Access Control System Set-Up Best Practices

Access Control systems can be valuable tools for securing and controlling access to your building or business.  These card access systems can be set up so that people and employees are restricted from being able to use certain doors or areas, or even restricted from doors atre various times of day or day of the week.  When set-up properly, they can assist in how your building operates. However, when looking into a card access system it is important to think about how you want your building to operate prior to having your system installed so that it works for you from the outset.  Here are some best practices for setting up your card access system.

Pre-Installation Best Practices

While establishing the Access Levels, Door Schedules, and User Permissions may seem like a daunting task, it is important that the exercise is undertaken prior to rolling out your access control application. 

1. What doors will be part of the access control system?
2. How many unique groups of users will your system have?
   1. How many groups have access granted to the same doors?
3. How many unique schedules will the groups of respective doors have?
4. How man (if more than one) sites will the software control?
5. How important is security?
   1. Do you want all doors to have security measures associated with them or are they simply for granting or denying access?  Or do you want a combination of the above?
   2. What types of auditing are you hoping to have with access control?
      1. Read in only
      2. Read in and out
      3. A combination depending on the door
   3. Do you want real time alarm alerts?
      1. If so, which?
         1. Door held open
         2. Door forced open
         3. No access granted
         4. Discontinued card attempted
      2. Do you want to tie video into alarms?
      3. Do you want to tie in security/intrusion into the access control?
   4. Who will respond to the notifications?
   5. Do you want to be able to customize users?

Why Is It Important to Pre-Define Your Rules?

1. You will promote compliance amongst the users if pre-established rules are communicated and adhered to from the outset. If you are making vast changes while the system is operational it will cause frustration and promote dissatisfaction when users feel that their previously allowed freedoms are being taken away without an understood reason as to why. 
2. The holistic approach to controlling the access within an environment will promote greater use of the system by the whole. 
3. A properly selected access control solution will offer operational efficiencies provided there is buy-in from the appropriate stakeholders. 

At Bulldog Fire & Security, the Integrated Systems Division of Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc., our Consultative Sales Representatives endeavour to understand our customers’ holistic needs and match the right access control application to their needs. Our Deployment Team will then work with our customers to pre-establish their access control rules, so that the system is customized to be operational upon hand-off. That’s not the end of the story though. Bulldog’s Reps and Service Department endeavour to keep your system operating at its peak performance through regularly scheduled maintenance plans and system updates, so that our customers are always benefiting from the latest update that they’re entitled to as owners of the system. We are it in for the long term, and we will be there with our customers to ensure satisfaction throughout the life of the system. 

Contact Us

For nearly 25 years, Bulldog Fire and Security, the Integrated Systems Division of Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc., has been an expert in Access Control System Design, Installation, and Service, having installed a variety of systems across Ontario.  

If you’re interested in learning more about access control, call us at 1 866 513 2882, email info@bulldogsecurity.ca, or fill out the contact form below.