A Tale of Two Integration Setups: Fixing an Idemia Integration Issue

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During their setting up the Idemia integration, a customer was having issues enabling full functionality for secure access control. The dealer was not able to resolve it, so they called into Tech Support at Open Options. Living up to its reputation for fast and skillful support of DNA Fusion users, Tech Support figured out the root cause immediately.

“After reviewing the issue and logs, our Technical Support Supervisor, Zack Davis, determined that they were attempting to utilize part of the old integration setup and part of the new integration set up,” said Nicholas Robran, Vice President of Customer Support at Open Options. “This was the root of the issue causing the integration to not work correctly.”

With the experience that Open Options Tech Support has come to be known for, Zack had already stepped through both methods and knew the best way to solve the issue was to get them on the newer streamlined method of a direct connection with the Idemia system.  He upgraded DNA Fusion to the latest 7.8 version and then completed the new setup. 

He ensured that this was a new integration, as there would have been extra steps if they had migrated from the old integration method to the new. Once complete, Zack stepped through the process with them but immediately found two issues that still need to get resolved. As usual, Tech Support would continue helping until all issues are resolved.

Due to the streamlined communication between the Support Team and the Development Team within Open Options, the technical support supervisor involved the Development Team right away. As a result, they were able to solve those two small issues quickly. 

“Once the issues were all resolved, Zack once again walked through the process to ensure they were all set up and good to go,” added Robran, reflecting the commitment at Open Options to customer satisfaction. “He then did a follow-up call a couple of days later to check in on the customer and found that they were very happy, and the integration was functioning 100 percent to their satisfaction.”

Nicholas Robran, Vice President of Customer Support at Open Options

Quick Turnaround with Open Options Professional Services

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An integrator asked the Professional Services team at Open Options to assist on a project with a quick turnaround time.

The project was to commission and program four PIM400-1500s and 24 AD400 wireless locks within DNA Fusion. Accustomed to accelerating service delivery, Professional Services was able to do the essential tasks in rapid succession.

Day One consisted of bringing the 4 PIM’s online and documenting their IP, MAC Address, location, and login information for the end-user.

Day Two was spent troubleshooting the doors that either was not linking to the PIM or wanting to communicate with DNA Fusion.

In summary the professional services team:
  • Professional Services personnel uncovered that the end-user was using an existing version of DNA Fusion that needed configuration changes and updating. This was necessary in order for the server to be accessed from the site where the new devices were being installed.
  • They had to change the IP address of the server as well as the existing PIM.  Once the version of DNA Fusion was updated, a whole suite of new features was provided to the end-user.
  • They equipped the end-user with practical information about the upgrade and answered questions to help the end-user be able to fully understand what had been resolved and what had been unlocked in the capabilities of DNA Fusion, adding value.

During the training, the new features were demonstrated, including the Info Ready reports.

“There were other items that were shown just in case it wasn't used like the drag and drop ability to filter the Event grid to a controller, a door and even a specific person,” said Michael Digby, Professional Services representative at Open Options.

“We informed the end-user that OpenDX would be a good item to investigate as it would assist with adding as much information into DNA Fusion automatically without having to enter it manually, along with the knowledge of cards being disabled when their Active Directory account is disabled,” added Digby. “Once the training was wrapped up, the final doors were tested and operating as expected. A quick check of all the doors was done, and a write-up was provided to the end-user.”

Michael Digby, Professional Services Representative at Open Options.

Case closed. This quick turnaround built trust with both the end-user and the integrator. 

New Training Certification Program Helps Canadian Dealers “Cross the Border” Virtually

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As the pandemic continues to limit people’s ability to travel, the Training department within Open Options has taken its training programs online to benefit dealers and system users.

Recently, Open Options offered its first ConnectEd iLearn Essentials Certification program as a digital experience, accommodating the urgent need of a Canadian dealer who has several DNA Fusion installations coming up. The online training from our U.S. operation allowed the dealer to virtually “cross the border” to acquire the knowledge necessary to get new sites up and running.

“This new certification format provides the same hands-on, personalized training that Open Options is known for conducting,” said Sherinda Barrow, Director, Education Services  at Open Options. “One of the students commented that the training was the best webinar they had attended during this strange time of the pandemic and how he really enjoyed the interactive portion of the training.”

