Vanderbilt University has installed CBORD’s online ordering system at a popular on-campus eatery. The two kiosks, which fit inside a Jack Daniel’s distillery barrel, brought in $115,000 in revenue for the Tennessee college in just two months.

Online and kiosk-based ordering service gaining popularity with CS Gold users

Ithaca, NY–Webfood, the online ordering system from CBORD, was recently installed at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

A long-time user of CBORD’s CS Gold campus card system, Vanderbilt uses these systems together, processing payments for Webfood orders through CS Gold.

Vanderbilt has installed two Webfood self-order kiosks at CT West, a popular barbeque eatery on-campus. The kiosks were specially designed to fit inside a Jack Daniel’s distillery barrel display, in keeping with the facility’s Western theme.

In their first two months of operation, the kiosks processed more than 18,500 orders, bringing in more than $115,000 in revenue. Both students and staff are pleased with the system.

“The vast majority of students we interviewed found the Webfood system easy to use,” says Alan Baker, Systems Manager at Vanderbilt Dining. “The kiosks have processed more than 350 orders a day, and we expect these numbers to continue to rise. Webfood has provided Vanderbilt a profitable, viable way to increase sales and customer satisfaction while maintaining efficiency.”

About The CBORD Group
The CBORD Group serves colleges and universities, corporations, healthcare facilities, chain restaurants, supermarkets, and a host of other market segments. CBORD’s products are used in foodservice, catering, nutrition services, campus ID card privilege control, housing services, cashless dining, online ordering, and other institution-wide activities. The CBORD Group serves more than 5,000 clients in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. The CBORD Group was founded in 1975. Today it employs more than 450 professionals. To learn more about CBORD or CBORD’s Webfood solution, visit us at www.cbord.com or www.webfood.com.

Print manager provider Equitrac and eCopy have released a single-terminal solution that slashes hardware needs required to track, manage and recover the costs of documents users scan, copy, print or fax. This latest in a series of collaborations between the two companies will provide their customers in the legal, education, and general office markets with full activity accounting and a greater ability to monitor and recover costs from all scanned documents.

New Solution Reduces Hardware Required to Track Prints and Scans Created using Multifunction Peripherals

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.–Equitrac Corporation and eCopy announced Equitrac Embedded for eCopy ScanStation OP. This new joint solution makes available Equitrac tracking and cost recovery functionality through the eCopy ScanStation OP, an ergonomically-designed touch screen, keyboard and PC that is used with multifunction peripherals (MFPs).

The joint solution eliminates the need for redundant hardware required for users to easily track, manage and recover the costs of documents they scan, copy, print or fax. With Equitrac Embedded technology, the eCopy ScanStation OP gains the cost recovery capabilities of the Equitrac solution.

This new single-terminal solution reduces customers’ hardware requirements, saves floor space, and simplifies use - for an overall reduction in total cost of ownership. eCopy ScanStation OP transforms any networked MFP into an information hub, enabling any office worker to easily incorporate digital copies of paper documents into enterprise applications such as enterprise content management, e-mail and fax server systems. Now, users can scan documents from an MFP directly into workflow and document management solutions using the full power of Equitrac’s intelligent cost recovery and print management software including features such as Secure Document Release and Follow-You printing.

“Equitrac believes that software-centric solutions like Equitrac Embedded for eCopy ScanStation OP are essential to providing the most efficient use of office equipment and effectively tracking and managing digital documents in the workplace,” said Equitrac CEO Michael Rich. “We are very pleased to be working with our partners at eCopy to respond to our customer’s requests for a solution that combines the market-leading benefits of eCopy’s document imaging and distribution system and Equitrac’s print management and cost recovery software.”

According to Edward Schmid, eCopy president and CEO, “As e-business proliferates, there is an increasing need to incorporate paper documents into electronic workflows. To meet this need, an increasing number of organizations are standardizing on eCopy as the operating platform for incorporating paper-based information into their enterprise applications. Through this joint solution, Equitrac users can more easily track, manage and recover expenses for the rapidly increasing number of documents that are scanned to back office applications.”

The announcement of Equitrac Embedded for eCopy ScanStation OP is the latest in a series of collaborations between eCopy and Equitrac. It will provide Equitrac and eCopy customers in the Legal, Education, and General Office markets with full activity accounting and a greater ability to monitor and recover costs from all documents scanned into devices equipped with eCopy ScanStation OP.

Equitrac Embedded will be available in upcoming versions of Equitrac Professional, Equitrac Office and Equitrac Express. More information can be found online at www.equitrac.com http://www.equitrac.com/ or by visiting www.ecopy.com http://www.ecopy.com/ .

