System 03 of 07
Access control
Access control is a people process with hardware attached, and almost none of the failures we find are reader failures. They are credentials belonging to people who left, doors that no longer sit properly in their frames, and controls switched off because they created a queue at shift change.
What this system covers
- Credentials and readers
- Technology chosen against the actual threat and the actual user population, including what happens when a credential is lost or cloned.
- Zoning and access levels
- Structured so that it can still be understood and audited three years later, by somebody who was not there when it was built.
- Door hardware and monitoring
- Locks, closers, hinges and position monitoring, specified with the ironmongery rather than after it.
- Joiner, mover, leaver
- The link between the people record and the access record, so revocation is automatic rather than remembered.
- Visitor and contractor access
- Time-bounded credentials that expire by default, with escort rules where the site requires them.
- Audit and reporting
- Who can pull which report, in what format, and how quickly. Decided at design rather than during an investigation.
Design decisions
Eight choices that determine whether an access system produces a record or a log.
None of these is a technical decision, and that is why they get missed. Every one is made before anything is fitted, by somebody deciding how the building will actually be run, and none of them shows up as a line on a quotation.
- 01 Leavers taken off the system automatically, not by memoryNothing breaks. Nobody is careless. The number of people stays the same and the number of working cards just keeps going up.
- People who work here
- 120
- Cards that still open doors
- 400
Day one120 people, 120 cards. Everything matches. This is the only day it will.
Three years laterStill 120 people. 400 cards that still open your doors. Nothing failed, nothing was reported, and nobody knows the number until somebody counts.
- 02 Deciding who goes where, before any reader is fittedPress each and watch which doors open for one ordinary staff member.
- Reception
- Open floor
- Meeting
- Records
- Pantry
- Finance
- Server
- Plant
Everyone in one groupEvery door opens for everybody. The system still writes down who went where, but since everybody was allowed everywhere, the record does not tell you anything you did not already know.
Zoned properlyFour doors open for this person. The other four do not. Now when the log says somebody was in the server room, that means something.
A log is only worth something if somebody could have been refused.
- 03 What each door does when the power goesThis is decided at design or it is decided by whatever was in the box.
Power on
Opens when power failsPeople can get out. That is what a fire escape route needs. It also means the building is open, so this is wrong on a strongroom.
Locks when power failsThe room stays shut. That is what a strongroom needs. It also means anybody inside is stuck, so this is wrong on an escape route.
Neither is the right answer. The right answer is different for each door, and somebody has to write down which is which.
- 04 Door hardware specified with the reader, by one partyA reader on a door that does not close reliably is a reader on an open door. Where the ironmongery is the builder's, the interface is named and the responsibility is written.
- 05 Every temporary credential carries an expiry at issueContractors, agency staff, visitors, and our own engineers. No exceptions, because the exception is what accumulates.
- 06 Alarms tuned rather than silencedHeld-open and forced-door thresholds set against how the building is actually used, so the alert stays credible and stays enabled.
- 07 Reporting scheduled to a role, not a personA named role receives a monthly access report on a fixed date. A log nobody reads is storage.
- 08 Retention and residency decided at designAccess records are personal data. How long they are held, who can reach them, and where they sit are specification questions, not operational ones.
All eight are decided before anything is fitted. None of them appears as a line on a quotation.
Standards and approvals
- National Building Code of India 2016, Part 4: means of egress
- Locking on escape routes, and what may be controlled on a means of escape.
- Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023
- Biometric credentials carry obligations under the DPDP framework around consent, storage and retention. We specify a non-biometric alternative for anyone who declines, because a system that has no alternative has a compliance problem rather than a technology problem.
- IEC 60839-11-1 and 11-2, electronic access control systems
- System requirements, performance and test methods, and the planning, installation, commissioning and documentation practice we work to.
- Client IT and audit standards
- Where a client's own security policy or a customer audit imposes requirements, the higher standard governs.
- Clause-level application
- Applied per occupancy classification and building height, with the relevant state fire rules taking precedence where they are stricter.
What we hand over
- Door schedule with access levels
- Every controlled door, its hardware, its fail mode and who may pass.
- Access level matrix
- Roles rather than individuals, so it survives staff turnover.
- Fail mode record
- Per door, countersigned by the fire consultant.
- Credential procedure
- Issue, expiry, revocation and lost-card process, written for the person who will run it.
- Standby power calculation
- Load, required duration, and the UPS sized against both.
- Report templates
- The audit reports the client will actually be asked for, configured and tested.
| Interface | Normally contracted to | When it is nobody’s |
|---|---|---|
| Fire release | Fire contractor, assumed by access | The alarm sounds and controlled doors stay locked. |
| HRMS joiner-mover-leaver | IT, found out about it late | Credentials accumulate in one direction only. The first audit finds them. |
| Lift floor access | Lift contractor | Floor-level control never delivered and quietly dropped from scope. |
| Door hardware | Ironmongery package | Doors that do not latch while reporting as secure. |
| Camera correlation | Security vendor | A reader log and footage that cannot be lined up. |
Across the spine
Access control appears at three stages. It governs one.
- 02 Entry
- 04 Who goes where : the stage this system governs
- 05 Work areas
Have a door schedule you would like reviewed before it goes out?
We review specifications, drawings and cause-and-effect matrices for consultants and project management teams. Findings in writing, no obligation, and no approach to your client.
Findings in writing. No obligation.
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