But newer and more integrated solutions are available to eliminate these headaches. The City of Abbotsford in B.C. has been evolving toward a one-card, centralized solution for the past six years and has plans to transition more buildings in the future.

The evolution started in 2004, when the old magnetic stripe card system at Abbotsford’s City Hall was replaced with a proximity card system provided by Mississauga-based Keyscan Access Control Systems.

“Abbotsford’s municipal staff often had meetings and dealings outside of business hours, so they were looking for a solution that would allow them to tighten access control so the people who were supposed to be there could come and go, but not have free rein once they were inside,” says John Rose, president of Rose Security, a Keyscan dealer and installer based in Port Moody, B.C.

The old system didn’t allow him to differentiate between different categories of municipal workers, says Victor Pankratz, civic facility manager at the City of Abbotsford. “We wanted to give different levels of access so contractors could get into specific areas at specific times, limit part-time staff to office hours during the week and give regular employees full access to all the building.”

The city put the project out to bid, and Keyscan was selected for City Hall, says Rose.