Every day thousands of people enter and leave high-rise office buildings and it is essential to protect each of these users. Three of the biggest challenges that need to be addressed to achieve this goal are managing surveillance rounds, ensuring that all fire protection equipment complies with inspection and maintenance regulations, and optimizing space planning as well as overall building utilization. In that sense, trusted identities can be used to automate and improve each of these processes.
By Edson Yano*
The management of security rounds has to do with three elements: it is necessary to keep track of the keys, the guards must visit all their control points in the most efficient way possible and there must be a process to audit the billable hours of the contractors. It is possible to employ an identification alternative that combines reliable tags with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology and a cloud authentication system to automate each of these processes, thus integrating, in a single solution, key management services, security rounds and contractors. The resulting system allows a security presence test with authentication to be carried out in an agile way, while providing more accurate and usable information in real time. It can also be deployed using an organization's existing computing infrastructure alongside smartphones, tablets, and other conventional mobile devices with NFC technology.
To implement an automated key management solution, organizations can use reliable NFC tags to equip keys with unique IDs. The way the system works is simple: to lend a physical key, the user first taps on a tablet or other mobile device with the reliable NFC tag and enters an authorized ID; then, a notification about when to return the key is sent to the user and he taps on the tablet again to return it. Automated key management significantly reduces the time and resources spent managing and replacing lost or stolen keys. Organizations can account for the location of each key in real time and have access to the history of lending and repayment activities so they can better understand which keys are most in demand.
Connected surveillance rounds and contractor management
To manage surveillance rounds and tours, various label formats must be placed at each round checkpoint throughout the building. High-strength service labels can be used to designate outdoor control points. From that point on, the guards only have to tap with their NFC phone at each checkpoint they visit. The system identifies each checkpoint by name and automatically uploads date and time information, and updates databases in real time, providing digital evidence that a security round was conducted at a given location and time. It is possible to trigger alerts in case too much time elapses between one checkpoint and another. If a guard finds an incident, they can use the smartphone to generate a detailed report, including photographic or video evidence and, if necessary, to transmit the activity to a superior, in accordance with the protocol. Knowing how to give a simple touch is the only training necessary to ensure the effective implementation of the system.
Automated management of surveillance rounds allows guards to deliver more timely and detailed reports, while reducing the time each round takes. Those responsible for the physical plant of the companies that are currently using these systems also highlight an improvement in the management of their contractor partners. The use of a similar "proof of presence" system for contractors has resulted in more precise control of attendance and working time, and ensures that facility managers are paying only for the services provided. Contractors are guaranteed to get fair compensation for the work they have done. The reports set out in detail all the necessary information on visits to a particular site and activities, which allows for management information to be obtained together with the confirmation of contractor invoices.
Simplification of inspection and maintenance of fire protection systems
Similar improvements are achieved by combining trusted labels and authentication platforms with computerized maintenance management (CMMS) software to simplify inspections and compliance of fire protection equipment. With these solutions, equipment maintenance and compliance people can ensure that physical objects such as water valves and various sprinkler equipment can safely perform operations to provide a "regulatory compliance test" and "presence test." This allows field technicians to easily record and respond to every digital inspection, in a secure and reliable cloud environment.
To use these systems, a technician only has to tap, with their smartphone or other NFC device, on a tag that has been embedded or attached to the fire protection system equipment. Each touch constitutes digital evidence of each inspection report and allows the technician to easily access service requests and automated maintenance records online. With that same touch, the identity of the worker or field technician is also verified, and it is ensured that the skills or credentials of that person do correspond to the competencies necessary to provide technical service to a specific team, and that the field worker who is maintaining said equipment is suitable.
This type of system has numerous benefits. First, it automates the maintenance and inspection process, reduces field inspection time, and accurately reports compliance testing, resulting in quantifiable cost savings, thanks to reduced labor. In addition, work orders are carried out faster and there is an overall reduction in the number of visits to the installation site. Both of these benefits help increase overall cost savings. Labels can operate in different environments without compromising readability, and adhere to various types of surfaces, shapes and sizes, including round and metal objects such as alarm and control valves.
Create connected experiences in the workplace
The demand for cloud authentication platforms that add trust to "proof of presence" applications to improve building security and comfort is on the rise. Infrastructure managers can accurately track security inspection points and immediately dispatch guards to address and report fraudulent activity throughout the building. Security guards can patrol areas more easily and efficiently with automated surveillance stops that replace manual login processes. Organizations can also tag fire protection equipment to connect to the internet, so technicians can use their mobile devices to tap the tag and access CMMS applications in the cloud, track activities, and automate all the processes, which were previously manual, needed to make sure these assets are ready in the event of an emergency. A combination of trusted tags, cloud authentication platforms, and location services platforms helps make buildings smarter and safer—from every guard checkpoint to every fire protection team and how users interact with organizations' buildings and services.
*Edson Yano is sales manager of HID Global's IDT unit for Latin America.
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