Introduction
Smart Access is a unique access control system built by essensys which enables real-time access control. It allows you to provide your customers with the possibility to access your premises keylessly, including using a smartphone app.
Operate integrates with Smart Access based on your customer licences, to automatically provide them with physical access to your offices once their licence is activated.
Similarly, this integration automatically gives access to a meeting room to the contact who made the booking for that room.
When a contact books a desk product, Operate gives the Contact to the doors configured for the building.
This integration is only available to Enterprise customers. Please get in touch with our support team if you would like to find out more!
This guide will help you configure Smart Access and will show you how to make sure your users gain access seamlessly.
Getting Started
Configuration of Doors in Smart Access
This feature can only be configured when Smart Access has been successfully installed at one of your sites. Your doors will also need to have been added to your Connect account by essensys in order to appear in these screens.
Further details on how to manage the details of these doors is given in Using essensys Smart Access in Connect.
API Key
In order to begin the integration of these Doors into Operate, you will need the API Key for the Smart Access installation at your Site.
This can be provided to you upon request to essensys.
Install and Configure Smart Access in Operate
To install the Smart Access integration, please follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Integrations and search for 'Smart Access'.
Click Install, then Open.
Once Smart Access is installed, you can go back to the Integration any time.
Click Open to continue.
On the welcome page, click Start.
On the API Key page, enter the API Key indicated above.
Save the entered API Key.
Operate will check the validity of the entered Key.
Once a valid API Key is saved, Operate will retain this value and it will not need to be re-entered.
Click Next to begin mapping the Doors to the Locations, Offices and Meeting Rooms that have been defined in Operate.
Mapping Doors
In this section, the Locations, Office Products and Meeting Products, defined in Operate, are presented and you will need to map the Smart Access Doors associated with each one for which you wish to control access.
Operate will present a list of Locations and offer options, for each Location:
Building Doors: This option allows you to define to which Doors your customers will need access in order to access each and every Office and Meeting Room located in the Building.
In this way, you can select these Doors only once and do not need to re-select them for every Office and Meeting Room.
Offices: This option allows you to define the specific Doors to which your customers will need in order to access that Office.
Meeting Rooms: This option allows you to define the specific Doors to which your customers will need in order to access that Meeting Room.
Building Doors
When you select the Building Doors option for your location, Operate will present a list of all of your Doors that have already been configured Using essensys Smart Access in Connect.
A checkbox is also provided for each Door.
Tick the box for each Door to which a customer will need access to enter or move around the the Building. You can select no Doors, one Door or many Doors.
If you uncheck a Door then any access, which may have previously be given, will be rescinded for all contacts.
Remember that for the Doors ticked here, all customers accessing any Office or any Meeting Room will also be given access to open.
These Doors will not need to be ticked again for specific Offices or Meeting Rooms.
Click Save to store these choices.
Click Back to return to the previous page.
Offices
When you select the Offices option for your location, Operate will present a list of all of the Office products that have already been configured in Operate.
Click Doors for the Office for which you wish to select the Doors for access. Operate will then present a list of all of the Doors that have already been configured Using essensys Smart Access in Connect.
A checkbox is provided for each Door.
Tick the box for each Door to which a customer will need access to enter the Office. You can select no Doors, one Door or many Doors. You may also choose to tick Doors needed to get to the Office, not just to enter.
You may select the same Door for more than one Office or Meeting Room if required.
If you uncheck a Door then any access, which may have previously be given, will be rescinded.
Remember that there is no need to re-select the Doors that have already been selected for the Office's Location.
Click Save to store these choices.
Click Back to return to the previous page.
Meeting Rooms
When you select the Meeting Rooms option for your location, Operate will present a list of all of the Meeting Room products that have already been configured in Operate.
Click Doors for the Meeting Room for which you wish to select the Doors for access. Operate will then present a list of all of the Doors that have already been configured Using essensys Smart Access in Connect.
A checkbox is provided for each Door.
Tick the box for each Door to which a customer will need access to enter the Meeting Room. You can select no Doors, one Door or many Doors. You may also choose to tick Doors needed to get to the Office, not just to enter.
You may select the same Door for more than one Office or Meeting Room if required.
If you uncheck a Door then any access, which may have previously be given, will be rescinded.
Remember that there is no need to re-select the Doors that have already been selected for the Office's Location.
Click Save to store these choices.
Click Back to return to the previous page.
Prepare your Contact Records for Smart Access Control
Before your customers' staff can access your premises, you will need to ensure that each person is added as a Contact in Operate. Your existing contacts will all need to be edited and either both of or one of the following fields populated:
Email
Swipe Card
If both of these fields are not filled in then the Contact will not be able to open Doors using Smart Access.
As new Contacts are added to the Account, these will automatically be given access to the mapped Doors covered by their account's licensed offices.
Activating Smart Access via a Licence
Smart Access will operate if the customer's Licence includes one or more Office product records as a Licence item, under the 'Offices' section. The Office product, and its Location, must have one or more Doors mapped.
Your Licence will also need to be activated before the Doors can be accessed.
Once activated, access to the Doors will be given to all Account Contacts between the following License Item dates:
Date From
Date To
From when the License is activated, right up until the License is terminated, if these Dates are amended then customers' access to Doors will be automatically amended as well.
Activating Smart Access via a Meeting Room Booking
Smart Access will operate if a contact makes a booking for a Meeting Room and that Meeting Room product, and its Location, have one or more Doors mapped.
Access to the Meeting Room Doors will be provided, by Smart Access, from the Start Time of the meeting and for its duration.
Access is only given to the contact made the booking.
Should the time and duration of the meeting be changed then access to the Doors will also be automatically updated.
Activating Smart Access via a Desk Booking
Smart Access will operate if a contact makes a booking for a Desk product, and its Location, has one or more Doors mapped.
Access is only given to the contact made the booking.
Should the time and duration of the desk booking be changed then access to the Doors will also be automatically updated.
Giving Early Access to the Location for Meeting Room and Desk Bookings
An additional setting is provided for all of the Doors configured for the Location.
Contacts may need access to the Location slightly earlier than their Meeting Room or Desk Booking in order to give time to walk the room or desk before their booking starts.
When viewing the list of Doors mapped to the Building, above the list there are two controls:
A checkbox to Allow Access Before Meeting Room Booking Starts
A field to enter the quantity of Minutes Allowed for Early Access
To turn on this feature, set the checkbox. Set the quantity of minutes for the time to be permitted for early access to reach the Meeting Room or Desk.
A maximum of 60 minutes early access can be configured.
This setting will only be incorporated for bookings made after saving these values.
Note that this does not give access to the Doors for the Meeting Room any earlier than for when the Booking is scheduled to start.