“Before students start studying at Vestfold University College, they import their personal details via our website, which is then transported to the student database and imported into AEOS. On their very first day of college, students can step into our new photobox to log on to their personal account and take a picture. This picture will be saved with their personal details into the student database linked to AEOS. Printing the card for the new student is all there’s left to do for the student administration desk. Only when special authorization is necessary, students visit me.” Jarle Steen-Hansen security officer Vestfold University College
The search for a new security solution
It’s full-blown January with heavy snowfall and chilly weather. Christmas holidays are over and the second part of the school year has just begun. Whilst the students attend these first school days of the New Year somewhat reluctantly, Security Officer Jarle Steen-Hansen explains why he welcomes the students and the start of a new day at work with such joy.
For the past 10 years, Vestfold University’s Security Officer has been using the same access control system and has been satisfied with it. However, an enormous expansion of the University College in the last couple of years has made this system unsuitable. This was due to the limitation of the amount of doors it could handle. And with the expectation of further future growth, Vestfold has been forced to assess alternatives for access control during spring 2010. Vestfold University College needed to be comfortable in the knowledge that a new security solution could grow and change with the expansion of the University site.
After a competitive selection process AEOS has been chosen as the security management platform to meet the University’s requirements and capability to adapt and expand over a period of time. Now, 2,5 years later, in an evaluation meeting at the University College with both Nedap and its Business Partner, Jarle is sharing his user experience with AEOS.
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| Over 80% of authorisation requests are managed automatically with Nedap’s AEOS |
Automation diminishes administration effort
Jarle admits he was a bit sceptical towards the implementation of a new security platform. “After utilising the same system for over 10 years, I was used to the system and to perform the manual tasks. Since the University College and its student administration desk wished to automate a lot of these tasks in a new system, I was afraid to lose a lot of control. But after the implementation of AEOS I noticed that I had just taken for granted previously the long queues of students standing outside my office at the beginning of every new college year and the extra workload for the following three to four weeks. Now AEOS is implemented, the queues in front of my office have diminished dramatically and the extra workload at the beginning of the new year is manageable.”
Each year, after the summer holidays, 1500 new students start at Vestfold. Evidently this results in a lot of extra work for Jarle, seeing that he is the one to provide and change authorisations for students and staff. However, since AEOS was implemented, he has noticed that this workload has reduced significantly. Utilising advanced features in AEOS, authorising students and staff is now automated. Consequently, 80% of authorisation requests are now managed automatically, and Jarle can focus his time on other tasks, improving safety and security for staff and students.
An unified security platform saves costs
Whilst implementing AEOS access control, Vestfold chose to add intrusion detection within the security platform. Because AEOS is an integral security management platform that’s able to combine video management and intrusion detection in one application, setup costs are reduced, while efficiency in task management is further improved.
Scalability allows growth
As with the implementation of every security management platform, problems can occur when implementing AEOS. “However, both Nedap and its Business Partner were there to solve the problems”, Jarle explains. “It’s safe to say that the support I got from both Nedap and the Business Partner couldn’t be better.” Of course, a well-functioning solution encourages more ideas; a door will probably be added here and there, and it doesn’t end there. Vestfold University College has big plans: some buildings will expand to twice the size they are now. In addition, the future is likely to see the student residences at the campus site equipped with access control as well. “So, the partnership with Nedap will continue because our security platform AEOS is capable of expanding with the growth of our University College”.
