Campus Security Increases with Electromechanical Lock System Solution

One of the key ways to keep colleges safe and students happy is found in, well, keys.

Colleges are now installing electromechanical key systems throughout their campuses on dorm rooms, administrative buildings, and beyond.

The companies that provide these systems to campuses often work in pairs, such as CBORD, which provides the software for online access control of the system, and Allegion, which provides hardware (like reader modules) for these systems.

Students, administrators and staff can lock and unlock doors through whichever service is installed on campus, which includes swiping their identification card at a reader module to get into the dorms, fingerprint readers, mobile apps or text messages commanding a door to unlock.

With these services combined, colleges are able to control and access the locks online and in real time from a remote location.

“Our goal is to be able to allow the mechanical key override to be present, but minimize the distribution of mechanical keys,” says Brad Aikin, Product Leader for Electronic Commercial Locks at Allegion. “[That way, we’re] improving the integrity and security of the key system. Limiting the distribution of the keys to a smaller population thereby reduces the likelihood of the key being lost or misplaced in the wrong hands.”

The remote, online access of this lock system enables facilities, campus security or another designated user to manage locks anywhere at any time without having to physically be at the door.

Aikin says this feature is helpful during emergency situations, including inclement weather or emergency lock downs.

All the designated user has to do is pick which doors they’d like locked, and punch in the command to lock them.

“Depending on the hardware platform, there are different latency time periods for a device to respond to those commands,” Aikin says. “With [certain series], we provide the value of having that lock respond in under ten seconds.”

Aikin also says that the lock systems create a visibility to what is occurring at a door, including a student’s dorm door. The visibility helps the remote, designated user to determine what kind of service is needed at a particular door.

For example: if an intruder picks up a lost student identification card, gets into the dorm and tries to find the card owner’s room by trying to unlock multiple doors, the remote user can deactivate the unlock feature on the card.

“The solution is that the culprit won’t be able to get in,” Aikin says. The lock system sends a to security “telling them that someone has this card, and they’ve tried to enter [multiple] times in a certain amount of time. They will shut off access to the credentials and notify the police.

“The good thing about the credentials is that they’re canceled upon the knowledge of the card being lost, and the owner might not know it.”

Aikin also says that the lock system also performs audits of what has occurred at selected doors, such as a break-in.

“They can see who is at the door, who has been at the door, what time,” he says.

He also says that being able to see this audit online and in real time enables campus security to react immediately, instead of waiting for an offline product.

“The key thing is having that real time communication of that audit event and being able to know in real time that a door was propped open or someone else gained access other than the normal user,” Aikin says.

Aside from protection, the electromechanical key systems are making students’ and facility members’ lives easier.

One example of this is through the reduced number of student lock outs.

With traditional locks and metal keys, students who are locked out of their rooms often have to wait for resident assistants to come and unlock their doors.

But, with the electromechanical key systems, “students can send a text message [to the system] to open their doors,” says Sarah Ledwith, Product Marketing Manager for CBORD.

Ledwith also says that resident assistants and other pre-approved staff members can also be granted temporary access to elevated “master key” privileges through their own ID cards, if needed.

“You can set how long a pre-approved person can use the master key privileges [on the system],” she says. “For example, you can set the time for ten minutes. You have to state why you need access to the master key privileges, such as if it is being used for a lock out. A text message goes to the system and the access is activated.”

A text is also sent to a supervisor informing him or her who activated the master key privileges, along with why he or she needed those privileges. All occupants of the room or suite also receive a text or email explaining when and why “master key” access was granted.

“It’s more secure than the ‘we were here’ sheets often left behind by maintenance staff,” Ledwith says.

Aikin says that facilities will also have an easier time accessing buildings on campus with the electromechanical key systems.

“There was a concern for the balance between security and efficiency,” he says, especially when facility members have to sign out a key, fix something in a building, return and sign in the key, and sign out another key for the next project.

Aikin says that the electromechanical key systems now enable facility members to send a text message and gain temporary access to buildings via their employee badges.

“If they are connected to the CBORD system, the system sees this message, sends a text message to the occupants of a room, and tells them why facilities were there,” he says. “Then facilities can go to the next building and request the next access with their badge without having to drive all over campus.

“There’s been an incredible boost in moral in facilities. They don’t want to go back and forth [on campus], and don’t want to worry about losing [traditional] keys on their lunch breaks.”

The Keys to Your Electromechanical Key System

1) Think about the installation

Ledwith says that colleges should consider their preferred timeline for installation, if they want the system to be installed in all the doors on campus at once, if they want it installed in increments, or if they prefer a wireless versus wired design.

“Miami University of Ohio installed thousands of locks all at once for maximum security,” she says. “But most colleges want to gradually add the lock system to one building at a time.”

2) Keep an eye on the ROI

Even though traditional metal key lock systems may appear cheaper, Ledwith says colleges will end up spending more money on them in the long run.

“If you look over five years, you’ll be spending more in metal keys,” she says. “You have to think about how many lock outs you have a year, the cost of labor, the cost of master keys, and how often you have to recode the [ID] cards. It is initially a lower investment, but on an upward curve.

“The original investment of an electromechanical key system stays the same over five years.”

3) Aim to improve productivity and efficiency

Aikin says that he thinks electromechanical key systems have a greater function than replacing mechanical key systems. Rather, they will help the ebb and flow of productivity on campus.

“I think many times communities look at electronic access control as a security-driven value alone,” he says. “I think it’s missing a lot of key opportunities. To help improve an environment in the decision-making process is to not only look at security, but as productivity and efficiency improvement.”

4) Tap your resources
Aikin says that colleges should take advantage of the knowledge and experiences other colleges have with electromechanical key systems. He says once campuses get talking, the decision on whether or not to install an electromechanical key system becomes easier.

“There is a breadth of resources out there,” he says. “What I see the challenge in is …that the community [should] appreciate there’s a breadth of great resources out there to help the decision-making process.”

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Video: A look at how Villanova Univeristy uses CBORD’s electromechanical key system.

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