From the Dining Hall to the Campus Bookstore
to a Networked Transaction Environment
How Institutions Are Improving the Total Student Experience
and their Bottom Line
Authored by:
Matthew Pittinsky
Chairman and Co-Founder, Blackboard Inc.
&
Tom Bell
Vice President Industry Relations, Blackboard Inc.,
formerly Executive Director of Auxiliary Services
at the State University of New York at Geneseo
Overview White Paper - January 2005
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Value of Networked Transaction Environments
for Students and Institutions
3
A Brief History of Card Program Time
4
BOOMING WITH BOOMERS
4
A BIG LEAP – MACHINE READABLE MEDIA AND THE INTERSECTION WITH CAMPUS COMMERCE
4
80’S PROLIFERATION… AND MULTIPLICATION
5
ONE-CARD
5
Where Does That Leave Us Today?
5
ONE CARD, BUT LIMITED TERRITORY
5
PERHAPS NOT A CARD AT ALL
5
THE CHANGING CAMPUS
6
INSTITUTIONS LOOKING FOR MORE
6
In Search of a “Networked Transaction Environment”
6
CRITICAL INGREDIENT? SOFTWARE
7
ON CAMPUS
8
OFF CAMPUS
9
ON THE WEB
9
BINDING ACADEMICS, SOCIAL LIFE AND COMMERCE
9
BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY, STAFF AND INSTITUTION ALIKE
9
IN DEPTH: GENERATING NEW REVENUE, ELIMINATING OLD COST
11
How Schools Move Toward a Networked Transaction Environment
(“What else can this thing do?”)
12
DINING START POINT
12
IF GOOD FOR DINING, WHY NOT ELSEWHERE?
13
LEAPING THE DEPARTMENT WALL
13
BECOMING CORE TO THE MISSION
13
On the Road to a Networked Transaction Environment at Creighton
14
TOWARD A “STUDENT-CENTERED, CASHLESS CAMPUS”
15
THE TRANSACTION SYSTEM BECOMES TRANSFORMATIVE
15
How Does Blackboard’s Offering Address NTE’s?
16
BLACKBOARD COMMERCE SUITE
16
ON CAMPUS
16
OFF CAMPUS
16
ONLINE
16
Conclusion/Summary
17
Blackboard Inc.
The Networked Transaction Environment
Introduction:
The Value of Networked
Transaction Environments for
Students and Institutions
When most people think about card systems and
Higher Education, they think about food. That’s
because for many, the most common use of cards
for commerce was securing this most basic requirement at a dining hall. Not anymore. From
their early days, “card” or transaction systems
have leapt to the center of student commerce and
student life.
1. Integrate and power the array of hardware devices on campus
2. Bring convenient and valuable transactions to
more students in every aspect of campus life:
• On campus – Bookstore, Dining, Sporting
Events, Printing/Copying
• Off campus – Restaurants, Shopping, Events
• Online – Bookstore, administrative offices,
personal account management
3. Create new opportunities for campuses to generate revenues and reduce costs
• Cost savings/revenues from integrated
What now?
parking and printing operations
We believe that transaction systems are at an
important turning point. Campus commerce has
become both a huge driver of student satisfaction
and a big business. But with that progress has
come heightened expectations (on the part of students, parents, staff and campus management) and
continued pressure to generate ever-greater revenue even against the ever-constrained resource
backdrop in Higher Education. Campuses now
find themselves looking for more in their second
or third generation system. The current hardware
and campus-focused approach to student transactions simply does not provide a big enough playing
field to meet these demands. What does?
Introducing the Networked
Transaction Environment
A Networked Transaction Environment unites previously disparate financial and data transaction
networks to create a comprehensive, student-centered transaction capability for all the activities of
student life. In a true Networked Transaction Environment any student, teacher or member of the
campus community can use a universal account on
campus, off campus and online for all commerce
transactions, activities and facilities access and
web services. This new approach relies heavily on
smart software to:
• Commissions from local merchant sales
• Increased sales from extended bookstore
shopping hours on the Web
No doubt the run up to “one-card” programs over
the last 30 years has delivered tremendous value and
represents a real sea change from the early student
ID days. But with the ubiquity of the Web, waves
of new technology in the hands of students and the
increased importance of strong ties
to the local community, the bar has
been raised. It is
our hope that this
paper, and its description of a threetiered (on campus,
off campus and
online), softwaredriven approach to
transactions, will
help Business Officers make the right
choices for their particular campus environment.
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A Brief History of
Card Program Time
“The Tiger One Card is an essential
part of each and every day”.
