Page 76 - Security Today, September/October 2023

COVER STORY containing identities of people who aren’t allowed to enter the premises under any circumstances. This may be a database of non-custodial parents prohibited from picking up their children or a database of registered offenders not allowed near schools and daycares. It also could be a proprietary list of terminated employees who pose a potential risk to an organiza- tion. In some applications, facial recogni- tion is used to establish that the person entering a building is the correct badge holder. This helps uncover situations in which a person attempts to use a misap- propriated badge. Visitor management isn’t limited to dedicated software or electronic ac- cess control; other technologies such as video intercoms, surveillance cameras, video management systems (VMS), and network speakers also can do the job. Today, multiple technologies are being integrated to create unique visitor man- agement solutions. VISITOR MANAGEMENT INTEGRATIONS AT SCHOOL CAMPUSES One of the more common applications at schools is using IP video intercoms inte- grated with access control systems. When a visitor arrives at the school, they may be asked to show a driver’s license that lets the school determine whether they’re wel- come or not before granting access. High- resolution video combined with clear, two- way audio communication makes this a rich solution for screening visitors. Intercoms may be integrated with and transmit video recordings to a campus’ VMS for a docu- mentation of the interaction. The integration of access control with visitor management and a VMS solved an ongoing problem of theft at one school. The visitor management software regis- tered visitors’ identities and the access control system logged time of arrival and time of departure from the school. Through integration with the VMS, specific time stamps were created, which allowed the “” “ VISITOR MANAGEMENT ISN’T LIMITED TO DEDICATED SOFTWARE OR ELECTRONIC ACCESS CONTROL; OTHER TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS VIDEO INTERCOMS, SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS, VIDEO MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (VMS), AND NETWORK SPEAKERS ALSO CAN DO THE JOB. TODAY, MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGIES ARE BEING INTEGRATED TO CREATE UNIQUE VISITOR MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS.” 16 school’s administrators to search for the video feeds that were recorded during one person’s specific exit time. On these feeds they observed the visitor walking out with items belonging to the school. What’s more, the school went on to conduct a forensic search based on “facial analytics,” which are attributes of a face, over the previous 90 days that this person had been on the campus. The search re- sulted in enough video evidence to pursue multiple charges of theft. In this case, a whole solution was created by integrating four different sys- tems: the visitor management software to log identity; access control to allow entry and exit and provide time stamps; video surveillance cameras to capture the visi- tor’s whereabouts; and a VMS to conduct a forensic search of the visitor’s actions. The district was able to trace every single incident of theft from the school. VISITOR MANAGEMENT INTEGRATIONS AT CO-WORKING OFFICES Co-working and shared-workspace com- panies are big users of visitor management technologies, especially solutions provided through integration. These offices often are located within larger buildings along with other, non-affiliated tenants, so their customers may need PINs or QR Codes to gain access to the main entrance. In this scenario, the QR Codes are populated by the visitor management software as part of a specific access control user group. It is important for co-working com- panies to have this kind of control, because not all of their shared-workspace clients may be authorized to be in every space at all times. Once a worker is inside, they may be required to scan their QR Code to unlock an office suite, a conference room, or an individual office. Some co-working