Card, mobile credential, payment and security
New, cloud-native transaction system improves student experience and frees up valuable staff time
Small but mighty could describe Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary when it comes to leveraging Transact Campus’ new cloud transaction system, Transact IDX, for its campus card program. The solution is reducing pain points for card office staff and enabling the office to maximize the utilization of its workforce.
Gordon-Conwell’s main, residential campus is located in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, but the college also operates satellite campuses in Boston, Charlotte, and Jacksonville. The Transact IDX solution is in use across all campuses.
Earlier this year, Transact Campus released Transact One, a cloud-native platform that brings together the company’s campus ID, campus commerce, and integrated payments solutions.
The platform's new campus ID transaction system, Transact IDX, is designed to streamline student services underpinned by the campus card. According to Keith Doyle, IT systems analyst and applications development lead for Gordon-Conwell, it is already starting to pay dividends for students and staff.
IDX enables digital management of meal plans such as balance checks and discounted points purchases, says Doyle. That can save significant amounts of frustration and friction, given that students often ask cashiers about that information.
“I like the fact that we can give people direct access to their accounts,” says Doyle. “That’s a huge win for us.”
Transact One was designed to provide a better user experience in what amounts to a one-stop shop for campus card programs. The platform, among other things, aggregates data across the various transaction system products, providing easy access to dashboards and insight into system updates and daily business trends.
The integrated, single sign-on ecosystem makes the various applications and services deployed by Gordon-Conwell more cohesive. According to Doyle, the interface is intuitive, and they were able to customize it with branding and other features.
“We tend to be quite aggressive looking for automated processes,” says Doyle, talking about one of the reasons the Transact IDX system was so attractive to the school. As the institution’s needs grow, APIs are available to support integration with an array of third-party technology providers.
Gordon-Conwell was already partnered with Transact before making the change to Transact IDX, and Doyle acknowledges that the shift has already produced significant positive change.
Vital for a school with a relatively small staff – Doyle says that a total of just six or seven people were needed to facilitate the migration.
He says it not only allows the seminary more ownership of its campus ID program but has improved his office’s workflow and, perhaps more importantly, freed up staff time.
The promise of what’s to come with Transact IDX is a significant part of the campus technology plan described by Doyle.
Mobile credentials are in play, among other upgrades.
Looking ahead, Doyle says he is anticipating an IDX integration with the college’s card printer system, which would specifically include a cloud-based photo upload solution.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” admits Doyle. “We’re confident that we’re off to a strong start with Transact IDX.”
For more information on Transact IDX, visit TransactCampus.com.
