Brivo Online Access Control system installed at VEI property management firm

VEI, Inc. is the for-profit property management arm of one of the largest non-profit hospitals in Indiana. VEI is responsible for 600,000 square feet across ten facilities in the Indianapolis region. These facilities house medical offices with patient records, labs, general clinics, and surgical centers. A few years ago, VEI installed traditional non-networked electronic access control (EAC) to supplement their standard lock and key security system.

The Challenge

VEI’s traditional EAC solution was not networked between facilities, thus creating “data silos,” which did not allow sharing of data across facilities. Rather quickly, the system became antiquated and inadequate for VEI’s growing needs. “Our system was a dinosaur, with very little flexibility, it was cumbersome and we couldn’t upgrade the software,” said Darla Astrop, VEI Administrator.

The “stovepipe” EAC system, combined with the lock and key installation, exposed security gaps across all facilities, and VEI suffered from an inability to track usage, monitor door events, and manage the system from a centralised location.

Another problem resulted when staff would leave a door propped open, triggering the burglar alarm. When contacted by the monitoring station, VEI staff was unable to confirm or deny the threat so police were dispatched each time. As a result, the company received several false alarm police citations. It became clear that VEI needed to consolidate all access control systems at each of its facilities into one platform with centralised command and control — in the most cost effective manner.

The Solution

VEI’s security consultant, Koorsen Protection Services, chose to install the Brivo Online Access Control system. It provides the company with centralised control under a single system; enables remote administration that can be managed through a Web browser anywhere, at anytime; and generates email notifications based on any door event, greatly improving alarm verification capability.

Brivo’s control panels could be connected to VEI’s existing readers, thereby reducing overall hardware and installation costs and turning an antiquated system into a powerful, advanced access control platform. Both the system installer and VEI have been favorably impressed in terms of system performance and cost. “Brivo is the easiest ACS system currently available ... but on the middle-to-low end of the pricing scale,” commented Skip Sampson of Koorsen Protection Services. Darla Astrop, the VEI Administrator for the system, said, “Usually when you change over to these systems (enterprise electronic access control), you expect problems. With the Brivo ACS, we’ve not had one glitch or problem.”

The Highlights

• The Brivo Online Access Control solution reduced VEI’s total cost of ownership by nearly 50% over their traditional non-networked system, while greatly improving ease-of-use and overall security performance.

• To enable VEI to manage multiple geographically dispersed facilities with one system, the Brivo ACS automatically aggregated all customer data and management controls, eliminating the high costs of building a WAN to link disparate databases.
• VEI’s ability to remotely administer the entire system from any Web browser at any time gives administrators to power to add, change, delete, and access credentials 24/7/365 with ease. Such control eliminated cost overruns resulting from re-keying information.
• By outsourcing all IT maintenance and networking to Brivo, VEI had no need to add technical resources for system administration, thus eliminating the need for expensive IT resources and networking infrastructure to link and maintain facilities.
• Email notifications for any door event vastly improved alarm verification capability, minimising the number of false alarms that resulted from a lack of on-site monitoring and reducing citations and attendant costs.