Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Case Western Reserve University will transition to two new campus safety apps for emergency alerts and transportation services on campus. Effective August 1, the university's Spartan Safe and Spartan Ride apps will be available to the campus community.
According to an official university release, Spartan Safe operates under the Rave Mobile Safety platform, which has been in place at Case Western to send emergency alerts. Spartan Safe will replace the Rave Guardian app, and provide additional functionality to boost safety on campus.
Spartan Safe app features:
Spartan Ride features include:
“Whether we’re communicating emergency information or helping the CWRU community get around campus quickly, we want to be able to offer the best tools to keep campus safe -- Spartan Safe and Spartan Ride will help us do that,” says Megan Koeth, Executive Director of Public Safety at Case Western Reserve University. “We’re excited to make these transitions and to offer new features that will make it easier for our community to stay informed and safe.”
Both Spartan Safe and Spartan Ride will be available for free download on the App Store and Google Play on August 1, 2022. The existing CWRU Rave Guardian and CWRU Safe Ride apps will no longer be in service after July 31.
Texas A&M University is moving to a cashless environment in Aggie Dining. The university will also launch mobile ordering at most of its retail campus dining locations, with the ultimate goal of converting to an entirely cashless experience across all campus dining.
According to an official university release, the implementation of cashless technology will enable students, faculty and staff to have access to a mobile ordering app that will make their campus dining experience quicker and easier. Transact Campus will provide its mobile ordering app solution as part of the cashless overhaul.
The Transact app will enable students to order and pay for food in advance at retail dining locations across campus, including Copperhead Jack’s, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Houston Street Subs, Rev’s American Grill, Shake Smart, Cabo, Azimuth, Creekside Market and Vet Med Café. A&M will add more locations over the course of the coming year.
The mobile ordering app is free to download and available on both Android and Apple devices. To set up an account, users will first select Texas A&M as their location and add a payment option. Students can add a standard credit card or their Texas A&M meal plan with dining dollars.
When placing an order, students select the time they want to pick up their order. When ready, the student will visit the participating location's designated mobile order pickup line to retrieve their food.
University officials say that mobile ordering is part of an larger strategy to reduce wait times and boost convenience at various campus dining locations.
“The Transact mobile ordering app allows everyone on campus to customize their dining experience,” says Donald Koshis, senior director of operations for Aggie Dining. “It is a great tool that will help our customers with its ease and convenience.”
The move to an entirely cashless dining environment will also enable the university to streamline campus operations, reduce security risks, speed-up transaction times, and mitigate health and safety concerns associated with handling cash.
Touchless payment options will also be available on campus. Students can make purchases with Apple Pay, Google Pay, debit cards, credit cards and Texas A&M dining dollars.
Reverse ATM kiosks will also be installed at A&M's Memorial Student Center to convert cash to a Visa or Mastercard prepaid debit card, free of charge. The cards can be utilized anywhere Visa or Mastercard are accepted.
“Our new technology and systems being put in place will bring a smoother service to our customers and speed up wait times,” says David Riddle, regional vice president of Aggie Dining. “We are excited about these big changes and the positive impact they’ll have on the customer experience.”
The University of Notre Dame will transition to a cashless retail environment on campus beginning August 1. Citing health reasons and a desire for more efficient campus payments, the move to cashless includes transactions at Notre Dame food-service locations, dining halls, concession stands and laundry, as well as dining services at Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College where Notre Dame manages operations.
According to an official university release, Notre Dame students and staff will see various improvements in the cashless environment including faster transactions than traditional cash exchange; the elimination of potential health concerns with less cash repeatedly changing hands; and the safety of not having large amounts of cash being held in registers or transported across campus for deposit.
“I am excited for this move to a cashless campus as transactions will be faster, saving time for both visitors and staff alike,” says Rich Bellis, associate vice president for finance and treasury services at Notre Dame. “Going cashless will eliminate security risks associated with transporting cash and will reduce end-of-day reconciliation for our employees. I am grateful to our team and campus partners for working together to implement this transition where possible.”
Faculty, staff and students can continue to add funds to their Irish1Cards for use in the campus dining halls.
