Onboarded Device Swap

Onboarded Device Swap lets a merchant administrator or an authorized VASC technician replace the Commander unit at a site directly from Commander Central, without contacting the helpdesk. This is used for routine hardware replacement, including situations where the existing Commander is physically dead or unreachable.

Initiating a Swap

1

Locate the site

Navigate to the site's management area in Commander Central and select Swap Device for the currently onboarded Commander.

2

Review current device

Commander Central displays the current device's serial number and device type.

3

Confirm

Read the confirmation prompt carefully: the existing device will be permanently deboarded, and this action cannot be undone or cancelled once confirmed.

4

Swap begins

Upon confirmation, Commander Central immediately deboards the outgoing device (Delete Device) and opens the Service ID for a replacement device to onboard. This happens whether or not the outgoing device is online — a dead or unresponsive Commander is swapped the same way as a working one.

Onboarding the Replacement Device

1

Replacement Commander

Install the replacement Verifone Commander at the site and onboard it via Verifone Commander Configuration Client.

2

Serial Number

The device self-reports its serial number automatically during onboarding — no manual serial number entry is required.

3

Validation

Commander Central validates that the reported serial number is not already actively associated with a different Service ID, and rejects onboarding with a clear error if so.

4

Configuration Restoration

After onboarding succeeds, Commander Central automatically triggers reverse seeding (via the existing MQTT mechanism), restoring the site's configuration to the replacement device. All configuration datasets supported up to the device's base version are restored automatically — no manual configuration steps are needed.

Entitlement Alignment

If the replacement device's serial number does not immediately match Verifone's CRM entitlement record for the site, Commander Central raises an Entitlement Alignment Exception rather than blocking onboarding. This exception clears automatically after CRM entitlement data syncs and confirms the new serial number. (This same exception type also applies to fresh, non-swap site onboarding where a serial number mismatch occurs.)

Exception Report

The Exception Report surfaces two types of exceptions related to device swaps and onboarding, with access scoped by role:

Role	Scope	View
Merchant Admin	Own organization's Service IDs	Hierarchical view — can scope to region, group, or individual site
VASC Technician	Only sites the VASC company is authorized for	Worklist of sites with an open Swap Trigger Exception, indicating a replacement device is still needed
Helpdesk / Operations (incl. Tier 1)	Entire install base	Read-only; optional filter by merchant entity, exception type, date range, or device type

• Swap Trigger Exception — created every time a swap is initiated; records the initiating user, timestamp, and the serial number of the deboarded device. This record is the audit trail for the swap itself.
• Entitlement Alignment Exception — created when an onboarded device's serial number does not match CRM entitlement (for both swaps and fresh onboarding); clears automatically on CRM sync.

Who Can Initiate a Swap

Role	Can Initiate Swap?	Can Onboard New Device?	Exception Report Access
Merchant Admin	Yes	Yes	Own organization, hierarchical scope
Authorized VASC Technician	Yes	Yes	Authorized sites only — worklist view
Helpdesk / Operations (Tier 1 & Ops)	No	No	Full install base, read-only
Unauthorized User	No	No	No access