To prepare the University community who may return to campus in phases, a cashless payment system, eCollections2.0 (eColl2.0) was launched to serve as the payment gateway integrating internal applications with external payment facilities.
eColl2.0 provides a one-stop collection service for both staff and students to make secure, fuss-free and seamless transactions supported by mobile payment methods such as major credit cards, PayNow and AliPay. For students, the integration of eColl2.0 with NUSFastPay, and the introduction of additional payment methods offer greater convenience when making common transactions such as tuition, hostel and library fee payments.
Monica Darmawan, Project Lead and Systems Analyst at NUS IT, noted that eColl2.0 also provides a standardised payment page with a consistent look and feel, relieving departments of the hassle of developing their own payment page. “Currently, eColl2.0 produces transaction reports for department applications automatically and the payment reconciliation process is automated, resulting in significant time savings,” Monica shared.
The eColl2.0 service offers system scalability with quick implementation during the onboarding process, which reduces the technical manpower required. Lim Hui Zhen, Co-Project Lead and Senior Manager at the Office of Finance observed that digital collection methods have the added advantage of eliminating administrative tasks (such as banking in and managing bounced cheques, as well as generating receipts) that were previously required when handling cash and cheque payments. Online collections have also reduced the need to identify funds via transfers on bank statements. With online collections, all payments and related information are recorded in the eColl2.0 system, hence there would not be any unidentified receipts.
To date, 61 NUS applications from University departments, units, Faculties and Schools have been migrated to the eColl2.0 platform. For instance, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy has integrated the online executive education and event registration systems with eColl2.0; and the University Health Centre has incorporated the eColl2.0 payment page and integrated with eColl2.0 for pre-admission medical examinations’ fee collections.
NUS payers can look forward to new payment methods which provide more options and greater accessibility with the upcoming phases of eColl2.0. Aligning with the Singapore Smart Nation initiative to harness technology to drive sustainability, over the counter payments on campus will soon be a thing of the past as we embrace and implement digital collection methods for the convenience of all.
OE is a strategic initiative undertaken by the University to develop best practices for an efficient and world-class administration to better support NUS’ Vision and Mission. It aims to bring about improved work processes and policies as well as create opportunities for talent development and growth.