Cash has seen less use on Notre Dame's campus over the past few years, particularly as more campus departments have implemented cashless alternatives. Notre Dame athletic contests have successfully operated as cashless environments since the fall of 2021, including parking for games and concerts. On campus food retail locations have also operated electronically via mobile ordering dating back to the fall of 2018.
The cashless initiative also accounts for those individuals who don't have an Irish1Card, credit or debit card, with the installation of kiosks on campus where cash can be transferred to a Visa gift card to complete transactions on campus. The gift cards can be used anywhere Visa is accepted on or off campus at no additional charge to the user.
The cashless initiative applies to just the campus environment, as vendors in the surrounding area of Notre Dame's campus will still accept cash.
Long Island University is extending its use of BIO-key's PortalGuard IAM platform to protect its enterprise applications and data. The new agreement extends an existing customer relationship that BIO-key has maintained with LIU since 2015.
BIO-key International provides workforce and customer identity and access management (IAM) solutions with Identity-Bound Biometrics. The contract extension will see LIU continue to leverage the BIO-key PortalGuard IAM platform.
"We are pleased to extend our relationship with LIU and offer an integrated security approach to protecting the institution," says Mark Cochran, President of BIO-key – PortalGuard. "Many higher educational institutions must expand their security footprint without increasing net security costs."
LIU uses BIO-key PortalGuard to strengthen its enterprise security. A key benefit for LIU is PortalGuard's capability to support an integrated security system and allow the institution to utilize previous investments in other security solutions, all while adding multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and self-service password reset to its user community.
The agreement with LIU will extend to the university's 15,000 students across both the LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn campuses.
Breaches and cyberattacks against higher education institutions have increased in the last year and can pose serious financial risk to institutions. Campuses that implement IAM solutions that capable of adapting to secure access requirements can help to mitigate cost and risk.
"Institutions are looking for solutions that keep faculty, staff, and students safer while reducing business disruptions while simultaneously reducing the number of outside providers they need to juggle," says Cochran. "We excel at delivering security solutions with a tangible return on investment for our customers."
BIO-key has provided authentication technology for organizations in higher education, healthcare and finance for the past 20 years. The company has paired authentication with biometric-centric, multi-factor identity and access management solutions.
The company's PortalGuard IAM solution provides convenient and secure access to devices, information, applications, and high-value transactions. BIO-key features patented software and hardware solutions that enable large-scale, on-premises and cloud-based Identity-as-a-Service solutions, as well as customized enterprise solutions.
The University of Washington is preparing to implement mandatory two-factor authentication for access to campus platforms. The university is encouraging students to begin using 2FA through Duo now ahead of required campus wide use this November across all UW campuses.
As reported by UW's student publication, The Daily, the university is on par for its November 2 deadline as it continues to convert all UW NetID accounts to two-factor authentication. All UW faculty have been using 2FA since June 15, and the November deadline will add all undergraduate and graduate students to the two-factor process.
Washington will leverage Duo for its two-factor authentication process. Duo Mobile is free to download and offers students the option to send notifications with an internet connection, a passcode generated by Duo Mobile without an internet connection, or a “Call Me” option that works with phone numbers in the US and parts of Canada.
In addition to Duo Mobile, UW is also offering a standard phone call option for any mobile phone or landline, as well as a hardware token option. UW-IT will provide a hardware token at no charge to the student, or support compatible devices. UW provides Feitian OTP c100 hardware tokens -- one-button hardware tokens that display a one-time passcode for signing in with 2FA.
According to the UW-IT website, required use of 2FA on the web is to better protect personal and institutional data. The university has now expanded two-factor authentication to include all resources that rely on a web browser for single sign-on with the UW NetID.
The university says that the decision to implement two-factor authentication came in part out of concern for students being affected by phishing schemes.
“As with faculty and staff, students will be able to opt in early starting now, before we make this required for our students in the fall,” said Andreas Bohman, vice president for UW Information Technology and chief information officer, in an email.
“Messaging to students has already begun, including through the University Registrars’ communications and our own student-facing channels. Outreach is underway with other stakeholders at all University of Washington campuses to ensure we reach students in as many avenues as possible.”
