Card, mobile credential, payment and security
As part of a pilot program beginning this semester, 300 Ohio University students will be outfitted with reusable takeout containers for use at campus dining halls in place of existing disposable, to-go boxes.
According to an official university release, students participating in the pilot will have the option to use the new green containers at three of Ohio's dining facilities. The reusable containers are intended to reduce the number of disposable boxes sent to the landfill each year.
The Preserve 2 Go reusable containers are made by namesake company, Preserve, with each box measuring 9 x 9 x 3 inches. The boxes are dishwasher and microwave safe and feature three divided compartments.
Beginning this semester, students with Traditional or Flex Meal Plans may choose to participate in the pilot. The results of the pilot will help determine if the reusable to-go box program is worthy of full implementation at Ohio’s dining halls in the future.
Each participant will receive a Preserve 2 Go reusable container, will use the container over the course of the spring semester, and provide feedback via two surveys.
Students choosing the new to-go option will swipe into the dining court of their choice and inform the cashier they are choosing the takeout container option. They will then enter the dining court and fill the reusable box and exit the dining court. The student may return the unwashed box, free of large food debris, to any residential dining court. At this point they may either swap it for a clean box, or receive a voucher card to be turned in the next time they want a reusable conatiner.
The idea for the program was proposed by the winners of Ohio University's 2017 Eco Challenge Competition, and was presented to the university's Culinary Services Development Committee and Student Senate as a way to reduce waste and save money.
Reusable takeout containers have become an increasingly popular green initiative in campus dining. In 2013, Preserve partnered with the Rhode-Island based OZZI, to use the company's kiosk hardware to complete the reusable to-go system.
OZZI's system for collecting reusable containers adds an element of accountability to campus-wide programs by enabling students to deposit their containers in OZZI machines in exchange for a credit on their student ID card. That credit can then be put toward a new takeout container the next time they reach the dining hall register. Containers are then manually removed from the OZZI machine and are properly sanitized by dining hall staff for the next use.
There is no word yet on whether Ohio has deployed OZZI kiosks as part of its pilot program, but the Preserve 2 Go containers have been designed for complete compatibility with the OZZI collection system.
The global adoption of smart lockers in education has served as a learning experience for colleges and universities.
As North American campuses are just getting started with contactless lockers, they can take lessons from the K-12 institutions, colleges and universities around the globe that have been benefiting from contactless lockers for years.
These adoptions have helped pinpoint ways to improve on the technology, as well as to identify potential use cases and functions, says Gerhard Pichler, business development manager for Gantner Technologies, which provides contactless locker systems.
Making locks smart – incorporating them into a networked computer system with a powerful locker management software – unlocks a host of other benefits including real-time occupancy monitoring, networked alarms and remote locker control
Most of Gantner’s educational deployments of the technology have been in Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific. “We have a high penetration of smart lockers on campus in Central Europe and frequently deploy networked locker solutions for libraries and other facilities where students need to store their backpacks,” explains Pichler.
On its own, contactless locking provides security and ease of use as its primary benefits. But by making these locks smart – incorporating them into a networked computer system with a powerful locker management software – universities can unlock, so to speak, a host of other benefits. These include real-time occupancy monitoring, networked alarms and remote locker control.
“I always recommend that customers make use of an online locker management system to really make ongoing operations frictionless and get rid of locker management headaches,” Pichler says.
Western Sydney University is one example of how integration can automate the process of managing smart lockers in education environments. Gantner provides a single point of control for 875 lockers across five levels of a building at the Australian university.
The names of all students who are permitted to use a locker are first added into a system database. Because the lockers are part of a fully integrated system, whenever new students are added, the student management software generates a unique student number with an “until date.”
The University of Cincinnati recently outfitted its Scioto Hall, a dorm for on-campus students, with wireless electronic locks at individual dorm room doors, and all signs point to the good.
