# Payment reliability

The Tieto E-commerce Payment Gateway (EGW) incorporates an intelligent Smart Routing Engine designed to optimize transaction reliability, improve payment success rates, and minimize processing disruptions. By leveraging dynamic routing logic, failover mechanisms, and context-aware decisioning, EGW ensures consistent payment performance across a wide range of payment methods and processors.

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This feature is critical for acquirers, PSPs, and merchants aiming to maximize uptime, reduce cart abandonment, and increase conversion.

## What is Smart Routing?

Smart Routing refers to EGW’s ability to dynamically:

* Select the best available payment path (processor, scheme, or method)
* Fallback to alternative options in case of timeouts or errors
* Apply custom business rules based on merchant category, geography, value, or schedule
* Monitor availability of payment methods in real time
* Balance transaction volume across channels (load distribution)

{% hint style="info" %}
[**Cascading**](https://doc.ecomm.api.tietoevry.com/features/cascading-transactions) **vs. Smart Routing:**

While EGW’s Smart Routing determines the optimal payment path before payment initiation, the platform also supports Cascading Failover, a sequential retry mechanism that attempts alternate processors or methods if the primary route fails. These two mechanisms work in tandem to ensure maximum reliability and success rate across all transactions.

* Smart Routing decides the initial processor, acquirer, or payment method based on:
  * Platform-level configuration (e.g., by time, MCC, region, transaction amount)
  * Merchant-defined routing preferences (e.g., preferred card acquirer, fallback to A2A)
  * Real-time conditions (e.g., processor availability, health monitoring)
* [Cascading](https://doc.ecomm.api.tietoevry.com/features/cascading-transactions) handles the retry logic when the initial attempt fails — retrying or switching to the next available or configured processor or method, according to:
  * Predefined fallback sequence (intra-method or cross-method)
  * Error types (e.g., soft declines, timeouts)
  * Merchant-specific settings (if allowed)

#### Example Flow:

1. Smart Routing selects Processor A for a card payment

   *(based on MCC, time, country, and merchant preference)*
2. Payment fails (e.g., timeout or issuer unresponsive)
3. Cascading kicks in → retry via Processor B

   *(merchant-defined or platform-configured fallback)*
4. If Processor B also fails → fallback to A2A or another payment method

   *(if merchant allows cross-method fallback)*
5. If no route succeeds → transaction is marked as failed, and customer is informed
   {% endhint %}

## Key Routing Scenarios

<table><thead><tr><th width="318">Scenario</th><th>Routing Response</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Primary acquirer timeout</td><td>Switch to backup acquirer or queue transaction</td></tr><tr><td>SEPA Instant downtime</td><td>Route to card or alternative A2A scheme</td></tr><tr><td>Issuer-specific card decline</td><td>Redirect to another supported network or suggest alternative method</td></tr><tr><td>Scheduled provider maintenance</td><td>Route around known downtimes using time-based logic</td></tr><tr><td>Sensitive MCC (e.g., gambling)</td><td>Route via high-risk processor with enhanced KYC logic</td></tr><tr><td>High-value transaction</td><td>Route through stricter authorization with 3DS enforcement</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Configurable Routing Logic

EGW’s routing engine is fully configurable via the Administration Portal. The Gateway Owner can define logic using a flexible rule set based on a combination of attributes.

**Routing Rule Criteria:**

<table><thead><tr><th width="319">Criteria</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Payment Method Type</td><td>Route differently for Cards, A2A, Wallets, BNPL</td></tr><tr><td>Merchant Category Code (MCC)</td><td>Apply specific rules per vertical (e.g., 6012 for financial services, 7995 for gambling)</td></tr><tr><td>Transaction Value / Currency</td><td>Escalate or route differently based on thresholds</td></tr><tr><td>Issuer BIN / Bank ID</td><td>Acquirer-specific logic based on card issuer</td></tr><tr><td>Geography (country/region)</td><td>Regional routing, localization, or compliance</td></tr><tr><td>Merchant Tier or Risk Level</td><td>Segment routing based on profile or SLA plan</td></tr><tr><td>Processor Availability</td><td>Dynamic health checks determine failover behavior</td></tr><tr><td>Time-Based Scheduling</td><td>Apply time-of-day or maintenance window-based rules</td></tr><tr><td>Fraud or Trust Score</td><td>Risk-based routing to higher-friction paths if needed</td></tr></tbody></table>

> Example Rules:
>
> * All MCC 7995 (gambling) routed to Acquirer X with enhanced due diligence
> * Between 22:00–06:00, direct all digital content transactions above €200 to fallback processor
> * Instant SEPA unavailable → queue A2A and suggest Card or BNPL in real-time

## Failover and Uptime Protection

EGW performs:

* Continuous monitoring of processors and schemes
* Automated failover without end-user disruption
* Queuing and retry logic for non-real-time methods
* Configurable timeouts and retry thresholds
* Fallback suggestions presented to end-user on Hosted Checkout Page

## Transparency for Merchants and Gateway Owners

Gateway Operator (Bank/PSP)

* Configure and test routing rules via the Admin Portal
* Access transaction routing logs and failover events
* Apply platform-wide or merchant-specific overrides
* Monitor real-time routing decisions with performance analytics

Merchant (via Merchant Portal)

* Define preferences (e.g., prefer A2A over Card)
* View routing outcomes for transactions
* See fallback history and success rates per method

## Business Benefits

* Improves payment success rates by avoiding known weak paths
* Minimizes revenue loss from failed or delayed transactions
* Enables regulatory and vertical-specific routing (e.g., by MCC)
* Supports SLA differentiation for merchant tiers and segments
* Reduces manual intervention through automated decisioning
* Provides transparent control to Gateway Owners and Merchants