Public Administration

Background

A public administration spanning various locations across Scotland, from the southern borders to the very north of the country, including the Scottish Islands, needed to address their security infrastructure.

Sites are composed of data centres, secure communications, secure buildings, administrative bodies and policy hubs, many under high security protocol, so A-Plus Security staff had to undergo extensive security screening to be able to undertake these works.

The project involved an integrated installation across all sites, and following an extensive tender process, A-Plus Security worked closely and collaboratively with the organisation's project team to put the right systems into place.

Challenges

The main challenges faced were around continuity and high security, as each area was not freely accessible for long. A-Plus Security teams worked out of hours and at weekends to ensure that the installations were completed without affecting continuity of business.

The access control solution was an upgrade from the legacy system, and some areas where access control was installed were in very high security zones, which required on-point programmes of work with strict timescales, to avoid security breaches.

The estate-wide access control and high-security access demanded constant liaison with senior management at each location, as well as with the organisation's networks team, which required extensive pre-planning.

An additional element to the project was to assist in collating personal data from 25,000 users and setup the database so that, once installed, business continuity was not affected.

Solutions

Using previous experience gained through working with Police Constabularies and Government bodies to achieve similar projects, we knew that the impetus would be on A-Plus Security to establish and manage the planning process and implementation schedule.

Extensive build-up and pre-planning work went into the pre-roll out phase of the project, after which constant dialogue with the project team and senior management took over, with comprehensive project plans and weekly project meetings.

Working so closely with the networks team, and working to the same vital works schedule, meant that VLAN had been set up for us in advance and network switches allocated for us, so the installation of the CCTV in restricted access communications rooms and centres was smooth.

The emphasis on the pre-planning and planning stages meant that the project went seamlessly from start to finish.

Installed systems

• Access Control With Bespoke Software Element
• Enterprise IP Solution for CCTV

Training

For this application, bespoke elements of the access control system were specifically developed for this organisation, which required A-Plus team training, to be able to service the system.