Private operational prototype briefing

Operational commerce workflows with regulated instant payment confirmation.

Active Cluster Ltd is a London-based research and development company focused on operational commerce workflows where regulated payment confirmation follows real-world service completion.

The initial UK focus is restaurant, hotel and local merchant operational workflows where businesses need clear Faster Payments confirmation, reconciliation visibility and merchant-facing payment status.

Payment is generated by operational completion, not by browsing or discovery.

Current status Private operational prototype environment.

Initial payment path UK Faster Payments.

Operational requirement Payment confirmation and reconciliation.

Regulated boundary Payment execution remains within licensed infrastructure.

Simple restaurant operational flow

The workflow links operational service completion with regulated payment confirmation and merchant-visible settlement status.

Guest request Guest sends a restaurant table or service request.

Business accepts The restaurant accepts the request and prepares the service.

service completed Food, table service or hospitality service is completed.

payment request generated The completed service creates a structured payment request.

Faster Payments Customer pays through instant bank payment infrastructure.

Payment confirmed Confirmation is matched to amount and workflow.

Merchant-visible status Seller sees confirmed and settlement-visible status.

Illustrative application screens

Static sanitized examples showing restaurant guest request, operational order, payment confirmation and merchant-visible settlement status.

Guest viewRequest

Restaurant table request

The guest interacts with a restaurant workflow surface linked to a real merchant profile.

Local Restaurant Partner

LocationLondon

StatusVerified merchant

Payment pathFaster Payments

Restaurant viewAccepted

Restaurant accepts request

The guest request becomes an operational restaurant workflow.

Workflow #REST-1842

MerchantLocal Restaurant Partner

GuestPrivate customer

StatusService in progress

Payment requestAwaiting

service completed

Operational completion generates a payment request for the restaurant service.

payment request generated

Sourcerestaurant_service_completed

Expected£42.50

StatusAwaiting confirmation

Merchant viewConfirmed

Payment confirmation received

The merchant sees settlement status propagated back to the workflow.

Settlement status updated

Received£42.50

Workflow#REST-1842

Statusmerchant-visible

Why the payment infrastructure partner matters

From the merchant's point of view, the payment status should be close to card-speed, while execution remains inside regulated bank payment infrastructure.

Operational requirement

The merchant needs to know whether the payment was confirmed, whether the amount is correct, and whether it belongs to the completed service.

Inbound payment confirmation.

Workflow-to-payment reconciliation.

Merchant-visible settlement status.

Potential regulated infrastructure areas

Potential regulated infrastructure areas include Faster Payments, payment confirmation, reconciliation visibility and future SEPA Instant operational scenarios.

UK Faster Payments confirmation.

Confirmation and reconciliation events.

Merchant-facing settlement visibility.

Illustrative API and webhook examples

Simplified technical examples intended to explain operational payment confirmation and reconciliation logic.

Illustrative examples only. Illustrative operational examples only.

{
  "workflow_id": "wf_restaurant_001",
  "source": "restaurant_service_completed",
  "amount": "42.50",
  "currency": "GBP",
  "payment_method": "faster_payments",
  "status": "awaiting_payment_confirmation"
}

{
  "workflow_id": "wf_restaurant_001",
  "payment_status": "confirmed",
  "settlement_visibility": "merchant_visible",
  "confirmation_channel": "regulated_instant_payment"
}

Current status and legal clarity

Active Cluster Ltd is currently focused on operational workflow research and prototype development, operational workflow modelling and infrastructure partner discussion. Public onboarding and production payment connectivity are not yet live.

Current legal entity

Active Cluster Ltd is the current UK legal and contractual entity for the initiative.

Project names

References to PVA, Interlock and Unistandard describe internal modules and operational workstreams rather than separate current contracting entities.