Card, mobile credential, payment and security
Campus credential and payments solution provider, Transact Campus, introduced its newest cloud-native platform, Transact One, earlier this year. Transact One brings the company's Campus ID, Campus Commerce, and Integrated Payments together under a single consolidated ecosystem. The company’s new cloud-based transaction system, Transact IDX, is among the initial solutions that can be enabled in Transact One.
Transact One provides universities with a singular, cohesive experience when accessing an array of applications and services through the tightly integrated single sign-on (SSO) ecosystem. The platform contains many underlying modern shared components that are used across applications to enhance interoperability with fewer required integrations.
The platform features an intuitive, graphical drag-and-drop user interface and preconfigured widgets that allow quick data integrations that are customizable for each university. In addition, Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) supports easy integration for authorized third-party technology partners to extend the full capabilities of the ecosystem.
The platform enables data aggregation across products for easy access to system dashboards for current status updates and a quick view of daily business needs.
When building Transact One, there were features that the company felt were imperative in solving for the next-generation platform. To learn more about the new platform, CampusIDNews recently caught up with Kent Pawlak and Ian Ashworth, two Transact product directors close to the IDX and Transact One projects.
“It’s important to recognize that this product was built on the new underlying Transact One platform,” says Kent Pawlak, Senior Director of Advanced Products at Transact. “There are many benefits to Transact One’s modern infrastructure platform that makes it easy for schools to initially deploy, get the security advancements and responsiveness they expect, and accelerate the rate of innovation.
“Transact IDX product focuses on delivering features such as Stored Value, Meal Plans, and Events and Privileges,” adds Pawlak. “The platform also takes care of underlying technology such as security, business continuity, integrations, and more.”
As Pawlak explains, the future vision of the platform includes providing easy user access to relevant third-party applications through SSO and secure APIs. “Some examples include one-click access to housing information systems, POS solutions, or recreation sports applications directly from links in applications deployed in Transact One,” he says.
Transact also worked alongside its client base to further refine the experience for campuses.
“We received a number of requests for the ability to switch between applications seamlessly,” says Ian Ashworth, Director of Product Management for Transact One Platform and Data Analytics at Transact Campus. “One common theme is the desire for a unified, one-app experience – and that drove the Transact One project.”
Another request, Ashworth says, was seamless authentication.
“We knew we needed single sign-on (SSO) so users would be able to sign in once and then access multiple applications without having to reauthenticate,” says Ashworth. “Users can access all the portals they need and move between the meal plans and payments apps. Transact One enables that interoperability.”
Some clients may not have robust analytics capabilities, so for them we offer a turnkey solution. We also offer the flexibility for campuses to create custom analytic reports.
As part of the platform, campus administrators and faculty have access to Transact Insights, a comprehensive analytic dashboard that can identify trends and provide real-time data access.
“Some clients may not have robust analytics capabilities. For those campuses we offer a turnkey solution, creating dashboards consisting of campus data,” Ashworth explains. “But we also offer the flexibility for campuses to create customizable analytic reports.”
Concurrent with the launch of Transact One was the release of the company’s next-generation enterprise software, Transact IDX. This transaction system offering is the first solution launched in the Transact One ecosystem.
Transact IDX is a modern, mobile-centric solution designed to support stored value accounts, meal plans, event access, door access, mobile credentials, and more. IDX supports a truly cashless environment for students – whether using a physical ID card or mobile credential – for all credential-based transactions.
Transact has delivered enterprise transaction system solutions for over 30 years. IDX began with the goal to provide the most modern, efficient product that continues to meet and exceed client expectations.
Specifically built for higher education, Transact IDX is a cloud-native SaaS solution allowing authorized campus personnel access to everything from a fully accessible responsive design web application.
From a campus administrative perspective, Transact IDX eliminates complex software installation and maintenance. User access is simplified by integrating existing campus identity provider service. Transact provides a highly available solution and takes care of system maintenance, security, and regulatory compliance.
“Transact has delivered enterprise transaction system solutions for over 30 years. Our clients provide excellent feedback on what works and what doesn’t,” says Pawlak. “IDX began with this experience. The goal was to provide the most modern, efficient product that continues to meet and exceed client expectations.”
“The act of eating a meal or washing laundry hasn’t really changed. What has changed is the way campuses provide these services to students and how students expect to consume these services,” adds Pawlak. “A modern, intuitive application with appropriate notifications meets the needs of today’s students.”
Using the platform approach, Transact can accelerate service deployments considerably.
“We can have multiple teams working on different product areas, but the look and feel, the authentication, the APIs are all the same,” explains Ashworth. “By standardizing and making it cloud native, we can bring those features to market much quicker.”
Ashworth stresses that accelerated deployments are not just for Transact, but for partners leveraging the platform as well. “There’s a huge speed advantage having a platform where we can onboard external partners and expand the functionality available to them quicker,” he says. “The pace of innovation can increase.”
Mobile credentials are also central to the Transact One ecosystem and to the IDX software. When a campus implements Mobile Credential, the platform enables students to pay and access what they need by using their phone.
“Mobile credential is natively in the platform, so any applications that you have loaded will work with the phone,” says Ashworth. “And because it is native to Transact One and IDX, the move to mobile credentials for campuses that have the hardware environment to support it is as simple as a flip of the switch.”
Client feedback is instrumental in providing IDX features that are highly desired, easy to use, and in some way make daily life a little better for campus staff and students.
Transact has spent considerable time and resources to build a new highly available platform in the cloud that allows rapid addition of features to that platform.
"It's not by accident that IDX is the first product on Transact One. We have decades of experience in higher education gleaning feedback from users - including administrators and students," says Pawlak. "This feedback is instrumental in providing IDX features that are highly desired, easy to use, and in some way make daily life a little better for campus staff and students.”
For more information on the Transact One platform and Transact IDX cloud transaction system, visit transactcampus.com.
