This topic describes getting started with the Pismo platform and the core objects that are configured during your onboarding process. Many endpoint calls address and interact with these core objects.

The following diagram shows, at a high-level, the mapping of account customers to entities.

Basic component structure

The Pismo platform has a built-in object hierarchy. The following table describes the platform's built-in object hierarchy and their basic relationships.

Core objects

📘

Field lengths and ranges

Specific field lengths and ranges are not detailed in the tables below. However, you can find that information in API endpoint reference documentation.

The first thing you need to do is work with Pismo to onboard your Organization and first Program to the platform. Once those are in place, you can start creating accounts and customers, issuing cards, and calling Pismo API endpoints.

Organization

Setting up your Organization is done for you by the Pismo implementation team, using the following information that you provide.

Once created, your Org is assigned an identifier that is referred to as either an Org ID or Tenant ID and will look similar to this:

tn-34778262-f4f0-464d-b4c6-a14e2dc6f4be

Most endpoints take this field as a parameter, usually in a header. You can use the Retrieve org data endpoint to retrieve your organization's information.

Program

After you have your org set up, you can use the Pismo Control Center to create the first program associated with your org. Program attributes depend on the type of program.

📘

Pismo Control Center limitations

You can perform most program configurations using the Pismo Control Center. However, some configuration steps may still require you to work through the Pismo implementation team.

The following table shows Program parameters you need to define during setup.

Entity

Every customer has an associated entity object. If one isn't passed in the Create customer endpoint, then one is automatically created based on government document number. An organization can have multiple customer objects with different customer IDs all mapping to the same entity object, meaning they are all the same person or company. You can call Get customer to see a customer's entity object.

To search an organization's data using an entity ID, contact our Service Desk and request this.

An entity object has the following fields:

Account

You can create an account with the Create account application endpoint.

An account object has the following fields:

For more information on accounts, see the Accounts overview.

Customer

An account customer can be either a person or a company. When you create an account, the first customer - the account owner - is also created. Accounts can have multiple customers, typically to accommodate primary and additional cardholders, but only one owner. A customer can only belong to one account.

Call the Create customer endpoint to add a customer to an account.

Person customer object

Company customer object

Other objects

Card

You can issue a card with the Create card endpoint.

A card object has the following fields:

Cards also come with associated mode object(s) for combination cards - cards that can be used for both credit and debit transactions. For more information, see Create a combination card with modes.

To get started issuing cards, see Card issuing with Pismo.