According to a Commercial Integrator report, the recently renovated Scioto Hall is the first facility in a wireless-lock upgrade program that will span nine campus residence halls and another 30 campus buildings. Scioto Hall is a twelve-story, apartment-style residence that houses 456 students.
Tem House, software applications developer for Cincinnati's Campus Services Operations, served as the administrator on the lock system upgrade. House says the university wanted to upgrade to a wireless lock system to simplify the process of providing access for students and staff, and to bring higher levels of security and accountability.
“The facility’s exterior doors have been part of our Blackboard Access system for about 12 years, but the individual suite doors remained mechanical lock and key,” House told Commercial Integrator. “Whenever somebody lost a key, the lock had to be re-cored and new keys reissued.”
As with other, similar deployments, Cincinnati stands to save considerably by not having to reissue lost metal keys and fix or replace broken mechanical locks. These long-term savings are expected to offset the up-front installation cost of the new locks.
The new ASSA ABLOY locks operate via Wi-Fi, and remove the costly and time-consuming process of running wires throughout the building to connect the new locks. According to House, in addition to the time and cost savings, the new system will also help to monitor and manage access through audit trails and increased accountability.
The project saw 148 battery-operated Sargent IN120 Wi-Fi locks installed at Scioto Hall. The IN120 Wi-Fi locks integrated with the university's existing IT infrastructure and leverage multiCLASS SE technology from HID Global.
The system also supports multiple credential technologies, offering easy migration to higher security credentials, mobile access, or a combination of mixed credentials over time, as needed.
“The system flexibility was important. We support our Bearcat Card, which is a Blackboard card system, as a one-card system," added House. "The one card encompasses all of a student’s needs; they have their money, their meal plan and now access to the residence halls. It’s well accepted, and our students love it.”
The performance of the new locks has been impressive thus far. “We’ve run the wireless battery-operated locks for just over a year now and out of the 148 locks, only two are down to 70% battery life; the rest are higher. This is excellent performance,” said House. “We have the locks configured for optimized battery life, and they’re giving us the performance that we need.”
Following the early success at Scioto Hall, a second residence hall upgrade is now on the docket -- a project that will include 177 wireless locks -- and a third facility requiring an additional 338 locks is scheduled to begin in the near future.
Students at Western Michigan University already get free access to all campus sporting events with a valid student ID card, but the university's rewards program provides additional incentive for loyal student fans.
As reported by the Western Herald the WMU Student Fan Rewards Program, now in its third year, awards students that attend a WMU sporting event, with points that can be redeemed for prizes. The program also features a free mobile app, called Bronco Fan Rewards to which current students can link their Western Identification Number (WIN) and their university e-mail account to conveniently gain access to the service.
The check-in system at sporting events leverages geofencing technology to issue students with loyalty points. When students arrive at the specified area of the arena or football stadium, they connect to either a beacon or are identified based on their presence within the geofenced area to complete their check in. The beacons have a range of roughly 300 feet, which university officials say prevents people from gaming the system from afar and not actually attending the events.
The WMU loyalty program is powered by a service called FanMaker. The service has gained traction at a number of Big Ten schools, including Indiana University, the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin, along with fellow Mid-American Conference member, Eastern Michigan University. The company also provides rewards and attendance services for professional sports franchises including the NHL's Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators, and the NBA's Phoenix Suns.
At Western Michigan, the points that students accrue for attending games varies on the type of event they check in for. “The less popular sports get more points, so there’s a larger incentive for students to come out,” said Kayla Lalik, a graduate assistant who helps run the program, in a Western Herald interview. “For football, we usually do 300 points for each game, but for women’s basketball, we do upwards of 600.”
Reward-point values also vary depending on the time of week the event takes place. Mid-week games award higher point totals as they're generally less attended than weekend events. There are also other event-specific incentives -- for example if coaches have scouts attending -- that will lead to more points being available to try to draw a larger crowd.
When it comes time for a student to cash in the reward points they have accrued, students can choose from an array of prizes including university-branded cups, t-shirts and souvenirs; gift cards from local sponsors like Applebees and Ticketmaster; and free haircuts from SportClips.