Two-factor authentication is being implemented on a number of campuses across the country. Duo is among the more popular platforms being used, though there is some variance in the methods campus IT departments are using.
UW-IT warns its campus community that if students suspect an email from someone claiming to be affiliated with UW to be fraudulent, never click any links provided, avoid entering your UW NetID if prompted, and always remain skeptical about opportunities that seem too good to be true.
Campus credential and payment solutions provider, Transact Campus, has acquired campus mobile ordering provider, Hangry. Hangry was already an established Transact partner, and the company's mobile ordering platform for higher education will play a role in a larger strategic growth plan for Transact.
The Hangry platform has been built to serve the specific needs of the campus environment and is fully integrated with the Transact platform. To date, Transact has processed 24 million mobile order transactions totaling over $200 million using the Hangry solution.
The mobile-first platform delivers a fully featured app that is custom-branded to reflect each university. From the mobile app, students can place food orders, access secure lockers for pick-up, place orders for delivery, make dining hall reservations, filter dietary restrictions and track nutrition.
In addition to flexible mobile ordering features, the Hangry platform also delivers a campus-wide loyalty and rewards component with capabilities for push messaging, automated marketing campaigns, intelligent up-selling, targeted inbox announcements, surveys, and user feedback.
“We are excited to welcome the talented Hangry team and to combine their innovative R&D culture with the continued successes of our Campus Commerce solutions at Transact,” says Nancy Langer, CEO at Transact. “The acquisition will enable us to build on Hangry features and functionality, as well as incorporate them into the wide array of Transact solutions that already provide a leading mobile-centric experience for millions of students.”
The acquisition of Hangry will ensure that the mobile ordering capabilities offered by Transact will be even more effectively incorporated into the company's commerce point-of-sale strategy. Key existing Hangry industry relationships are expected to broaden Transact's roster of mobile ordering clients, while consolidation of the operations and product development teams will see campus clients of both companies benefit from uninterrupted service and ongoing platform enhancements.
Founded by Fabian Raso in 2012, Hangry is a full-featured mobile ordering platform built for higher education institutions. The Hangry solution provides campus customers with complete control of a university-branded mobile app that includes food ordering, delivery, reservations, dietary filtering, and nutrition tracking.
The solution also offers a campus-wide loyalty and rewards module with targeted marketing and push messaging. According to Hangry, the company's platform is active on 180 campuses across North America.
All campus tender types are supported on the Hangry platform, including declining balance, cash equivalency, meal exchange and board plans.
For credit card payments, students can use their existing merchant processor through one of Hangry's payment gateway integrations. Hangry also integrates with popular campus POS systems for menu synchronization, order printer/KDS routing, and unified reporting.
“Key Hangry components are already tightly integrated and user-tested with hundreds of Transact clients, so we expect a very seamless transition,” says Fabian Raso, Founder & CEO of Hangry. “We have established a solid record of success working closely together. We anticipate that by joining Transact, we will leverage our common strengths, continue to improve the student experience, and expand Transact product capabilities.”
Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
By Ryan Audus, VP of Product Strategy, TouchNet
Hosted and cloud computing is much more than offloading onto “someone else’s computer,” it is a different and improved way of computing with substantial benefits to higher education institutions.
Hosted computing means a provider is managing servers and related services, which relieves your budget of hardware and some associated costs. Cloud computing is a type of hosted computing that goes a step further.
Cloud includes not only servers off premise, it provides a reliable and scalable environment for solutions to operate, increases security, and offers integration and configuration of solutions that help staff better perform tasks, handle data, and coordinate operations across campus.
Applied to campus ID management systems, hosted and cloud solutions increase savings, security, and efficiency when compared to traditional on-premise systems.
Hosted and cloud computing relieves a campus of the capital costs of on-premise equipment. Campuses no longer have to spend money purchasing, housing, maintaining, and upgrading servers and other hardware. Staff can minimize spending time on managing and securing data centers and performing network oversight. Everyone experiences less downtime and thus less costs from lost productivity.
