27 Mar How key management can help at every level of education

If you’re in the education sector, it’s likely that your main focus is on providing the best learning environment possible for your students. However, in order to do this there are a lot of background issues that you need to deal with to keep your institute running smoothly. One of these is key management.

The security of your school or university impacts many things, including the safety of your students and staff. The right key management system can not only provide peace of mind, but it can also create more efficient processes around accessing assets. Here’s how.

The usefulness of key management at primary and secondary schools

In primary and secondary schools, classrooms often require access to substances or equipment that students need supervision to use. Examples of this include:

• Chemistry substances, such as acids and other dangerous materials.
• Expensive technology, such as filming equipment or cameras.

It’s essential that these items are kept safe, both for student safety and to protect your school’s investments. Loose keys don’t provide the level of security needed. They are easily lost or misplaced, and can fall into the wrong hands.

A key management system ensures only those with the right access permissions can retrieve any necessary equipment. For example, CIC Technology’s C.Q.R.iT key cabinets allow primary and secondary schools to track their keys more efficiently, increasing accountability and helping prevent unnecessary losses. With options such as same user return, and cabinets that can house up to a hundred key bunches, schools can create a smooth and secure process for key management and protecting their assets.

Is your key management system effectively protecting your school’s assets?

Why key control is necessary for tertiary institutes

Tertiary institutes are often much larger and more complex than secondary or primary schools. There are a lot more people coming and going from the campus, as well as more complex security needs. Below are some of the main areas to consider when it comes to understanding how key management can benefit tertiary institutes.

Departmental control

In a tertiary institute, you generally have a large number of personnel. Giving everyone access to all departments creates security issues as well as making managing keys a logistical nightmare.

Using the right key management software, it’s possible to efficiently manage individual permissions. For example, KeySecure, a software package offered by CIC Technoloogy, can handle even the most complex of allocations and access scenarios. This means that you can ensure departmental access is limited to the right personnel, tightening up your institute’s security measures and better controlling what happens on your campus.

Keeping key allocation to a minimum reduces the chances of something going wrong. Additionally, if an incident does occur, you are better able to resolve the issue as you know exactly who had access.

Master key safety

The loss of a master key is no small problem. Replacing one can incur a significant cost for a tertiary institute, as well as the time and effort involved with having to re-key all the relevant locks. Ensuring you have the right protections and processes around your master keys keeps them safe. Additionally, storing them securely and having access restricted to certain personnel helps prevent any potential losses as it limits their use to only essential circumstances.

Ensuring only authorised personnel can access departmental assets is essential for protecting them.

Dorm room backup copies

On a campus you’ll always have students misplacing keys or locking themselves out of their rooms. Maintaining a secure set of backup copies that’s accessible by an authorised individual is essential.

With the appropriate key management system you can also create an alert to notify the right people if a key isn’t replaced within a set time period. This helps ensure that backup keys are always returned and available for when they’re next needed.

Protect sensitive information

A lot of information is held at tertiary institutes, including private student details and sensitive course material. Creating accountability around who’s accessing what information and when helps protect your campus and ensures that all information is handled correctly. Privacy is a large concern for students and staff alike – the right key management system assists in providing peace of mind.

Efficiently manage contractor access

A tertiary campus requires upkeep. Often times, universities and other types of institutes will engage contractors to perform these tasks, such as a cleaning company. In order to do their job they need access.

An electronic cabinet with key management software provides a simple and efficient way of handling the matter. Not only are you ensuring they can easily access the keys they need, you can monitor the use of them, ensure all assets are returned, and revoke access immediately should you switch contractors.

If you’d like to learn more about how key management can benefit the education sector at every level, reach out to the team at CIC Technology. We can provide you with a free product demo today.