Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Stevens Institute of Technology has deployed mobile credential from Transact Campus. The move will enable Stevens students to use their Mobile DuckCard to make purchases at participating off-campus merchants, as well as for door access, meal payments, or printing across campus.
According to the Stevens DuckCard Office website, the mobile credential initiative will cover both Apple and Android devices. Also worth noting, the DuckCard Office will no longer issue new plastic DuckCards or replacement cards after May 31st of this year.
TO get started with mobile credential at Stevens, students must first download the Transact eAccounts App. From within the app, students select Stevens Institute of Technology, login with their university username and password, and finally select "add to Wallet" and accept the terms and conditions.
In a recent article in campus newspaper, The Stute, Tej Patel, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO at Stevens commented on the role of the plastic credential in greater detail.
“During the rollout of Mobile DuckCard, Plastic DuckCards were kept enabled to serve as a backup option in case anyone encountered issues with their Mobile DuckCard, device, or card readers,” said Patel in a statement to The Stute. “However, soon, plastic DuckCards will be disabled for individuals who have an active Mobile DuckCard. The upcoming update to the Transact software will introduce a tool that will automatically disable plastic cards when a Mobile DuckCard is created.”
In a statement to The Stute, Patel also said that the mobile credential program will be "cost-effective and fully managed by Stevens IT, ensuring a seamless and hassle-free experience for all.”
The full discontinuation of plastic credentials does, at least for the time being, have its exceptions. Specifically, for those students who still may not have an NFC-capable smartphone, the DuckCard Office will continue print plastic cards.
Oscar Hernandez, Operations Coordinator for the DuckCard Office also spoke with The Stute, and explained why mobile credential is a good fit for Stevens.
“The initiative was taken to keep Stevens at the forefront of innovation, says Hernandez. "We are the first university in New Jersey to have implemented mobile credentials."
Beyond the innovation factor, Hernandez added that the move to mobile will reduce plastic waste, save cost for students by eliminating lost card loss fees, and save time for the DuckCard Office by removing the task of mass card issuance.
Shenandoah University is the latest institution to bring robot delivery to campus, selecting Kiwibot to be its provider. The Kiwibot initiative is being provided in partnership with Shenandoah's food-service provider, Sodexo, and will see the semi-autonomous robots pick up and deliver food to selected drop-off locations on campus.
According to a report from The Augusta Free Press, Shenandoah students can now place mobile food orders through the Everyday app. Students can then track their order and follow the robot’s progress in real-time.
In its first semester of operation, Shenandoah is offering the robot delivery service with no added delivery fee.
Shenandoah joins a roster of 26 universities to have deployed Kiwibot delivery on campus. At the outset, 15 Shenandoah has opted to deploy a fleet of 15 robots. As with other solutions, robot delivery at Shenandoah will feature zero carbon emissions, and help to reduce the carbon footprint on the Winchester campus.
Shenandoah is benefitting from Kiwibot's partnership with food-service and facilities management provider, Sodexo.
Separately, Kiwibot also has an existing partnership with Grubhub that is providing robot delivery services on college campuses across the United States for mobile orders made through Grubhub.
“Students truly enjoy having the Kiwibots on campus. It is a convenient way to obtain food and beverages when students are busy with classes, performances, and practices,” says Yolanda Barbier Gibson, Vice President for Student Affairs at Shenandoah University. “We are glad that we have the ability to provide this service to our students.”
Kiwibots can operate in extreme weather conditions, including snow, and move at walking pace. The delivery robots are capable of navigating campus sidewalks and crosswalks, can carry up to 25 pounds per trip, and can typically complete a delivery in a matter of minutes depending on the chosen delivery location.
Auburn University is nearing the end of its second year with mobile credentials on campus, but the move to mobile wouldn’t have been possible without a number of partners offering their expertise. One of the most important players in the university’s move to mobile was access control solutions provider, Allegion, who helped Auburn to overhaul its campus reader infrastructure.
For context, Auburn’s quest for contactless dates as far back as November of 2014, when discussions first began about moving the campus credential away from mag stripe.
