Card, mobile credential, payment and security
In the second of our Chat series with ASSA ABLOY, regional campus manager, Tyler Webb, discusses card data analytics using the campus credential and how it can impact student retention and success.
Every university is sitting on a mountain of data, and access control is just one component of that data pool. Listen in as Webb discusses ways that campuses can leverage access control data – along with class attendance and and a host of other data points – to find correlations with student retention and performance.
"At a high level, we can be looking at how access control and data analytics pertain to student retention," says Webb. "How does it correlate to a student's big milestones on campus; the first semester to second semester, freshmen year to sophomore, and so on."
We also discuss whether it's possible to find a certain number of engagements that are likely to lead to a higher GPA and increased engagement with campus life. We also delve into the privacy debate, and posit "how far is too far?"
This episode is the second in a three-part CR80Chats series with ASSA ABLOY. Check out the other episodes below:
In a post to the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU) Positive IDentity blog, Crystal Bazarnic outlines the Vault and the valuable card transaction system resources it holds. Campus card admins are busy people, and it can be hard to find extra time to devote to learning more about the industry. Thankfully, NACCU provides its members with access to the Vault.
In her "You Don't Have to Start from Scratch - NACCU's Got Your Back!" post Bazarnic, NACCU's Marketing and Communications manager, details why the Vault is one of the association's most valuable member resources.
"Maybe you are getting ready to send out an RFP. Perhaps you are tasked with redesigning your card or creating a new policy for your cardholders," writes Bazarnic. "Maybe you know there are some forms and documents your office should have in place, but do not know where to begin. You know that your peers have done this stuff before, so why should you have to start from scratch?"
That's where the Vault comes in. The Vault is a collection of file libraries provided by NACCU peers across the campus card community. The file libraries cover a full range of topics, including:
"This summer, NACCU held a six-week event to fill the Vault with new resources, allowing members to upload materials for a chance to win prizes while helping fellow NACCU members," says Bazarnic. "The 'Stuff the Vault' event collected over 60 new campus transaction industry resources."
For campus card admins working on a new project, or just in need of some inspiration, consulting the Vault and its files could provide a solution. Likewise, if you have documents that could benefit other NACCU members and peers, new additions to the Vault are always welcome.
Resources in the Vault are only downloadable by NACCU members who are logged into the website. For more, check out the Vault.
The University of Houston, with assistance from food service provider Chartwells, has installed smart lockers for food pickup. The Apex Order Pick Up lockers provide self-serve automated access to student food orders on campus, and makes Houston the first university in Texas to deploy a smart locker system for contactless food pick-up.
All of Houston's 53,000 students, faculty and staff can use the smart lockers, which are connected to the Asado Burritos and Bowls -- a Chartwells food concept -- located in the university's student union.
Employees load food into the lockers from the rear of the two-sided flow-thru lockers, and students collect their order from the front. The retrieval process is fast and supports contactless pick-up. The locker technology promises to increase throughput and transactions, as well as reduce crowds and lines at the register.
“The pandemic has impacted the landscape of the on-campus dining experience and our approach to guest service should continue to acclimate,” says Charles Pereira, vice president of operations for Chartwells at the University of Houston System.
To use the lockers, customers first place their order through the mobile ordering app. They then receive an email when their meal is ready for pickup along with a unique code to unlock the locker.
“More people are discovering the convenience of online and mobile ordering as well as contactless service and we recognize that our dining operations must evolve with these changing preferences," says Emily Messa, associate vice president for administration at the University of Houston. "We are always looking for ways to enhance the dining experience for our students, faculty and staff and these innovative food lockers do just that."
The Apex food lockers at Houston recently had their grand opening August 24, when students returned to campus for fall classes. For more information on the lockers visit the University of Houston's Dining's website.
Arrow Payments, an independent payment solutions advisor and PCI-qualified integrator, has added Transact to its portfolio of recommended university payments solutions. The announcement comes at a time when an increasing number of colleges and universities are shifting the responsibility of payment processing and PCI compliance to third-party solution providers.
“Large institutions have decentralized merchant locations and processing systems," says Bryan Jurewicz, chief operations and revenue officer, Arrow Payments. "These challenges are often combined with limited time and resources, and the difficulty finding affordable talent with payments, technology and PCI expertise."
