Visitor Management allows you to integrate with Genetec to provision temporary access badges directly from the Visitor Management web application. This knowledge article will walk through the setup process for a Visitor Management admin.
To see how an end user, like a receptionist, can then provision badges to guests, click HERE.
The administrator of this integration will be able to control:
Which Visitor Management users have access to this integration.
Which Access Rules can be provisioned to a badge.
What badges are available per location.
These badges will only be active for the duration that the visitor is onsite and will be deactivated either manually by a user or automatically when the visitor leaves for the day. Every time the visitor signs in, they will need to have a badge provisioned for them.
Note: Any guests that will have one badge remain active for multiple visits should have that badge provisioned directly within Genetec.
The sections covered in the knowledge article include:
Connection Requirements
Cardholder Groups and Access Rules
Integration Setup and Configuration
Genetec Software Specifications
This integration requires Genetec Security Center 5.7 and later.
You also require this add-on module: GSC-1SDK-TRACTIONGUEST-VM
Connection Requirements
For Visitor Management to establish a connection with your instance of Genetec, it requires the configuration of a Web-based SDK rule through the Genetec Security Center.
Ensure that your Genetec server has a port dedicated to accept a cloud based network connection.You can set up your Web-based SDK properties in Genetec by navigating to System>Roles>Web-based SDK>Properties.
Note: Using the default settings will generate a Web SDK accessible through https://localhost:4590. This can be configured to use a different port or use a SSL connection. We recommend working with your IT team to find the most secure way to establish a connection to this web SDK given your company’s web security policies.
Cardholder Groups and Access Rules
Visitor Management users will be able to assign Cardholder Groups to provisioned badges within the Visitor Management admin portal. Make sure that your cardholder groups are provisioned with your chosen access rules.
Connecting your Genetec Server to a Visitor Management Location
Navigate to the Locations page within your Visitor Management account and choose the relevant location.
Select the “Physical Access” Tab.
Click Add Provider.
4. Enter any Server Friendly Name and your Genetec server’s URL. Click Next.
5. In the Setup tunnel page, click Test Connection to ensure that the servers can communicate. You will see a message indicating success or failure.
Note: The simplest way to obtain your Genetec’s server URL is to turn on the SSL connection in your Web-based SDK properties, and connecting to https://localhost:4590 . If your server is not able to connect to this url, your IT team may have restricted incoming/outgoing traffic to this machine and you will need to work with them to allow a connection through a url to this machine.
6. Enter your Genetec username and password. Click Save.
Your Genetec setup will now be visible from your location's Physical Access Page. You can edit, delete, and perform actions at any time.
Genetec Actions
To perform actions on your Genetec setup, click the dropdown button on the right-hand side. You can Refresh Provider, create Security badges, edit, and delete.
Refresh Provider
Any time you make changes to your Access Rules in Genetec, you must also manually synced them within your Visitor Management account. From the actions dropdown, click the Refresh Provider button to pull the latest updates.
The Refresh Provider button can also act as a way to test your connection. If there is a problem connecting with the server, you will receive an error message after clicking the button.
Creating Badges
You must also create the security badges that will be assigned to your visitors. From the actions dropdown:
1. Select Security Badges.
2. Add all the badges with a user friendly name, the unique ID of the badge, and the type of badge.
The Badge Name can be whatever you’d like. This is so you can easily identify the badges without needing to scan them.
The Badge Type values are pulled directly from Genetec. Simply pick from the dropdown list to match with the corresponding badge type you're creating.
The Badge Unique ID is the number associated with the provisioned badge. This only supports numbers. Any letters or symbols will result in a validation error.
To see where these values appear when an end user is provisioning a badge to a guest, check out THIS knowledge article.
Assigning User Access to Provision Badges
After you've integrated with Genetec and created your badges, you must now create user groups to determine which users get access to each badge type:
Click on the Gear icon at the top right corner of your account.
Select Users.
Click the Create User Group button to create a new group. Alternately, if you'd like to use an existing group instead, hover your mouse over the group name and click the edit icon.
4. Select the cardholder groups that these users will be able to assign to badges.
Cardholder group names get synced from Genetec into your Visitor Management account. These contain the Access Rules to be assigned to the Cardholders in the group.
5. Assign the users who will have access to these cards to your user group.