“We reviewed several different options that were available at that time, including NFC Mobile Credentials,” says Melanie Chambless, Manager, Information Technology Information Systems Support at Auburn University. “But we couldn’t come to a consensus on which would be best for our institution nor a timely and cost-efficient way to upgrade all the existing readers on campus.”
The next major inflection point for Auburn came in 2018 when Apple announced support for mobile credentials, for which one of the initial launch campuses was the University of Alabama.
“Within days of that announcement, Apple agreed to present the mobile credential to our Student Government Association, Student Affairs, and Tiger Card offices the following week,” recalls Chambless. “It was discovered that the support from Apple was only for Transact schools, so we were unable to proceed but were ensured by Apple that they would be working with CBORD on a solution to include mobile credentials in their system as well.”
Regardless of mobile credential provider, one thing was certain; Auburn needed to establish a new reader infrastructure that moved the campus away from mag stripe. The university turned to Allegion to help deliver.
“This was our first involvement in an installation where we had a main access control system – Auburn is Lenel – that was not from one of the one-card providers,” says Jeff Koziol, Business Development Manager, PACS Partners at Allegion. “CBORD had done it before at a few other campuses, but on a different credential platform.”
“That’s a takeaway that all campuses considering mobile should understand,” adds Koziol. “If you have a Lenel, Software House, Genetec, Avigilon, S2 or other third-party door access system, mobile is still very much an option for your campus.”
A takeaway for all campuses considering mobile is that if you have a Lenel, Software House, Genetec, Avigilon, S2 or other third-party door access system, mobile is still very much an option.
“We set out to expose all of our card touchpoints on campus in building out a use case document that became our guide to implementation,” says Kevin Watson, Director, Student Affairs Technology at Auburn University. “The entire project ran from Spring 2019 to launch in August of 2021.”
Watson goes on to explain that the process was elongated by the pandemic, a need to synchronize with a campus affinity card project and navigating questions around the campus’ significant jump from mag stripe to contactless.
“Allegion was a primary partner in this conversion, always helpful and available to us and rapid in response,” says Watson. “There were many times when we were overnighted configuration cards or other items that we needed for testing and deployment, and they continue to have frequent conversations with us to check in and guide us in new integrations.”
As for the role of the plastic credential, Auburn plans to continue issuing plastic en masse in 2023, but will increasingly phase out cards as the summer of 2024 approaches. “Plastic will have continued use over the coming years with visual badging and exceptional use cases, but we plan to use far less of it over time and phase it out as a default badge,” says Watson.
With regards to reader infrastructure, Auburn is now leveraging a variety of Schlage hardware from Allegion across various use cases on campus.
“We’re using Schlage MT20 readers for all use cases that are not physical access related, including campus dining, bookstores, and libraries,” says Rob Stanford, Senior Application Systems Analyst at Auburn University. “We have a variety of Schlage MTB11 and MTB15 models across campus for roughly 95% our physical access needs.”
The remaining 5% consist of Schlage AD300 locks for a specific set of residence halls and select locations at Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says Stanford.
“Our MT20’s are ideal for non-access control applications or financial transactions,” says Koziol. “And we do offer some ‘transition’ readers for those campuses still on mag stripe for door access who want to have a pathway to higher security smart cards and eventually mobile credentials.”
Stanford also explains that there are select locations where Auburn is using Schlage MTKB15 readers where PIN codes are required. “Also of note, we’re using Schlage MTB11 readers at student entry gates for a number of our athletic events, including football, basketball, baseball, softball, and gymnastics.”
Allegion’s Koziol says the ticketing application helped to chart new waters for the access control provider. “The student section ticketing use case for their home football games was a new one for us,” recalls Koziol. “And it works extremely well, limits human error, and increases throughput at the gate. It makes a difference for those students anxiously trying to get into the stadium and to their seats.”
After the primary student areas were completed in summer of 2021, we never quit upgrading and worked from a prioritized list that would make the largest impact on students.
From the physical access side, Stanford estimates the team are about 80% through upgrading campus. “After the primary student areas were completed in the summer of 2021, we never quit upgrading and worked from a prioritized list that would make the largest impact on students.”
“Since we were having to replace every single reader on campus from mag stripe to NFC, the project was bound to take a while,” he says. “We very much appreciate and value our partnership with Allegion as we continue to work with them to find new ways to leverage our credentials.”