Your spending is also made more efficient because you can purchase the solutions, servers, and support that you need and have it configured to match your situation. You don’t pay for things you won’t use and what you do pay for fits like a glove, increasing efficiency.
Another benefit associated with configuration is scalability. As needs change on your campus, you can expand, contract, and re-shape your hosted solutions and their support more easily and quickly than if they were on-premise.
With hosted and cloud-based ID management solutions, everything is in the same environment, “speaks the same language”, and provides the benefits of easier integration and implementation. No more legacy products that don’t connect. Instead, your solutions work together with ease and speed.
Integrated campus ID solutions generate usable data more readily and in real time because data continuously syncs across the system. Data analytics are presented in dashboards and digestible reports, accelerating the process of discovering insights and obstacles and improving your services and operations.
Upgrades are easier to implement, leading to more frequent rollouts, and because you’re on the most recent version of software, you experience better performance and faster fixes. Not to mention the improved capabilities by having access to the newest features as they become available.
Especially helpful for campus ID management is the ability for remote and reduced administration. Staff can work anywhere, anytime and execute a wide range of tasks that connect to any point on campus. Often only a single administrator is needed to perform these tasks, making staffing more efficient.
The security of the system is improved in hosted and cloud environments. By reducing physical implementation and maintenance, institutions can concentrate resources on securing their ID management system. These environments have built-in disaster prevention to increase security and server redundancy to provide immediate and secure access to back-ups.
Data is made more secure, too, with personal and payment data processed, transmitted, and stored by PCI-compliant solutions. And most providers offer access to a dedicated test environment, enhancing the ability to experiment and develop more secure solutions.
The security of the campus and its residents is strengthened as well. Integrated campus ID solutions expand and sharpen security because all locks and doors are in the same system and under the same control, allowing for quick decisions and precise execution.
Unified technology provides better and more encompassing data, giving administrators the big picture of many activities across the entire campus as well as the fine details of a single door’s usage, which ultimately leads to improved security.
To learn more about how hosted cloud card solutions can help deliver savings, security, and efficiency to your campus, download our infographic, Reasons to Move to OneCard VIP.
Duke University is expanding access to its late night van service with a newly added feature to an existing mobile app. The newest addition to Duke's TransLoc mobile app is the ability to book on-demand rides from student smartphones for safe campus transportation after hours.
According to an official university release, the TransLoc app is currently available to community members to track Duke transit buses in real-time across campus. New to the app will be the ability for Duke community members to schedule a ride between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
“The biggest impact will be that students, faculty and staff will see a really improved experience in being able to request a van much more easily and much more conveniently since it’s all contained within the same app as our transit data,” says Tyler Dewey, alternative transportation lead and associate transit planner for Duke Parking & Transportation.
“Having that ability to have our vans and transit in one location will be much clearer for our users," adds Dewey. "I think it will make it an easier and much more comfortable experience for those who rely on it.”
The TransLoc app is free to download on the Apple App and Google Play stores. In addition to the mobile app, the service also enables students to book a ride from the desktop version of the software.
Duke Vans, the service connected to the app, offers free rides between Duke facilities during hours when the standard university buses are not in service. The Duke Vans service is intended as a supplement to the university's primary transit options.
Once an account is created, the TransLoc app and desktop version are both available to Duke students, faculty and staff to book on-demand rides. After first selecting the Duke University campus as the chosen service area, users must then verify their identity using their university login credentials.
Using the familiar ride share app formula, students can select their pickup and drop-off locations by typing in the desired addresses. Users will be assigned to the nearest van and provided with an estimated time of arrival once the ride has been confirmed.
Users can track the progress of the van along its route and make changes to the reservation, including canceling the ride if necessary. The TransLoc service will also send text message notifications to users updating them on the progress of their ride.
HID Global recently named Tim Nyblom to a new position within the company that will expand its focus on the higher education vertical. CampusIDNews caught up with Nyblom to discuss the new role, expectations for HID campus clients, and what the company is envisioning for higher ed.
Tim, congratulations on your new position as Director - End User Business Development for HID Global’s higher ed market. What does that mean for you and our campus audience?
