At its most basic level, Access Control is a system for enabling or preventing people from entering or exiting a location, whether a whole site or a single room or cupboard.
A secondary function may be to record the movements in and out of locations or specific areas and provide a data trail for audit, traceability, compliance or improvement purposes.
The majority of access control systems rely on the person or asset transiting in or out of a location being recognised and validated, usually by a “credential”. This credential may be something the person has (key, card, identification tag), something they know (password, PIN) or something intrinsic to them (biometric data such as iris recognition, fingerprints).
In many systems, more than one layer of credential may be required and some systems for sectors such as finance or datacentres, require a second party credential (second keyholder, visual recognition by an approved inspector via CCTV link).
The more layers and sub systems, the greater is the complexity of integrating the systems and storing, accessing and making use of the data.
Access Control is a fundamental concept in security that minimizes risk to the business or organization. Here are the main reasons why:
Keyless technology boasts fewer difficulties
Managing large numbers of keys and cost of administration can be a major problem. Keys can be easily lost or stolen or duplicated, and on leaving employment, employees often fail to return them or visitors taking them off site. Securing premises, assets and protecting staff remains an issue for any company.
Using an access control system, changes to personnel are immediate and can be made remotely. Access permissions to temporary contractors or visitors can be adjusted to allow access to specific doors at specific times and even specific days. Lost or misplaced tokens or cards can be barred or deleted quickly without any further security risk.
Access Control Systems Keep Track of Entrants
Applying only quality equipment, keypads, access card, tokens or fobs. With systems offering increased functionality than ever before, organisations now use access solutions to provide identity verification, time management and use the database for their employee information and assets.
Operator privileges can be granted to users with the necessary permissions to administer the Access System. A change to an operator’s privileges has the ability to only allow them to control certain areas of the system and users relevant to them.
Access Control Provides a Physical Barrier
Access control allows you to control and monitor the access points of your building so you can determine how your employees, assets or vehicles move in and around the premises.
The physical barrier prevents the entry of unauthorised personnel making sure that the only people who enter the building are authorised to be there by granting access electronically.
Access Control Systems can also be tailored to certain times of the day so you have control over the security of your site around the clock and there is no need to spend huge amounts of money on night-time security. This allows you peace of mind knowing that your premises and assets are all protected, even outside of normal working hours.
Conclusion
A well designed and installed system enables you to run your business with far greater efficiency, best value and better security.
By controlling access of staff or visitors electronically, systems can make the most of keypads / proximity devices and readers instead of locks and keys. This way, as an operator, you say how Who, Where and When personnel have access.
To gain entry, personnel can use either PIN numbers, Proximity cards and fobs, or for a more secure option, use the combination of RFID Proximity & PIN. These systems provide ease of use for low traffic areas or high levels of flexibility over security in heavy traffic locations such as shops, hotels and offices.
If you are looking for a CCTV installation and alarm response service in St Albans or the surrounding area that you can rely on, get in touch with us to see how we can help.