As Stanford explains, the team at Auburn opted for a university-owned encryption key for its plastic cards, mobile credentials, and end-point devices. “Allegion was able to guide us through that process so that we could work with various vendors to implement the technology properly.”
In addition to new readers, Auburn also made the decision to upgrade its older wiring to OSDP for added security and capability. “Allegion worked with us to design a specific DESFire card with two mag stripes for use with campus needs as we transition away from mag stripe as well as for the affinity card,” says Stanford.
Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) is an access control communications standard developed by the Security Industry Association (SIA) to improve interoperability among access control and security products. OSDP is used to link access control systems together, and supports the ability for two-way communication to send and receive information from the controller.
“The MTBs are great readers for anyone on the open, site specific encryption key path who eventually may want to move to mobile,” says Koziol. “They offer the industry standard Wiegand output but also support OSDP, which will start to become more commonplace in the door access world as more access control companies become OSDP compliant.”
Leaning heavily on Allegion's advice, we’ve been able to determine best practices for encrypting from point to point, upgrading wiring and devices, and potential new use cases for the future.
As with campuses across the country, Auburn also dealt with supply chain challenges. “Allegion bent over backwards for us to keep the readers coming in – even if at a trickle – so that we could keep our project of upgrading readers moving along,” says Stanford. “They found creative ways to get us new readers if they knew someone looking to unload some, or through other ‘magic’ ways.”
Upgrading a reader infrastructure across an entire campus is a serious undertaking for any institution, and having support from trusted partners can go a long way.
“Allegion was and is definitely a primary partner for our switch to mobile credential,” says Stanford. “Leaning heavily on their advice, we’ve been able to determine best practices for encrypting from point to point, upgrading existing wiring and devices, and potential new use cases for the future.”
Grubhub and mobile credential and payment solutions provider, Transact Campus have partnered to integrate Grubhub's Marketplace into Transact Mobile Ordering. The deal will enable students on Transact campuses to order from off-campus restaurants through the Grubhub Marketplace using their campus card for payment.
Through this integration, students can select from an expanded roster of dining options by toggling between on- and off-campus restaurants, and do so from within the Transact Mobile Ordering app. When students select the off-campus option, they will see available Grubhub restaurants for pickup or delivery and pay for meals using their campus card where applicable.
"This integration is a major win for everyone involved and a big step forward to provide a more holistic dining experience for students," says Geoff Ellis, vice president strategic partnerships and business development at Grubhub. "Transact's technology-first solutions complement our Grubhub Marketplace offering and together, we're empowering students to have more dining choices. Campus environments are ripe for innovation, and we're looking forward to working with Transact to bring even more value to students, administrators and restaurants in communities across the country, while growing our campus and diner network."
Through the integration, students on Transact campuses will be able to access Grubhub's entire network of more than 365,000 restaurants nationwide and place orders from anywhere.
"We're excited to expand our relationship with Grubhub and offer even more ways for students to have cashless options and expanded meal choices," says Laura Newell-McLaughlin, executive vice president and general manager, integrated payments, and campus commerce at Transact. "We're continuously looking for ways to enhance the offerings in our mobile ordering platform and partnering with Grubhub to provide students with additional off-campus dining options makes our service even more seamless."
The new mobile ordering partnership is expected to launch in the coming months, and will build on Grubhub and Transact's existing relationship. The companies already enable students using Transact's CampusCash program to use their student ID cards for cashless payments at university approved off-campus merchants.
East Tennessee State University has confirmed its new campus card design following a vote by the student body. The new card design coincides with a new technology card to be issued and was finalized after an online voting process.
According to an official university release, students were presented with five options, all featuring some combination of campus and regional landmarks. ETSU students ultimately selected a design that incorporates both in the form of a silhouette of ETSU's Foundation Carillon, with a sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In total, the online poll tallied 3,052 votes, with the winning card design receiving 1,221 votes.
The five card designs were created by the ETSU Office of Marketing and Communications alongside ETSU Campus ID Services office.