"Arrow assists institutions with third party vendor assessments, selection, setup, training, and support for payment solutions, like Transact’s, that are fully PCI compliant," says Jurewicz. "Campuses get the benefit of a team of experts, the latest technologies for their particular needs, and most importantly, peace of mind.”
Transact estimates that its payment solutions now process more than $45 billion in facilitated payments annually for more than 12 million customers across 1,300 campuses. Through Transact’s relationship with Arrow Payments, institutions can obtain secure university payment processing systems and comprehensive support.
“Both Transact and Arrow are focused on simplifying payments for higher education,” says Mike Sullivan, vice president of Transact. “The team at Arrow are independent, client-centric payments experts who help universities reduce complexity, scope, and processing costs while increasing revenue and custom-design of payment processing solutions."
To learn more, Transact is hosting a webinar entitled "Strategies and Proven Methods for Selecting a Trusted Third-Party Solution Provider" on September 21 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
Food service provider, Sodexo is partnering with robot delivery startup, Kiwibot, to deploy the tech company's autonomous robots on college campuses. The partnership has already seen Kiwibots deployed for on-campus delivery at New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University and Gonzaga University.
According to a report from TechCrunch, the partnership will enable students to use their meal plans for Kiwibot delivery through the Sodexo Bite+ app. Those without a meal plan can pay à la carte, including $2 delivery fee plus 10% of the order amount.
Kiwibots were developed at the University of California, Berkeley where the company was able to process some 150,000 robot deliveries. That proving ground laid the framework for initial expansions to the University of Denver and Stanford University.
The partnership has ground to make up in the robot delivery market, with Starship Technologies -- who eclipsed one million robot deliveries this past January -- and Grubhub's partnership with Yandex now leading the charge in the campus space.
“We’re starting with ten robots at Loyola, ten robots at Gonzaga and 30 robots at New Mexico State, and that’s just the beginning,” says Diego Varela Prada, chief operating officer at Kiwibot. “We’re hoping to have many more. As a B2B business, we’re able to work very closely with our partner to increase the capacity of the bots as demand ramps up.”
The robots feature what Kiwibot calls "corner-to-corner" technology that can capture data around an indoor space and feeds that into an algorithm that helps make decisions for the robot, explains Prada. “It handles the navigation for the robot in between high complexity situations, like cars, people, pets, little kids, people that work on campus."
"So we are not in a position yet to let the bot go on the campus on its own," Prada adds. "Our remote operators have a feature where they switch to corner-to-corner and if the bot senses, for example, a street pass, then the remote operator or supervisor will take over.”
Future iterations for the Kiwibot include plans to navigate indoor-to-outdoor and outdoor-to-indoor delivery routes. This would enable order pick up straight from the kitchen, navigate outside to deliver it and then navigate inside another building to deliver to the user.
Grubhub and autonomous vehicle developer, Yandex Self-Driving Group (SDG) will deploy robot delivery at The Ohio State University. The deployment at Ohio State marks the first university venture for the recently announced partnership between the two companies.
Robot delivery will be available to the more than 60,000 students and staff at OSU, and will offer food from on-campus dining locations via the Grubhub. Yandex will provide a fleet of 50 of the company's robots operating on the OSU campus.
"We pride ourselves on offering an exceptional dining experience to students, and we're always looking to provide new ways to make getting food on campus as convenient as possible," says Zia Ahmed, senior director, dining services at The Ohio State University.
The rovers will provide deliveries from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week. Students can request robots to deliver food to every residence hall on campus, as well as a host of other popular campus locations.
Yandex robots autonomously navigate pavements, campus crosswalks and pedestrian areas. The robots can navigate a large university campus at 3-5 miles per hour during daytime and after dark and in various weather conditions, including rain and snow.
"OSU and Grubhub have worked together for years to offer students a variety of ways to enjoy the food they love on campus," says Brian Madigan, vice president of corporate and campus partners at Grubhub. "Now we're building on our efforts to enhance the dining experience through Yandex's rover technology for quicker and easier deliveries."
The robots are large enough to fit a multiple coffee cups and food bags, or multiple pizza boxes, as well as keep the food at the right temperature.
"Not only do the rovers enhance the current food delivery options, but open new possibilities for smarter, better and faster dining," says Peter Szelei, business development executive at Yandex SDG. "Imagine ordering morning coffee and grabbing it from a robot waiting at your doorstep as you head out to class, or studying in a park with friends and requesting a rover to roll up and deliver snacks. We're thrilled to support making these possibilities a reality."
