Page 83 - Security Today, January/February 2019

quite different than that of a barcode or mag stripe card.
For many years, the technology to read or write the data from these contactless smart cards wasn’t readily available making for a cumbersome process that frequently resulted in card enrollment errors. Typically, the card data in a contactless smart card comes pre- programmed on the chip of the card with the value printed on the outside of the card. The campus card office will then ensure that the students card gets printed with their person- al data onto the outside of the card properly and that it’s synced to the card data on the inside of the card. Specifically, within a school’s database, student record containing a photograph, name and ID number gets updated to include a unique card ID number that was pre-programmed into a chip of the contactless smart card.
Cumbersome Two-Step Process
How quickly and accurately the student’s record is updated with the contactless smart card data varies. The older outdated process would start by using a desktop card printer to print the personal data onto the outside of the card. Next, they will pick up the card from the printer’s output bin, turn to their computer and manually type the pre-print- ed/pre-programmed card number into that student’s record in the database. If their sys- tem is slightly more automated, they may have an external desktop reader on which they can tap the smart card in order to read the contactless smart card using RFID tech- nology and copy the card data into the stu- dent’s record. This is typically referred to this as a two-step issuance process where the first step is to print the card and the second step is to manually transpose the card data into the card management solution.
This two-step process has been used so frequently over the past decade that card offices have grown accustomed to issuing contactless smart cards in this way, even though it negatively impacts the issuance process in the following ways:
Slows Issuance Process. Multiple manual steps significantly delay the time to issue a single card to students
Poor Operator Experience. Operator involvement is high and operators will need to ensure that they remember to perform multiple manual steps
Increases Chances for Error. Manual steps and data entry provide more opportunities for card issuers to misspell a name, transpose a number or commit other avoidable mistakes.
Lastly, the student experience is also a poor one as they need to wait longer for their ID card and if there is an error entering the card data into the card management solution, it is not discovered until the student attempts to use the card. This compounds the error and adds even more time to the issuance process since the student will need travel back to the card office to obtain a new card.
Simplifying the Complex -
Introducing Inline Personalization
Technology has come a long way since con- tactless smart cards were first introduced. Long gone are the days when the only option was the two-step process. Today, the tools enabling universities and colleges to move away from the outdated two-step process into one, inline smart card personalization process are readily available. In an inline per- sonalization process, users submit a card into a desktop printer equipped with an internal contactless smart card reader/write, and in one seamless step the printer/reader personalizes the card inside and out. This inline personalization process is the answer to the outdated two-step process and brings forward the following benefits:
Simplifies the Complex. Card issuers are no longer required to jump among multiple applications to issue credentials; they can click the print button from one application, and that completes the issuance process.
Enables Instant Access. Students are able to use their cards as soon as it is printed, with no requirement to get the card activated with a second step.
By Nils Wahlander
A Better Campus Experience through Smart Cards
Technology has come a long way since contactless smart cards were first introduced
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