–Steve Robbins,
Director of Information Technology Services
Division of Student Affairs
Clemson University’s Tiger 1 Card is their official
ID card. In addition to being the student’s personal identification card, Tiger 1 Cards serve as debit
cards to access funds deposited into “TigerStripe”
accounts, enabling students to obtain university
dining services, check out library books and access residential halls, campus recreation centers,
and athletic ticket privileges. In 2004, Clemson
expanded the Tiger 1 program to include off-campus merchants. Each Clemson student uses the
Tiger 1 Card an average of 18 times per day. The
Tiger 1 Card program has averaged revenue of
$4.7 million/year over the past 3 years. In 2003, 3
million transactions were processed.
From glorified name tags to multi-function passports for all manner of campus activities, student
ID cards have undergone a major transformation,
spawning a whole card services industry and landing at the very center of daily student life.
BOOMING WITH BOOMERS
Around in paper form since the 50s, ID Cards took
on new significance in the 60s and early 70s. This
was a major growth period for colleges and universities when baby boomers reaching college created a huge demand for education and the services
associated with campus life. Thanks to technological advances in plastics and instant photography, a
new ID card, including a photo and more detailed
information about the student, replaced the old paper ID. With many campuses beginning to look like
small cities, it was no longer feasible to depend on
the memories of service clerks to correctly identify
students in good standing.
A BIG LEAP – Machine Readable Media and
the Intersection with Campus Commerce
Commerce In 1960-61, magnetic stripe technology
was first used on the London Metro. Banks quickly
caught on and connected magnetic stripe technology to the telephone infrastructure for transaction
processing. Introduced to the Higher Ed marketplace in 1973, machine readable card programs really took off in the late 70s, appearing on hundreds
of campuses across the country. Cards were now
venturing well beyond their ID roots to facilitate the
serving of meals and the opening of doors.
Indeed the advent of machine readable media
began the long march to cashless commerce on
campus. With the proliferation of ATMs, student
debit and credit cards and multi-purpose student
ID cards, campus commerce relied much less on
cash, check, or scrip and much more on plastic.
Institutions began to embrace the business and
safety benefits of cashless commerce.
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80’S PROLIFERATION…AND MULTIPLICATION
For the card world, the decade of the 80s represented a new frontier. Colleges and Universities
were seen as the perfect testing ground for the
cashless society and the campus card that could
open a world of services. It became increasingly
apparent that virtually all services available on a college campus could be offered with more efficiency
and security using the magnetic stripe-equipped
campus card.
However, with the proliferation of cards came multiplication in the sheer number of separate card
programs on campus, where it was not uncommon
to see as many as 14 different cards in use. A
separate card for the library, dining, vending, copier, health services, athletic fees, door access, bus
transit and alumni created confusion for all.
ONE-CARD
The Multi-Purpose ID serving as a passport to all
services became a very hot topic early in the 90s.
Spurred by the promise of increased customer
convenience, cost savings and revenue enhancements, many campuses moved to the single card
structure. Whether it was borrowing books from
the library, eating meals in the campus center,
shopping in the campus store, doing laundry in the
dormitory, opening doors in secure locations, voting for class officers or registering for an exam, the
campus ID card helped improve those functions
campus-wide.
With this evolution came a scale of activity consistent with the growing view of transaction systems
as a central cog in the engine of daily campus life.
A recent study of transaction systems on campus
showed an average of more than $2 million per
campus deposited in more than 13,000 accounts.
Apply these averages to the thousands of campuses running transaction systems, and you have
billions of dollars flowing through millions of student accounts across all sorts of campuses nationwide. The Penn State University alone manages
more than 20,000,000 card transactions per year
between door access, dining, vending and other financial transactions. Clearly, transaction systems
have moved to a prominent place. The question
now: where to next?
Where Does That
Leave Us Today?
ONE CARD BUT LIMITED TERRITORY
While many institutions have indeed moved to a
one-card approach bridging transactions and services, many continue to either run multiple card
programs or leave vast transaction areas disconnected from the one-card program in use. Perhaps
dining and vending are incorporated but facilities
access and print management are not. Or maybe
most campus services are covered by the one-card
program but the local community and the Web remain out of reach. And even in those relatively rare
cases where institutions have united the campus,
the community and the Web under a single card
program, the connection to the academic life of
the university is limited or non-existent. Juxtapose
these limitations against the ever-increasing cost
management, revenue generation and process improvement demands placed on Business Officers
in a hyper-competitive arena and you have a need
for a broader approach to transactions than current
card-centric approaches can offer.
