Wayne State University

Campus Access & Security Systems Replacement Consulting Services

Detroit, MI

Wayne State University is evaluating its campus card access and security systems on its main and medical campuses. Faith Group was brought on to provide subject matter expertise to create an RFP, assist with vendor(s) selection, and oversee implementation of the solution. High level project goals include consolidating disparate systems, streamlining onboarding/offboarding, creating an inviting & safe campus, utilizing keyless & other emerging technologies, tracking & managing access/attendance during events, and creating a seamless integration with other campus systems.

While the initial project motivator was the consolidation of disparate access control systems across the campus, a key project goal includes the assessment of integration opportunities with campus systems and operations such as point of sale, meal plan management, housing management, library / asset rentals, attendance tracking, parking access, enrollment/onboarding, and many other components. This comprehensive and holistic approach provides a very important and valuable opportunity to expand upon the university’s OneCard deployment, move towards a keyless campus implementation, and incorporate industry trends that will directly enhance the campus experience and efficiency.

Faith Group is assessing and providing recommendations on card, key, access, and security systems, along with supporting infrastructure. Staff are performing an on-site existing conditions assessment, stakeholder interviews, providing recommendations for innovation and digital transformation, conducting a stakeholder presentation of findings, developing conceptual systems designs, and identifying potential technologies & vendors.

Additionally, Faith Group invited WSU to attend the 2023 GSX conference as an opportunity to vet the potential products all in one place. Overall, they had an excellent experience, and it was very valuable to the project.

Audra Forsberg, WSU Director OneCard/Parking Service Center said, “Not only were we able to walk the exhibit hall, talk to vendors and view the displays; Faith Group also set up meetings with a few of the vendors whose products we were considering. This allowed us to see their software and hardware “in action” and get a feel for how we would use the products in real life situations on our campus. Having this personal time with vendors, being able to ask questions and get product demos, gave us much better grasp of what would be best for our campus.”

Juan Richardson, WSU Sr. Director, Infrastructure & Operations said, “I believe we received a unified, holistic view of the security industry’s products and services, not only from a prospective overview, but with real life examples of implementations mixed with vendor and integration knowledge. We were lucky to have a guided view, provided by Michael Niola, of Faith Group, which helped us focus priority on our review of products and services in support of our upcoming projects.  This has better prepared us to understand what we need to do going forward with our university projects and the possibilities of integration to provide better overall security and symbiosis for our student, urban campus, as well as providing comprehensive support to our public safety department’s wants and needs.”

Cleon Cleaver, WSU Team Leader said, “GSX was well organized & informative. Michael Niola was an awesome facilitator!”