A Smart Card That Goes the Distance

The Award Winning OneCard Program at Wilfrid Laurier University

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

Planning Your Card System

• Define the scope of your card system

• Develop a business model

• The RFP process• Timeline for

implementation• Other possible factors

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

The Business ModelTwo Basic Types

• There are two basic business models for a card system1. Front –End revenue

generators2. Back-End revenue

generators

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

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

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 it’s 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

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

The RFP Process• Many resources online with

RFP samples• NACCU (National

Association of Campus Card Users) website is an excellent resource www.naccu.org

• Don’t reinvent the wheel• Be prepared to make

significant adaptations to suit your institution

• Seek the advice of an expert

Planning Principles

• Golden rule of planning: No install is clean!

• Expect problems and delays so plan accordingly

• Use the following chart as a guide:

Application TimelineApplication Allotted Time Note

Database install and basic training

3 to 5 daysAdvanced training will likely be

learn-as-you-go

Point of Sale setup, configuration and staff training

1 day for every POS and 2 to 3 days for manager/supervisor

training

Front line staff should in turn be trained by unit

managers/supervisors

Vending machines setup and configuration

2 to 3 hours per machineThis assumes that wiring is

already done

Laundry rooms1 week for every room of usually

12 to 24 machines

Laundry tends to be more economical the more machines

you have in a single location

Off campus readers2 days. 1 day to configure and

train and 1 day to follow up with problems

Ka-Ching!

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

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

Academic YearOff Campus

Commissions

1999 / 2000 $68,287

2000 / 2001 $108, 424

2001 / 2002 $137,195

2002 / 2003 $145,890

2003 / 2004 $186,693

2004 / 2005 $211,742

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

Implementation Continued

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

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

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

WLU OneCard Sample Budget 2005Revenue $488,600

Labour $179,900

Equipment $138,680

Marketing $60,160

New Projects $37,410

Other Expenses $5,050

Surplus $67,400

• 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

Historical Program Expansion and Annual Sales

Financial Card Reader Additions by Year Annual Sales

Off Campus Program GrowthTotal Off Campus Vendors Total Off Campus Sales

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

Post Year One

• Lots of tweaking on every front:– Technical– Financial– Political

• More expansion, marketing and innovating

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

WLU OneCard Review• The card program has

both saved money and generated revenue:– Cutting $120,000 from the

University’s 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%