Page 17 - OIT Progress Report: 2023 Edition

Transforming Student Housing: SMU’s Card Access Reader Initiative
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, OIT COLLABORATED WITH RESIDENCE LIFE AND STUDENT HOUSING TO CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS AIMED AT REPLACING ALL KEYED LOCKS IN THE RESIDENTIAL LIFE AND STUDENT HOUSING (RLSH) BUILDINGS WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART CARD ACCESS READERS THAT HAVE ONLY BEEN IMPLEMENTED AT 5 OF 16 RESIDENCE HALLS. THIS TRANSFORMATIVE INITIATIVE WILL ENABLE SMU TO ENHANCE AND STANDARDIZE RESIDENTIAL LIFE SECURITY, AND ELIMINATE RECURRING EXPENSES AND LABOR ASSOCIATED WITH RE-KEYING LOCKS EACH YEAR.
The project’s first phase is complete, with card readers installed in Mary Hay, Cockrell McIntosh, Peyton,
and Shuttles. Future phases will address all other residential buildings and rooms, culminating in a standardized and secure keyless resident experience across campus. Many of these installs will be completed as part of hall renovations over the coming years.
Over the summer, we added 544 new doors to the residence halls, bringing the total number of doors to
1844. We will add over 1000 additional doors by the end of the project. These card readers are integrated into the lock itself, and allow SMU to monitor power, lock hardware, intrusions, and tampering, in addition to monitoring when a key is used to bypass the card security. Our implementation of remote door monitoring capabilities has allowed us to efficiently track various door activities, including instances of doors being held open or technical issues. Remote and scheduled door unlocks have enabled RLSH to streamline maintenance procedures and these readers offer heightened security by requiring PIN access if deemed necessary.
These new readers are future-facing with “mobile credential” capabilities, positioning us to embrace the use of cell phones as credentials in the future. This advancement represents a crucial step in modernizing our access control system and enhancing user convenience.
When asked about the impact and value of this project for Residence Life, Assistant Director for Housing Operations Kiel King explained, “ The conversion of RLSH buildings to card access as part of the Access Control upgrade project will have several lasting impacts for our operations in housing. The first being
the student facing impact, as we have heard from our students that they find using their SMU IDs far more convenient than physical keys. In line with this, we expect to see an eventual cost savings by eliminating lock changes due to loss in converted buildings. Finally, the access control systems allow for us to have a more secure setup with more accurate and detailed information regarding our buildings and their security while also providing consistency across all RLSH RC locations.”
TRAnSFORmInG STudEnT hOuSInG: Smu’S cARd AccESS REAdER InITIATIvE
15