Problems with new PennCards mostly fixed

The cards now work in dorms and dining halls, but don't yet access UPSFCU bank accounts. and Randi Rothberg University officials breathed a collective sigh of relief last week after resolving most of the technical problems with the new PennCards, though some mishaps continued yesterday as the cards failed to deliver money access center functions to University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union as originally scheduled. But students who linked their PennCards to PNC Bank accounts were able to begin using their PennCards to withdraw money from MAC machines Sunday -- a day earlier than planned. On the other hand, students who signed up for separate Penn Visa credit cards have not yet received them. Since the launch of the University's new PennCard system earlier this month, quirks in the new computer system have prevented students from gaining quick and easy access to University residences and dining halls. In an effort to eliminate the delays and technical problems, officials re-installed the Dining Services computer server late last week, Vice President for Business Services Steve Murray said. "As we had suspected, there were software problems that were causing the problems in the dining halls," Murray said. "The situation has been resolved." Correcting the dining hall system has brought card-scanning back up to speed, and Hill House Dining Services Manager Stephen Finch said "students can get in and out without having to wait in lines." During the past few weeks, card readers in the dining halls often malfunctioned without warning, leading to long delays as Dining Services employees recorded students' names and Social Security numbers. The computer glitches and delays were caused by the new cards' reliance on Penn ID numbers instead of the Social Security numbers which had been on the previous cards, Murray said. The technical difficulties caught many officials by surprise. "Heck no, we had no idea it would be this slow," Hospitality Services Executive Director Don Jacobs said. "But it was a very worthwhile risk to go ahead and put it in anyway." Although some students reported that the malfunctioning card readers allowed them to eat without being on a meal plan, Jacobs said few students were actually able to eat for free. Glitches in the PennCards' new technology also caused the delay in their usage as MAC cards, but Penn officials said they expect UPSFCU customers' PennCards will allow proper access later this week. Officials from PNC, UPSFCU, the University and the bank that is issuing the Penn Visa cards had been working to launch the new cards since last March because "it's really new technology for all of [them]," PNC Vice President for Debit Cards Janet Mendenhall said. She added that the group set Monday as the target date for the cards' MAC activation in order to work out any problems with the new system. "It just made sense for us to take it a little more slowly than [to] have more problems," she said. Since distribution of the cards began August 27, between 9,000 and 10,000 students and faculty have received new PennCards, Cousart said. Approximately 50 percent of the students and faculty who received the new cards simultaneously opened new PNC or UPSFCU bank accounts, with nearly 1,700 students choosing PNC Bank, according to Mendenhall. The last component of the new PennCard is the PennCash system, a value chip on each ID which will allow students up to $50 in purchasing power. "The chip functionality is still in the process of being installed," Mendenhall said, adding that she expects PennCash features will start working late this month or early October. Quadrangle laundry machines and McClelland Marketplace will be the first campus laundry and food services, respectively, accessible through the new PennCash chip. Administrators said they were confident that computer problems would not affect the PennCash system because there are "no communications lines hardwired onto those services." "They're a lot simpler and easier to test," Murray said.