The Smart Access module allows operators to manage physical access to the spaces and floors at their sites. Access devices (swipe cards, apps, or fobs) are assigned to users or guests, which are tapped on readers to open the relevant doors and grant access to the relevant spaces.
For easy management, users and doors are assigned to groups, and it is by virtue of being a member of a particular group that users can access those doors.
Important: If you do not currently have the Smart Access module, but are interested in using the essensys Platform for access management, you should contact your sales or customer success representative for more information.
Modeling Considerations
Smart Access is granted by connecting users to a group, and then connecting access controlling devices on doors and elevators to the same group. This grants access to a set of spaces to all users in the group.
User Types
You can assign the following types of users to an access group:
Account team members. The users that are employed by the operator (landlord) and created in the Account > Team members page.
Occupier users. The users that are employed by the occupier (tenant) and created in the Occupiers > Users page.
Access users. Smart Access-only users. These users only have access to doors at the site, and do not need access to services or to the essensys Platform.
Example: Access users may be cleaning or maintenance staff who need access to multiple spaces but do not use services, or may be visitors attending training or a conference that lasts for a limited time.
Tip: You can associate users with a group either when you create or modify the group, or when you create or modify a user of any of these types.
Doors and Elevators
Your users access their spaces and their floors using Smart Access. This is managed by associating doors at the entrance to spaces and the doors of your elevators to your group:
A door at the entrance to a particular space entitles users to tap their access device and enter that physical space.
A door in an elevator entitles users to tap their access device inside the elevator and request a floor that they are entitled to access.
Note: Both types of door enable various settings, allowing a door that is permanently open, scheduling its open times, or setting up alarms.
How do I set up Smart Access?
Before you begin
The Smart Access steps allow you to define accesses to areas of the site for groups of users. Before you can begin assigning these accesses, you need to ensure the following has taken place:
You have the Smart Access module.
The hardware (door locks and readers) required for Smart Access are installed at your site by essensys partners.
How do I access the Smart Access pages?
Click Smart Access in the main menu.
The Smart Access page opens.Click the name of your Site.
The Doors page opens. This page describes the doors that are associated with your site, and a summary of their current configuration.
Tip: You can filter and search the list of doors in this view using the controls to the top-right.
What does Smart Access entail?
The core Smart Access tasks are:
Check and update your Door details.
Note: Your center manager can intervene to manage a door, resetting its alarm or unlocking the door.
Create Groups and associate users and doors.
When you define a group, you connect one or more users with one or more doors. This allows the users to open the doors using their access device.Create Users, assign them an access device, and associate them with the appropriate group to grant door access:
Create an access user with Smart Access.
Note: This type of user is not an occupier user or account team member, but needs access to spaces. For more information, see Modeling considerations.
Monitor the accesses or access denials in the Access Log.
If you want to understand who is accessing the site and when, or to troubleshoot denial of access and so on, you can view the access log. The access log shows the date and time for each attempted access, and, where access fails, provides details describing when and why the access was denied.
Further information
Users can be associated with Groups (and, thereby, given access to doors):
When the Group is created.
When the individual user is created. This is true for occupier users, team members associated with the operator, and access users.