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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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5. Be proactive when it comes to unexpected changes in the installation process. As a security system designer, I know that if I can account for every part and labor unit of an individual job and reduce my margin of error between estimated job cost and final cost to 1% that I am an excellent planner. As I've mentioned throughout, Access Control projects and buildings are organic. Be prepared in your budget and internal processes for the possibility of additional job expenses. If something comes up in the middle of an installation and you need five days to work out getting a Job Rider processed, you may lose five days of productivity and be forced to pull the installation team off the job. Have your contractor provide you with a blank and voided Rider so your appropriate finance and legal individuals can review it, and quickly approve one if needed.

Stage Four: Training and Ongoing System Management

Your system installation is usually defined as complete when the access control database has been programmed, and you have signed off on the system, certifying it as complete. During this time you will be programming the system and putting it into daily use. Some pointers to help ensure your access control system is setup for reliable and productive use:

1. If possible, start your training by participating in the initial programming of the access control database. Often I see end-users skip this opportunity. You'll have a much stronger familiarity with your access control software if you help build the database. Remember, access control software is sophisticated, even if you have only a handful of employees you're still going to use numerous functions, and have to update the software as employees, schedules, and other events take place.

2. Put in place a database management plan. If you are going to have access control, use it! Take the time to learn to archive your data. Most access control programs can offload their event history to various remote media. Having an accurate and granular audit trail of the events your access system records adds resilience to your organization.

3. Assign a competent employee to manage the access control software. Don't make the mistake of thinking that access control systems run themselves once they are online. While this is true to a certain degree, your system will need a significant amount of almost daily interaction. Issuing cards to new employees, possibly badging them, adding and deleting users, changing schedules â¬ and software glitches are all frequent occurrences. Try to select an employee who is reliable, computer savvy, and ideally knows the physical aspects of the system.