This initiative is part of the McMaster IT Strategic Plan to deliver seamless technology and experience. And it aligns with the institutional McMaster Strategy under Operational Excellence by creating streamlined services.  

The goal is to have a one card system that eventually integrates with other systems across campus to create a unified experience for students, staff, and faculty. The core aspects of this project are:  

• Mobile/virtual student and employee cards  
• Dining payment  
• Secure transactions  
• Source of identity on campus  
• Access and security  

Click here to learn more about project details including scope and timelines. 

Town hall meetings will continue to be held on a regular basis to keep the McMaster community up to date on the process and the progress in this project. These meetings will be recorded and shared on the One Card Project Town Hall – Financial Affairs (mcmaster.ca) webpage for anyone who missed them or would like to re-watch them. 

Since many departments and functional users across the university are involved and affiliated with this project, the updates will also be shared on McMaster Daily News.  

With executive sponsorship from the chief financial officer, the scope of the One Card project over the next year or more is to integrate student and staff ancillary services in a phased approach onto one virtual or physical card. The integration of security access technologies will follow at a later date.  

The proposed implementation of the McMaster One Card project will be executed in the following order:  

• Integration with MacIAM/Mosaic  
• Mobile card 
• Integrate Ancillary Services (eg. hospitality services, parking, athletics entry, campus store, printing, library services 
• Virtual payments (One Card online) 
• Access  

We are aiming at having different implementation paths based on project and stakeholder needs. We will work with all different stakeholders across the university to base and sequence this plan together. This project will have a multi-year phased approach and some areas will be prioritized.   

McMaster Security Services will still be managing the Axiom card access system. 

Mobile ID and physical cards will retain barcodes.   

The One Card project aims to seamlessly integrate services where practical, economical, and controlled by McMaster. This means integrations that involve technology connections of McMaster controlled systems then the integration will be in-scope.  

Once our existing Axiom system is updated and integrated, appropriate access will be rolled out and communicated. 

The One Card project will not be funding hardware technology or the replacement of historical technology. 

In the case of the One Card initiative, it is the One Card database and software that operates the one card. In relation to this project the mosaic is not migrating and is staying where it is. Users would not experience or have any negative consequences from moving from one place to another.   

Through the correct use of access management and control and other security controls, the storage of the card activity data will not change from the current experience. In the current system, encryption is used to at the various stages where this data might be used. The activity data will be stored securely and encrypted, and only be accessed by concerned people who will be authorized to access all the system.