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The Physical Access Control Project Planner

A well planned access control project provides appropriate protection at a reasonable cost with minimum disruption. And if it's poorly run? Expect cost overruns, permitting delays, and a very, very annoyed workforce. An experienced system designer's guide to avoiding common access control errors.

By Jason Cowling

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Stage Three: Project Management

The procurement phase (if you handle it correctly) ends when you have signed an agreement with a vendor. Now you are ready to start project management of the installation process. You should have a project schedule in place, making sure to send it to the necessary individuals in your organization (most of whom you already involved in the planning stage). It's a good idea to prepare all employees for the presence of installation technicians, as they will likely be running cabling throughout your facility, using power tools, and otherwise marking a definite presence in your building. Cutting door strikes and mounting access control hardware often requires that doors and areas of your facility will be out of use for significant time periods. Keep close contact with the lead technician on the job, as he or she will best know the daily work schedule and can help you to prepare whichever employees and work spaces will be affected during the installation process.

Here are some other pointers that will help you successfully oversee your access control installation:

1. This is a good time to again check on the required permits for your system. Also, if inspections of the final system are required, be sure that the appropriate parties will attend â¬ scheduling inspections between employees, contractors, and inspectors can be difficult and can result in failed inspections and loss of time. Calling everyone on the day of the inspection is a good idea. It may seem like overkill, but these meetings get missed far too often to risk another round of scheduling.

2. Be sure to have a well documented project schedule that is followed by your installing contractor. Many contractors will take it for granted that they can pull off of your job if they have a more pressing issue, or are waiting for a part to come in. Unless you are flexible with your installation schedule be sure to be very specific about a project schedule.

3. If your facility or company requires specific conditions for contractors to perform work, be sure to take these into account. Many facilities have long training procedures, clothing requirements such as hard hats, goggles, steel-toed boots and numerous others. I have seen many job kickoffs go immediately south when the installation crew showed up on site and was informed they were non-compliant in one of the above requirements.

4. Check again on the status of the access control database — Be sure that you liaison with the contractor well before the installation is completed to make sure you have gathered the information you need to successfully program the system.