In 2022, Michigan Dining (MDining) recognized the need to replace its aging point-of-sale (POS) hardware. To address this, MDining requested that Student Life Technology Solutions initiate a project to replace the outdated hardware and the underlying system that powered it.
Development of a strong project charter–a key component of SLTS’s project management process–began in December 2022. The charter aligns all major stakeholders on the project’s purpose, goals, and high-level deliverables, serving as a foundation for all subsequent work.
A vision for a modernized system quickly took shape, focused on improving the retail experience for MDining’s customers, enhancing inventory management data, and streamlining business processes. Leadership and project sponsors endorsed the charter in February 2023.
The project’s discovery phase included a market survey, interviews with subject matter experts from MDining and SLTS, business process mapping, and a diagram of existing data locations and interfaces. This process culminated in an options matrix and a detailed set of business and technical requirements.
Based on these requirements, a Request For Proposal (RFP) was developed and issued by Student Life’s Budget & Finance (SLBF) procurement team in partnership with Procurement Services. After reviewing vendor submissions, the project team selected Transact Cloud POS in April 2023 to provide the new system and retail hardware.
The project then moved into the implementation phase, which involved developing integrations with related systems, testing hardware and software, and deploying hardware. The team piloted the Transact Cloud POS solution at the Petrovich Family Grill at the University of Michigan Golf Course. Following a successful pilot and minor adjustments, the solution was deployed across all sixteen Michigan Dining retail locations in May 2024.
The project has delivered measurable benefits across several areas. First, online retail order receipts increased by more than 515% year-over-year in the first six months.
Second, customers have responded positively to the new point of sale system. “They like the Kiosk options set up in many locations that allow them to skip the lines,” said Kathryn Whiteside, MDining’s director of Systems Management.
Third, according to SLBF Accounts Receivable Supervisor Cathy Glowka, “The ability to email daily sales reports…has made a positive impact for both retail managers with their daily sales input as well as SLBF, who reconciles all locations on a daily basis. This improvement has significantly cut down reconciliation time since there is no longer the need to manually run daily sales reports for each location.”
Finally, new automations and integrations with MDining’s inventory system have significantly reduced the time staff spend on inventory and ordering tasks, allowing them to focus on other priorities.
The MDining POS replacement project demonstrates the impact and value of strong collaboration between MDining and SLTS.
