The Denmark Hill campus of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine sough access control that wouldn’t go out of date.
For any college specifying an IT system, one of the most important considerations has to be whether the system is future proof. It?s all too easy to deplete your budget every couple of years simply replacing systems that have become obsolete. And often, that obsolescence is due to a straightforward need to increase facilities and functions. When the Denmark Hill campus of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine originally specified its access control system, one of the factors on the agenda was the need to ensure that the system wouldn?t be rendered out of date simply by increasing the number of staff on the system. Similarly, the system had to be expandable to cope with new technology, as and when this became available. It was for this reason that King’s College London originally chose a PAT system. The first system chosen by King’s College used PAT?s earlier Security Manager for Windows software, which allowed access control and ID card production from an easy to use software interface. However, the
College recently felt the need to expand its systems again, and discussed with PAT the type of solutions that were available, and could be configured to its exact requirements. PAT suggested that King?s College should take a close look at the new ESi system, a modular solution that can perform a variety of card-based and transaction management functions from a single Windows based application. For King’s College, one of the most significant advantages of ESi is that it remains compatible with their earlier solution, allowing a straightforward migration from the previous system. This meant that not only was the dynamic link to the campus database still operational, but that there was no need to install new card readers or other peripheral devices. Again, this backward compatibility can make a difference when the time comes to consider budgets and IT spending. This is especially true in the case of larger installations, where there are significant numbers of card readers and door controllers. In fact, at the Denmark Hill site, PAT’s ESi system controls a total of 48 doors, plus a turnstile and car park barrier. This makes ESi?s backward compatibility a major advantage, both in terms of cost and convenience of installation. The system that PAT installed at Denmark Hill includes three separate modules from the ESi range; photo ID, visitor management and access control. Although organisations can specify whichever elements of the ESi solution are appropriate to their needs, King?s College understandably felt that, being one of the founding colleges of the University of London, the highest levels of security were of the utmost importance. The ESi photo ID module uses an image capture device to obtain a photograph of every college student, members of the college staff, King?s Healthcare
NHS Trust staff, and external contractors. Although the College uses a scanner, augmented by a video camera, for image capture purposes, any number of devices can be attached to the ESi interface, including many digital cameras, other CCDs and even some web cams. This makes it simple to obtain a high quality image of all personnel, the manufacturer says. Similarly, ESi’s badge design and manipulation utilities make it simple to produce badges in a matter of seconds. With a database that currently comprises nearly 5,500 records, the Denmark Hill campus needs a system that can cope with large numbers of personnel in a short space of time. Added to that is the fact that, as a teaching centre, the campus sees high numbers of visitors and contractors. This prompted Site Services Officer Chris Judges to specify ESi’s visitor management module.
This element of the system enables visitor passes to be issued in an instant, either on paper, or using a thermal printer. Each visitor pass bears the name of the guest, and is colour coded for ease of identification. Again, visitor passes can be linked to the campus database, to ensure that all guests are cross-referenced for security, and vetted by the college?s ESi Access Control solution. ESi?s modular access control facility uses proximity card technology to enable staff and students to gain access to particular areas on the Denmark Hill campus. Because some areas are more sensitive than others, ESi?s access control module enables zones to be created, allowing access to certain areas by certain categories of staff, while denying access to others. NHS Trusts
use this PAT facility to restrict entry to sensitive zones such as drugs cabinets, pharmacies and maternity wards. In these situations, ESi?s sophisticated reporting functions will allow managers to compile a log of which personnel entered specific areas at which time. Importantly, this can be used to exonerate staff and students from blame should any problems of trust arise. ESi?s zoning function can be applied by specifying either categories of staff or particular locations as the determining factor. This means that the security manager can be certain that all sensitive areas are completely secured against unauthorised entry. Time zones can also be specified, to permit entry at certain times of day, but not at others. This is particularly useful for zones where restrictions are placed on the time of entry and exit, or where personnel are only allowed at certain times during the day. With a new research building planned for completion by 2004, King?s hopes to add further functions and capabilities to its ESi package for years to come. This is made all the easier by the fact that the ESi software can be networked over a variety of buildings and workstations. Because ESi uses TCP/IP protocol to communicate between the PC software and door controllers, additional buildings and workstations can be quickly and easily added to the network. In the case of Denmark Hill, five separate buildings are each networked, enabling the system to operate seamlessly over a wide area. At present, the system comprises three separate workstations, each of which can be used to issue and de-issue cards, and to perform administrative functions. From these, administrative staff can grant and revoke access privileges with just a few clicks of the mouse. The latter is particularly important in all circumstances where security is paramount, and means that access rights can be rescinded the moment a member of staff leaves employment. According to Chris Judges, responsible for assisting in the delivery of domestic services on the Denmark Hill site, the migration from PAT’s earlier Security Manager for Windows package over to ESi has provided a much friendlier user interface. ?Although we had no complaints about the way in which the earlier package operated, we have found ESi much swifter and more intuitive. Because ESi is capable of performing multiple functions simultaneously, the length of time taken to configure each operation has been drastically reduced. The fact that ESi is based on a robust 3-tier architecture makes the whole package more reliable than ever.? Sylvia Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at PAT believes that the installation at King’s College provides an ideal example of how ESi?s modular approach can provide a superior solution: ?The fact that ESi can be configured using a variety of different modules means that we can accommodate virtually every transactional requirement in the health service.? See www.pat.co.uk.