For more information on Grubhub and Yandex robot delivery visit grubhub.com.
In this episode of CR80Chats, we discuss the two primary flavors of mobile credential, Near-Field Communication (NFC) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) in an attempt to clear some of the confusion surrounding the two.
An increasing number campuses are looking to provision mobile credentials to students and staff, but it can be tricky business choosing the right mobile path, as NFC and BLE can look very different. Tyler Webb, regional campus manager at ASSA ABLOY, helps to demystify the technologies for campuses ready to make the jump to mobile credentials.
Webb discusses the hallmark traits of both NFC and BLE mobile ID deployments, detailing the options campuses have for 100% use-case parity with the plastic card, as well as options for campuses only interested in mobile for access control purposes.
We also cover implementation, and talk strategies campuses can utilize to implement the 100% use case mobile credential in a phased approach.
This episode is the first in a three-part CR80Chats series with ASSA ABLOY. Check out the other episodes below:
Grubhub has partnered with Transact Campus to include Grubhub's more than 300,000 restaurants nationwide in Transact’s off-campus merchant program, CampusCash. The partnership will extend Grubhub’s restaurant network to Transact’s CampusCash program and is expected to enable broader student spending off campus.
Grubhub’s network of more than 300,000 restaurants is now included in Transact’s off-campus merchant program. This partnership will allow students to use their university-branded CampusCash account while they are away from campus, even while visiting family and friends in other parts of the country.
“Universities had to quickly adapt technologies to keep operations running smoothly over the last 18 months as they pivoted to hybrid learning and contactless dining experiences,” says Brian Madigan, vice president of campus and corporate partners at Grubhub. “We’re excited to partner with Transact to help university partners stay nimble with continued flexible meal models and expand the off-campus dining options available to students, while driving orders to local restaurants in their communities.”
Transact’s CampusCash technology is used by some 12 million students across more than 1,300 universities nationwide. Students can use CampusCash and their student ID cards for cashless payments at university-approved off-campus merchants.
“We’re always looking for ways to increase the value of student ID cards, and partnering with Grubhub to provide students with additional off-campus dining options makes the cards even more indispensable,” says Erica Bass, vice president of product management at Transact. “By giving students more cashless options to choose from, we’re doubling down on our efforts to provide a superior dining and overall campus experience.”
Campuses with an existing Transact off-campus merchant program can add Grubhub as an off-campus merchant to their existing program to give students more dining options. One of the early adopters of the partnership is University of the Pacific.
“Our experience adding Grubhub to our off-campus flex tender program has been seamless," says Matt Camino, director of the PacificCard at the University of the Pacific. "We added Grubhub to fill a gap for students who do not have transportation off campus readily available. Our students are excited about the additional food options and delivery services."
"With students returning to campus fully, I’m looking forward to the positive impact that Grubhub and CampusCash off-campus program partnership will provide," adds Camino.
Fairleigh Dickinson University is also utilizing the partnership with Grubhub and CampusCash for use on its Teaneck and Madison, N.J. campuses.
“New ideas are easily implemented when you have partners willing to work with you for the good of the overall student experience," says Bob Valenti, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services at Fairleigh Dickinson. "We’re fortunate enough to have established relationships with Transact - CampusCash and Gourmet Dining."
"With Grubhub as part of our program, we were able to offer students expanded hours, increased popular and local dining options, and the flexibility they needed to get them through some very rough times," adds Valenti. "Our students were so pleased and we’re happy to announce the partnership will continue to be included in some of our meal plans for the upcoming academic year.”
For more information on the partnership between Grubhub and Transact, visit grubhub.com.
In a post to the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU) Positive IDentity blog, Virginia State's Ramonia Prosise discusses how she added new elements to the campus card office. Through attending NACCU conferences, working collaboratively with VSU's campus card provider, and taking advantage of opportunities with outside vendors, read how Prosise was able to boost the card office's stature on campus and improve services for students.
As Prosise writes in her NACCU Positive IDentity entry, she first joined the TrojanCard Office in 2005, at a time when VSU's ID card was only used for meals and copy/print services. It was a trip to her first NACCU Annual Conference a year later in 2006 where Prosise learned about the possibilities that the card office held.
"I met and formed liaisons with so many people from the card industry at the conference, and I set out to develop a business plan for a real card program at VSU," says Prosise. "I learned how extensively other schools were using their cards off campus, so I immediately surveyed the student body to determine which local merchants."
