Australian school photo business uses Fargo® printers for variety of ID card products

The Challenge
School administrators have a variety of needs when it comes to their ID card programs. For some,
simple security is the most important function and they use ID cards for visual identification of
students, staff and visitors. Others need more sophisticated support, including access to dorms,
facilities and equipment. Still others use photo ID Card Printers systems to automate and combine several
school operations, giving students the ability to check out library books or equipment, gain access
to student activities, use school computers or simplify registration. Schools that provide ID cards
with debit functions also enable students to use their photo ID cards for vending machine, laundry
and cafeteria payments.
Academy Photography, which was the first Australian school photo business to go completely
digital, has been in business since 1988, providing educational institutions with student and
faculty ID cards, in addition to school photos, for more than 15 years. Today, it provides ID cards
for more than 200 schools.
Tracking student movements in and out of school is the most important function requested by
customers of Academy Photography. “ID cards enable schools to analyze usage and improve
efficiency, as well as keep track of students for better education outcomes,” said Noel Cordell,
Card Bureau Manager. This helps to reduce truancy. Schools also use ID cards to pay for
concession fares on public transport, to pay for photocopies, to borrow books and to verify arrival
at school.

Solution Found
Academy Photography provides a card bureau, a small office with three work stations and a
dedicated staff who operate three Fargo Persona® card printers and one Fargo DTC1000 High
Definition Card Printer/Encoder. The DTC1000 features reverse image technology in which the
printer prints images directly onto special film that is then fused onto the surface of a blank card
through heat and pressure.
Cordell was instrumental in selecting the current Fargo equipment, although Academy had been
using Fargo printers for years, long before his arrival in 2005. “The features most important to us
were high quality prints, low waste and fast printing,” he said. “The DTC1000 also offers us the
ability to print and encode smart cards in the future.”
While most of Academy’s clients currently use either barcodes or magnetic stripe technology,
the company chose the Fargo DTC1000 to be ready for future requests. Fargo developed High Definition
Printing to go hand in hand with the growth of technology-rich smart cards. Often, the embedded
electronics in these high-security cards cause irregularities on the card’s surface, making them
difficult to print. Because the printhead of the DTC1000 does not print directly onto the card
surface, image quality is unaffected by a card’s surface irregularities.
ID cards not only provide convenience and security for students and faculty, but they also save
time for office staff who input attendance details and process roll calls. Academy provides
images formatted on a CD ROM as well as in hard copy reports for school records. These reports
provide information in instant real-time, and they are tailored to each school’s desired manner of
capturing and reporting attendance.

Academy Photography
Top Reasons Why Academy Photography Chose Fargo Printers
• High quality cards in keeping with Academy’s image
• Low waste to save money
• Speed of printing to meet customer requirements
• Ability to print and encode smart cards in future applications

Results
Academy Photography provides a variety of options for its clients. “Sometimes the school buys
the cards, sometimes the students do, and other times we provide them for free,” said Cordell.
Free ID cards? “We provide ID cards free to many schools as a value addition to our primary
product, school photos,” he added. Often, Academy’s student and faculty photos can be used for
the cards, thus requiring only one photo session and saving the school resources. Because cards
are produced in Academy’s printing laboratory, schools receive replacement cards quickly and
economically.
“ID cards allow users the convenience of remote identity verification,” said Cordell. Student and
faculty enjoy the benefits of ID cards produced by Academy.