PERHAPS NOT A CARD AT ALL
With the endless waves of new technology washing over all walks of life, huge changes are underway in how students access and receive services
from their college or university. Wireless services
are becoming popular options as the proliferation
of wireless phones, email devices, laptop computers and PDAs continues. Proximity access cards
are typical solutions for security access control
systems. But why swipe a card when a radio frequency can more easily open a door or complete
a transaction? Electronic proximity “fobs” or even
biometrics (iris eye scan, thumbprint or voice identification) have also been seen as potential card replacements. With more college services available
on the Web, the desktop computer now opens its
share of doors as well. Whether or not the plastic
card stays or goes, what’s clear is that the mix of
devices serving keys to campus services is growing. From PDA to campus ID, these system “keys”
(along with the hardware that “reads” them) are
important but ultimately secondary in value. The
primary driver of transaction system value mov-
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The Networked Transaction Environment
ing forward is the software in these systems that
allows for the intelligent integration of the myriad
technologies on campus, off campus and online.
THE CHANGING CAMPUS
Students, staff and the buildings that comprise a
campus no longer solely define universities. The
boom in distance learning combined with the
changing characteristics and demands of today’s
student has universities competing against each
other more fiercely than ever around every aspect
of the student experience. The traditional student
is no longer 18 to 24 years old and a residing on
campus. An increasing percentage of students are
27 years or older with full-time jobs. A growing
proportion of today’s student’s interaction with the
institution happens remotely and/or in different
forms when on campus. As a result, a comprehensive transaction system needs to touch each
department and division of the university as well
as the surrounding community in new and different ways. Access to services by all members of
the college community must occur without regard
to location or operating hours. These dynamics
call for transaction system software that encourages the migration of all campus services, whether
business or academic, to a new platform. From
this growth comes improved learning delivery systems, new revenue opportunities, higher levels of
security, enhanced customer service, more effective communication and a reduction in administrative costs.
INSTITUTIONS LOOKING FOR MORE
Many colleges are now investigating or already
using their “third generation” system for transactions and acutely feeling the limitations of their
current approach in the shadow of increased requirements. Thus, they are now focused on new
approaches designed to raise the bar for the transaction environment. At the top of the list going
forward?
1. Utilizing the Transaction System as the hub and
ultimately the operating system to enhance all
commerce and access activities—parking, ticketing for athletic/cultural events, etc.
2. Emphasis on the intelligence and interoperability of transaction software. Integration with existing campus systems is critical for transaction
systems which must allow for adaptability to
future systems.
3. Taking services to the customer with wireless
and e-Commerce options to increase access
and improve revenues.
4. Providing services off campus and online as
students push for greater choice and control.
5. Better connection and integration with academic
systems.
6. Reduction of the costs of operating multiple
systems through the development of administrative efficiencies. Provide business intelligence and management reports to campus
decision makers.
7. Improved safety, security and access control
procedures.
8. System maintenance and server care leading to
the involvement of more campus IT departments.
9. Security of data and systems will become increasingly important requiring data and transaction encryption that will meet or exceed the
most current standards.
With the hands-on experience of helping countless clients with real world challenges as a guide,
we believe that leading institutions are charting a
course for a new, more ambitious destination for
transactions called the Network Transaction Environment or, NTE.
In Search of a “Networked
Transaction Environment”
A true NTE exists when any student, teacher or
member of the campus community can use a universal account on campus, off campus and online
for all commerce transactions, activities, facilities
access and web services.
But what does that mean exactly? Don’t many
campuses already have a one-card system? How
is this different? A Networked Transaction Environment unites previously disparate financial and
data transaction networks to create a comprehensive, student-centered transaction capability
for all the activities of student life—on campus,
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The Networked Transaction Environment
off campus and online. In millions of transactions
a day, students in a Networked Transaction Environment can rely on one system for:
Buying – tuition, books, room and board, food,
clothes and events
Accessing – activities, facilities, network/print
services, books, courses and local community
Interacting – with students, faculty, staff, local
merchants and student groups
Managing – spending, bills, activities and
course enrollment
CRITICAL INGREDIENT? SOFTWARE
Certainly the array of hardware devices on campus
plays a big role in the card system. But the hallmark of an NTE, unlike traditional, more narrowly
focused card systems, is its ability to integrate
through smart software. To provide a broader,
more valuable set of benefits, an NTE relies more
heavily on software to intelligently expand the reach
and relevance of traditional hardware systems to
new people, places and parts of campus life.
From the Dining Hall to the Server Room
Hasn’t software been part of card-based systems
for some time? Yes, but in the past the software
was relatively limited in capability, isolated from
other systems and rarely upgraded. From their earliest stages, card systems have been mainly about
hardware. Beyond the obvious focus on the card
itself, campuses concentrated on the card readers, POS terminals, access controllers and related
hardware devices. Institutions spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars purchasing, connecting and
maintaining this equipment.
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The Networked Transaction Environment
But, as they venture beyond one-card systems
toward Networked Transaction Environments,
campuses are coming to view this once hidden
asset as the nerve center of their transaction
environment, controlling and managing the array
of processes, functions and devices that make
up campus life today. For a tangible example of
this change, look no further than system storage.
