was not sent and the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service is not active and will need to be restarted.

 

 

Note: You may need the log-in and password for the specific local machine hosting the program to restart the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service.

 

Locate the local machine that runs this program. Ensure that the machine is currently switched on and working.

 

Log in if necessary and double click the Skyware globe icon representing the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service program, to open the service window.

Skyware globe icon for opening Skyware Local Stand Alone Service window

When opened, the Skyware Local Stand Alone Service window will show two sets of buttons, a start and stop button for Service Status and a start and stop button for Events. (The Event buttons should not be required for restarting the service).

Skyware Stand Alone Server Window with Service status section highlighted

If the service is not running currently, the start button will be disabled.

This means to restart the service, you will need to first click the Stop Service button, THEN click the Start Service button .

This should re-start the service and the communication between Skyware and Shift 4.

 

Once the service has been stopped and started again, try running the transaction again - this time it should be successful.

 

Note: If BOTH Service buttons appear disabled when the window appears, (meaning you cannot make ANY changes), you may need to set the administrator privileges to allow you to do so for the service.

(Close the Skyware Stand Alone Service window).

Instead of double-clicking on the desktop icon to open the window, RIGHT click it to open the list of possible actions.

Scroll down to the word "Properties" at the bottom of the list, and click it to open the "Properties" tool box. The tool box will automatically open with the shortcut tab open; click on the Compatibility tab to open it.

Properties tool box with Compatibility tab open and "Run this program as an administrator" highlighted

Check the "Run this program as an administrator" check box, and apply the change.

Subsequently, you should only need to double-click the icon to open the service window, and stop then start the service.

 

Date Updated January 31, 2022