28 Oct Six Essential Features of an Effective Key Management System

All schools and buildings have physical keys. For many staff and contractors (e.g. cleaning, catering, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, maintenance, security, vehicles), having access to keys is essential to performing their daily tasks.

Unfortunately, achieving controlled and secure management of the access to keys, including the ability to know who has them is extremely frustrating and time-consuming. In fact, it is normal to have keys (or tags, cards) go missing and not know who has them. This not only poses security risks to your facilities and people, but it wastes valuable time for your staff to track down lost keys. It can also hinder the ability of staff to complete their tasks due to the unavailability of keys. Additionally, high costs are involved when locks and keys need replacing after a master key goes missing.

This is where a key management system comes into play. An effective key management system is critical to ensure that your keys are securely stored and that access to them is controlled according to established rules. In this blog, we will explore what key management is, the challenges associated with traditional key management practices, and the essential features every organization should look for when implementing an effective key management system.

The perils of ‘manual’ key management

Meet Wayne. Wayne is the Facilities Manager of a unified school district with multiple campuses.

Wayne has always accepted manual key management as a necessary evil. And he is expected to manage keys even though it was never in his job description.

The school district uses physical sign-in and sign-out logs to keep track of keys. Many authorized personnel carry ‘required’ master keys at all times.

Wayne knew it wasn’t a great system, but it never occurred to him that there was another way. And with more people coming and going, day in, day out, Wayne ended up ordering more copies of keys, including master keys. He also accepted the frustration and lost hours every day which meant that he couldn’t effectively manage the facilities as he would like to be able to do.

Staff and contractors were losing keys way too often. The cost of replacing keys and locks is adding up – in fact it is costing about $150,000 per year. Bad enough! But he was continually worried about the security risks – for students, staff and assets. Wayne regularly felt frustrated and powerless.

Wayne’s school district is a typical example of what key management looks like for most schools, colleges and universities.

The good news for Wayne, and all schools and colleges is that there is an access control solution for the secure management of keys. This solution will remove the need for Wayne to manually hand out keys and try to manage who has keys and where they are – every day.

That’s right – by using a proven technology solution, schools can automate key control and remove these risks whilst saving thousands of hours of staff time. And Wayne can save that $150,000 per year on replacing keys and locks.

Six Features of an Effective Key Management System

You must ensure that you select a key management system with these features:

1. Easy to install and use – You should be able to install it yourself. The user interface should be intuitive and require little or no training for staff and contractors. It should be a secure, cloud native platform which avoids the need for internal IT resources including servers, software management, server racks and maintenance.
2. Easy to scale – It should allow you to manage all keys from a single platform. A single software account must support unlimited users, keys and locations. This centralization can simplify administration, provide better visibility and control over multiple locations. It also avoids the need for any unnecessary IT or technical effort as the solution is implemented across your facilities.
3. Secure storage and access control – A robust key cabinet must be used to secure keys, and this should have a long life, requiring minimal maintenance. The software must allow flexible rules for users, roles and access groups so that only authorized people can gain access to keys at authorized times. Access to keys should be enabled via a choice of User ID & PIN, cards and biometric credentials including mobile wallets (Apple and Google)
4. Remote management – It should enable controlled access to keys and monitor who has them from anywhere, at any time. Eliminates the costs and frustration associated with the need for onsite attendance and reduces risk around ‘close contacts’ incorrectly issuing keys. As an example, if a contractor needs to access a key at short notice, this should be remotely granted by authorized staff, regardless of where they are – using a simple online interface. The system should provide SMS and email alerts if a key is not returned by the designated time.
5. Integration with existing systems – An effective key management system should seamlessly integrate with your access control (or other) systems. Compatibility with platforms like Active Directory, Honeywell, Gallagher, Genetec, Lenel, Software House, Visitor Management ensures that your key management system can managed via these platforms which avoids the need for duplicate management of users and access rights.
6. Information Security – The system should comply with relevant industry standards and certifications, such as Tier 4 data center, SOC2, FIPS 140-2, ISO/IEC 27001, and NIST guidelines. It should benefit from continuous backup of data and security updates based upon the new threats which are presented every day.

The Future of Key Management

In the future, we can expect key management solutions to evolve with automation and more interoperability with other operational platforms.

Technology is constantly moving towards more seamless experiences. Mobile Wallets used on phones and wearable devices is a growing means of access control. The system you select should be flexible to enable the deployment of new methods of access as technology continually evolves.

The future of key management should be automated, elegant and easy!