Which Locks are Best for Showing Who Used Them and When?

Keyless locks offer several important benefits to the end user, not only in terms of security, but also in the area of improved technology. If you’re a business owner using traditional locks and keys, you may find it difficult to track the activity of the people who’ve been entrusted with the keys to your facility. This can create a number of security concerns, not the least of which is the possibility of your keys falling into the wrong hands. In that type of scenario, you would have no way of knowing who may be gaining access to the premises. In addition, using traditional locks greatly hinders your ability to accurately track the activity of the people who regularly use the keys you have assigned to them.

The Audit Trail: An Effective Monitoring Tool

Fortunately, there are several keyless locks available that offer an important feature known as an “audit trail,” which is basically a monitoring function that records all attempted and successful entries into a given location. This gives you the ability to pinpoint exactly which user has made an attempt to access an area at any given time. For example, let’s say you have 10 employees that need regular access to a particular secure storage room. You can assign each of them their own unique ID number, and then the audit trail will provide you with an activity log that shows which ID numbers have accessed the room on a given date, along with the exact times that the entries were made. This can help you better monitor and control the type of traffic flowing in and out of key areas of the building. In addition, taking the time to review your audit trail access logs can give you clues as to how you may need to adjust certain scheduling elements, so that various personnel can only access areas within a specific time frame.

Another important benefit of using a keyless lock with an audit trail is the ability to find out which individuals may have attempted to gain unauthorized access to a given location. If a security breach occurs, you can review the audit trail logs to pinpoint any type of suspicious activity in terms of repeated unsuccessful access attempts within a short time frame. While some of these events may be harmless (i.e., an employee may have wrongly remembered his/her ID number), others may merit more serious investigation. Having the audit trail data at your fingertips will enable you to determine the steps you may need to take.

So which keyless locks are the best ones for showing you who used them, and when? Below are 3 high-quality electronic keyless locks that are equipped with audit trail capability.

1. Trilogy T2 DL2800
The DL2800 features scheduling and audit trail capabilities that enable you to set specific times for a door to be locked or unlocked, and you can view reports of the lock’s activity as well. You can manage these functions by using the lock’s keypad, or remotely (via desktop PC or laptop) using the software that comes with the package. The DL2800 allows you to create up to 150 different timed lock and unlock schedules, and its audit trail function provides you with up to 1,000 prior time-and-date stamped events.

2. Schlage CO-200-CY70-PRK-RHO Prox/Keypad Programmable Card Lock
This heavy-duty programmable lock can accommodate up to 500 users, which can be expanded to 2,000 with the Schlage SMS Express software (sold separately). The audit trail feature of the CO-200 also allows up to 2,000 prior events, with time and date stamp.

3. Kaba E-Plex E5600 Smart Card Access Control Lock
This robust lock can handle the most heavily trafficked areas of your business. You can program up to 3,000 user codes into the system, and the audit trail feature has the ability to store a whopping 30,000 prior events. It also comes with an Auditor Kit that enables you to connect your lock to your PC in order to download your audit trail for optimal tracking and analysis capability.

Traditional keys and locks put you at a significant disadvantage when it comes to being able to monitor the various aspects of your daily operation. Investing in keyless locks such as the ones listed above can eliminate several management headaches and greatly improve the efficiency and security of your business.

Trilogy T2 DL2800 Electronic Lock – Timed Access, Audit Trail

Schlage CO-200 Proximity + Keypad Offline Card Acccess Lock

Kaba E-Plex E5600 Smart Card Access Control Lock