Emergency Preparedness

U of South Florida Co-developing App for COVID-19-Safe Campus Returns

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/22/20

A Florida university is working with a software company to produce a mobile application to help campuses manage data on the health of their returning communities. The University of South Florida is working with Appian, which specializes in creating tools for automating workflows. CampusPass, as the new program is called, pulls together the functionality for managing COVID-19-related data collection and processing, daily health status validation and isolation protocols. The app, expected for purchase beginning on July 1, 2020, will work on Android and iOS devices.

Functions include:

• A single interface for viewing the "health and campus status of the entire academic community";
• A self-reporting check-in survey, which can be customized, to collect information on the COVID-19 status and return-to-campus preferences of everybody;
• Mobile pass verification, an automated authorization that can be displayed on mobile devices; and
• Incident tracking and isolation processing, for response to positive COVID-19 cases, particularly for on-campus residents.

The software is available in several languages, including English, Italian, Spanish, German and French.

"The health and safety of students, faculty and staff is our most important concern during this pandemic," said Sidney Fernandes, university CIO, in a statement. "Coordinating and communicating across all departments and tens of thousands of students poses a significant challenge for universities, and Appian is the platform that brings us all together safely and securely."

For more information, visit the Appian site.