A central system for increased security
Connecting people with the right facilities in a safe and managed environment has always been a challenging task. Balancing the blend between open access, the security of the building, and the service user requirements can be a conundrum. With facilities often needing to be dynamic yet highly protected whilst remaining available for audit.
deister UK began working with a leading UK university nearly 20 years ago to deliver intelligent key management, initially with individual instances within their security and maintenance departments. The university has always enjoyed a primary city centre location, and the benefits of a central campus. But as the estate grew and they expanded their service, the university began to review how to manage the users of these facilities, and the resources required to comply with the security of the buildings.
Having experienced the benefits of our intelligent key management, the university decided to look at how it could support the forthcoming projects for student accommodation and the building of a new multi-function sports centre. With the campus growing across the city, additional consideration had to be given to public access, third party usage and the distance from central security resources. The deister team worked together with members of the universities security, estates and IT departments to assess the existing systems and how they could operate these whilst adding additional cabinets across the estate. It became clear that it would offer more cost efficiencies, and ease of use for all if we were centralise the management software as a network utility. This would automate the reporting, and deploy features within the software for key usage and control. Doing so meant that the university was able to experience from a multitude of new features with minimal impact of existing operations. Within the one solution it was then easily possible to enable:
- Centralized management via our web based software for anytime, anywhere, any device management .
- Secure availability of keys at point of use with instant authorized remote release of keys.
- Ability to use mixed methods of authentication and access across the system.
- Customized reports – so reporting can be individualized to each location and their needs.
- The ability to individually profile staff, students and external users.
- Low management costs, as a centralized platform catering for multiple solutions.
Networking the software has meant that each university department can manage their own keys independently, whilst following a central university security policy and receiving direct guidance and support from deister. This has enabled the security team to be a support function to key management, as opposed to a frontline service. Automated administration of the system has meant that third party coaches and sports teams within the community, can access the multi-function sports centre at a pre-booked time without the need to be escorted or keys manually recorded. The estate management team and central IT support have been impressed with the operability of the software, and can see there being extended benefit by building on this management system for the deployment of other access solutions such as digital door locks and controlled car parking.
“We can see the increased possibilities the software provides for managing mixed use facilities across a broad estate, whilst proving a platform to deploy and integrate a range of additional security hardware.”
Project goal
To evolve their existing system to incorporate and control public access and third party usage whilst expanding it to include student accommodation facilities and the new multi-function sports centre buildings.
Challenge
To manage a large volume of keys and user access, across different facilities throughout the campuses as well as open access all while maintaining a high level of security.
Solution
Utiltise the Commander management software as a network utility to control access and manage key usage, whilst creating a user friendly experience which can be managed by the university independently.
Benefit
The deister key management system has enabled unified automated processes and centralised management of keys across the estate. Making it simple to both manage and monitor who has access to what keys and when.
Commander Software
With the CommanderConnect software, all deister solutions can be centrally managed and configured. Information is collected centrally and can be called up at any time. The output of individually configured reports takes the form of e-mail, pdf as well as export into additional file formats. The assignment of user rights and application related functions can be done with just a few mouse clicks. The client-server architecture allows site dependent operation via the web browser and minimizes hardware requirements and costs. With the ability to connect to third party systems via web services or customer specific interfaces, allowing Commander to be optimally integrated.