Where systems running millions of transactions
for thousands of students once lived in dining
department kitchens, they now reside in securitycontrolled, temperature and humidity sensitive
rooms in the technology building. Software upgrades, operating system upgrades and new features are added several times a year. In recognition of their mission-critical nature, systems are
now managed daily instead of weekly or monthly.
So if software is becoming the main value driver,
what are some of the unique capabilities it makes
possible?
Campus Systems Integration – By connecting
a transaction system to other relevant campus
systems, software enables cross-system transactions (administrative to academic or financial
for example) for a better student experience. It
also facilitates centralized transaction processing,
tracking and data management.
Web-Based Services – Better student service and
deeper parent involvement in spending management are the results of integrated 24/7 shopping
and administrative transactions over the Web.
Online Business Intelligence – Timely, accessible, centralized reporting—including product
movement, detail on customer purchases—for
better pricing, sales projections and more effective promotion of highly valued services.
Programmable Variable Pricing – Flexibility to
set/change variable pricing and automatic discounts/surcharges for services based on a variety of influences. These include the fluctuating
cost of energy during the day, peak and off-peak
rates for services like printing or high demand levels for certain services.
Automated Alerts – Faster, more reliable alerts
of service delivery problems means more uptime
and revenue for 24/7 services like printing, copying and laundry.
Customer Service Enhancements – Allowing customers to securely purchase goods, pay for services, settle fees/fines and get current up-to-date
information from any Internet-enabled computer.
Customer Communication – Not long ago it was a
big deal when a short message (Call Security, Call
Home, etc.) could be pushed to students when
they swiped their card to pay for a meal. Now customers can get information immediately about daily
specials, campus events and dietary needs.
Customer Survey/Benchmarking – Before campuses had the ability to use software to reach customers at their desk, surveys were a labor intensive
face-to-face experience. With quick, easy and automated surveys, institutions can gather well-rounded
opinions from many more customers.
Wireless Solutions – the use of IP native devices
and the growing use of wireless Internet connectivity on many campuses open up a variety of opportunities to place points of service that connect directly to a transaction system in remote locations.
Services can then be taken to the student. From
the coffee cart to the spring picnic, services are
improved with this blending of today’s software and
hardware.
The result of these capabilities, in tandem with
the wide and growing selection of hardware available to campuses, is a comprehensive transaction
environment that brings value to more people in
more places.
ON CAMPUS
Dining, facilities and event access, activities
measurement, vending, print services—the list
of campus activities now enabled by a single
transaction account is long…and growing. As
schools reach a stage where their transaction
system begins to shape how they deliver new
services, this traditional core of campus transaction activity remains a large and critical hub of
activity in an NTE. But like any network, this hub
becomes even more powerful when connected
with other centers of activity.
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The Networked Transaction Environment
OFF CAMPUS
In many instances, the reach of a campus transaction systems ends at the campus gate even
though life for most students extends well into the
local community. In an NTE, institutions and local
merchants are connected by intelligent software,
and students can pass easily between the campus
and community while maintaining the convenience,
familiarity and safety of one cashless transaction
system. Plugged into the campus-wide system, local merchants can offer students greater purchase
variety while providing the same balance management, credit protection and safety benefits enjoyed
by students at the campus bookstore.
ON THE WEB
In an NTE, on and off-campus transactions are augmented by a web-based transaction component
that provides self-service tools for managing transactions as well as the anytime, anywhere shopping
convenience of web-based commerce. One of the
primary goals of any transaction system is to provide a high level of student satisfaction and service.
A big part of reaching this student-centered goal is
giving students more control over their transaction
activity. Nowhere is that control better delivered
than on the Web where students can make transactions and manage their accounts whenever and
wherever they please. No store hours or card office hours to contend with. Tools for tracking and
managing spending. The ability to add funds and
suspend lost or stolen cards. In each case, a better, more convenient transaction experience made
possible by seamlessly blending campus, community and Web.
BINDING ACADEMICS, SOCIAL LIFE
AND COMMERCE
Life on campus today is about more than academics. Often inexperienced with financial decision-making, college students are exploring new
territory. So beyond linking the places and times
that students can transact the business of campus life, an NTE aims to improve the total student
experience by bringing together all the major elements of that experience in one more relevant
and useful setting. Integrated with academic and
administrative systems (course and content management, SIS, etc.), a comprehensive transaction
system with web-based self service allows students to navigate the intersections of academic
and campus life more conveniently and confidently. In an NTE, students can log on to the transaction system, register for new courses, see the
courses they are enrolled in, view important announcements, purchase required books and other
course materials, enroll in related student groups,
pay dues and fines and seek out fellow students
with similar academic or social interests. An NTE
aims to support the whole student for the whole
student experience.
BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY,
STAFF AND INSTITUTION ALIKE
There are five core benefits of a Networked
Transaction Environment. To examine them,
consider a recent pilot program conducted by
Creighton University using wireless technology
during the NCAA basketball season to verify, on
the spot, whether students were eligible to attend basketball games.
1. Business Efficiency
Inefficiency is among the biggest byproducts of
the multiple, campus-only card systems that proliferated in the last two decades. A single transaction system, integrated with all relevant campus
systems (academic and administrative), takes
square aim at the redundancy, manual processes
and associated costs so many institutions struggle with as they wrestle with multiple systems or
single systems that only address campus transaction activity.
CREIGHTON PILOT
Reduced operating costs – No need to run wires (electric
and data) to entrance doors of the basketball arena.
Manage revenue – Improve collection of non-mandatory
activities fee. Reduced shrinkage from event attendance
by non-paying students.
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2. Distributed Management of Services
Due to NTE integration with data sources, institutions have access to advanced reporting capabilities and the business insight that comes from
multi-faceted views of each transaction activity.
Aggregated in one place, this data can be viewed
and acted upon by individual business units with
distinct needs – resulting in better distribution of resources and allocation of staff/budget. Of course
in a software-driven environment access to sensitive/confidential information can be controlled.
CREIGHTON PILOT
Obtain business intelligence – Pulling from the campus
SIS system, the Bursar’s Office can see data on who has
paid their fee and may attend events without paying at the
door. Different reports can easily be generated according
to different management needs.
Segmented control – The Events/Facilities department
can rapidly generate reports detailing event attendance in
order to optimize future event staffing and resourcing.
3. Safety and Security
With many colleges and universities today more
closely resembling cities than “academic villages,” the sheer number of safety and security
points to monitor is overwhelming. Not to mention the relatively new dimension of cyber security
that adds an additional layer of complexity to safeguarding an institution. In this setting, it’s critical
that as many points of entry to your campus as
possible operate off of a common system that enables integrated monitoring of both physical and
electronic assets. An NTE, in addition to delivering the safety benefits of a cashless campus and
encrypted transaction data, helps you keep the
right people on your campus and technology infrastructure and the wrong people off.
CREIGHTON PILOT
Enhance community safety – Only people known to the
University gain access to the event.
Implement secure technology – Data transmission is encrypted with the highest government standards to protect
information.
4. New Commerce
Limited budgets and rising costs are all too familiar to Business Officers on campus. So the
search is always on to find additional revenue
sources. An NTE expands the playing field for
commerce by facilitating transactions at more
facilities, bringing in new players like local merchants and increasing the convenience and number of potential transactions through the Web.
CREIGHTON PILOT
Create new revenue opportunities – Students now need
to pay for event entry. Seeing that they can no longer
sneak into events encourages more students to pay the
non-mandatory fees.
5. Service to Campus Community
Student, faculty and staff are extraordinarily active. Unfortunately, the academic, social and
business (bills, purchases, etc.) portions of their
lives often involve burdensome processes and
wasted time. NTEs consider all these facets of
campus life together so that opportunities to improve transaction experiences are embraced.
CREIGHTON PILOT
Improve convenience/service – Because swiping a card
through a wireless activity reader is much easier than
looking at a photo, name and activity stamp and recording an attendance entry, lines move faster for students
and the process is easier to carry off for staff. Manual
entry of who came and/or who has paid is eliminated so
attendance records, payment amounts and, ultimately,
student balance statements are more accurate.
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IN DEPTH: GENERATING NEW REVENUE,
ELIMINATING OLD COST
Networked Transaction Environments represent
the next big opportunity to increase revenues
because they dramatically expand the reach of
transactions to more people, places and parts of
campus life.
As one-card systems really picked up speed in
the early 90s, the focus expanded from primarily providing services as efficiently as possible
to the big business of generating new revenue
(and lowering costs) for campuses. Indeed, once
committed to a one card environment campuses
discovered revenue enhancements from vending
(25-300%), dining (8%-24%), laundry (25%) and
campus store (5-11%). According to one study
within the State University of New York, campuses saw an average 81% increase in vending gross
revenue alone when they began to better manage
the service and offer the convenience of one-card
purchases.
Now, with the on campus, off campus and online
capabilities of NTEs, managers can build on the
revenue improvements of the one-card era to create better revenue streams. Let’s take a look at
a few examples.
On Campus: Expanded Vending
With more readily available (from more sources
as discussed above) dollars in their spending account, students find it more convenient to make
vending purchases. The result is increased commissions or net profit for the university. Consider
a recent study of 20 separate 2 and 4-year campuses in the Northeast. It was determined that
the average revenue per full-time student at a
“Cash” vending operation was $42.75 per year.
