Electronic locks: second test

I continue the saga of the replacement of mechanical locks on classroom buildings at Grinnell with electronic ones.

On Monday, August 21, the College's Director of Security and some of his assistants met with some Science Division faculty and staff and with one of the Associate Deans of the College. The Director of Security acknowledged that there would be some delays and glitches in getting the system set up to begin with, claimed that such errors are inevitable, and suggested that we simply put up with them. He hopefully suggested that, over time, the problems would gradually decline to a more tolerable level.

The Associate Dean seemed to find this completely reasonable. She reported that the Office of the Dean was taking steps to “streamline” the process of communicating the Dean's decisions about which faculty members should have access to campus buildings to the Office of Security. Unfortunately, when she came to explain the details of the revised process, it was immediately apparent that she hadn't read the original memo from the Pioneer One-Card Office and had no idea about how the process described in that memo was supposed to work. This further undermined my confidence in the administration's supposed oversight of the process.

At that meeting, one of the representatives of the Office of Campus Safety and Security was able to reassure me that they had received the approved-access lists from the Dean's office. I had checked on Thursday, August 17, and at that point the access lists had not arrived. So we now have a fairly good estimate of how long it takes the Dean to approve a request for building access after he receives it from the building supervisor: nine business days (plus or minus one).

Unfortunately, the Director of Security also explained that it would take his office a long time to process the approved-access lists. He explained that the new electronic locks consult databases that are quite different from the ones previously in use, and that all the information from those earlier databases would have to be re-entered manually into the new ones. This process, he said, would take several weeks.

On Monday, October 9, faculty received a memo from the Director of Security, explaining that the electronic locks were now ready to go and that we would be “transitioning” to them on Thursday, October 12.

Today I arrived at the southeast entry to the Science Building at 7:15 a.m. and found both doors locked. A security officer is supposed to have come around and unlocked them by then, but not infrequently he is delayed or simply screws up. My usual procedure is to let myself in with the key and then call the Office of Campus Safety and Security; they promptly send someone around to correct the problem.

However, since we made the transition to electronic locks yesterday, I saw this as an excellent opportunity to test the new system. I got out my Pioneer One-Card and waved it at the sensor. Nothing happened.

Fortunately, the mechanical locks haven't yet been removed. I let myself in with the key and called the Office of Campus Safety and Security. The officer who answered the phone said that he would send someone around to unlock the doors. I asked him to check whether my name was really in the database that controls access to the Science Building. He explained that he had no way to inspect that database, but would give my name to the functionary who manages it, and she would make sure that I really have access. He said that she would be arriving in just a few minutes. I asked him to have her call me back, and he agreed that she would.

Someone did finally come around to unlock the doors, although not as promptly as usual -- they were still locked twenty minutes after I reported the problem, but they were open when I checked again a half hour after that. My card, however, still doesn't work, and the functionary did not return my call.

At 8:30, I called the Office of Campus Safety and Security again and was able to speak with the database functionary. She took one of the four digit-strings that appears on my Pioneer One-Card and was able to confirm that my name was indeed in both the database for access to the Science Building and in the database for access to Carnegie Hall. As an explanation for the failure of the card to open the door, she reported that they were having “some trouble with the computer” that was interfering with card access to the Science Building through one of the other doors with an electronic lock, and estimated that they would be able to correct that problem in an hour or so. However, she was surprised to learn that the doors at the southeast entrance to the Science Building even have electronic locks. I suspect that it will take more than an hour to figure out and apply the appropriate remedy.