Reward points reset with the start of each new academic year. The WMU Student Fan Rewards Program currently boasts an active user base of just under 7,000 students, with plans to expand.
Campus card technology provider, CBORD, has today announced a partnership with mobile ordering company, Tapingo. The partnership enables all CBORD account holders to seamlessly implement Tapingo’s pickup and delivery services.
Tapingo’s high engagement within the college demographic was a major factor in driving the partnership. “CBORD is committed to providing world-class services, as well as choices, to our customers and their end users,” says Jim Hoefflin, CEO of CBORD.
Tapingo has seen significant market growth over the past couple years, extending its client network to many of the nation's largest campuses.
“Tapingo is a well-known app among college students, and demand for their product was high within our network," adds Hoefflin. "We’re pleased to be able to bring Tapingo’s technology to our customer base as a powerful complement to GET Food, leveraging our highly secure ‘Pay with GET’ transaction engine to provide a consistent, high-quality and broad choice in the student dining experience.”
The partnership will also create the ability for deep integration between the two companies’ technology solutions, benefitting university clients and end users alike. “CBORD is one of the great companies in the campus technology sector,” says Daniel Almog, cofounder and CEO of Tapingo. “We’re excited about pairing our product with their systems in order to provide a great service for college students across the country.”
CBORD and Tapingo plan a rollout of the integrated mobile ordering solution in the first quarter of 2018 following a successful pilot with the University of South Carolina and Minnesota State University Moorhead.
“This partnership will produce immediate benefits for the higher-ed community,” says Jeff Hardy, Chief Revenue Officer at Tapingo. “Integrating Tapingo into the GET offering will create a more seamless experience for campus card professionals and ensure all students have access to the most robust offering of mobile services.”
A couple of former Auburn University students have developed a new mobile app designed to alleviate parking headaches at their alma mater.
As reported by local NBC affiliate WSFA, the War Eagle Parking app is now available for download. The app monitors parking lots spaces in real time, updating occupancy statuses and saving commuters time when looking for a space.
Mobile apps have become a popular solution to the age-old challenge of campus parking. With third-party offerings being the common route, there's always room for homegrown options as well.
War Eagle Parking app.
To help differentiate itself, the War Eagle Parking app is branding itself as trip planning tool. "We want you to enter your destination, and we will show you the available options near that destination. We'll give you driving directions to the parking lot that has available parking in it," says Parker Roan, one of the app's developers. "That might not mean parking in the closest lot that’s full, but parking in the next closest one that is 70% occupied. But we’ll give you a way to get there, so it overall saves time.”
Using cameras installed at campus parking lots, the app uses digital video parsing technology to process live video streams that accurately monitor open and filled parking spaces. Users can then access this information via the War Eagle Parking app to reveal the location of available spaces, the length of time cars have been parked and other useful information that both the customer and parking manager can leverage.
Auburn Parking Services officials say the app could also help students save time by utilizing other transit services offered by the university. "It will hopefully get students to use those lots that right now are being underutilized, but are still serviced by our Tiger Transit and bike-share programs,” says Don Andrae, Auburn University Parking Services Manager .
The app currently monitors 2,000 parking spaces across campus, but the developers hope to add another 2,000 spaces year-on-year until all 12,000 campus spaces are available on the app. War Eagle Parking is free to download in both the Apple and Google Play stores.
When producing ID cards, it’s crucial to have a comprehensive repository of identity data for your students, employees and staff. But many institutions don’t have this single source of identity data.
In a recent NACCU webinar Christian Sapp, an independent consultant who specializes in identity and card system design, discussed the importance of identity data management and how institutions can streamline their systems through centralized databases.
Sapp defines identity management as, “the practice of organizing and managing data about the individuals who make up an organization.” Additionally, he poses three key elements of identity management data: who an individual is, their role within the organization, and where they reside within their organization.