The online class is a mixture of lecture and hands-on lab exercises that build on each student’s system knowledge as the class progresses. Each student is placed into a VM lab session to configure their systems and get some practical experience. This gives the students the ability to attain the knowledge of the DNA Fusion product from the safety of their own environment.

With the success of the first iLearn Essentials class, Open Options is scheduling additional ConnectEd iLearn sessions on the Training calendar. The next iLearn Essentials session will take place on October 13th–15th. Class size is limited to four students and requires the students to have two (2) monitors to view the instructor’s computer and configure in their individual DNA Fusion system.

Please contact the Open Options training department to register for the iLearn Essentials class.

Upgrade to Superior Access Control Gets a Boost from Professional Services

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A company was eager to replace its legacy access control system with DNA Fusion, a far superior access control system. Since the conversion only involved nine doors, everyone expected it to be a quick conversion and to go smoothly. But when you’re dealing with an inferior access control system, unexpected problems can arise. The Professional Services team at Open Options was brought in early to handle the unexpected.

The first thing that the Open Options Professional Services representative did was collect all the data to convert the system. Then he tried to bring the new system online, but found out that the conversion would not go as smoothly as planned. Eight out of the nine doors did not convert.

“The issue stemmed from the fact that there were three wireless transmitters in the mix,” said Michael Digby, Professional Services representative at Open Options. “Those had to be correctly identified as to which door they were linked with. I had to dive into the customer’s original database and I discovered all the required information for the doors. I also verified that the remaining items converted correctly.”

He sent the converted database to the integrator to complete the conversion. However, the integrator hit an issue on restore with all but one door working when he brought it online. Michael assisted in tracking down the issue. It turned out that the door was previously not operational.

Finally, the integrator was able to successfully get the site online with DNA Fusion.

“The integrator and the customer didn’t have to worry any longer about inferior access control software,” added Digby. “After the conversion, DNA Fusion was fully operational, and everyone was happy.”

Just when a customer thinks they don’t need Professional Services, an issue comes up. Open Options’ Professional Services stay ahead of the issues. Because they were involved from the beginning, the customer averted a mini-crisis.

Six Challenges Open Options Solved for a School District

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Open Options specializes in addressing challenges associated with legacy access control systems. For the Sales team at Open Options, each customer challenge is an opportunity to advance the customer to a better solution. Do any of these six challenges resonate with you?

  • Existing access control system did not allow for wireless locks to be integrated
  • Rising demand for fever detection reader devices, trace reporting and visitor management software with questions focused around COVID
  • Not being able to do a system-wide shutdown in case of an emergency
  • Stuck with proprietary hardware, readers and cards
  • High ongoing cost of maintaining legacy system and credentials
  • Cumbersome reporting and limited scheduling functionality

A school district was strapped with all of these issues, so they called Open Options to find out how the access control company could help. The Open Options sales team welcomed the opportunity to address these challenges.

First, the Open Options team showed how an upgrade to DNA Fusion and Mercury panels would allow the end-user to retro-fit certain hard-to-reach doors and areas by using wireless locks. Then they explained the option to integrate fever detection reader devices, trace reporting and COVID-related visitor management software integrations, if needed in the future.

The end-user was concerned about how they were locked into proprietary hardware, readers and cards. Cost was a factor. The cost of each card was too high, creating a budget issue over a 5 year plan with new hires, lost cards and vendors. Open Options helped find the correct reader and card combination to lower costs vs their existing system.

“We were able to demonstrate the power of DNA Fusion in a school district environment,” said Shannon Diddell, Sales Representative at Open Options. “This included school and district-wide shutdowns for a major school district in the Southeast. We demonstrated a wide range of technology partner integrations, which included standard and wireless readers. We were also able to share the benefits of using a non-proprietary hardware configuration.” The school system did a district-wide change to Open Options, which is still currently being deployed.  Over the next 5 years, the school district is now positioned to experience a more enhanced software feature set, which allows for better lock down capabilities, easier reporting and integration with newer technologies around COVID and other school access issues. The overall move will also save them thousands of dollars each year with reader selections and credentials.