“We wanted to change up the design due to a few technological needs,” says Katy Beall, systems coordinator in Campus ID Services. “Plus, we wanted to highlight the campus so people can better associate the card with ETSU at a glance, with the beautiful mountains, trees, iconic structures, and ETSU’s colors."
The new card design coincides with a recarding effort that will see the university deploy chip technology to leverage tap access at card readers around campus. The new design was also created to avoid printing over top of the embedded chip area.
The new ETSU campus cards will be issued to all new incoming undergraduate, graduate, and transfer students during orientation beginning in April. Card photos can be taken in person at the Campus ID Services Office or uploaded online prior to arriving on campus.
Existing ETSU ID cards carried by current and returning students will remain valid and functional, and will be phased out by the new campus cards as replacements are required due to loss or damage.
Penn State University has opened its on campus meal plan to all faculty and staff via the campus card. All faulty and staff are eligible to purchase a meal plan and beginning February 1, faculty and staff can also add LionCash to their id+ card for discounted meals at participating dining locations.
According to an official university release, faculty and staff using LionCash will be charged a special door price at all-you-care-to-eat dining locations at the University Park and Behrend campuses.
To receive the discount, PSU staff and faculty have to inform the cashier of their staff status prior to paying. Faculty and staff also receive a 10% discount at participating retail dining locations around PSU.
LionCash is Penn State's flexible prepaid account that can be used for on- and off-campus purchases. The tender is also the only payment method for on-campus laundry.
LionCash is accepted at more than 300 on- and off-campus locations across the state of Pennsylvania. Students can use lionCash to purchase books for the semester, grabbing a bite to eat, making copy/print.
Lioncash does not expire and remains on an employee’s id+ card while employed by Penn State. Adding additional funds to the id+ card can be done via credit card or payroll deduction. In addition, LionCash can be managed via the Penn State Go app where users can place mobile retail dining food orders.
Student ID cards have occupied a gray area when it comes to voter identification, with some states accepting the campus card at the the polls and others not. The latest to grapple with the challenge is the state of Idaho where a new lawsuit has been filed against a recent law that prohibits the use of student ID cards as an acceptable form of identification at polling places.
According to local Fox affiliate WFIN, the lawsuit has been filed by the Idaho chapter of March for Our Lives -- a student-led gun control organization -- and a 17-year-old student. The lawsuit seeks to have the law, HB 124, thrown out on constitutional grounds, alleging that HB 124 violates the 26th Amendment because it was "motivated by a discriminatory purpose."
Idaho Governor, Brad Little, signed HB 124 into law earlier this month. The legislation amends Idaho’s voter ID law by removing student ID cards from the list of personal identification that voters are required to show at the polls before casting a ballot.
Acceptable forms of voter identification in Idaho include an Idaho driver’s license, a passport or state-issued ID card with a photograph, a tribal identification card, or a concealed carry firearm license.
Legal representation for the plaintiffs argue that high school and college students have been able to use their student identification card to verify identity at polling places for over a decade without any recorded issues.
Bill co-sponsor, state Sen. Scott Herndon, said that only 104 people used a student ID to vote in the November 2022 election. State records indicate that nearly 600,000 Idaho residents voted in that election.
Herndon also argued that the standard to obtain a student ID card is less stringent than for other forms of identification.
"The reason that we, again, want to get rid of the student ID is because we cannot have as much assurance through that method of identification that the voter standing at the poll to vote is who they say they are," said Herndon.
Another proponent of HB 124 voiced concerns over students from neighboring states voting by mail in their states and then voting again in Idaho in person with a student ID card.
Transact Campus VP and GM of ID Solutions, Rasheed Behrooznia, discusses the year ahead for Transact Mobile Credential, recent updates, and why the technology is a good fit for campuses. Fresh off the recent Transact 360 event in Atlanta earlier this month, Behrooznia shares some additions to the mobile credential offering.
Watch along as we discuss what success for mobile credential in 2023 looks like, "myth bust" some common misconceptions around the technology, and look ahead at some new additions to the offering going forward.
For more on mobile credentials, visit TransactCampus.com.
The third installment of ColorID's "Looking up to the Cloud" series examines the topic of visitor management solutions. Specifically, the role that cloud-based visitor management systems can play in creating a welcoming, convenient experience for campus visitors.
