9B Transaction Status Information (TSI)

The Transaction Status Information is a two-byte record of which functions the terminal actually performed during a contact EMV transaction. Where the TVR records problems, the TSI records activity: a set bit means "this step ran", not "this step succeeded".

The bits

• Byte 1 b8: offline data authentication was performed
• Byte 1 b7: cardholder verification was performed
• Byte 1 b6: card risk management was performed
• Byte 1 b5: issuer authentication was performed
• Byte 1 b4: terminal risk management was performed
• Byte 1 b3: script processing was performed
• Byte 1 b2–b1 and all of byte 2: reserved for future use

Why it matters

Read the TSI and TVR together. If TVR byte 1 bit 8 says offline data authentication was not performed, the TSI should agree with byte 1 bit 8 clear. If the TSI says cardholder verification was performed and the TVR shows cardholder verification was not successful, the CVM ran and failed. If neither is set, the step may have been skipped legitimately, for example because the card and terminal have no CVM in common.

Example

9B 02 E8 00: offline data authentication, cardholder verification, card risk management and terminal risk management were performed. Issuer authentication and script processing were not, which is normal for a transaction that was approved offline or before the issuer response was processed.

Kernel differences

The TSI is defined in EMV Book 3 for the contact kernel. Many contactless kernels do not maintain it, or maintain only part of it, so an all-zero TSI on a contactless transaction is not necessarily an error. Check the specification of the kernel you are using.

Common mistakes

• Reading a set bit as success. It only means the function ran.
• Expecting byte 1 bit 5 after an offline approval. Issuer authentication needs an issuer response.
• Comparing contact and contactless logs and treating a missing TSI as a bug.