There is a growing number of use cases for examining card system data, and one of the campuses that's helping to blaze the card data trail is the University of Montana.

UM examines its card system data for wide variety of reasons, looking at nearly every function of the card system. In addition to the efforts at Montana's flagship campus, an affiliate campus, UM Western, has also developed a student engagement program that tracks student attendance from tutoring to football games.

To shed more light on the card data efforts at Montana, Blackboard Transact will host a free, live webinar on Wednesday, June 27 at 1:00 PM EST. Webinar attendees will hear from Maggie McCarthy, manager of Montana's Griz Card Center, about how card system data has made the card office an invaluable service center for other campus departments.

"Having this data at your fingertips is one of benefits of running a robust card system," says McCarthy. "The card system empowers our auxiliaries to make operational decisions, whether that be what hours of operation or what meal plans to offer, as much as it allows our student service departments to assess their strengths and show the value of their services."

The conversation surrounding card data interpretation is an important one, and at the center of the discourse will inevitably be the card office. McCarthy and the rest of the Griz Card team have embraced this role, and the results have been immense.

"The card office is here to help our users answer questions to make strategic decisions," McCarthy says. "The most common question that I'm asked is, 'Who is using my service and how often?' This is a great starting point to get an idea of what your department is doing if you’ve never looked at the assessment data."

Over the past year, the University of Montana also underwent a system-wide internal review process designed to assess and prioritize programs and services. "This process identified strengths, where to invest or disinvest campus funding, and pinpoint outdated or inefficient processes," explains McCarthy. "The review required that departments demonstrate the value of their services though measurable results, many of which were able to do so using card system data."

Other departments aren't the only beneficiaries of UM's work with card system data. The card office itself has reaped some rewards. "The greatest direct impact to the card office is that it changed how we are billing new students and issuing cards," says McCarthy. "We're now able to look at card issuance data to make decisions and demonstrate to administration, using card system data, why changes needed to be made."

This is just a small preview of the information to be covered in the full webinar on Wednesday, June 27 at 1:00 PM EST. Register here and tune in to hear more about the above examples and how the Griz Card Center is using card system data to redefine campus operations and assist multiple university departments.