At a vending operation linked to the transaction
system for cashless purchase, the amount per
student increased to $81.68 per year. In many
cases this near-doubling of revenue was helped
along by other capabilities made possible by an
NTE, such as:
• Better traffic and use analysis.
• Optional separate accounts dedicated to vending use.
• Increased marketing to boost awareness.
• Improved system monitoring to increase machine up-time.
The chart above illustrates the possible increases
to the campus revenue stream of a 20,000 student institution from expanded vending.
Off Campus: Local Merchant Program
Tied into the campus transaction environment,
student transactions at local merchants—pizza
delivery, off-campus bookstores and other popular gathering spots (i.e. restaurants, clubs, etc.)—
represent a major source of new revenue through
increased commissions.
Consider a campus with 3000 students. With an
average of five, $20 pizza orders per semester,
$600,000 in new commerce would occur over a
school year through the campus transaction system. Assuming a 5% commission, this newly captured commerce would result in $30,000 in new
revenue for the institution. For a real-life example,
consider the experience of a large, mid-western
university. With 130 off-campus merchants participating in its transaction program, this university has seen new revenue of more than $70,000
from transaction fees averaging 4-5% of Gross
Sales. When off-campus merchant programs are
structured correctly they also save labor while increasing services to students. For example, many
pizzas are sold between 9PM and 3AM—a traditionally difficult time to staff an on-campus dining
operation. In this case, the off-campus operator
saves the college labor while providing an important service.
Online: Increased Deposits, 24 Hour Sales and
Marketing Reach
Increased transaction account balances are the
rising tide that lifts all transaction boats. Making
it easier for money to go into a student transaction account makes it easier for money to go out
of it. And by expanding the number and type of
transactions students can make in an NTE, institutions provide natural incentive for maintaining
a healthy balance in transaction accounts. Webbased transaction services support this incentive
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by allowing parents, grandparents, etc. to make
deposits into a student’s account at anytime.
With balance to spare, interest income in deposits can also represent important additional revenue to the institution. For example, a major California university earns approximately $34,000
per year on an average balance of $815,000 in
Flexible Accounts.
Shopping online 24/7 extends store hours for the
busy student or parent and increases revenue
opportunity for the campus bookstore and other
connected merchants. But it’s not just the longer shopping hours that contribute to increased
revenue. With the web-based component of a
Networked Transaction environment, campuses
gain important marketing reach to their customers allowing them to promote any of the transaction activities occurring across their system. So
in addition to offering last minute opportunities to
purchase a birthday cake or flowers for the busy
student, managers can publicize events, advertise specials and promote new programs. This
is good business and promotes good service to
customers. It also builds a culture of excitement
as campus officials easily keep pace with their
rapidly changing environment.
Lowering Costs Too
From online monthly statements to recovering
printing/copying costs, a transaction system integrated and transferring information with other
campus systems creates a host of new cost saving opportunities. Again, let’s turn to a real-world
example. As part of its movement toward an NTE,
Sinclair Community College integrated its parking
facilities with its transaction system, allowing students and staff to pay for parking with their transaction account dollars through card readers at
parking lots. With easy deposit processes from
multiple sources in place, including financial aid
transfers, students enjoyed the increased convenience of cashless payment. As for Sinclair,
it recognized $160,000 in cost savings the first
year and is on track to save over $850,000 in a
five year period.
So whether providing new services to students,
increasing revenue or decreasing costs, NTEs
elevate transaction systems from a collection of
hardware to mission critical software-based sys-
tems that enhance the student experience and
allow management to make more informed decisions. Ultimately, this change in the scope of
transaction systems means they also represent a
visible and important element of fulfilling the campus technology strategy. Virtually every mission
statement and strategic plan in Higher Education
references the need to use technology to improve
services. An NTE uses both hardware and software to make life better for each member of the
college community.
We’ve outlined where institutions have been and
where we see them going. Now let us provide
an example of the path we have seen colleges
and universities take to begin moving toward an
NTE. What are some of the common triggers that
can provide insight to institutions feeling limited
by their current situation?
How Schools Move
Toward a Networked
Transaction Environment
(“What else can this thing do?”)
So what has the path from dining-centric, disparate card systems to one-card programs to NTEs
looked like? How did institutions get to this latest
turning point? Despite all the advances in card
systems and student commerce, as recently as
10–15 years ago, significant confusion existed
on campus about how to manage and improve
transactions. It’s not hard to understand why with
multiple cards for different functions, script (monopoly money) for debit accounts, money-grabbing vending machines and endless printed lists
of “system-eligible” names.
