A Smart Card That Goes the Distance

1
A Smart Card That Goes the Distance

• The Award Winning OneCard Program at Wilfrid
  Laurier University

2
General Goals of a Card System

• Replace older and increasingly expensive
  technologies
• Implement a system that is capable of cost
  recovery
• Build a foundation for future services
• Must be convenient for students, faculty and staff

3
Planning Your Card System

• Define the scope of your card system
• Develop a business model
• The RFP process
• Timeline for implementation
• Other possible factors

4
Scope of the Laurier Project

• Replace the old system with a Y2K compliant
  system
• Implement meal plans
• Accommodate an off campus sales program
• Incorporate security program like door access
• Be able to interface with 3rd party systems

• Encompass other campus departments like the
  library and athletics
• Replace old laminate card with a magnetic stripe
  card
• Able to expand into vending, laundry, copying,
  printing, etc

5
The Business ModelTwo Basic Types

• There are two basic business models for a card
  system
• Front End revenue generators
• Back-End revenue generators

6
The Business ModelFront-Load Type

• A fixed percentage of deposits are taken up front
• Dollars are converted into points
• Easier to budget because revenues are taken
  before sales need to occur
• Discounts are used at the point of purchase to
  show plan value to students
• Can allow for revenue double dipping with off
  campus programs

• Can be very confusing to students who have to do
  dollar to point conversions
• When used off campus, the value of a dollar is
  diminished
• Can restrict the growth of your off campus
  program
• Perception of value is always in question
• Burden of the program tends to be borne by the
  students

7
The Business ModelRear-Load Type

• Operates like the credit card companies do
• Takes a negotiated percentage of sales at the
  point of purchase
• A dollar is a dollar so no points conversion
• No discounts necessary at point of purchase
• Greater perception of value
• Allows for rapid off campus program growth

• No loss in spending power for off campus
  purchases
• Does not allow for revenue double dipping with an
  off campus program
• More difficult to budget under this model
• Burden of the program is borne by the vendors
  that profit from the available funds

8
The Business ModelGeneral Goals

• In any case, the business model should allow for
  the following considerations
• Financial
• Technical
• Political
• Obvious labour and recurring supply costs
• Continual re-investment in technology
• BM should also provide an avenue to recover
  annual operational costs

• Incorporate the eventual payback of its initial
  investment
• Acceptable to the culture and politics of your
  institution
• Flexible enough to allow for an off campus
  program to supplement your on campus offerings
• Built on a technical foundation that allows for
  maximum growth

9
Capital Costs

• Costs will vary greatly depending on the
  following
• The vendor selected to provide the card system
• Pricing structures for equipment vary across
  vendor platforms
• How the technology is implemented also varies

• The scope of the project
• How many applications are you planning to
  implement in year one
• The size of your institution
• The more students you have, the more licensing is
  going to cost
• No exact numbers that will apply across all
  institutions

10
The RFP Process

• Many resources online with RFP samples
• NACCU (National Association of Campus Card Users)
  website is an excellent resource www.naccu.org
• Dont reinvent the wheel
• Be prepared to make significant adaptations to
  suit your institution
• Seek the advice of an expert

11
Planning Principles

• Golden rule of planning No install is clean!
• Expect problems and delays so plan accordingly
• Use the following chart as a guide

12
Application Timeline
13
A Few Words About Partnerships

• Proven track record of success at a variety of
  institutions
• Embraced by students for the variety and
  additional spending options they bring
• Sought after by community businesses for access
  to a large pool of funds with limited competition
• Enjoyed by institutions for their high
  profitability and limited financial outlay

14
WLU Partner Program

• Currently includes 13 off campus vendors
• From pizza to fine dining, taxis to sun tanning,
  and everything in between
• The program has created a self sustaining cycle
  of success
• Profitability has allowed for program expansion,
  which has led to increased sales, which has led
  to increased profitability, etc

• The program has enjoyed a year after year
  increase in commissions to WLU

15
Card System Implementation

• In summary, there are 5 general process steps
• Create your business model
• Decide how ambitious you want to be for the first
  year
• Re-check your business model and project scope
  and make any required adjustments
• Send out an RFP
• Create a workable time table with the golden rule
  in mind

16
Implementation Continued

• Just Do It!

17
Ongoing Operations

• All card operations will need to provision for
  the following
• Annual re-investment in equipment, computers and
  software which should be approx 10 to 20 of
  budget
• Card related consumables such as card stock and
  ribbons
• New or additional card system software licensing
  grows in step with your school population
• Card system annual maintenance 10 to 20 of
  hardware and software purchases

18
Ongoing Operations Continued

• Marketing, which should be approx 10 of budget
• Develop complimentary systems in house that will
  work with the card system
• Dedicate approx 10 of budget to systems
  innovation

19
Expansion, Marketing Innovation

• Expansion, marketing and innovation is your
  trifecta of success
• These processes will feed off of each other to
  create a self-perpetuating and self-sufficient
  card operation
• If you build it, they will spend

20
WLU OneCard Sample Budget 2005

• There were also additional OneCard commissions in
  the amount of 120,370 paid directly to Food
  Services from the off campus partner program that
  are not reflected in the revenue line above

21
Historical Program Expansion and Annual Sales

• Financial Card Reader Additions by Year

• Annual Sales

22
Off Campus Program Growth

• Total Off Campus Vendors

• Total Off Campus Sales

23
WLU Cost Savings

• 3 categories of cost savings
• Direct labour savings
• Direct expense savings
• Savings from economies of scale
• The card office policy of automating new systems
  and updating old systems has allowed us to
  maintain the same staffing level from 1999 to
  2005 despite an enrollment increase of over 50
  in that time a savings of 240,000 over six
  years

• Before the card system, the University was
  spending 160,000 annually to staff and maintain
  the old ID system. After OneCard, that was
  reduced to 40,000
• The card system has replaced costly building
  automation systems and stand-alone security
  systems across WLU with a single, cheaper and
  integrated system resulting in a savings of
  200,000

24
Post Year One

• Lots of tweaking on every front
• Technical
• Financial
• Political
• More expansion, marketing and innovating

25
WLU Since Year One

• The card program has expanded to include
• 16 off campus venues
• 14 on campus food venues
• 45 vending machines
• 15 laser printing labs
• 160 access doors
• 4 elevators
• 24 copiers
• 2 automatic deposit machines
• 6 websites
• 4 residence laundry rooms
• Various other card based services
• In all, over 300 card readers of various types
  were added after the first year of the OneCard
  system

26
WLU OneCard Review

• The card program has both saved money and
  generated revenue
• Cutting 120,000 from the Universitys budget
• Funding the card program through sales
  commissions
• Saving 240,000 through economies of scale
• Contributing an additional 120,000 over 6 years
• Increasing student deposits to 7 million
  annually

• Increasing off campus sale commissions to
  210,000 annually
• Cutting on campus commission rates by 20