Morse Watchmans

The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn is one of the four Inns of Court and operates as an active and thriving society of lawyers, sprawling across 11 acres in central London and dating as far back as 1422. The title of “Lincoln’s Inn” refers both to the Society and the location, which houses the Society’s own facilities, numerous barristers’ chambers and several solicitors’ offices. The Inns of Court originally provided accommodation for law students who learned their craft by attending court. Different levels of security Today, the Inns exist to aid students in pursuing the legal profession and serve as landlord, custodian of historic buildings, banqueting and events venue, and tourist attraction. To fulfill these many functions, Lincoln’s Inn required security that would meet their own high standards while protecting buildings that had been in continuous operation for centuries. As the Inn not only provides services to law students, but also operates as an attraction and a hosting venue, many different levels of security need to be in place for a variety of users—full-time employees, temporary contractors, event staff, students, and others. For this reason, it was essential that Lincoln’s Inn have a comprehensive system to track and monitor their many keys for the extensive venue. Improving key control For some time, keys at Lincoln’s Inn were managed manually through an analogue system, with staff retrieving keys from an open cabinet and recording key usage with pen and paper. However, because at times manual recordkeeping can be less than diligent, this allowed for confusion as to who had what keys when, and made it possible for keys to be stashed away or used by unauthorized persons. With the variety and quantity of people moving throughout Lincoln’s Inn on any given day, a more secure solution was needed. To update and improve key control, Chief Porter Nicholas Bracey turned to the KeyWatcher Touch key control system by Morse Watchmans. Key storage and management “KeyWatcher Touch provides us with a fully secure means of key storage and management. We considered a number of products on the market and found the Morse Watchmans solution to be the most flexible and easy to use system,” said Mr. Bracey. “The high quality and ease of scalability were two of the top features we required, and the KeyWatcher Touch was a perfect fit for our key control needs.” Lincoln’s Inn installed two KeyWatcher Touch units configured for a total of 192 keys or keyrings in January 2016, and the system has been in daily use since the installation. It utilizes the Inn’s IT network and is fully integrated with the PCs in the security office and the office of the Chief Porter in order to provide maximum flexibility and ease of use. Providing maximum flexibility Tracking keys as they were removed and returned was a top concern, so the ability of the KeyWatcher to record who has removed what key and when was exceptionally important. “The keys are always secure, rather than being openly accessible to staff. There is no longer paperwork to be managed for logging, it is all taken care of with the KeyWatcher software,” continued Mr. Bracey. “Audits and reports are fast and accurate, and it has led to our staff becoming more responsible overall.” KeyWatcher Touch has provided Lincoln’s Inn with the functionality and security it requires to easily manage its 192 keys, while also providing an easily accessible audit trail. In addition, the system has proven hardy and resilient in daily use over two years. “We have had continuity with Morse Watchmans since day one,” finished Mr. Bracey. “Demonstrations of function, installation, and training were all handled almost entirely by the same representative, in addition to subsequent orders. The continuously exceptional service has ensured that we were getting exactly the product that would best serve Lincoln’s Inn and provide us with the security we need.” KeyWatcher Touch Features: Email and SMS Notifications Scheduled Reports via Email or SMS Centralised User Database Scalable, Modular Design

U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota is a 66,200-person venue, hosting regular football games for the NFL and NCAA as well as baseball and soccer games, concerts, weddings, and many other events. Approximately 3,500 people make up the staff on a game day or during a major event. These concession workers, cleaning personnel, police, guest experience team, security officers and supervisors, operations managers and more are on site to deliver not only a safe and secure event, but also a memorable experience for all guests in the stadium. Access control systems While under construction, U.S. Bank Stadium managed their keys by using a complicated pencil-and-paper system that required key users to provide collateral against key removal; this proved to be both time-consuming and inefficient. When looking to upgrade their internal access control systems to provide the security and efficiency they required at such a large facility, U.S. Bank Stadium while working with Hoffman Security Solutions, chose Morse Watchmans’ KeyBank system for cost-effective, highly capable key management throughout their facility. Automated key control systems “There were a few different automated key control systems we looked at,” said Billy Langenstein, Director Event Services, U.S. Bank Stadium. “But when it came down to not only the financials, but also the capabilities, reporting and infrastructure that Morse Watchmans KeyBank has, I personally believe there’s nothing comparable on the market that amounts to how we wanted to use the system here at the stadium. This is the first time I’ve used this system in my career, and if I have the opportunity to open up another stadium, Morse Watchmans will be installed there as well.” In February 2016, Hoffman Security Solutions installed one KeyBank managing 120 key locations throughout U.S. Bank Stadium. In June 2017, they added 2 expansion cabinets to fill out the system, bringing their total managed key locations to 360. Maintaining business operations Each day, U.S. Bank Stadium has different staff working throughout the stadium to fulfill the varied roles needed for their many events. Contractors working on the facility itself, temporary staff, and other day-to-day workers all require access to different workspaces. By requiring that staff check out a key from the KeyBank system, U.S. Bank Stadium security staff are able to account for all the keys in the system, who removed each key, and what time they were checked out or returned through the KeyBank’s timestamp feature. At the end of each day, a report is delivered to security staff that displays this data in an easy-to-read manner, allowing staff to account for the many keys they use throughout the stadium during the day. With access control a strong component of U.S. Bank Stadium’s security, consistent reporting of key access is essential to maintaining business operations. Guest experience team U.S. Bank Stadium’s guest experience team, consisting of ushers, lobby hosts, ticket takers, scan ambassadors, and others, arrives early each morning and requires their own separate access. Through the KeyBank system, they are allowed to prepare for a game while simultaneously reporting that access to security staff. Each team member is given access to the keys they require, while ensuring safety throughout the stadium by keeping other keys restricted. This ease of use and reporting ability are what have made KeyBank an essential element of U.S. Bank Stadium’s access control and security systems. “We’re looking at installing another Morse Watchmans KeyBank here at the Stadium because we’re already outgrowing the one we have, and we want to start creating efficiencies within our own departments,” said Mr. Langenstein. “Having a Morse Watchmans KeyBank gives us a sense of security and a sense of convenience while providing the level of accountability that we want. It’s a fantastic product that we’re very proud to have here.”