About Equitrac
Equitrac Corporation is the recognized leader and most trusted name worldwide in intelligent cost recovery and print management solutions. Backed by an unmatched R&D program and the largest team of cost-recovery experts in the world, Equitrac enjoys preferred technology partnerships with the world’s leading providers of hardware and software solutions for the office environment. From the Fortune Global 100 to college campuses, within the AMLAW 200 and in municipalities across the globe, Equitrac solutions are at work helping organizations recover costs, reduce waste, increase returns and maximize efficiency in printers, copiers and multifunction devices. For more information visit www.equitrac.com.

About eCopy
eCopy, Inc. is an innovative provider of open and flexible solutions that rapidly integrate paper-based information into existing business processes and applications. Numerous industries, including legal, healthcare, and financial services, use eCopy to easily access, modify, distribute, and share information to add value to their business. eCopy customers include General Motors, Clifford Chance, Siemens, Cisco Systems, SAAB, and Sony Corporation. eCopy, Inc. is a global company headquartered in the United States, with a subsidiary in Japan, offices in England, Germany, France, Scandinavia, and Australia as well as sales operations in Mexico, Canada, Latin America, Singapore, and New Zealand. For more information, visit www.ecopy.com.

By Andy Williams, Contibuting Editor, AVISIAN Publications

An Atlanta university seeking to reduce the number of checks passing through its business office now allows its students – or their parents – to handle many of those financial transactions electronically via their campus ID card. The result has been a 50% reduction in walk-in traffic, freeing up staff for other purposes.

“We were wanting to reduce the amount of checks and cash we handle in our operation,” explained Dave Siegel, director of EmoryCard and Campus Life Technical Services at Emory University.

For General Meters, the Colorado-based company that handles the university’s card program with its University One-Card System, “it’s all about making campus life more efficient,” said company vice president Jeff Zander.

What Emory University has done is enable its 12,500 students to log-in to their PeopleSoft student account called OPUS, which is controlled by Student Financial Services, and make a bank transfer to their EmoryCard Plus account (PeopleSoft provides Emory’s personnel and financial system). After they fill out the Automated Clearing House (ACH) bank form, every 60 minutes a job runs in PeopleSoft that sends the deposits in a file to the Emory FTP server where the General Meters’ University One-Card System processes the deposit and the student then has access to that money on his campus card.

That means that the funds will be available to the student in no more than 60 minutes. If he makes a deposit five minutes before the batch process is scheduled to run, the money is available almost instantly.

“Students don’t have to come to the Emory Card Office and they don’t have to wait in line to make deposits,” says Mr. Seigel. “(We have) freed staff from the process of receiving and processing checks and at the same time avoids bank fees and bank credit card fees.”

“We approached our bursar’s office first about wanting to reduce the amount of checks and cash we handle in our operation. (We met with) the PeopleSoft group here on campus … and we gave them the information about what General Meters could provide us to make this happen,” said Mr. Siegel.

Several months later the system was operational. “The student can now log onto his bursar account, look at bills and statements and make a selection on this bursar page to make an ACH deposit into the student’s flex account,” said Mr. Siegel.

The program began in mid-January “and we reduced our walk-in traffic about 50% as far as deposits go. That’s with doing very little advertising,” he added. “It has worked flawlessly from the outset. I really think by the fall semester we’ll be doing 70% of our deposits this way, especially with the incoming freshmen class.”

With less bursar office traffic, “we can concentrate on other important items for our customers,” said Mr. Siegel.

Adds Mr. Zander: “The objective is convenience. We’re automating cash handling using the Web. Students can actually view their account statements on the web and it allows students to manage their card program without having additional staff dedicated at the campus level.”

The future of the program

Mr. Siegel foresees ACH deposits as becoming the standard procedure, greatly reducing if not eliminating the acceptance of checks and credit cards on the Emory campus as well as campuses throughout the country.

While any university with support for declining balances can make this system work, Mr. Zander said it helps if “you have the flexibility of an open architecture platform which can allow other services and interfaces to be part of the university’s card program. At General Meters, we make the hardware and software and if the system is open, like ours, then (automated deposits) can happen.”

This is just phase one for the program, said Mr. Siegel. “Our next step will be allowing employees to make these ACH transfers.”

About the EmoryCard program:
The EmoryCard equipped with a mag stripe, is used for meal plans, bookstore purchases, laundry, vending, copying, printing, door and computer access, and events, said Mr. Siegel. It also can be used to verify a student’s age when he attempts an alcoholic beverage purchase. “The next thing we’ll be doing is foodservice kiosks and online food ordering. That will happen this fall.”