Safeguarding and streamlining access into and through education premises is a formidable task. Each user group has specific needs, from teachers, management teams, and cleaners to IT staff and students. Perimeter entrances, and indoor and outdoor spaces all require different levels of security.
Visitors to the premises want a controlled, efficient flow through the site. Staff need timely access to teaching rooms. Student access to the library or IT suite must be filtered and monitored.
Challenges
All the while, budgeting remains a challenge, and the hidden costs of using traditional keys quickly eat up time and money. Managing mechanical keys is labour-intensive.
Admin puts added pressure on busy staff when someone loses a key, for example. Locks need changing; keys recut and reissued and this costs money.
Need for electronic and mobile solutions
Convenience is the main factor driving the fast-growing demand for mobile solutions
In addition, building users, especially “digital native” students have grown to expect convenience in the palm of their hands. Their phone goes everywhere and does everything. Naturally, they expect the efficiency of electronic and mobile solutions.
As the latest edition of the Wireless Access Control Report indicates, convenience is the main factor driving fast-growing demand for mobile solutions, in use by almost a third of organisations across every sector.
Cost efficiency
With an electronic access system instead of traditional lock-and-key security, a few clicks in the management software cancels and reissues any lost or stolen credential, at almost no extra cost. It saves facility managers valuable time and the school’s or university’s money.
Because it requires no invasive drilling, wireless digital locking is fast and cost-effective to install. It’s also cheaper to run as, unliked wired locks, wireless door devices are powered by standard batteries or even energy-harvesting battery-free technology. Education institutions all over the world have already found success by switching from mechanical to wireless electronic access control, in both cost and time savings.
Keyless convenience, 2-factor authentication
Easy integration with the existing access control system without additional software"
Koning Willem I College’s new location in 's-Hertogenbosch was designed to be a model modern educational institution, including for security. “Easy integration with the existing access control system without additional software,” was the goal, according to Alex te Pas, functional manager of facilities management information systems.
“Within our organisation, we want to phase out the use of keys. Because when employees left, we noticed that people often forgot to turn in keys or tokens. In the event of an audit, we then have a problem.”
Aperio® locks
The college chose Aperio® locks which were easy to integrate wirelessly with their existing Nedap AEOS access control system. No additional software was needed: wireless Aperio locks communicate via Aperio Hubs which handle secure, real-time communication between locks and the AEOS system.
College security staff now have full control over access and can quickly revoke anyone’s access rights. “We wanted to provide our technical rooms with 2-factor authentication. So here we chose Aperio locks with PIN code capability,” adds te Pas.
Simpler municipal access management
Keys were being lost and the subsequent cost of rekeying put even more pressure on budgets
Saint Jacut de la Mer faced growing difficulties with access management for their public buildings, including the local school.
Keys were being lost and the subsequent cost of rekeying put even more pressure on budgets. As in many other towns across Europe, they looked for a more efficient way to operate.
eCLIQ wireless access control
“We decided to install eCLIQ wireless access control because of the good reputation of ASSA ABLOY equipment,” explains the town’s director of technical services, M. Bertho. This first phase includes the Town Hall, school restaurant, and more.
All these properties enjoy the benefit of convenient, secure access management within a single eCLIQ programmable key-based system which includes single and double cylinders, as well as eCLIQ padlocks.
Electronic access control
Adding electronic access control to all these different buildings required no drilling around doors. Authorised users have been issued with programmable, battery-powered eCLIQ keys.
Each one unlocks all the openings they need in their day-to-day work. The town has already decided to extend the coverage of their system year by year. Next up are the elementary school and local cultural centre.