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Throwing Away the Keys
Thursday, December 1, at 2 p.m., U.S. Eastern time
Forget keys and photo ID's. Students trying to get into dormitories at Johnson & Wales University in Denver must have their hands measured by an electronic scanner. Food-service workers at the University of Georgia punch in and out of their shifts with a time clock that scans their fingerprints. And faculty and staff members seeking weekend access to the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University must be approved by a device that checks 240 points in the iris of the eye.
More and more colleges are using such biometric technology, which its fans say is more secure and efficient than traditional tools. The technology also offers a new way to control access to campus computers and networks. But biometric systems can have technical problems, and they are expensive to install. And some observers worry that the systems could leave an electronic trail — open to abuse or theft — of employees' and students' activities.
Are the advantages of biometric technology worth its high cost? Do they outweigh its potential misuses? Are biometric records protected from public disclosure under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or do colleges need to take extra steps to protect such data?
» Show Your Hand, Not Your ID (12/2/2005)
J. Michael Floyd is director of food services at the University of Georgia, which has used biometric technology in one form or another in its dining halls since 1974.
Vincent Kiernan (Moderator):
Good afternoon, and welcome to Colloquy. I'm Vincent Kiernan, a senior writer at The Chronicle, and I will be moderating today's discussion about the use of biometrics in higher education.
Our guest is J. Michael Floyd, director of food services at the University of Georgia. His institution is a pioneer in the use of biometrics -- Georgia has used hand readers in its dining halls since the 1970s.
Just a quick reminder to everyone out there in cyberspace: Send in your questions and comments!
Now, welcome, Mike. Could you start by giving us a thumbnail sketch of what your institution does in this area?
J. Michael Floyd:
The University of Georgia Food Services has utilized biometric technology since 1972 for access control for its voluntary meal plan program that allows unlimited access for its customers from 7 am to midnight daily. The department is presently on its third generation of hand image readers and has recently implemented a biometric timekeeping system for its 700 employees. The department has chosen biometric technology for its access control to prevent sharing of meal plans by customers, reduce labor cost for access control, and to increase speed of entry for its customers. The average customer gains access into our dining commons within a 3-5 second time period with the use of biometric technology. Presently 33,000 students here at the University utilize this technology for access for dining commmons, residence halls and campus recreation facilities.
Vincent Kiernan (Moderator):
Now onto our questions...
Question from Terri Moreman, U.S. Olympic Training Center:
Terri Moreman
U.S. Olympic Training Center
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Advantages to Biometrics
Easy to maintain and archive guest access (various reports available with the ability to customize)
Quicker smother entry - especially when most students dont want to carry I.D. card.
Cheaper and easier then re-keying access doors
Less chance of misuse
Card access is even higher however; here again the student would need to carry the card at all times. Without the card they have no access.
Disadvantage
Dont go with new technology out the start gate. Seek out a proven product in the marketplace.
Initial equipment set-up is high however in the long run it pays for itself
Hand geometry readers cost an average of $3,000 per location
Certified technicians trained in this specialty are required to maintain, trouble shoot and make repairs. Generally speaking an electrician or layman may understand the electrical components; however he would lack the necessary knowledge to function in this capacity.
The challenge is that technology changes and if you maintain a system too long its hard to find parts it. Routine upgrades in software and hardware need to be considered to maintain your system.
Electronic access is great until you have a power outage.
Systems normally reset themselves however; surges and losses in power can cause damage to your system. If your facility is in a high risk lightning area it would advantageous to secure a back up generator.
J. Michael Floyd:
Terri Moreman makes some excellent comments on her use of biometric handreaders at the US Olympic Training Center. One of the big advantages that we find in our application of biometrics here at the University of Georgia is the financial savings that we realize with this system. Let me explain this statement. In our application customers activate the system themselves by either swiping their id card or punching in their id number then placing their hand in the reader. Once the reader recognizes the hand image as a customer it then sends a signal to the turnstyle that allows the customer to enter the dining commons. By using this self activation system we do not need a cashier at every entry device, only a cashier to monitor all the entry devices for each dining commons. This reduces our labor cost by eight fulltime cashiers. This cost savings greatly outweighs the additional cost of the biometric readers.