The conventional approach to campus visitor management can yield long lines, paperwork, and overclocked staff. Now, with newer concerns like COVID and campus safety protocols, proper visitor management becomes paramount.
"Traditionally, visitor management software has been expensive, placing it out of reach for some organizations and forcing them to adopt manual, labor-intensive and error-prone processes," says Mark Degan, Director of Corporate Marketing at ColorID.
Degan lists three ways that cloud-based visitor management solutions can help a campus manage visitors with confidence, and do so on a budget.
Residential universities and colleges are faced with a unique set of challenges when it comes to campus safety. They need to constantly toe the line of robust and comprehensive campus security, whilst simultaneously remaining open and welcoming to the many visitors that interact with campus.
"When these campuses welcome guests — especially for larger events like conferences or camps — there are several ways the right visitor management system can help achieve this balance,” says Degan.
Cloud-based visitor management solutions can help simplify physical and digital credential issuance with:
As Degan explains, many one-card systems are priced based on the number of cardholders. The impact of this pricing model on visitor management is that many institutions decide against using the one card system for visitor management in an effort to save money.
Relying on spreadsheets isn’t good enough anymore.
Campuses don’t want to pay more for visiting cardholders who will only use their credentials for a few days, says Degan. In an effort to reduce costs, campuses often default to manual processes and spreadsheets to manage and record visitor logs.
"Relying on spreadsheets isn’t good enough anymore," says Degan. "With a modern visitor management system, you can easily issue credentials, assign rooms and more before your guests even arrive on campus — and you can do it without breaking your budget.”
A proper visitor management solution should be chosen based on the environment and needs of each campus.
"We have customers with pretty standard visitor management needs, and we have others with much more specialized requests," says Degan. "Some large universities, for example, use mobile check-in capabilities to handle huge conferences, and some hospitals tailor their solutions to accommodate needs like blocking specific visitors from the NICU."
With today’s cloud-based options, you can balance efficiency and security with confidence.
"Whether you’re managing visitors at a hospital or conference attendees on a college campus, visitor management is too important to be left to chance," says Degan. "With today’s cloud-based options, you can balance efficiency and security with confidence."
ColorID offers a full line of visitor management solutions featuring visitor registration, badge printing, tracking, and reporting. For more information regarding visitor management solutions, visit ColorID.com.
Mobile credential and payment solutions provider, Transact Campus, will integrate its solutions with Amazon’s "Just Walk Out" technology, enabling students to make purchases at Amazon stores on campus without seeing a cashier. Amazon's Just Walk Out concept enables shoppers to walk into a store, pick their items off shelves and walk out without having to visit the till.
The companies anticipate stores powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology will be deployed across campuses. With this partnership, those stores would include an integrated solution that combines Transact’s card system for payments, mobile ordering app for store entry, and Cloud POS for product catalogs, inventory, and reporting.
Shoppers, students, and any verified user with a university account can simply scan their unique QR code to enter a store, which starts a virtual shopping session. During the session, Amazon technology detects what shoppers take from or return to the shelves. Shoppers are then able to leave the store without having to wait in line and the credentials stored in their Transact Mobile Ordering account will be used to pay for the items they selected.
“Together, Transact Mobile Ordering and Just Walk Out technology will create a seamless student experience by eliminating checkout lines and increasing efficiency in transactions,” says Laura Newell-McLaughlin, EVP/GM, Integrated Payments and Campus Commerce, Transact. “Utilizing Transact Mobile Ordering for store entry and payments unlocks several useful tools for universities and vendors such as stored payment profiles, tender selection, tender discount and taxes, in-app receipts, user segmentation, and transaction recovery.”
The cashierless store concept is designed to help eliminate checkout lines and enable stores to improve labor efficiency by utilizing staff more effectively.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology will integrate with Transact’s Card System for declining balance and credit card transactions. The partnership intends to offer unified online product catalogs and reporting data with Cloud POS for better consumer insights and security.
Transact will begin rolling out the Just Walk Out technology integrations in the coming months for early-adopter campuses already using Transact Mobile Ordering and will open the service for additional campuses later this year.
