Large School District Opens Up about the Key to Improving Access Control

One of the 40 largest school districts in the United States has a five-year plan for expanding its use of access control technologies to accommodate growth and change, but it also had an existing, proprietary access control system that was complex, limiting and change-resistant. The answer: a non-proprietary, open approach to access control. 

This large school district in the southern part of the U.S. had the existing access control system in place supporting more than 500 doors.  Not only did the system have the drawback of being proprietary, but it also required multiple disparate instances of the same management software to accommodate the district’s large access control footprint. 

The school district’s challenge was to find a new enterprise-level access control solution to replace it and be able to easily accommodate the anticipated growth.  In addition, due to the size and complexity of the anticipated growth, the district recognized the need for a more robust support model, that would require the involvement of local certified integrators and the system manufacturer, as well as comprehensive educational program that would train operators and administrative staff on the software. 

Open Options, in conjunction with a local, certified dealer partner, worked directly with the school district to put together a system and support proposal, which included: replacement of the existing proprietary controllers/subcontrollers with non-proprietary, authentic Mercury technology; a software upgrade to Open Options' DNA Fusion; comprehensive user training; five years of Software Maintenance with Connect Care; and one week of Open Options' onsite Professional Services to assist with implementation of the software and associated integrations.  “We were able to put together a proposal that met the District's budget as well as its technology and support and service needs,” said Ben Vestal, the VP of Sales and Business Development at Open Options. “The non-proprietary and open nature of the Open Options solution set, combined with our Connect Care suite of offerings, led the school district to standardize on Open Options for access control moving forward.”