Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Founders from UA’s auxiliary IT joined by two campus card industry veterans to bring solution to market
The University of Arizona (UA) pioneered a different approach to managing credentials as well as the integrations with downstream services such as access, housing, dining, events, and parking. Instead of relying on systems primarily controlled by a single vendor, they sought a more agnostic approach that put the university at the center.
The success of the project led to the formation of a private company, intent on bringing the solution to other campuses.
The project leaders – both from UA’s auxiliary IT team – Senior Director of IT Joe Harting and IT Project Manager Chris Augustine – traded in their university hats to found FutureState. Harting is the new company’s CEO and Augustine serves as Head of Development.
The company announced that two new hires, each well-known from their successful careers on the vendor side of the industry.
Tim Nyblom, who most recently served as HID Global’s Director of Higher Ed End User Development, is FutureState’s new Head of Business Development.
“Tim is one of the most knowledgeable and genuinely respected names in credentialing and physical access security,” says Harting. “He doesn't just know the industry, he knows the people in it, and they trust him.”
Outside vendors controlled the integration layer and this handcuffed the institution. At Arizona, we are the first university to not use a one card provider for our mobile IDs.
Jeff Staples is the company’s new Head of Market Development. Staples has been instrumental in numerous pioneering campus card initiatives, including Transact’s (then Blackboard) development and launch of the industry’s first mobile credential offering.
“Jeff understands this industry inside and out – the platforms, the politics, and the possibilities,” says Harting. “His decades of experience bring the structure, focus, and executive-level frameworks that will help us scale without losing what makes FutureState different.”
The team at Arizona created a software layer that sits between its credential issuance systems and the various services that consume the physical card or mobile credential. What is unique is that typically this function falls to outside vendors, which Harting says leaves institutions beholden and locked in.
He’d experienced it throughout his 20-plus years in university IT leadership at both Northern Arizona University and UA. One card vendors and access control providers controlled the integration layer, he says, and this handcuffed the institution.
“We wanted to break this cycle and what we did gave us flexibility in our mobile credential rollout as well,” he adds. “We are the first university to not use a one card provider for our mobile IDs.”
At UA, when a mobile ID is issued the credential manager passes the information to a software layer called CardSync. When a physical card is issued, the same process is triggered.
In addition to this tie-in for credentials, CardSync serves as the connection point for cross-campus service integrations. The various departments on campus continue to manage their own systems – adding and removing users and privileges – but their data is now linked in real time through CardSync.
When you change a vendor, the old integration is replaced – via an API – with the new one, and no other systems are impacted.
“Because every system connects through CardSync, the university avoids vendor lock-in,” Harting explains.
When a department changes a vendor, the old integration is removed and replaced – via an API – with the new one. No other systems are impacted, and the process can take just days.
According to Harting, this ability to replace vendors even extends to the credential manager and transaction system provider. These too are simply connections to CardSync just like housing, dining, or the array of other services.
The second piece of the solution, CardPulse, provides dashboards and views into the CardSync data. CardPulse is a single point for admins to manage credentials across the enterprise. Users can view credentials to troubleshoot issues, populate credentials into newly onboarded systems, make exceptions to rules, and generate metrics.
While the FutureState solution is ideal for mobile credential implementations, institutions don't need to be undergoing an immediate migration for this to work for them.
Institutions can start with physical card production, and when the time is right onboarding the mobile credential manager of choice is simply one more integration.
“CardSync and CardPulse deliver value today,” says Harting. “Institutions can start with physical card production and begin pushing credentials downstream in real time, monitor the health of their systems, apply lifecycle management rules, and troubleshoot or fix issues for individual cardholders.”
Once this foundation is in place, when the time is right onboarding the mobile credential manager of choice is simply one more integration into CardSync.
According to the company, the success of the UA project has led to significant attention and interest in FutureState’s offerings, with strong interest and strong pipeline growth, including high profile institutions from across the country.
“Over the past several months, interest in FutureState has grown faster than even we had anticipated,” says Harting. “As we move to meet that demand, I'm thrilled that we will soon announce successful early funding rounds, additional new hires, and outreach to campus colleagues in a major way.”
