For an enterprise organization looking to implement a multi-location visitor and employee management system (VMS), at first glance, it may seem best to set up the system site by site according to each location’s unique needs.
However, once you dig deeper, it quickly becomes apparent that a crucial part of enterprise VMS implementation requires an overarching plan that accounts for site commonalities, differences, and connections. As we’ve explored in previous pieces, an enterprise VMS provides the most value when it’s part of a larger execution roadmap.
In this piece, we’ll explore a particular angle on this strategic approach to implementation: maximizing value for VMS implementation at multiple facilities within the same region. A cluster of facilities in close proximity creates unique needs — both in terms of configuration and coordination — and your multi-location VMS implementation strategy must account for these.
1. Employee, Vendors, Contractors, and Visitor Management
The first thing organizations in this situation should account for is different workflows for different types of employees. Which employees need access to which floors? Are there contractors that frequently travel between facilities? Are you equipped to handle vendor deliveries coming in and out? What about setting up contactless sign-in? These questions should be answered before you begin the process of VMS implementation.
Luckily you can set up all these permissions and more through a registration portal. Individual person(s) will pre-register the days before they’re supposed to come in, provide custom information deemed important by your organization, and the digital records will be automatically recorded in your VMS across locations, without you lifting a finger.
2. Keep it consistent
While each site may have different configuration requirements, your overall sign-in branding and experience should stay consistent across locations. As aforementioned, you may have visitors that regularly from site to site within an area like regional contractors, vendors, delivery people, and employees.
Maintaining consistent themes, sign-in language, and general workflows at each site mean visitors don’t have to master multiple sign-in experiences. This finesse and attention to detail underlie a strategic and carefully thought-out multi-location VMS implementation strategy.
3. Safety and Security requirements
VMS implementation should account for the unique safety and security needs that proximity creates. When several sites exist within a region, risk can spread faster among facilities than the information needed to mitigate it.
Picture this: an individual becomes restricted from entering one facility — perhaps a terminated employee or person who’s sick — and travels only a couple of hours to attempt entry at another facility.
Without a rapid and reliable process for sharing information and making sure that it gets to the right people, this individual could arrive at a second facility before security and reception personnel become aware of his or her restricted status and related details. If the person is a familiar employee or contractor that regularly makes the rounds among sites, reception personnel may have their guards down and end up welcoming someone they should be barring. This is a real and unacceptable risk for security managers.
Making full use of watchlists during multi-location VMS implementation addresses this risk. Watchlists enable organizations to screen individuals against a database of people whose site access should be denied. Sign In Enterprise comes with third-party watchlist integrations — those created by external agencies — but also enables the creation and management of internal watchlists, which are established and managed by the enterprise.
Since these watchlists are shared throughout the organization, personnel at nearby sites will be able to identify a restricted person as soon as the list is updated with that person’s name and details. If that restricted individual appears on site, personnel will have the information required to immediately execute appropriate countermeasures to protect the facility and those within it.
Wrap-up
Regional clusters of facilities create unique conditions that need to be acknowledged and accounted for during a multi-site VMS rollout. However, with some coordination, training, and thoughtfulness — along with the support of our award-winning customer support team — Sign In Enterprise can be configured to effectively address these.