“Thank you very much! I’m ecstatic and honored to take the lead in the higher education vertical market here at HID under our Physical Access Control Business Unit (PACS). It’s hard to process, but I got my start in this industry back in 2006 and I’ve never left.
It’s really an exciting time for campuses. I’ve seen so much change in the past 16 years, and we are at a turning point as mobile takes center stage. I have a strong passion for this industry and welcome the opportunity to help institutions migrate to mobile credentials as they recognize the value it delivers to their campus.”
What about the higher education market makes it so special for you?
“Our higher education community is one of a kind – from the institutions to the partners and the solutions to the conferences. There are always challenges, but there is also never-ending camaraderie. It’s been a roller coaster ride, and it’s certainly not going to slow down!
For those that know me, one thing I’ve always prided myself on is being that trusted advisor. The good, the bad and the ugly – just providing as much information as possible so each institution can make the best decision for themselves. I came across a quote recently that has really resonated with me – “I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.”
Tell me about the higher education team at HID and who our campus administrators should be looking for.
“Yes, that’s enough about me. For those who haven’t met her yet, Nicole Fikes joined us in 2021 as our End User Business Development Manager handling the West. She has really hit the ground running, and I am really excited to be working with her.
Nicole Fikes, HID
Before Nicole joined HID Global, she worked as a Regional Director of Commercial Development for a security integrator, tasked with new business growth for large clients and national accounts. Prior to that, she was the Director of Client Partnerships, selling identity authentication SaaS to national accounts and financial institutions.
Nicole started her career in security with Stanley Security Solutions selling mechanical security solutions into National Accounts. She was excelled as a Global Accounts Business Development Leader and National Account Manager with Stanley’s security integration division.
She is an active member with ASIS Women in Security (WIS) global group. Currently, she is on the WIS global steering committee as well as the ASIS Indianapolis chapter WIS chapter liaison.
Nicole and her husband have two teenage sons that keep them busy attending high school cross country, track, and golf events. In her spare time, she runs marathons and walks her dog Lucy, the cutest black golden doodle ever.
Nathan Cummings, HID
Another important name to introduce is Nathan Cummings. Nathan is our technical lead dedicated to the Higher Education vertical market. He’s been at HID for 22 years, and as you can imagine, has seen it all! If you want to get down to the bits and the bytes, encryptions, keys and in general how it all works, Nathan is your guy.
Nathan has spent a majority of his time at HID in Product Management. He’s held several other positions, but the last 6 years have focused on pre-sales engineering, specializing in reader and credential technologies and more recently a focus on the Higher Education Vertical supporting mobile wallet credential implementations.
He enjoys his off time traveling, hanging with friends, and spending time with family in the High Desert in Southern California.”
Your promotion and expanding team would suggest that the company’s focus on higher ed is really strong, perhaps even growing, at this point. Would you agree?
"Yes, 100%. Our leadership recognizes the importance of the higher education vertical, including our strong partners and end users.
I say it a lot, but it bears repeating: The market for mobile credentials is forecasted for explosive growth over the next 5 years. We’re seeing a trend and believe that an increasing number of our clients will choose to migrate from plastic to mobile credentials because of the value it delivers to their business.
We believe the higher education market is positioned to continue to lead this charge and we are investing heavily to ensure that HID customers and partners have an easy path of transition at their own pace.
Adding to that investment, we are also actively looking to grow our team. We have some phenomenal candidates, and we look forward to welcoming new team members soon.”
HID has been working with universities for a couple decades at this point. Can you give me a sense for the number of campuses you serve?
“Under our PACS Business Unit, I’d say 1,000 campuses give or take. On these campuses, you’d see everything from older legacy style proximity cards and readers, iCLASS, Seos, Signo, Mercury Panels, HID Mobile Access via Bluetooth and NFC, Credentials in Apple Wallet and more.
That number certainly increases if you wanted to factor in our Secure Issuance/Printer lines and our Extended Access Technologies (EAT) Business Units. Our Fargo Connect solution is red hot right now and institutions are migrating to this platform all the time. As you can imagine, our groups collaborate quite a bit, and I’d like to give big kudos to the Fargo Connect Team and the solution they have brought to the market!
