Introduction
Cowley operates a cashless catering system within the college. There are two options available for cashless catering: biometric (fingerprint) or card. The college must have the permission of a parent or carer to enable biometric data to be used. Biometric is the preferred method of the college due to students being unable to lose their fingerprint!
Bio – what?
Biometrics authentication is the automatic recognition of a living being using suitable body characteristics. By measuring an individual’s physical features in an authentication inquiry and comparing this data with stored biometric reference data, the identity of a specific user is determined. There are many different biometric features that can be used for authentication purposes these include fingerprint, signature, iris, retina, DNA or any other unique characteristic. Once a characteristic has been chosen the next stage in the Biometric process is authentication. A biometric feature is saved on to a database. Once the data has been stored, a new scanning of the biometric feature is taken. If the comparison is positive, access to the appropriate application is granted.
What is a Cashless System?
At the heart of the cashless system there is a computer controlled by I.M.P.A.C.T. – Software. This allows the system to recognise each individual student, hold individual cash balances, record cash spent and cash received, where money is spent, on what food, on any specific date and time of day.