This is a continuation of this post.
Consider this situation: a security manager of a manufacturing facility arrives for work in the morning and reviews the security logs from the previous night. She sees in the access control log that someone attempted to enter a highly secure area of the facility during restricted hours. She then determines that the access card being used to attempt entry is attributed to a current employee and must consult the video surveillance footage to confirm for liability’s sake.
- When the systems are not integrated, the security manager sees the alarm on the access control system and then moves to the video surveillance system to investigate. This system has a completely different interface so she recalls her training in order to pull up the relevant information (training that was time-consuming and cost the company money). The manager locates the camera nearest the access control point and scans through the footage to the time period provided by the access control system. But she sadly finds out that the timecode does not exactly match up with the other system, as nothing eventful occurred on video. The manager then spends even more time combing through footage around the general point in time until the evidence of the culprit is finally found.
- When the systems are integrated, the security manager sees the alarm/event time tagged within the integrated system software and is able to play back the video footage with the click of a button.
Integration of video surveillance into a managed access control solution gives management an instant overview of facility activities by overlaying access information over the video footage, such as:
- Date and time of credential read
- Name of credential holder
- Unique ID number or badge number
- Name of door or reader being accessed
- Access granted / denied condition
Integration of video and access control is the most popular combination and one of the most requested features during security assessments and/or routine upgrades. This integration provides users with a comprehensive set of security operations that lowers the total cost of ownership over time and increases ovrall awareness. Monitoring key access points with video verification is vital to keep record of inventory, processes, and employee productivity to sustain operational success.