# Platform Summary & Cross-Cutting Ground Truths

[← Product docs home](../index.md)

**Balinyaar is a trust-first home-nursing marketplace in Iran.** Independent,
individually-verified nurses register, list configurable services with their own pricing, and pass
a multi-step verification pipeline anchored on the MoH **پروانه صلاحیت حرفه‌ای**
(professional-competency license). Families search — filtered by city/district **and same-gender
caregiver preference** — pick a nurse and a service variant, submit a booking request, and pay
**through the platform** after the nurse accepts. The platform records the money as an **internal
escrow ledger state** (not platform-held cash), the nurse performs one or more EVV-verified visits,
and the platform pays the nurse **weekly, after the dispute window closes**, minus a platform
commission. All post-booking communication runs through an admin-readable ticket system.

At launch the platform operates under a **partner licensed home-nursing center
(مرکز مشاوره و ارائه مراقبت‌های پرستاری در منزل)** — the Asanism-style model — which is the legal
vehicle and the likely **merchant-of-record** for payments while Balinyaar's own MoH permit is in
process.

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## The four cross-cutting ground truths

These hold across **every** business area and data-model domain. They are the load-bearing
decisions the rest of the docs assume.

1. **Balinyaar cannot legally custody customer cash.** Under Iranian rules a پرداخت‌یار (payment
   facilitator) is forbidden from holding deposits, running wallets, or moving money between
   merchants. Money always flows card → licensed PSP → Shaparak settlement → **bank-registered
   IBANs**. "Escrow" is therefore an **internal ledger state** over funds custodied at a licensed
   provider/partner bank — never a Balinyaar-owned cash balance.
   See [escrow as a ledger](../payments/escrow-ledger.md) and the
   [`ledger_entries`](../data-model/06-payments-ledger-and-refunds.md) entity.
2. **VAT is 10%**, not 9% — it rose from 9% to 10% in 1403 (7% government + 3% municipal) and is
   treated as a **configurable** rate. See [Iranian payment reality §2.6](../payments/iranian-payment-reality.md)
   and [tax, invoicing & legal](../business/13-tax-invoicing-and-legal.md).
3. **BNPL is full-upfront.** A BNPL provider settles **one full-amount lump (net of its commission)
   to the merchant-of-record**, bears 100% of customer-default risk, and owns the customer's
   installment repayment entirely. A BNPL order behaves in Balinyaar's books exactly like a card
   payment landing net-of-fee. See [the full-upfront finding](../payments/bnpl-landscape.md).
4. **The nurse is paid by Balinyaar, weekly, on Balinyaar's own schedule** — gated on EVV
   completion and a closed dispute window — regardless of how the family paid. See
   [who pays the nurse & when](../payments/cancellation-and-payout.md) and [payouts](../business/10-payouts.md).

---

## Money is IRR Rials, always

All monetary values are in **IRR (Rials)**, stored as `BIGINT`. **Toman is a display concern only**
and is converted to/from Rials **solely at an external provider's API boundary** (e.g. SnappPay
quotes Toman). No floats anywhere on the money path.

---

## Glossary — the Persian terms you will keep meeting

| Term | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| پرداخت‌یار (payment facilitator) | The PSP-contracted license class an MVP marketplace rides on; **barred from custodying funds**. |
| تسهیم (settlement-sharing) | Shaparak/provider splitting one card payment across registered IBANs — the compliant marketplace primitive. |
| Shaparak (شاپرک) | Iran's national card-payment switch; settles to registered IBANs. |
| IBAN / شِبا (Sheba) | The bank account number money settles to; must be ownership-verified for nurse payouts. |
| پروانه صلاحیت حرفه‌ای | MoH professional-competency license — the single most important nurse credential; bundles a criminal-record screen. |
| نظام پرستاری (INO) | Iranian Nursing Organization; membership number used as a verification cross-check. |
| عدم سوء پیشینه | Criminal-record ("no record") certificate; consent-gated to the individual, no company API. |
| Shahkar (شاهکار) | Government service matching a SIM ↔ national ID (کد ملی). |
| سامانه مودیان | Iran's taxpayer / e-invoicing system (22-digit fiscal numbers). |
| اینماد / e-namad | Electronic trust symbol; de-facto mandatory to obtain an online payment gateway. |
| شبانه‌روزی | 24-hour / live-in care shift — the dominant elder-care shape. |
| EVV | Electronic Visit Verification — GPS + timestamped nurse check-in/out per visit. |
| BNPL | Buy-Now-Pay-Later (خرید اقساطی). |
| Asanism model | Going to market by partnering with already-licensed home-nursing centers. |

---

## Where to go next

- **[Business Requirements](../business/index.md)** — what the platform must do, area by area.
- **[Database Model](../data-model/index.md)** — the ~54-table schema, domain by domain.
- **[Payments deep-dive](../payments/index.md)** — escrow, settlement, BNPL, integrations.
- **[Research & Strategy](../research/index.md)** — market, risks, verification, legal, GTM.