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Implementation of the BEIMS Visitor Registration System

Flinders University – South Australia

Mark Moses – Building Services Manager

Flinders University sees thousands of people moving through their campuses every day; whether they are students, staff, members of the general public and/or numerous contractors and consultants. Due to this influx, Flinders must monitor this in some way. The manual paper based system which was used for many years, was simple and easy to use, however it was totally stand-alone. Verifying visitors, especially contractors, and ensuring that they have proper business on campus and then tracking their presence was often very difficult.

To address such issues, a decision to change to an online, web based visitor sign in and tracking system was made. A new system to meet Flinders University requirements was developed in a partnership project between the University and Mercury Computer Systems, the developers and owners of the widely used BEIMS Facilities Management System. The result was the very successful BEIMS Visitor Registration System. Mr. Mark Moses the Building Services Manager of Flinders University, further explains their previous difficulties and how the Visitor Registration System has been able to provide a solution.

In the Past

The manual system met most compliance needs and was easy for workers to understand however it had a number of drawbacks. These included:

Checking that they have had their induction and it is still valid, as well as checking the insurance status of their company, was often difficult with the manual system.
It was often difficult to track whether workers were still on site.
Contractors often have to work some distance from the office where they have signed on and therefore do not come back when they leave the site. If they go to another sign on point it still requires phone calls to let the other office know that they have actually left the site. Being manual there was obviously no direct links between the different possible sign-in and exit points.

It was easy, but labor intensive, to administer the paperwork and to constantly refer manually, back to the Worker Safety Induction database. Getting statistics on visits etc. was also an entirely manual process and only possible if accurate records were kept.
Contractors often would either not record their mobile phone numbers on their pass or if they did, it would sometimes be illegible. This created problems when we had to verify that they are still on site.

This influenced a discussion to begin between Flinders University and Mercury Computer Systems on how they could develop a program that could monitor all workers registration details and processes – which lead to the introduction of the Visitor Registration System (VRS).

Now!

With the BEIMS VRS implemented at Flinders University, it is now providing Mark and the team with reliable information, assisting in OH&S regulations, reducing the paper trail and mainstreaming visitor details.

Flinders University has found the VRS to be very beneficial to their organization because:

It is efficient and time saving
It provides comprehensive record keeping allowing the system to capture better information on visitors
It performs Auto Checks, as in checking who is in the system, notifies visitors if their induction is current or not, and will record if any items were issued to the visitor
It reduces time for the contractor and administration staff to sign a person in and out.
The Security team can utilize the system to allow them to maintain the security via three main access points throughout the site
Allocation of items such as torches, batteries and parking permits to contractors are recorded and can be tracked.
The ability to scan barcodes on visitor passes, which automatically stores information in the VRS.

The VRS has provided Mark and his team at Flinders University with a positive experience, and is also proving much more effective with Work Cover compliance.

In the Future

The VRS is constantly improving as other Universities and clients are implementing it. The system can be modified and improved to assist with the changing nature of numerous industries and to take advantages of emerging technologies. However, for Mark at Flinders University, some of the items on his ‘wish list’ currently include:

Upgrading to the new BEIMS 5.7, which already contains improvements to the system
Rolling the VRS across the entire organization including Faculty and other offices that need to sign on visitors and contractors and to ensure it is used consistently
Integrating an SMS alert feature for the VRS
Having the ability to check supplier insurances directly from the VRS (checking these is a feature in the new Contracts Management Module in BEIMS 5.7).
Email alert that will notify the contact person on arrival and departure of visitor.

Overall the VRS has proven to provide the ideal solution to many of Flinders University’s problems; however, through the on-going developments to the system, the VRS will continue to be refined to meet the needs of many more clients such as Mark Moses at Flinders University.

The above Case Study was written by Mercury Computer Systems, with the input and commentary of Mark Moses from Flinders University South Australia.

For further information, or to arrange an upgrade if you are a client please contact:

BEIMS Support
+61 3 9602 6161
support@beims.com

About Mercury Computer Systems

Mercury Computer Systems, established in 1985, is a private Australian owned software and services company based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Mercury Computer Systems has evolved into a leading provider of facility and maintenance management software and services.

Mercury Computer Systems core system is BEIMS (Building and Engineering Information Management System) a Facilities Management Systems designed to support the management and maintenance of buildings, plant and other company assets.