A disadvantage of the system is that it does require trained technicians to maintain the system, which a photo base only system normally does not require. The main service issue that we have is the routine replacement that we have to do on the keypad due to the large amount of usage our systems receive by our customers choosing to enter their student id number in lieu of swiping their id card. The numbers are actually worn off the keypad.
Question from G. Buhl, Rutgers U.:
WIth the loss and theft of personal data by Universities reported recently in the media, what are the risks to students and faculty of entrusting biometric data to Universities?
J. Michael Floyd:
With any systems the appropriate safeguards must be in place to protect data. However, the biometric data that we use is hand & finger images and not prints. This data is of no value to an outsider to identify a customer by a hand or finger image. The key to our system is that we do not store finger or hand prints. In addition we do not identify our customers or employees by their social security number in our systems, but we utilize University identification numbers instead.
Question from Vincent Kiernan:
Mike, a big issue with any new IT system is cost. Can you give us an idea of how much this system costs Georgia -- and how much it saves you in operational costs?
J. Michael Floyd:
The cost of any system is reflective of the size of the application, number of hand readers and the number of locations. In our case the initial cost was approximately $100,000. But this cost was immediately offset by reduction of staffing. With the use of biometric readers where the customer activates the system you do not need a cashier for every entry device. In our case we are able to staff our cashier station with one cashier who monitors two hand readers. This alone reduced labor by 8 fulltime positions. In today's dollars this is a savings of approximately $186,000 in salary and benefits cost every year. But the true savings is the speed of access for our customers. Thereby allowing greater thru put of customers in dining centers, which allows us to maximize our operations and reduces the need to build operations for peak customer periods. In our case we provide meal plan service for our customers in four dining centers. On some other campuses this same number of customers may need five to six dining centers.
Question from Vincent Kiernan:
Mike, biometrics make some people nervous from a privacy perspective. Have you encountered any concern on your campus? How do you reassure people that their privacy is being protected?
J. Michael Floyd:
We have not experienced the privacy concern from our customers because we take an aggressive approach of educating our customers that our system is a hand image and not a hand print. One of the ways we educate our customers on the system is including this information in our Food Service presentation during the summer Freshman Orientation program. In addition we have previous articles from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times framed and in our lobbies to educate our customers on our biometric application. Our biometric system was also featured in "Beyond 2000" on the Discovery Channel several years ago and when the film crew was on campus we attempted to get as many of our students involved with the filming. In addition, during my 20 year tenure here at the University I have never had a customer express concern on this issue. What I do encounter from our customers is a sense of pride that they are using state of the art technology and I find they are normally our best PR agents as they love to explain our system to visitors.
Question from Vincent Kiernan:
Do you have any plans to further expand your use of biometrics in the dining hall system?
J. Michael Floyd:
Yes. We have recently expanded the use of biometrics for timekeeping for employees. Utilizing a different biometric system, our employees clock in & out daily using a finger image. The next expansion is to utilize these devices for backdoor employee access into our operations. This will increase the overall security of our operations, especially since we have operations open till midnight and our plans include a 24-hour dining center in the near future. In my opinion, the real future of biometrics in the workplace is in timekeeping. This application for employers with large work forces will greatly increase the accuracy of paying for actual hours worked and prevent "buddy punching."
Question from Edward Marshall, University of Pennsylvania:
Are you aware of any health related issues resulting from the use of biometric technologies? In particular, retinal scans.
J. Michael Floyd:
No, there is no greater risk with the hand image readers than the doorknob on the front of the building. However, we do have a procedure in place to sanitize the hand reader surface on a routine schedule thru out the day. In addition we have hand sanitizer stations located inside our dining operations for customers who would like to use this product. We do not utilize retinal scans here. However, the most common form of eye scanning is iris scanning and with these devices the eye is typically 10 to 14 inches away from the scanner.
