Overcoming Challenges of Implementing a One-Card Campus Solution

How to Overcome Common Migration Challenges of Implementing a One-Card Campus Solution

The explosion of contactless card technology on university campuses has been mainly fueled by increased security concerns regarding the commonly used magstripe ID cards, which rely on old swiping technology that’s been historically susceptible to fraud. This frustration, coupled with the expected convenience of linking multiple applications together, has resulted in a growing number of universities turning to more efficient, secure solutions for their identity management needs.

One such solution is contactless one-card technologies, such as SchoolVision, which are proving to address common identity security pain points on university campuses.

Despite the known benefits of using contactless one-card technology to simplify and streamline the on-campus credential experience, many universities still resist the idea of implementing a one-card campus solution due to the perceived challenges surrounding the migration process.

Not only are they concerned about how to continue operating applications that don’t support contactless cards, but they just don’t think it’s possible to sustain old and new technologies simultaneously. They’re also operating under the pretense that printing contactless cards is too complex and will disrupt the issuance process.

What many universities don’t know, though, is that technology has come a long way in supporting successful rollouts for a sustainable, long-term one-card solution.

Leading the evolution of ID card issuance is HID Global’s HID® FARGO® Connect™, a cloud-based card issuance platform that integrates all the elements of a secure card issuance program into a centralized system that allows administrators to gain control and oversight of all activity. When migrating to this or any other one-card solution platform, it’s important to consider the following best practices:

Plan to execute a gradual migration by choosing readers that support both magstripe and contactless technologies to allow for maximum flexibility when developing a plan suited to your organization’s unique needs.

To transition legacy applications without contactless card support, use a keyboard wedge reader such as HID Global’s OMNIKEY® Keyboard Wedge Reader, which takes the number listed in the barcode or magstripe and populates it into the legacy application, allowing continuous use of older applications that don’t support contactless readers.

Speed up and streamline the process by leveraging an identity services firm to pre-print and pre-encode student and employee cards with static graphics and data (i.e.: school logos and standard access privileges applicable to all cardholders).

Utilize onsite printers equipped with internal contactless encoders that enable electronic and graphical card personalization on the spot, allowing staff to quickly and easily produce more cards, while reducing the chance of encoding errors.

For further information and guidance on how to achieve a successful migration to a one-card issuance solution at your university campus, contact a Higgins Identity Expert at 800.486.1312. We provide access to a variety of contactless technology solutions, including HID FARGO Connect’s cloud-based ID card printing system.