The same goes to our EAT team as they play a central role in supporting credentials for all other use cases across campus – POS, copy/print, vending, bookstore, rec center, parking, laundry and more. The Omnikey 5427 reader is becoming a major staple for campuses as they plan for the future.”
Are there any industry trends that will guide your efforts going forward?
“I think it will be important to streamline the mobile conversation. We understand that not every institution is going to make the move to mobile in the next few years, but everyone needs education on what they can do now to prepare the infrastructure to support mobile when they are ready.
I am also dedicated to educating the value that mobile can deliver to their students, their departments, their leadership and the campus as a whole. It can’t be highlighted enough; mobile has the ability to re-shape the campus as we know it.
I want to make sure our customers understand that they have choice and flexibility when working with HID. Lots of changes are happening in this industry right now and there is no one better positioned to help campuses protect their future than HID.”
With this market under your wing so to speak, what do you plan to accomplish in the new role over the next few years?
“Put simply – help as many institutions as possible. I want to continue to grow our team and our reach. The mobile conversation will continue to grow as more campuses make the move. Being able to provide all the necessary information campuses need to make an informed decision becomes imperative.
I understand that everyone has choices, and I look forward to talking to more and more campuses about the value that HID can deliver. I also want to continue to grow our relationships and leverage our partnerships. I firmly believe that we have the greatest customers and partner channel network in this industry.”
The University of British Columbia will offer a new meal plan option for students this fall, adding an all-access dining for first-year residences. The new all-access model will take effect this September, and will be a departure from UBC's existing declining debit dining plan.
According to a report from student publication, The Udyssey, the current dining plan for residential students at UBC is a declining debit system that sees students pay a fixed price for their meal plan at the beginning of the year. The plan then enables students to purchase food at campus dining halls and other on-campus locations on a per-item basis.
The new all-access plan will remove the itemized pricing system for residential first year students and instead offer unlimited access to dining halls in an all-you-care-to-eat fashion.
The new dining plan carries a higher up-front cost at roughly $6,500. From that fee, $6,000 goes toward all-access, in-residence dining. The plan sets aside the remaining $500 as Flex Dollars, which can be used at select on-and off-campus locations.
Campus visitors not on a meal plan can pay a door rate to access the all-you-care-to-eat dining halls. The door rate varies by meal time, charging $12 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, and $19 for dinner.
University officials say the meal plan change came in response to feedback from first-year students. The university included annual benchmarking surveys and student focus groups as part of the decision.
Recurring concerns with the old plan highlighted by students were limited variety, small portion sizes, and high prices of food in first-year dining halls.
“They would tell us that they're making choices based on price as opposed to nutrition,” said Colin Moore, director of UBC Food Services in a Udyssey statement. “They don’t believe they were getting great value out of the meal plan.”
Another change under the new meal plan is a slightly scaled back to-go meal option for students. To-go will be limited to fruit, coffee and baked goods at breakfast, and pre-ordered take-out lunches ordered online via Nutrislice.
Last year, UBC's Okanagan campus implemented a similar all-access dining plan for its residential students with positive results. The new all-access dining plan is designed to address the key student concerns.
“You come into the dining room and you don’t see prices. You never have to think about price," said Moore. "It significantly improves food equity and student well-being. There’s tremendous social, environmental, and sustainability improvements."
As supply chain issues in 2021 persist, identity solutions provider @ColorID discusses ways campuses can to overcome potentially troublesome delays until the situation eases.
https://www.cr80news.com/news-item/protecting-your-campus-card-program-from-supply-chain-issues/
A dining services push at the @UBuffalo is reinforcing the utility of self-service checkout. @CBORD is improving the food service experience using the GET app, as well as Nextep kiosks and Oracle’s Micros Simphony POS.
https://www.cr80news.com/news-item/kiosks-self-service-tech-streamline-campus-food-service-u-buffalo/
Did you miss our recent webinar? No worries - watch it on-demand. Leaders from @NAU and the @UAlberta joined Ryan Audus, Touchnet, and Andrew Hudson, @CR80News, to discuss innovative mobile services and the future of mobile tech in higher ed. Watch now: https://bit.ly/31RFyLn
