This message is to make you aware of impending changes to our campus’ student ID cards (Access Cards) that are required to support Alphanumeric Perms. These changes will only impact student Access Cards issued (or reissued) on or after Tuesday, January 17, 2023. This will not impact employee Access Cards. All existing Access Cards will continue to function as they do currently, and do not need to be replaced or reissued.

Any cards issued on or after Tuesday, January 17, 2023 will adhere to the new card configuration, which includes the following changes: 

  • Student Perms will no longer be encoded on the magnetic stripe of access cards. This change is required because the Access Card magnetic stripe does not support the encoding of alphabetical characters.
  • The Access Card barcode will change from Codabar to Code 128. This change is required to support alphabetical characters on the barcode. The data encoded in the barcode will not change, but the font used to print the barcode is changing.
  • Students who are hired as employees in departments that utilize Kronos time clocks will need to return to the access desk to have their employee ID encoded on their card’s magnetic stripe. This will allow these students to swipe their Access Card in the Kronos time clock to clock in and out of their shifts.

Please see the Key Details and FAQs at the end of this message (or on the Perm Augmentation Project webpage) for additional information about these Access Card changes and the Perm Augmentation project itself. Please email perm@sa.ucsb.edu with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

KEY DETAILS:

  • Students who already have access cards do not need to obtain a new card. All existing student Access Cards will continue to work going forward.
  • Only students hired to work for a department that uses Kronos time clocks are required to return to the Access Desk to have their employee IDs encoded on their card’s magnetic stripe.
  • Tuesday, January 17, 2023 is the date of the cutover to the new processes and encoding of student Access Cards. Any cards issued or reissued on or after this date will adhere to the new specifications and processes (see section above for details).

 
FAQs:

  • Will this impact employee Access Cards?
    • This will have no impact to employee Access Cards; it only impacts students and student employees.
  • How will this impact building access?
    • These changes will have no impact to building access. Building access uses a chip within the card itself, and no changes are being made to the chips within the card.
  • How will this impact MTD access?
    • These changes will have no impact to the existing process for riding an MTD bus using a UCSB Access Card. The MTD bus system uses a card tap feature that uses a chip within the card itself, and no changes are being made to the chips within the card.
  • What does this mean for departments hiring student employees?
    • If a department does not use Kronos time clocks, there will be no change to the hiring processes or approach.
    • If a department uses Kronos time clocks, they will need to direct students who received their Access Card on or after 1/17/2023 to the Access Desk to have their Employee ID encoded on the magnetic stripe of their card.
  • What do I do if one of my student employees who previously had an Access Card with a numeric perm gets a new Access Card after 1/17/2023?
    • If your department does not use Kronos time clocks, there will be no change to the hiring processes or approach.
    • If your department uses Kronos time clocks and your student is active in the Kronos application, your Kronos Timekeeper will need to update the student's badge number from their numeric perm to the last 7 digits of their UCPath EMPLID (including leading zeros) in Kronos.
    • If your department uses Kronos time clocks and your student is terminated in the Kronos application, no action is needed.  The student will rehire automatically with their badge number updated to the last 7 digits of their UCPath EMPLID (including leading zeros) in Kronos.
  • What if I am currently swiping student cards to collect student IDs (e.g. to collect attendance at events)?
    • Any cards issued on or after the cutover date of 1/17/2023 will not have the student’s ID (i.e. perm) encoded on the magnetic stripe. If such functionality is required, it is recommended to utilize a scan of the barcode on the front of the card to collect student ID information. Please note this may require configuration of a barcode scanner to collect just the student ID portion of the barcode. Please email perm@sa.ucsb.edu if you have questions about how to work with Access Card barcodes as a replacement for using the magnetic stripe for these purposes.