DINING START POINT
On most campuses some incident occurred in
a particular department (often dining) that drove
business officers to improve or expand the automation of their processes. Perhaps it was the
theft of thousands of dollars worth of script stolen and used to buy meals in the dining hall. Or
a card system that became outdated because
plastic pouches were no longer available or the
laminator went on the “blink.” Most campuses
started their “Card System” with the production
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The Networked Transaction Environment
of a Dining Card that became, by default, the Official Campus ID. Once this system was installed
and operating, the administrator most familiar with
the system began to see the benefit of tracking
product sales by type and profit center. He/she
could more easily predict student participation
and preferred menu items stood out as plain as
day. As a result, managing the whole dining business became a lot more efficient.
IF GOOD FOR DINING, WHY NOT
ELSEWHERE?
Business managers began asking, “What else can
this thing do?” All too often the answer was to
try the system’s hand at vending or campus store
operations. These second-tier operations were
typically in the same department as Dining so they
didn’t require a huge leap while offering significant
return. As the impact on Business Efficiency became apparent, the department operations began
to focus on the use of the Card System as a tool
to support their delivery of a few key services.
LEAPING THE DEPARTMENT WALL
The next critical transition point was when the
card system branched into a different department.
Perhaps it became part of the housing access
control system or part of the library. Whatever
the scenario on the particular campus, the card
was now a strategic tool used to improve services
and make life much easier for students. Reports
could be easily generated for each department
that quickly became part of the management decision tool box. At this point, much of the data
imported into the Transaction Management System, aka Card System, needed to be automated
so a change in student status could easily reach
all systems. This was a significant challenge for
many campuses, requiring custom programming
in most cases. During this phase of development
the system was recognized as being a strategic
component of life on campus.
es to the campus Server Room. Management of
systems began to shift to IT departments. Battery
and power backup became essential for life and
safety issues related to the student population.
Many other departments began to take advantage
of a transaction system’s ability to create efficiencies, serve student needs, generate revenue, create secure data exchanges and create a more secure physical environment. Management reports
generated by the system helped track revenue,
spending trends, student movement and could be
refined to sort and produce reports that met specific needs. Existing in this mission-critical phase
led system administrators to entertain entirely
new ways of delivering services—including over
the Web. Banking and Financial Aid distribution
models were discussed and often created using
the card. Print Management became very important as vendors began to develop partnerships.
The last phase in the development really moves
a campus into a Networked Transaction Environment. Here the system and all that it makes possible begins to transform the way that the institution shapes and delivers services to students. All
systems are linked together enabling seamless
flow of data and transactions across multiple campus systems. Services are delivered on and off
campus via a variety of technologies designed to
transform the good old “Campus Card System”
into a truly ubiquitous and transformative tool.
On the Road to a
Networked Transaction
Environment at Creighton
BECOMING CORE TO THE MISSION
For Creighton University, the “cashless campus”
may not be a literal goal, but it’s pretty close. It
sums up the school’s vision in which any campus
service a student can perform using currency can
also be performed with their JayBuck$ Creighton
Card. This is a long way from using the campus
ID exclusively in a Dining Operation. By crossing
department lines to deliver a wide variety of services, it has become a transformative tool.
Certain campus executives began to see how
these systems were becoming mission critical.
They moved servers from Auxiliary Service Offic-
According to Brenda Hovden, Director of Card
Services, “You can use your Creighton ID Card
for just about anything on campus, and now we
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The Networked Transaction Environment
are moving towards a future where students can
pay for items such as academic course packs and
lab supplies right through our web site.”
And now the term “cashless campus” has become
a yardstick that Creighton uses to measure the
quality and convenience of campus life and student
services.
TOWARD A “STUDENT-CENTERED,
CASHLESS CAMPUS”
Creighton University has come a long way in just
a few years. In 1996, the school’s transactional
reach was limited to dining-related operations.
After upgrading systems to allow for growth into
other areas, Creighton added vending, copy, laundry, meal plan and retail system operations to its
transactional mix through the Jaybuck$ card.
Following this success, Creighton pursued a strategy to provide better student services, enhance
control of campus operations and all but eliminate
the need for cash both within and across departmental lines. This included the addition of services
to a satellite campus, access control and activity
tracking to the list of “card related” functions.
Next a Print Management solution was integrated
with the Transaction System resulting in significant cost recovery. In the Health Science Library
alone, Creighton tracked a 78% reduction in paper consumption and 158% increase in revenue
from printing.
According to Ms. Hovden, “Our system has enabled us to pursue our vision of the student-centered, cashless campus.”
THE TRANSACTION SYSTEM
BECOMES TRANSFORMATIVE
According to Ms. Hovden, Creighton’s card strategy
is to take these improved services further and further. The team continually asks the question, “How
can we make this an electronic transaction?”