This baseline understanding is crucial because identification data is constant. It provides institutions with the information needed to make decisions on things like providing benefits, issuing ID cards, granting access to facilities, information systems and other member privileges.
Poor management on the other hand creates major security, financial, safety and reputational risks for an institution. Despite the risks associated with poorly managed identity data, many card issuers have yet to adopt these practices.
With the shear number of systems and amount of data now available, it’s common for institutions to end up with ad-hoc processes and multiple sources of information. This can lead to poor data integrity and complications with data troubleshooting.
For this reason, a central point to organize and manage identities can be a godsend. It can help institutions discover discrepancies in their data and increase an institution’s accountability.
Frequently, identity data is passed from multiple systems and causes a confusing, non-linear data flow. Even worse, institutions have frequently elevated downstream systems to become sources of information about their people when these systems are designed to be transactional in nature.
When an institution needs to change a major component of its information systems, the lack of a centrally managed and institutionally owned identity data source can be a significant hurdle.
When done correctly, any system that needs 'people information' should get the data from a central source. This reduces points of failure and simplifies integration. Sapp urges organizations not to be tied to a vendor solution lifecycle, and for institutions to control their own identity data.
“It becomes much easier to change from one vendor-provided solution to another when you own your identity data source,” Sapp says. “If your identity data is contained in a vendor-provided database, you could face a more complicated situation when it’s time to change vendors as the impact will be broader.”
If an institution wants to adjust or eliminate a system, they only need to analyze the integration of that system to the identity data source, which greatly simplifies the process.
“If you own your own data, and you decide to change a vendor-provided system, then all you have to do is look at the integration between that system and your identity management database,” adds Sapp. “Just change that to fit the new system, as opposed to changing integration to every system for which the vendor solution is providing identity data.”
One potential caveat to moving to a centralized identity data system is that, depending on the institution, it can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete. However, Sapp stresses that it’s important for campuses to take control of their identity data, and that the time will be well spent.
ColorID has announced the return of David Stallsmith to the company's ranks. Stallsmith's homecoming will see him take on the role of Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Working on the isthmus between Product Management and Marketing, Stallsmith's focus with ColorID will be educating market segments on identity technology, helping customers select and install sophisticated identity systems, and developing marketing strategies for new ColorID product offerings.
"I really am excited to be working with my friends at ColorID again, particularly in this new role that will allow me to do what I love: help guide customers through the muddy waters of identity solutions," says Stallsmith.
"We are ecstatic to welcome David back home to our ColorID team," says Danny Smith, Executive Vice President, ColorID. "Everyone that has worked with David understands and appreciates his professionalism and the integrity he brings to his work each day."
Stallsmith will add a wealth of knowledge and experience to the ColorID team, and his return represents a natural fit for both parties. "David has a special gift of being able to explain and break down complex technical identity solutions into layman's terms," Smith adds. "Whether in a one-on-one conversation or presenting to large groups, David provides his audience with trusted concepts they require in developing their identity roadmap for new technology migration, adoption and deployment. This approach is in harmony with ColorID's corporate culture and how we strive to support our partner customers."
Over the last two decades ColorID has established itself as a trusted supplier of security, identification, access control, biometrics and support solutions. Though primarily focused on specific North American markets, ColorID also provides these solutions to organizations around the world. Through highly knowledgeable and customer-focused sales and product management teams, the company helps customers select the best products and services from well-known and innovative manufacturers.
We at CR80News are happy to see Stallsmith imparting his experience and wisdom to campuses of all shapes and sizes, and wish him the best as he takes on this new role.
Singapore's Nanyang Technological University is now issuing smart cards to students that will be used to make payments and enable access to campus facilities.
According to a Today report, the new smart cards will be used pay for meals at campus dining locations, reserve campus facilities like sports venues and study rooms, pay for campus parking, as well as act as a public transit card.
Dubbed the NTU Smart Pass, the new student ID cards will act as the identity credential for the university's some 33,000 students and staff members. The cards feature an embedded contactless chip, and have Nets FlashPay functionality to support the university's partnership with payment solutions provider, Nets.
