16 Jan How Electronic Key Cabinets Facilitate Dual Control
Jane Doe is the manager of a large branch of a Statewide bank. Strict dual control procedures must be adhered to in all areas of the bank. Part-time tellers come and go and managing dual control of keys is Jane’s biggest headache.
The banks old manual key locker requires two people to open it, each with a different key; one for the top lock and one for the bottom. Employee scheduling hinged on making sure there was at least two people on each shift with opposite keys. The cabinet contained branch keys for opening the ATM, night drop, four cash vaults, teller cash drawers, and keys to all the cabinets containing sensitive customer information. On the rare occasion when she wasn’t able to access the manual cabinet due to employee absences, someone had to drive to the sister branch to pick up a key. The system was cumbersome. If keys were lost or misplaced, the locks had to be drilled out and replaced.
When Corporate announced they were changing out the manual key locker for an electronic key cabinet, Jane heaved a huge sigh of relief. Instead of monitoring the issuance of keys via a handwritten log, she could now issue everyone a unique access code. It was no longer necessary for two people to have opposite access. The new cabinet required two separate codes, and either one could be entered first.
The risk of unauthorized access was also eliminated because no one person could have two codes. Previously, one employee could use their own key and another’s to open the locker. Even though this was an audit exception, sometimes a supervisor did this to speed things up behind the teller line, despite Jane’s stern warnings.
The electronic key cabinet also eliminated the risk of a terminated employee accidentally forgetting to return their key.
Jane saved money for her branch by not having to re-key the locker if an employee lost his or her key. She saved time by not having to look for lost keys. And her headache was eliminated when she received a successful audit.
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