Top 8 DNA Fusion Features for Version 7.8

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DNA Fusion 7.8 brings many exciting improvements. Today we will highlight the most notable additions. To view all 72 improvements and new features view the change log here.

  1. LifeSafety Power Integration
    • In the above video, you can get a glimpse of a user utilizing the LifeSafety Power integration. With the new integration DNA Fusion system users now have the ability to control up to 40 inputs and 20 outputs directly from within DNA Fusion instantly or timed. Prior to the integration, users had to log in to the NL4 board’s web interface to get diagnostic information. Anyone who logged in could indirectly change the programming of the NL4 without other user's knowledge. Now In DNA Fusion users can access the NL4 via the hardware tree based on operator permissions. Additionally, the integration surfaces diagnostic functionality including fire alarm, ac failure, test battery, etc. Lastly the ability to power cycle controllers/sub-controllers to prevent requiring a technician to be on-site immediately, if wired accordingly.
  2. Dormakaba Wi-Q lock integration via mercury
    • 7.8 includes integration to Dormakaba Wi-Q locks, it also important to note you can now purchase Dormakaba locks and the BEST WI-Q Gateway from Open Options as well.  Introducing the Wi-Q locks have built-in Wi-Fi access point so you get better range than BLE which allows for more flexibility in the system design. This integration is not using any existing Wi-Fi infrastructure of the facility therefore not causing any extra strain to the network. Offers a cost-effective solution to expand electronic access control to additional portals Higher density of doors per gateway than other integrations
  3. ACT ID- mobile credentials
    • ACT ID mobile credential can be issued from the enrollment button. The credential number automatically syncs the credential number with DNA Fusion when the app is installed on the device. The mobile credential will allow authorized personnel to unlock doors equipped with compatible WaveLynx readers. This is a no-cost mobile credential. No operator interaction required to update the mobile credential if the personnel replaces their phone and keeps their original phone number. No longer have to worry about replacing lost physical credentials. 
    • Learn More
  4. Hanwha Wave Integration
  5. Salient Restful integration
    • Moved to Salient restful integration to future proof DNA Fusion integration.
  6. Upgraded Exacq video integration
    • Updates to Exacq new software (future proof).
  7. Expanded Allegion Engage Integration
    • With the expansion of the Allegion Engage integration user are now able to program up to 1023 gateways within DNA Fusion. Want to know where we got the idea to expand the integration? Read the full customer story here.
  8. Changed the default Visual Theme to Visual Studio Dark
    • The new default look of DNA Fusion on a fresh install.

Tech Support Dives Deep into Logs to Identify Problem with Wireless Locks

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An integrator was upgrading the ASSA ABLOY DSR integration at a senior living facility when he started to get “Access Denied” on all of their wireless locks for all cardholders. Although it was after normal business hours, the integrator was able to get Jose Charco, Support Technician at Open Options on the phone immediately. As a cornerstone of Open Options’ Connect Care program, Tech Support kicked into gear.

Jose gathered the logs and version information on all the software. When the DSR was upgraded from version 7 to version 8, the issue surfaced. The hunt for the cause was on. From the start, it was clear to Jose that the issue had to be something deeper than just a setting. He also realized that the involvement of the ASSA ABLOY support team and Open Options’ Development team was also needed to get to a resolution. Tech Support provided the leadership needed to gather the team resources available to address the issue.

With the backing of his colleagues, the Open Options technician checked that everything had been upgraded correctly, but he went a step further. Relying on his extensive experience in the security industry, he conducted a deep analysis of the logs. He discovered that the firmware version on the locks was the cause of the issue. This was the hidden detail that had been alluding others up to this point. 

“Once our Tech Support team member (Jose) uncovered the issue, it was just a matter of getting the firmware update pushed to all the locks,” said Nicholas Robran, Vice President of Customer Support at Open Options. “After the firmware had been updated, the issue was resolved. The integrator confirmed that everything was running fine. Everyone had access again, and the end-user customer was happy.”

To go from “Access Denied” to “All Systems Go” in as short a time as possible is a testament to the commitment and expertise of Open Options’ Tech Support to dive deeper into an issue for the fastest, most effective resolution. A seemingly “small detail” of a firmware update made a big difference. No detail is too small for Open Options when Tech Support is on the hunt.