In a recent interview, HID Global’s Amy Surprenant discusses the project management component of the mobile credential launch at George Washington University (GWU). With 26,000 faculty, staff, and students, the project marked a significant milestone for the institution and its partners, including HID, CBORD, and various on-campus departments and vendors.

The deployment of HID Mobile Access at GWU took more than 32 months of planning and collaboration.

She says managing a project of this scale is complex due to the numerous third-party systems involved – ranging from door access and printing to parking, transportation, and more.

GWU is a CBORD school, they use HID but they also have Allegion door access hardware. With just a firmware update, their Allegion locks were able to read the HID credential.

The shift to mobile ID required a full audit of every system currently relying on physical cards to ensure each could be supported by the new credential. This is mandatory due Apple’s 100% use case requirement.

In addition to HID hardware, GWU’s infrastructure also includes Allegion door hardware. Effective collaboration between technology providers ensured that both companies’ readers could accept the mobile credential.

Surprenant says the successful implementation at GWU illustrates how thoughtful planning and strong partnerships can deliver a modern, secure, and user-friendly campus experience.

To watch the full interview, click the image at the top of this page.

Transcript

Hi, I am Amy Surprenant, end user business development manager for higher education. I work at HID Global and I'm here at a conference for end users specifically in the higher education realm.

I'm proud to say that I was part of the GWU launch, George Washington University, they have 26,000 faculty, staff and students.

From a project management perspective, there's a lot of third-party applications – printing, bookstore, transportation, parking – it doesn't just include door access.

It was an awesome project implementation phase. After 32 months or so of meetings after meetings, we had HID on the phone, CBORD, and all the different on-campus departments and vendors.

It was a great project. You have to think about all the third-party use cases, door access, it just launched three weeks ago yesterday for mobile and they are beyond happy, so it was a definite success.

So as far as the project management piece, there's a lot of third-party applications that you have on a campus, whether it's printing, the bookstore, transportation, parking – it doesn't just include door access.

You need to make sure that those third-party systems integrate with data feeds out to the right system, so it's definitely a big lift, but it's definitely a lift that's worth it in the end. That is because the student experience, it's not only for convenience, but also safety. It's audit control, because it makes you actually look at wherever a student uses that plastic card today. They have to be able to use their mobile, because of the Apple 100% use case requirement.

You need to make sure that those third-party systems integrate with data feeds out to the right system, so it's definitely a big lift, but it's definitely a lift that's worth it in the end.

So, it's just seamless and convenient for the students, and let's face it, Generation Alpha is here, and they want mobile, everything is on their phone.

George Washington University is a CBORD school, they use HID but they also have Allegion door access hardware on campus. They're able to have Allegion locks that can read the HID credential with just an update on their firmware. It's an HID mobile identity, so we were pivotal in making that relationship work and forming a great partnership with all.

Our team is always here to help, we're dedicated all the time, I don't want to say 24-7, but we are. We have a great team of people that covers the entire country. Please reach out to us at any time, we're here to help.