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New ID cards: a tool for efficiency, security by Cindy Abole Public Relations Soon MUSC employees and students will be carrying less money, handle fewer cards and jingle fewer keys as they walk around MUSC campus in the coming months. Their lighter pockets have given way for a single multipurpose identification card that will allow them to enter secure areas, manage timekeeping and other services throughout the hospital and university campus. These universal ID cards will provide ease, greater efficiency and peace of mind for the MUSC community. “I can't imagine something that will have more universal impact on campus,” said Charles Wiley, director of Public Safety. “It will make a significant impact on how we do business in our university.” The card will work with current access technology now used at the College of Nursing, Vince Mosely Center—Enrollment Services, Department of Family Medicine and other areas within the Medical Center. Wiley leads an 18-member campus-wide committee originally created in 1999 to establish a universal ID card to promote efficiency and eliminate the need for students and employees to carry a handful of cards that are designed for specific tasks. The universal ID card, no larger than a credit card in size, will act as a security access card. It houses an oval-shaped copper wire and microchip that signals to a proximity reader that is controlled by software. On the back, a separate bar code manages timekeeping and payroll, library services and food purchases within the medical center's cafeteria.  According to Wiley, all proximity systems will be connected and managed through Public Safety, virtually making the entire campus almost a keyless environment. Employees who forget or lose their ID can get a replacement card estimated to cost about $7.  “The new card will improve overall security on campus,” Wiley said. “Now we're less likely to have negative incidences around campus. It will become more of a convenience once people realize the impact of what this card can do.” Similar single-card proximity access systems are used at various Charleston-area businesses and institutions around Charleston, including the City of Charleston Police Department, Town of Mount Pleasant police department and to some extent, the College of Charleston. When Wiley and the committee approached Kim Duncan, manager of Human Resources Information Systems, the group wanted to determine the card's usefulness with the System for Time and Attendance Recording (STAR), a system used for tracking payroll and timekeeping. “It was a big deal when we implemented STAR in 1997,” Duncan said. “The change affected a lot of people, especially employees in the medical center. I think this new card will make things easier, meaning fewer cards for people to keep up with.” Another committee member, Mitchelle Morrison, software engineering manager with the Center for Computer Information Technology (CCIT), was able to confirm with the library's Bob Poyer and Tom Basler, Ph.D., director of Libraries and Learning Resource Centers, regarding bar code compatibility with the library's archival systems.  CCIT is working with Public Safety to coordinate the transfer of data from the Human Resource systems so that only one badge is issued per person and that the correct information is printed on the badge. The cost for the new universal ID card system is priced under $100,000. The amount includes hardware, caps and software printers for a dual system - one mobile which can be used during student orientation, etc. The, other will be a permanent system housed at public safety. Because of its complexity, the cards alone will bear the greatest expense totaling about $75,000 for an estimated 16,000 cards. Once in place, the new cards will be tested extensively with various systems and uses on campus. Wiley hopes to distribute the cards in several phases sometime this year.