“Using the enhanced e-Commerce services is letting us break down boundaries and service constituents when we had nothing to offer before,”
explains Ms. Hovden. For example, with the new
web-enabled services to be added in Creighton’s
latest step forward, the JayBuck$ program will
support:
• Departmental secretaries and assistants who
were once responsible for selling course packs
and lab supplies, collecting money and making
deposits. Soon students will buy them online
and pick them up in the departmental office.
The system automatically collects sales tax as
appropriate, something that could be otherwise
overlooked. Furthermore, course packs will be
printed on demand thereby reducing the printing
of course packs that may never be sold.
• Multi-day events and programs. It’s easy to use
card readers at a one-day bake sale, but what
about registering for a community event that’s
open for several weeks? For example, Creighton
students will be able to register online from their
dorm rooms for a walkathon, completing the
process by having the registration fee deducted
from their JayBuck$ account.
• Departments that have a low volume of transactions. Creighton students will be able to pay for
parking violations from the public safety department, postage at the post office and CD/DVDs
at Media Services.
What is perhaps the most welcome result of online
services? According to Ms. Hovden, “Deposits
have increased significantly from parents since we
started.” The number of transactions grew 56%
over the previous year.
Today, Creighton is focused almost exclusively
on the e-Commerce aspects of its transaction
system. Says Ms. Hoven, “I can imagine all the
connection points between our Academic and
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The Networked Transaction Environment
Transaction Systems on campus. In the not
too distant future, we could arrange it so that a
student could see their JayBuck$ balance and
course work side-by-side in a browser window,
or be able to order an electronic copy of Sports
Illustrated through the library.”
The Creighton Administrative Team has effectively moved their transaction system from a
single-use beginning as a “meal card” to a fullfunctioning enterprise transaction system that is
transforming the way business is done and services are rendered.
How Does Blackboard’s
Offering Address NTE’s?
BLACKBOARD COMMERCE SUITE:
Creating the Networked Transaction
Environment
The Blackboard Commerce Suite™ unites previously disparate financial and data transaction
networks that form the operational core of the
modern campus. Essential service payments
such as tuition, books, room and board as well
as crucial data transactions to grant or deny access to facilities, activities and network services
are integrated.
But these mission-critical transactions are only a
small part of the millions of transactions that occur on and around a campus each day. Students
check out books, use printers and copiers, dine
both on and off campus, buy vended products,
access online databases, vote in elections, attend rallies, participate in intramural sports and
require service from a multitude of campus departments. These, too, are facilitated through the
Blackboard Commerce Suite to the great benefit
of both the institution and the student.
ON CAMPUS
Dining, Commerce and Access
The heart of the Blackboard Commerce Suite
and the Networked Transaction Environment is
the Blackboard Transaction System. It manages
the administration, processing and reporting functions for the campus enterprise, guiding virtually
every transaction conducted within the walls of
the campus. It securely processes the millions
of transactions involving dollars, data, access and
authentication.
OFF CAMPUS
Settlement, Recruitment and Support
Today’s campus is an integral part of the local community. The line where the campus ends and the
community begins is becoming increasingly indistinguishable. BbOne addresses this dual environment by extending student use of the ID card to
the community. It powers student spending off
campus, providing a secure and convenient way to
make purchases within a vast merchant network.
ONLINE
Self-Service, Communication and
e-Commerce
The new breed of student instinctively looks to
the Web, a mobile phone, or other technology to
conduct transactions. They expect a higher level
of service, and they expect it to be available anytime and anywhere. For them, the term electronic
commerce has little meaning…it is simply commerce. The Blackboard Community System helps
institutions realize the full power of the Internet by
freeing service delivery from the fixed times and
locations of the past while forging new connections between an institution and its populations. It
is the key to meeting the expectations and needs
of the modern student.
The Blackboard Commerce Suite is able to create these NTEs because it is the first and only
solution that seamlessly integrates three core
environments—on-campus functionality via the
Blackboard Transaction System™, off-campus
card acceptance via BbOneSM and online services via the Blackboard Community System™.
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The Networked Learning Environment
Conclusion/Summary
From modest beginnings, “Transaction Systems” have
come a long way, landing right at the heart of student
and campus life. Along the way, traditional “card” programs intersected with the changing face of campus
commerce to create a broad family of services which
now reaches into nearly every nook and cranny of student life. At Blackboard® we are excited to witness
this continued evolution as campuses across the country move toward NTEs.
Strange as it sounds, the borders of campus life are
becoming blurred. Where the physical campus once
held all that mattered for students, the daily student experience is now being shaped in significant ways by the
Web and the local community. As a result, we believe
that continued advancements in student services and
campus commerce will be driven by software because
it is uniquely suited to connecting these three environments in useful and relevant ways. To that end, we’re
working hard to build software solutions that support
institutions on their NTE journey by helping them improve the student experience on campus, off campus
and online.
www.blackboard.com
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