The smart card initiative comes as part of a larger initiative to transform NTU into the “largest smart campus in Singapore.” The smart card was officially launched this week, and is ready for use at 80% of the university’s canteens, with further on-boarding scheduled over the next few months. The majority of campus retail and dining locations are already equipped with the Nets contactless payment system, so the university expects the transition to contactless payments to be a smooth one.
The smart cards are also expected to ramp up safety and security on campus, as they will serve as personalized keys for student access to residence halls, offices, laboratories and facilities. That aspect of the transition is expected to take longer to deliver, as additional time will be needed for older campus facilities to be properly outfitted to accommodate the new smart card credentials.
The campus medical center will also benefit from the new smart cards, as future plans will see students use the card to register for health checks and consultations. At residence halls, meanwhile, the university plans to install smart vending machines complete with contactless and cash-free payment systems.
Card offices often invest a lot of time and money into securing their data and inventory, but even the simplest issuance procedures and practices may be unintentionally putting personal information at risk.
The Identification Systems Group (ISG) offers ideas and suggestions for institutions looking to improve card security, as well as secure data and personal information. In a presentation given at NACCU 2017, Tom Stiles, executive director of ISG, offered advice on how to properly dispose of ribbons and cards, enhance card visual security, track inventory, and secure student data and information.
When it comes to disposing of used card consumables, simply tossing ribbons in the garbage doesn’t cut it. “It’s not recommended to throw the ribbons in the trash because those materials carry personal data,” Stiles advises.
It’s better to shred ribbons before throwing them away either in the trash or recycle. Some campuses have taken this a step further by placing used ribbons in a secure bin for shredding, incinerate the ribbons, or send the ribbons to a secure shredding site.
Stiles also suggests the Rippa Ribbon to help with shredding ribbons. The Rippa Ribbon is a device that sits on top of a top-feed shredder. The device feeds the ribbon down into the shredder, and is a helpful tool for campuses looking for an inexpensive but secure way to dispose of ribbons.
When it comes to disposing of cards, campuses can choose to handle things onsite or send used cards to a secure location for shredding. The ISG maintains its own recycling center for this very purpose and campuses can choose to ship their shredded cardstock for secure recycling. North American and Canadian universities alike can send proximity, smart, mag-stripe cards, and ribbon cores to the ISG recycling center.
The visual verification of ID cards is also important to preventing fraudulent duplication. “In addition to the mainstay utilities, the card is still being used for peripheral uses around campus as well, like access to intramural fields, gyms, labs and other areas of campus,” Stiles says. “Students still use their campus card as a form of identification, and duplicating cards isn’t difficult. You can even purchase accurate fraudulent student IDs online.”
Yet there are plenty of ways to deter against this. Stiles recommends that campus cards have security features to prevent duplication. Holograms are the most popular security feature used by universities to prevent duplication, but other features include incorporating the university logo in the overlay, using a unique background, incorporating UV Ink microprint, or a tactile impression. Card manufacturers can also incorporate UV ink, microtext, guilloche, color-shifting ink, and holographic foil into the cards.
First ask the question: Does it matter if your printers are connected via Wi-Fi or USB cable? While seemingly unimportant, printer security can be easily upended if connected to an insecure Wi-Fi network.
On the subject of login information, Stiles discusses the importance of avoiding shared login information between staff. ISG also provides two-factor authentication solutions for card issuance stations.
Running logs are also crucial. These reports are important because they help audit the cards being issued, as well as declare who carried out the issuance, and identify any suspicious activity.
Overall, identity theft remains an ever-present issue that makes securing card data and information paramount. Considerable money is invested in security, yet there are still pitfalls facing those institutions that don't follow best practices. Negligence can lead to a higher liability risk.
Stiles ultimately implores campuses to take more consideration into card office security. “Most of the campuses out there are taking the recommended steps,” says Stiles. “Nevertheless card offices should take all aspects of card issuance security seriously.”
