PennCard transaction network will receive overhaul in Jan.

This winter’s upgrade to the network that facilitates PennCard transactions may interfere with the ability of PennCard holders to make transactions related to PennCash, Dining Dollars, meal plans, Student Financial Services lines of credit and attendance tracking.

In order to implement the upgrades, the PennCard center has chosen early January to make the changes, putting transactions that require a PennCard swipe on hold from Jan. 5 to 7.

However, the University will offer other payment options.

“Departments that accept PennCard, such as the Penn Bookstore, Penn Dining and the library are prepared to provide other alternatives to students who need to make purchases” during the outing, said Barbara Lea-Kruger, director of communications and external relations for the Division of Business Services.

“All the services which students currently use their PennCard will remain the same once the new system is implemented,” Lea-Kruger said.

However, she added, the new system will be more flexible and “puts Penn in a better position to respond to the needs of the community.”

Blackboard Transact, the network that handles the more than six million PennCard transactions per year, is being enhanced with many new features, such as “sophisticated touch screen point-of-sale devices, robust reporting capabilities, and newly configurable menus,” according to a press release in the University of Pennsylvania Almanac — features which will have a “big impact on day-to-day campus operations for merchants and customers alike,” according to the release.

Though other universities around the country have upgraded to the new software, Penn’s upgrade will be the largest in size and scope due to the large number of PennCard holders on campus and the general pervasiveness of the PennCard.

The software upgrade is unrelated to the computer systems that are responsible for accessing University buildings or the software that links PennCards to PNC Bank or Student Federal Credit Union accounts. These functions will not be affected by the outage.

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