Oct 05, 2009Two years after installing an extensive RFID system to track the security and movements of personnel and visitors within its headquarters, one of the world's largest employment services agencies is hoping to expand the system to other areas, such as payroll—by tracking individuals' hours based on the time he or she was in the facility—and locating documents and assets, according to Dretison Technologies, the system's provider.
The agency began seeking security solutions for its planned new facility while still headquartered in a nearby suburb. With the company's plans to move to the downtown area of the city, the building was bound to face greater security challenges. Although the site might require more security than was needed at its prior location (due to higher amounts of foot-traffic and increased crime rates in the area), the building itself—with 1,300 employees and hundreds of visitors each day—needed to have an open-door quality as well.
In the past, the company had used a security system in which staff members presented an RFID ID badge to a reader installed at a building entrance, which then unlocked the door and allowed that person to enter. The problem, according to Dretison, was that it enabled "tailgaters"—individuals who walked in behind an authorized employee and entered the building without the knowledge of the firm's management. The employment agency, Dretison says, also did not want a system that would require authorized parties to stop and present a card before the door would unlock. Such a process was time-consuming for employees, and would be discouraging for guests lacking ID badges.
Therefore, the employment agency sought a technological solution that would allow authorized individuals to walk through the front door without being stopped, while immediately detecting anyone not carrying a valid ID badge. What's more, the company did not want the technology involved to be noticeable, in order to ensure it maintained a friendly, open quality. The firm also wanted to be able to capture data that would allow it to track traffic behavior or the movements of individuals into, out of and within the building.
The result, according to Jeff Renison, Dretison's president, is an expansive system with RFID readers at 54 doorways—at entrances to such locations as server rooms, offices and the cafeteria, as well as two elevators and a parking garage. The system, he says, went live in September 2007 and took several months to be installed, employing interrogators from Alien Technology and Applied Wireless Identifications (AWID).
RFID readers, in conjunction with sensors used to calculate the number of people in a particular area, were installed at employee entrances, dock doors and the visitor area, where those without tags set off an alert for the company's ambassador, seated at a desk in the lobby area. The ambassador can view a display screen that shows photos of individuals carrying valid ID cards, and indicates when a person has entered without such a card, and thus needs to be greeted.
All readers are wired to the company's back-end system, where Dretison's AccuGuardian software receives the unique ID numbers, links those numbers with data regarding the individual and determines whether he or she is authorized to be in that area. It also stores each action, Renison says, thereby allowing the agency's staff to access reports about traffic patterns or employee activities in what is called the "Breadcrumb Trail" portion of the software.
In addition, AccuGuardian hooks up with the company's DVR system, which records video footage of people entering and exiting certain doorways. If an unauthorized event occurs, such as an individual entering an area where he or she is not permitted, an alert can be sent to the company's management with a link to video footage showing what is occurring at that location. It can determine in which direction an individual is going as he or she passes though a doorway as well, based on the array of RFID interrogator antennas in that location.
"Our biggest concern was making it function but remain hidden," Renison states. To ensure the system remained completely invisible, Dretison installed the readers and antennas in a variety of locations, including in floors, ceilings and walls. In some cases, installing antennas and interrogators in drywall and around metal studs was simply a matter of trial and error, removing or moving hardware that was functioning improperly.
The company has issued 2,500 ID cards to date, and has already begun expanding the system to include assets, having tagged approximately 900 desktop computers and monitors to ensure it can locate those items during inventory checks. The system has been put to use for public safety as well. According to Dretison, when a fire occurred shortly after the building was opened, the system helped management identify where personnel and visitors were located, and helped ensure that the building was properly evacuated.
