In our ever-innovating, tech-savvy world, you don’t want to get left behind in the wave of progress – especially when it comes to your access control. If you’re not making use of new technologies and tools, a task like designing an access control system can be much more difficult than it needs to be. Luckily, ProdataKey (PDK) is here to help you identify the key habits that make you a boomer when it comes to system design – and we’ll even teach you how to improve your design process through our integration with System Surveyor!
What is Access Control System Design?
Before an access control system can be installed, it must first be carefully designed. This process involves completing a site-walk, determining the client’s needs, gathering blueprints and building layout information, selecting the different controllers, readers, and additional hardware that will be installed, and determining where these devices and connected wiring will go. System design can be a confusing, time-consuming process, particularly if you’re defaulting to a pen and paper approach rather than embracing new cloud-based tools, such as System Surveyor. This is a site design tool
“made by system integrators for system integrators”,
explains Tradd Kendrick, System Surveyor’s Senior Account Executive and Director of Business Development. “We really have lived the day-to-day lives of many customers,” he explains, “and the platform is built off of that customer feedback and trying to think about their day-to-day pains.” System Surveyor offers a mobile-first approach to site walkthroughs and system design, allowing for increased efficiency, flexibility, and on-the-go management. If you want to be proactive and improve your ProdataKey system design process, utilizing tools like this is a great choice.
If you want to know if you’re approaching your system design like a boomer, you should pay attention to four things: data collection, data storage, collaboration, and time management. If you’re doing any or all of these things inefficiently, don’t worry! ProdataKey’s integration with System Surveyor can help you to leave the boomer life behind and maximize your access control system design.
Issue 1: Data Collection
As the primary step of an access control system design process, your method of collecting data will set the tone for the rest of the install – so you want to make sure that it is optimized and easy to manage. Typically, you are juggling many inputs of data, from client requests to building blueprints and site-walk notes. Luckily, the System Surveyor mobile application makes collecting all of this data a breeze. “You can go offline, off wifi, off cell service, and be completely mobile in the field and get the data that you need in real-time, track everything, and then go back to the office and sync it up to the cloud,” explains Tradd. In the case of setting up a ProdataKey system, you can take notes and edit a blueprint as you walk, collecting information on potential locations for controllers, wiring, sensors, and so on. Not only does this beat the typical paper method of collecting information, but Tradd suggests that collecting your site data through tools like System Surveyor also improves your business image, ensuring that
“on that first initial site-walk you’re setting forth a really professional impression to that customer.”
Tradd Kendrick
Issue 2: Storing Data
Do you use multiple apps to store your system design data? If so, you may be a boomer. If you aren’t utilizing the proper tools, you may find yourself using disparate systems to store your data, from Excel to Google Slides or even pictures on your phone. Tradd explains that “we see a lot of inefficiencies with communication because of all those different systems, so we at System Surveyor want to give everyone one single source of truth to work out of. This way, everybody is on the same page, things are done accurately, and ultimately that end customer is having a good experience.” By utilizing a tool that allows all of your information to be stored in one place, you can maximize your productivity and create a better workflow when it comes to designing an access control system.
Issue 3: Collaboration
Collaboration is a key aspect of designing a ProdataKey access control system, as customers need to work together with installers in order to create the optimal design. Far too often, Tradd explains, you find yourself in a scenario where you’re “emailing PDFs back and forth, tossing stuff over the fence, waiting for people to get back to you.” This approach, neglecting to utilize a proper system design tool, makes collaboration inefficient and creates space for inaccuracies or miscommunications to slip through. If this is what your method looks like… you need to get with the times, grandpa! There are tools now that entirely transform this process, making it more efficient and easy to communicate. For instance, System Surveyor offers guest user capabilities that allow a customer and a sales representative or system designer to all work on the same plan, at the same time. “They’re all working out of a single source of truth, and working off of the data itself. And you’re collaborating in real time!” says Tradd. By collaborating in a shared digital workspace, you eliminate lengthy back-and-forths and ensure that your customers' wants will be communicated and received clearly.
Issue 4: Time Management
Lastly, time is a precious resource when it comes to designing a system. By maximizing the efficiency of collaboration as well as data collection and storage, you are saving yourself large amounts of time that would otherwise be wasted if you opted for the traditional method. Eliminating lengthy back-and-forth communication, collecting layout and design information on-the-go with a mobile app, and collaborating in real time through System Surveyor all allow for integrators to “put forward decision-ready, accurate and professional proposals to their end customers” in a timely manner, according to Tradd. Don’t let yourself get caught up in time-consuming habits or approaches to system design – instead, utilize a tool like PDK’s System Surveyor integration to maximize your work day.
Say Goodbye to the Boomer Life and Improve Your Access System Design
If you find that your methods of data collection, storing data, collaborating, and/or managing time are inefficient or causing serious productivity issues, you may need to reconsider how you are approaching your access control system design. An old fashioned, pen and paper approach to site design can often lead to many problems, but there are countless tools readily available to help remedy these issues. ProdataKey is passionate about keeping up to date with everything new in the access control world, and through the use of intuitive design tools, creating your ProdataKey access control system can be easier than ever. If you want to stop being a boomer and improve your system design process, schedule a demo with ProdataKey today.
