UCISA Award for Excellence 2009 Application Form (Submission of an entry assumes acceptance of all the conditions relating to the award as described above.) Institution Name Queen Margaret University Originating Department Information Services Contact Name (and email address) Fraser Muir fmuir@qmu.ac.uk Objective of the Project/Service To develop and implement a fully integrated student, visitor and staff smartcard for use across the institution to deliver visual ID, access control, library borrowing and self-issue, print, copy and scanning at local multi-function devices, gym membership, parking control, catering mealplans and cashless purchasing. The drivers for the institution to use cashless purchasing smartcards are based around efficiency and security. Cash handling is reduced by employing smartcards to purchase items across the campus. By doing this the manual processes required can be removed and centralised. Having cash handled by 6 separate areas also gives problems with security, in terms of theft. If no cash is held in tills, there is no risk of theft. Security is also improved through the ability to audit every transaction. For example a visitor who attempted to steal an item from the shop claiming it has been paid for can easily be confirmed through analysing the information stored on the system. Finally, in areas of high throughput like our cafeteria, transactions can be completed much more quickly, reducing queues and improving the experience for customers. Description of the Project/Service
The overarching aim of the smartcard project at QMU was to develop a single, multi-purpose card that was flexible enough to be used in multiple applications. Started in 2007, the project had several objectives, clearly prioritised as; security and access control, cashless purchasing and visual identification as the student matriculation and staff ID card. Very quickly however, it was realised that by judicious choice of card technology, these uses could be expanded. By 2009, the card could be used as; matriculation and ID, access control, library borrowing, print, copy and scanning, parking, gym membership and cashless purchasing in all outlets across the university, including the students union. The process of enabling all of these functions are automated and driven by single-source data. For example, when a student is accepted onto a course at the university, they are able to matriculate online prior to arrival on campus through our secure student portal. Once matriculated, automated processes create IT accounts within two hours allowing immediate access to our electronic resources and populate the smartcard system within 60 seconds allowing registry staff to immediately take or upload a photo and print the smartcard. Immediately the card is printed another automated process ensures that the smartcard is recognised by our access control system and applies the correct door access based on the subject being studied or to the residences if they are registered there. Details are automatically pulled into our print management system ensuring that the student is able to print, copy, scan by presenting the card at any multi-function device across campus. No additional login is required and the MFD recognised the value available and any print jobs waiting to be released from our single print queue. Equally, the student information feeds into our library management system allowing borrowing of library resources through our selfissue stations, identified by the smartcard, immediately. Finally, the card is also immediately initialised for use as a cashless purchasing card and the student is able to load value using any of our six add-value machines as well as online using our cashless portal. This portal also allows students to add value to their print accounts, as well as being able to view transactions on both print and cashless accounts. If the student also joins the QMU gym, a smartcard enables access and tracks usage. If the student qualifies for on campus parking, the smartcard enables passage through the parking barriers. If the student opts for a catering meal plan, once paid this is loaded onto their smartcard allowing the purchase of pre-set meals at a discounted price, based on breakfast, lunch, dinner or any combination of the three. There is an equal automated process for staff, driven by our HR system, ensuring that staff cards are available and usable on the morning that the staff member arrives at work.
The management information provided by the systems enabled by the smartcard proves invaluable in adapting and delivering services to staff and students. The project has delivered a unified card that has enabled staff and students to carry one form of identification for all the services across the campus as well as automated and streamlined the administration behind it, minimising or completely removing human intervention and data entry. Cashless portal in more detail The in-house developed cashless portal is available to all staff and students via their web browser as well as a dedicated application on our thin-client system. The portal was developed to be an interface to both the print and cashless systems, allowing staff and students to securely view their transactions on both systems and to add value via PayPal and WorldPay. The value is added to either account as soon as the payment is authorised by the external broker. Average time to add value using PayPal is less than 90 seconds and the cash is available to spend immediately. No human intervention is required. The application also has an admin interface for key staff to check transaction statuses when there is a query or issue raised by staff or students who use the system. Extending to the students union As in most universities, the QMU SU forms a separate formal organisation. As such, FSA regulations state that it is not simply a case of extending the cashless system into other organisations even if they are closely associated. To solve this problem, the university had to apply to the FSA to become a small e-money issuer, allowing us to extend the cashless system into anyone who occupied a site in close proximity to the university. Certain conditions apply in the maximum amount that can be held on both an individual card and the system as a whole, but these are enforced in software. Despite being a daunting prospect, the application was filed successfully. Despite judicious research prior to commencing this part of the project, no information could be found of other universities who had undergone this. Integration with RFID system In 2007, library services implemented an RFID-based self issue and return service. Over 90% of transactions are now handled by these units, freeing up huge amounts of time for staff to handle more complex and greater value enquiries. This also facilitated library services staff taking responsibility for handling IT and AV problems in the LRC.
