Jacob and Jacob, Thank you both for your thoughts.
First, you give me credit for being way more technically savvy than I actually am, so I only followed some of what you wrote :-). What I took away was: 1) One can use an RFID card as the trigger to control the electric strike for the front (commercial) door, and each of those swipes can then be written to (at a minimum) a simple spreadsheet to log in who is coming in to our space. 2) If we want to get fancy, we can have that swipe also connect to our check-in/check-out system, via some kind of hacked together, but not complicated program (well, not to someone who knows how to do these things). This is not possible with a code system that triggers the electric strike (Jacob J - do I have that correct?) 3) We can use that as our check-in-check-out mechanism, but it won't completely work if someone holds the door for someone else as they enter. (I appreciate the pros and cons of a slowed down check in for the face-to-face time. Thanks, Jacob S.) 4) Even if we don't connect the swipes to the check-in/check-out process, we can use the log for back-up after hours if the simple spreadsheet log created by the swipes does not match the check-in/out system, as Jacob S described (or I think that's what you were saying). What I didn't quite follow is Jacob Jay's statement: " if your management app has an API (e.g. Nexudus), you can hack together a quick script to poll your own RFID reader and query/update that app." We do use Nexudus, but what do you mean about polling the RFID reader and updating the app? Also, if the coded system I'm looking at has an audit train and each user has a unique code, couldn't I still figure out who was in the space after hours when they forget to check-in/out (assuming the check-in/out is not hooked to the entry)? Thanks so much! I'm a real newbie at all this, having just started working in a coworking space less than 2 months ago. Sarah On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 1:27:08 PM UTC-4, Jacob Sayles wrote: > > At Office Nomads we fully integrated our access control system with our > member management system (Nadine) although we chose not to use RFID for > checking in. We've made it very simple to walk up to the iPad at the > front, find your name by first letter, and sign in. Slowing down the > process has many advantages. It gives us a second to say good morning and > chat a little bit, and we can display important information on the screen > like an expired credit card, or an upcoming event. > > Where it is integrated is in alerting the team if someone came in on the > weekend, when we don't have staff, and forgot to sign in. We then talk > with the member the next time we are all in the space and let them know > they need to sign in on the weekends as well. Sure we could just sign them > in, but the human interaction is invaluable and there are many cases when > just using the door shouldn't result in a charge. > > As for the Pi, we did something similar to bridge the cloud gap although I > used a BeagleBone. Same concept, but I've found the BeagleBone to more > stable in the long run. I used a Pi to build a custom door controller for > a hotel down in San Francisco and it's not as robust as I'd like it to be. > Then again the Pi that runs our twitter alarm has been up for a few years. > Your milage may vary. > > Jacob > > --- > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation > http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 > > On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 6:56 AM, Jacob Jay <ja...@verse.org <javascript:>> > wrote: > >> Whilst PINs are easy, RFID is much more suitable, and a little plus is >> that you can let users scan an existing card instead of carrying an extra >> one (or remembering a PIN). >> >> Unfortunately I'm frankly surprised that nobody has apparently developed >> a solution that covers all the RFID use cases. Several of the hosted apps >> do have their own options for using RFID cards, Cobot for example >> integrates with PC-connected USB RFID readers for logging/checkin ( >> https://www.cobot.me/guides/rfid-swipe-card-check-in), and if your >> management app has an API (e.g. Nexudus), you can hack together a quick >> script to poll your own RFID reader and query/update that app. >> >> The most flexible system is to connect an RFID reader to a $20 >> RaspberryPi board computer or similar which can even be embedded in the >> wall near a lock to control it too. This runs a small program ('script') >> that receives the card number, checks it (e.g. against a provided list of >> IDs, or by querying your hosted management app) and then (optionally) uses >> a relay also connected to the RaspberryPi to provide current to the lock. >> (It gets quite complicated if you have multiple doors.) At the same time as >> querying the validity of the ID it can of course also check the user in or >> at least log that they used the card at that time. Here's a (technical) >> example of a slightly better setup like this with feedback LCD. >> https://www.hackster.io/nile-mittow/rfid-front-door-access-control-88d7cd >> >> The complexity of the script that acts as the controller for the RFID >> reader depends entirely on what it is being integrated with, how IDs are >> provided, and how you set feedback such as when expired. Pretty darned easy >> just to read and write to text/spreadhseet files though. >> >> The disadvantage of validating against a hosted application is that it is >> both slower to provide feedback/unlock which leads to a common scenario of >> multiple checkins or a checkin in followed by a checkout, and requires >> internet as mentioned by Matt. Both issues can however be avoided. >> >> For access control, most commercial door locks are fail-secure electric >> strikes which open/release when a current is applied to them (the buzz >> sound). Any system that grants access is simply arbitrating between an >> input (RFID/PIN) and the current to the bolt. Often such doors only have >> the access restriction on the outside with a simple release push button on >> the inside which gives current to the lock directly. Adding an additional >> controller or replacing one, is thus as simple as wiring the lock's current >> input cable to the controllers current output. Same principle is used with >> residential interphone systems. >> >> Unless not having 100% accuracy is fine, I think that an RFID checkin >> system when not also linked to access control is unhelpful, but even still >> if multiple people arrive at the same time one slips the door behind the >> other without swiping, you'd still need device/WiFi checkin to achieve 100% >> coverage. >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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