Blacktown City is a bustling suburban community located approximately 22 miles west of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Comprising 48 separate communities with a total population of 350,000, the city is the second largest city by population in NSW. The area is governed by Blacktown City Council which is responsible for all aspects of the city’s day-to-day operation, project development initiatives and legislative activities. Along with the City Council headquarters in the Civic Center, Council facilities also include the Main Works Depot located in the Blacktown City community of Rooty Hill. Council vehicles, heavy machinery and trucks as well as an operational work site for crews and other Depot employees are housed at this location. The Depot supports the operation of numerous city venues and development of zoned and serviced industrial and commercial land. Asset management system To help maintain usage accountability and eliminate the problem of missing or overdue vehicles, machinery and/or building keys, the Depot recently implemented a key control and asset management system from Morse Watchmans. The new KeyWatcher® Touch is designed to securely store physical keys in tamper-proof cabinets, only allowing access to keys by authorised individuals with a verified code, badge, or biometric identification. Access to the key cabinet and to individual keys is under the complete control of Depot management and the automatic tracking provides full accountability for who has which key at any time. “We manage keys for at least 500 vehicles and machines here at the Depot and each of them has at least two to three sets of keys,” said Joe Haddad, Facility Manager, Main Works Depot. “Without the KeyWatcher Touch automated control and tracking, the job of accurately keeping track of these many keys would be almost impossible.” Several key cabinets An important aspect of managing the large Depot is employee productivity and the design of the KeyWatcher Touch conforms to this by making the process of accessing or returning keys faster and easier for employees. Keys can be returned to any of the several key cabinets on site rather than having to return the key to the cabinet from which it was removed. Biometric identification, large, easy to read touch screens, voice cues, and status bar guides help to ensure a fast and easy procedure when accessing or returning keys to the cabinet. Key reservations ensure that staff will have guaranteed access to a vehicle or machine when needed. Special alert notifications The system automatically tracks the location of each key stored in a key cabinet or, if the key has been removed, the system can determine who has it out. Access to live information via the desktop or mobile lets department managers see which keys are out, if any keys are overdue, and when keys will become overdue. And for immediate information regarding a key, special alert notifications using email or SMS text provides the data instantly. Network integration of the KeyWatcher Touch with the Depot’s access control and video surveillance system further adds to its ease of use and productivity. User access programming including add/modify/delete cardholders and badge data is managed through Inner Range’s Integriti access control system and all changes are automatically synchronised. Alarms and transactions are passed to the Integriti system via the Depot’s TCP/IP connection. Key control problems “The single platform for control of our video surveillance, access and key management streamlines the operation, keeps costs down and helps to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks,” adds Mr. Haddad. “We are very pleased with this state of the art system and it has more than met our needs both today and, we expect, going forward.” The system was designed and built by system integrator Australian Security Technology (AST), a provider of key and asset management solutions in the Pacific region. Working with AST, Ryalex Security, a commercial security specialists company, helped bring the project together for Blacktown City Council. “Blacktown City Council is a long-time customer and it was important that we help them solve their key control problems as efficiently and cost effectively as possible,” said David Ishak, General Manager, AST. “The KeyWatcher Touch provided the solution to the great satisfaction of both the Depot and ourselves.”