Brivo’s Ethernet based ACS5000 system installed by Red Hawk Security at Bethel United Church of Christ

Brivo’s Ethernet based ACS5000 access control system was installed at the church

The Situation

Bethel United Church of Christ in Elmhurst, Illinois, houses administrative offices, a pre-school, and several meeting rooms for special events and functions used by groups at varying times of day and night. Prior to installing the Brivo ACS, Bethel UCC used a standard “keys to the kingdom” system—simple lock and key protection that gave the key holder total access.

The Challenge

“It was becoming increasingly difficult to track who had keys to the facilities,” said Brian Barrett, Church Operations Manager. “Also, our doors are locked from the outside. If someone needed to have the doors opened for a meeting, our system required that there be another person on the other end to open the doors.”

Barrett began researching access control solutions to help track usage, monitor door events, and manage the system from a centralised location. “One of our church members highly recommended the Brivo ACS to help facilitate the ease of access,” he stated.

The Solution

Dan Cosgrove at Red Hawk was chosen to install a Brivo Ethernet based ACS5000 system with readers on the main door, rear entrance, and a supply room closet. Staff and meeting group leaders were assigned ProxCards and PIN numbers to access the building doors. Additionally, the sanctuary doors were placed on door timers to eliminate the need for someone to open them physically. “Web-hosted access control was key for their application because it allows them to control their doors from any Web browser without having to come to the church,” stated Cosgrove.

The Bethel UCC administrators have also benefited from Brivo’s Web-based administration capabilities by being able to log onto their account from any computer to monitor activity and to manage access without anyone needing to be on-site. This has been especially helpful on days when the church is closed.

Staff and meeting group leaders were assigned ProxCards and PIN numbers to access the building doors

The Highlights

• One centralised system The Brivo solution automatically aggregates all of Bethel UCC’s data and Barrett is able to monitor all door events without the high cost of building a wide area network to link databases. “One of the best benefits has been the ability to know who’s coming and going and at what times from just about anywhere,” stated Barrett.

• Automatic door timers With Brivo, Barrett was able to say goodbye to the “keys to the kingdom.” Brivo’s automatic door timers eliminated the need to physically unlock the doors to the Church. “No more trips to the church to unlock a door for a meeting—just a couple of clicks on my home computer does it,” commented Barrett.

• Easy interface with no IT resources required “The Brivo system has been working very well and has an extremely easy-to-use interface,” Barrett remarked. With all IT maintenance and networking outsourced to Brivo, Barrett eliminated the need to maintain expensive IT resources and administer the system and networking infrastructure.

• Easy set up Brivo’s control panels are easily installed and the entire system is up and running with minimal training. “In all of my experiences with Brivo, every installation went smoothly,” stated Cosgrove. “I’ve been really impressed with the Brivo control panels.”

• Cost effective With Brivo, there were lower upfront costs, which meant that the total cost of ownership was reduced nearly 50% over traditional non-networked systems.