Smartcard readers were added and interfaced with the self-service units to identify the LRC user to the Library Management System. Using the smartcard dramatically drops the time to issue resources and this along with the ability for the RFID system to identify 6 or more books at a time means that queues to borrow and return have been eliminated. Summary The QMU smartcard project demonstrated what it is possible to achieve through careful selection of card technology and by ensuring free flow of data between systems. All the systems used in this project are off the shelf packages adapted to interface with existing technology many of which are used extensively in UK HEIs. The same model can be applied to other systems and institutions and indeed QMU has hosted several visits from other universities and commercial organisations who wish to extend the use of smartcards. Particularly useful was our experience in engaging with the FSA this aspect we are keen to share to remove the barriers to uptake elsewhere. Key statistics for the smartcard project: Average time from student arriving onsite to availability of resources and access to building: 15 minutes Average time from new staff member arriving on first day to availability of resources and access to building: 5 minutes Number of student cards printed: 13350 Number of staff cards printed: 2635 Number of gym cards printed: 1654 Number of cashless transactions handled: 142,224 Cash value through cashless purchasing system: 129,977.03 Number of online add-value transactions: 6963 Value added online via cashless portal in: 68,870 Average time to issue LRC resources: 10 seconds
Supporting documentation about the Project/Service Presentations: UCISA CISG conference 2009 smartcard presentation: http://qmu.academia.edu/frasermuir/attachment/563122/full/smartcards-- more-than-just-id Multimedia resources: video demonstrating the use of the smartcard and library resource selfissue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_bvpeldu4 video demonstrating self-service return: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bnqrwvojbk video demonstrating entry into the LRC using smartcard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe6rvujndek video demonstrating use of print, copy and scanning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qix_bi1bga Images:
Smart card system data layout SITS (Student information) Trent (Staff information) Gym membersh ip details Catering (Meal plans) Direct console input Name ID Default access level Name ID Default access level Network username Pharos (print management) MiFare card number MiFare card number Transaction info Chipnet (Smart card) Name ID Default access level Card ID Direct console input Name ID Block number ODBC connection OCCAM (student residences) Sirsi (LMS) ODBC connection Ccure (Access control system) Direct console input Manual update for access level exceptions CODA DREAM (finance) XML CSV Direct console input Manual update for car park permit Image 1: Data processes driving smartcard project
Image 2: Map of AVM locations
Image 3: screenshot of the cashless application showing recent smartcard transactions
Image 4: catering tills
Image 5: Parking barriers showing smartcard readers and innovative card return system!
Image 6: smartcard intranet information page
Name of Staff involved (including job titles and email addresses) Dave Graham, Head of IS, dgraham@qmu.ac.uk Andy Graham, IT Officer, agraham@qmu.ac.uk John Graham, Senior IT Officer, jgraham@qmu.ac.uk Alan Winton, DBA, awinton@qmu.ac.uk Wilma Haston, Catering manager, whaston@qmu.ac.uk Greig Lawson, Estates Support Services supervisor, glawson@qmu..ac.uk Siobhan O Connell, Head of Accommodation & Leisure Services, soconnell@qmu.ac.uk Support of Institution UCISA Representative Fraser Muir Director of Information Services and Learning Resource Centre fmuir@qmu.ac.uk When completed, e-mail the submission to execsec@ucisa.ac.uk. Please note that submissions should be limited to 4 sides of A4 but may include appendices containing supporting evidence such as screenshots.