A sure-fire way to raise the stature of the campus card is to enable students and staff to utilize the credential more often and in more locations. Enter VSU's off-campus program.
Prosise first worked with VSU's card system provider -- then General Meters Corporation, now Touchnet -- to solicit and contract local merchants. "We had secured five external merchant contracts and before the end of the year, I added another 15 merchants to accept the university’s ID as a prepaid debit card."
Once the off-campus program was off the ground, adding new merchants year on year became the new goal.
"Good news travels fast, because soon students and local area businesses were contacting my office about the External Merchant Program," recalls Prosise.
Another initiative, with Pepsi Bottling Group, added card readers to the university's beverage vending machines. Prosise paired that with a similar project alongside Canteen Vending to add card readers to all snack vending machines on campus.
Another important service added to the TrojanCard ID was the ability to use card readers to record participation at campus events and programs, while the most recent additions to VSU's repertoire have been online photo submission and mobile ordering.
"With the assistance of NACCU resources, like the Vault and Virtual Webinars, before we knew it, our VSU ID Card Program was comparable to those at other schools," says Prosise.
Prosise credits long-standing NACCU programs like the Annual Conference and webinars, as well as newer resources like naccuTV and the Positive IDentity blog as great sources of insight.
"When another innovation is being rolled out in our industry, I always learn about it through NACCU," she says. "In the past three years, developments like mobile credentials, online photo submission and mobile ordering have made me realize how raising the profile of our campus ID operation never ceases."
Ramonia Prosise has been with Virginia State University since May 1981, where she currently serves as the director of the VSU TrojanCard. Prosise also serves as a member of the NACCU Board of Directors since 2019, and is a Liaison to the NACCU Ambassador Committee.
Prosise is offering further insights to her campus card peers on request. To see her full write up on the VSU card program, visit NACCU.org.
Auburn University is now provisioning an NFC mobile credential to students faculty and staff for use on iPhone and Watch, as well as on Android devices. The university is enabling the campus community to use their new Tiger Card mobile ID to access campus buildings, purchase meals and more.
The campus-issued mobile credential adds a level of convenience and accessibility, and will be accepted everywhere the plastic ID card is used, both on and off campus. Once provisioned, users simply present an iPhone, Apple Watch or Android phone to an NFC-enabled reader to pay for food, vending or laundry or to access both exterior and interior doors at campus buildings and residence halls.
“We’re thrilled to launch contactless technology at Auburn this fall,” says Bobby R. Woodard, senior vice president for Student Affairs at Auburn University. “It’s something our students have wanted, and we have worked hard to bring the safest, most secure and most convenient method of accessing buildings and services to campus.”
Auburn worked with campus transaction system provider, CBORD, as well as the access and security provider, Allegion, to deliver the mobile credential initiative.
“At Auburn, we strive to bring the best technologies to our students, and now we bring a sea change to our identity solution with the mobile credential project,” says Kevin Watson, director of Student Affairs Technology at Auburn University. “We’re certain our students will appreciate a quicker and safer way to use the Tiger Card from their phones as the program rolls out this fall.“
In addition to providing convenient access to campus card activity, mobile credentials can also be instantly and remotely issued, revoked or reactivated, offering an added level of control and fraud protection for the university. The mobile credentials can also be distributed remotely on a self-service basis with control still being maintained by the campus, eliminating the need for in-person visits and long lines at a campus card office.
“We’re excited to expand the use of mobile credentials to more higher education institutions during the 2021-22 academic year,” says Jim Hoefflin, CBORD president.
“Our team has worked diligently with Auburn over the last several months to prepare for a fall semester rollout of mobile student IDs," adds Hoefflin. "CBORD will continue to work with them as this technology is adopted on campus by students, faculty and staff, as well with other university partners working to launch mobile credentials later this year.”
Further assistance on the install at Auburn came from Allegion, who is providing reader hardware and access control expertise.
“The campus card -- whether it be traditional plastic or mobile -- is the nucleus of a student’s daily routine,” says Jeff Koziol, PACS business development consultant at Allegion. “Auburn University’s upgrade to mobile credentials enhances the student experience with the various Schlage readers on campus, while providing a touchless scenario when interacting with the readers that is important during pandemic times."
Tiger Card holders can currently access the new mobile campus ID by following the step-by-step instructions for the mobile credential provisioning process.
To learn more, visit www.auburn.edu/tigercard.
