Identifying the Need
East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) approached BadgePass when they were looking to upgrade their existing campus one card system. Though the system they had was working, it had become cumbersome for the IT department to maintain. The school wanted to implement a solution that allowed for quality customized ID card production, while also providing a seamless solution for dining and meal plan management on campus.
The ISG Solution
TotalCard, a BadgePass product, was a natural fit for the campus. With over a dozen available applications to choose from, EMCC knew that they would be able to implement the systems they needed today and have the capacity to expand as their security requirements grew in the future. Best of all, the price point was justifiable for a smaller community college campus.
“One of our biggest concerns was being able to seamlessly integrate with our existing SIS database for easier card production for students and faculty members,” explained Jeff Harrell, Network Administrator at EMCC. “We created a few SQL views that include information such as name, ID number, meal plans and housing number. Since all the information comes directly from our SIS system, the library staff, who issue the ID cards, have no extra data entry to do.”
Harrell continued, “TotalCard’s badge production module, Identity Manager, couldn’t be easier to use. When we switched from our previous software to this, I think we spent 5-10 minutes training the library staff and sent a short email to them to describe the process. It’s that easy.”
Proven Results
The school currently offers a faculty meal plan and three meal plan options for students, which combine meal plans and flexible dining dollars, all of which are easily accommodated for in the flexible TotalCard system. EMCC utilizes TotalCard’s point of sale terminals for dining and meal plan management at three locations on campus, with plans to expand and add TotalCard’s bookstore and access control application’s in the future.
