Feature: Access Levels
How it works: Each person can only go through certain doors.
Benefits: If some areas in the organization are felt to need higher protection than others, for reasons of, for example, theft or confidentiality. This is probably true for most organizations.

Feature: Time Zones
How it works: Each person can only go through certain doors at certain times.
Benefits: If there are times of day or days of the week when certain people should not be present – for example, a business whose normal office hours are 9-to-5 might wish to allow access only during the hours of 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Feature: Card + PIN
How it works: After using a card, a person must type in a PIN before the door will open.
Benefits: If there is a risk of lost or stolen cards being used. This risk may be at its highest when the number of people in the area is at its lowest – in which case this feature can be scheduled automatically.

Feature: Anti pass-back
How it works: After a card has been used to gain access to an area, it cannot be used again for a given time (“timed anti pass-back”) or until the card has been used to leave the area.
Benefits: Where there is a risk of one person inside an area handing a card to someone outside the area. The risk is higher where turnstiles are installed, because ordinary doors allow “tail-gating” anyway.

Feature: Man traps
How it works: A door will not open unless another door is closed.
Benefits: Where there is an “air-lock” situation – e.g. dust-free zones – or where tailgating can be prevented by two doors close together with room for only one person in between them.

Feature: Alarms
How it works: Any “unexpected” event or “abnormal behavior” can be notified to a supervisor, who can then establish what happened and decide how to respond.
Benefits: This can benefit every installation. For example, if a door is left open too long, or a person tries to gain access where they are not allowed, then these represent risks that can and should be eliminated. There are many different types of event that can be detected and dealt with – too many to list here.

Feature: Point-monitoring
How it works: “Spare” inputs on the access control system can be used to monitor windows, fire exits and the like.
Benefits: If there is a risk that open windows and fire exits could allow people to by-pass the access control system.