Issuing ID badges to students provides your university with a range of opportunities, from establishing more secure environments to knowing when students tend to visit dining halls.
Essentially, ID badges enable you to gather more detailed information regarding your pupils. With the right programming, such actions don’t have to be invasive either.
However, rolling out ID badges takes more than simply printing smart cards and distributing them throughout the student body. If your administration wants to recognise the benefits associated with ID systems, then you need to take the following steps:
1. Create a secure database
With heavy emphasis on security, you need to use transactional databases that record and store student activities. One way you can protect pupil information is by assigning an ID number to each student. That means if a cybercriminal ever hacks into the database, he or she won’t be able to connect activities with specific individuals.
It’s likely you already have such a system in place. The hard part is integrating the information within that database with your student ID badge system. Consider purchasing ID card production software that allows you to easily connect with existing databases.
2. Know which functions you want
Smart ID badges can enable students to purchase meals, rent equipment, use campus shuttles, enter facilities and benefit from a number of other things. Think of smart cards as devices that enable your students to make the most out of your university.
The capabilities you want your student badges to possess will dictate the type of ID printer software you’ll need. While your transactional database (or databases) establish which features you can activate, the card development program helps you manage those functions.
3. Choose a printer
After selecting printer software and building a database, you can select an ID card machine. By now, the choice should be relatively easy, because you’ve already established which features you’d like your student ID badges to possess.
Some ID printers offer basic and more advanced functions. For example, if you want double-sided cards with embedded smart chips, the PPC ID 3300 ID card printer is the perfect choice for you. This particular machine also allows you to use HoloKote or Holopatch security images to help professors and campus personnel identify fraudulent IDs.
Ultimately, you want to make sure your IT personnel can develop an infrastructure capable of supporting an ID card system. Make sure you allocate the time and resources they need to do so.