Vincent Kiernan (Moderator):
We're about half way through our scheduled time for this conversation. If you have any questions for Mr. Floyd, now would be a great time to send them in.
Question from Dick Sigelko, Michigan State University:
If the system is not storing fingerprints or hand geography, how does it identify the individual as having the privilege?
J. Michael Floyd:
The system is storing hand and finger image templates. The templates are a mathematical representation of the hand or finger ridges. These stored templates are then compared to the image presented by the customer/employee when they place their hand or finger in the reader. All verifications are done on a one to one comparison, not a one to many comparison. For example the customer will input their ID number by scanning their card or typing their card number on a keypad and then they place their hand in the reader. The customer / employee must be active in the system prior to utilizing the system.
Question from Matt Miller, Gettysburg College:
How long on average does it take to add a new hand image to the system?
J. Michael Floyd:
For both systems the initial image is captured at an orientation. Each image takes approximately 30 seconds to capture and verify the first time. However, with our meal plan system this one time enrollment is the only time we must physically see the student to begin participation in the meal plan for their entire academic stay at UGA. The enrollment for students is done when they have their ID card produced.
Question from Vincent Kiernan:
What advice do you have for colleges that might consider hand scanning in the future? Are there any particular land mines to avoid?
J. Michael Floyd:
The key is to promote this as state of art technology and to excite the customers that they are involved in a unique application of technology. One installation issue to avoid is to make sure that all hand image readers are installed at the same height. Readers installed at different height can result in a higher error ratio.
Question from Dick Sigelko, Michigan State University:
Have students expressed a concern about contamination, germs or the "ick" factor?
J. Michael Floyd:
Over the years we have heard this question from a few customers, which allows us to explain our system and how we sanitize the reader surface. But normally when we share the comparison about the front doorknob on the building the student then realizes the enormous number of common surfaces they touch with their hands each day.
Question from Dick Sigelko, Michigan State University:
How many mis-reads per 100 do you get?
J. Michael Floyd:
We are at less than 1% of false-negatives. This allows our Cashier to then look up the customer in our data base and then permit the customer to dine.
Question from Francine Reynolds, University of Richmond:
Mike, what systems are your biometric readers interfacing with (i.e. CBORD's CSGold, etc.)
J. Michael Floyd:
Our system is a proprietary system that our campus IT department developed and maintains for the campus.
Question from Terri Moreman, U.S. Olympic Training Center:
Mike, is your system tied to dorm room or buliding access?
J. Michael Floyd:
Yes, our system is tied to residence hall building access. But not individual rooms.
Question from Rich Bredahl, University of Texas at Austin:
How about issues of cleaniness? With potentially several hundred people using a reader per hour, how do you:
1) Keep the reader clean
2) Ensure the reader does not become a means of passing germs/bacteria/viruses
J. Michael Floyd:
No, there is no greater risk with the hand image readers than the doorknob on the front of the building. However, we do have a procedure in place to sanitize the hand reader surface on a routine schedule throughout the day. In addition we have hand sanitizer stations located inside our dining operations for customers who would like to use this product.
Question from Vincent Kiernan:
That will be our last question. Mike, any final thoughts?
J. Michael Floyd:
In conclusion, the key benefit of a biometric system is that it can be a user activated system that creates a great deal of ownership by the customer. With this ownership, there is a buy in from the customer to assist the organization in making the system work. Additionally, biometric systems have the potential of reducing personnel cost and improving overall levels of security and customer thru put. There is also a greater awareness of security by the customer than the traditional photo base system. Biometrics is the technology that our children will see in their future workplace.
Vincent Kiernan (Moderator):
That about does it for today. On behalf of The Chronicle, thanks to Mike Floyd and his staff for their illuminating answers to the questions, and thanks to all of you for participating. Have a good afternoon.
J. Michael Floyd:
A special thank you to Donald Smith, Department Manager of UGAcard Support Services and Chris Wilkins, IT Manager, UGA Food Services for joining me today on the Colloquy and assisting with the responses.