As we look at the school year ahead, there are myriad challenges both K-12 and university campuses face when designing systems to protect the students, administrators, educators and general public who live near or visit campus on a daily basis. Security technology can serve as an important tool for campus safety. School districts and universities work diligently to plan, budget, design, implement and maintain the lifecycle of these technology systems.
However, for security technologies to deliver on their promise, it’s vital that all stakeholders have a seat at the table. Much like doctors need a holistic view of their patient before prescribing medicine, it’s crucial that everyone from administrators and educators to IT staff and campus security officers are invested in the security systems put in place.
The Intersection of Stakeholders and Security Technology Experts
Most importantly, the planning and implementation of technology on a campus cannot be done in a vacuum. It’s important for all stakeholders to visualize a system and collaborate on its design. What do we mean by stakeholders? These are the building managers, administrators, department heads, faculty, RAs and public safety.
“They know their buildings and their needs; we know electronic security and technology,” said one campus safety leader. It is at that intersection that a campus can deliver on the promise of the security technology it deploys to help prevent and mitigate risk.
The question is, how can this ongoing collaboration occur effectively at scale?
It’s vital that campus safety and police IT departments have an opportunity to sit down with their stakeholders and ask questions and address pain points. By sorting through these questions together, both parties can mutually understand their campus’ needs and apply the right technology for each individual situation. After all, no security tool represents a one-size-fits-all solution.
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Take access control, for instance: most university campuses require careful planning and design for both retrofits and new buildings. Each campus safety team needs to understand the needs specific for residence halls, dining halls, classrooms, stadiums, labs, parking lots, and so on, before they can deploy access control systems effectively, as each location often requires a unique egress solution. The campus security and police team will want to know the “who, what, when and where,” in terms of who can access the building.
For video surveillance, the IT team may need a map to reference when discussing which areas have presented issues in the past, in order to determine what kind of coverage will be required. They will need to ask these questions in layman’s terms, translate it into technical needs, and visualize a solution design in a way that can be clearly understood.
Visual Collaboration Is Powerful
Once an organization’s security needs have been assessed, the campus security team needs a way to visualize how individual devices will address each particular need. In the past, this was difficult to map out for the typical stakeholder.
However, because of easy-to-use, digital system design and mapping tools, campus security teams now have access to a better way to communicate with stakeholders and collaborate on system design. Many organizations, such as PASS K-12, encourage campus safety teams to visualize and share tiers of security for decision makers.
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They may need to show the area of coverage for video surveillance cameras, sensors, vape detection and other technologies. As a team visualizes the potential design, they will also need to take budget and investment into consideration. When they can visualize and consider risk mitigation in phases, they can make more informed decisions and plan well into the future.
Collaborative System Planning and Device Management Have Many Benefits
Here is where accessible system design and management platforms come into play. These cloud-based software tools equip users with a single source of the truth and system design, creating an opportunity for all parties to collaborate and share resources through the same interface — during the initial design process and throughout a system’s lifecycle management.
These tools need to be available on mobile tablets for use across large campus communities, as the ability to capture notes, photos and key details allows the campus safety technician to design the right option, quickly and efficiently. Campus security and safety teams should be able to access a centralized tool to conduct the following at scale across hundreds and thousands of devices in various specialty areas in a typical security environment:
- Planning, Design and Budgeting
- Ongoing Lifecyle Management
- Educate Stakeholders to Optimize the Benefits
Planning, Design and Budgeting
When using a digital floor plan tool, security staff and school administrators can work closely with both stakeholders and system integrators in real time to plan system upgrades and ensure faster rollouts ahead of approaching academic years or during budget cycles. Ideally, this tool will facilitate drag-and-drop design capabilities, visualize coverage areas, automate a bill of materials and automatically produce budgetary estimates.
While some campus security leaders specialize in access control, others focus on video surveillance or gunshot detection. Most of the time, they work as a team and need to see how these technologies work together.
Ongoing Lifecycle Management
Finding ways to oversee the lifecycle and daily management of systems using a “single pane of glass” can also help streamline real-time response. Not only do collaborative system design platforms offer visibility into system life expectancy, depreciation and replacement costs — which can help a school avoid the breakdown of security technology in the face of an ongoing crisis — they also equip schools to utilize the technologies they’ve already deployed. Using a single collaborative system design platform empowers integrators, first responders and on-campus security personnel. They can more easily pinpoint the timing of an incident captured on VMS and what location.
At the end of the day, a security system is only as good as it is up-to-date and operating. When implementing new technology, digitalizing an existing system’s layout and floor plan puts everyone on the team on the same page, which helps ensure systems are proactively and cost-efficiently maintained.
Educate Stakeholders to Optimize the Benefits
The ability to visualize a plan for building managers, RAs and public safety helps clarify ways a security team actually uses the technology properly. Many RAs may not understand why doors shouldn’t be wedged open, for example. Accessible, legible visualization tools can drive those kinds of lessons home.
Technology Tools Provide Better Outcomes with Thoughtful Design and Management
More advanced technologies are being offered at a swift pace for schools and universities. New technologies in AI analytics for video, gunshot detection, cloud-based access control and many more hold great promise when used properly. There are funds available to upgrade many campus security systems. The key is to foster collaboration to adopt and apply technology effectively. Without that attention, there may be less of a benefit than intended.
High technology adoption requires focused and thoughtful collaboration between those responsible for a campus, public safety, law enforcement and those technology experts who can align the right technology for the job. Investing in such software collaboration platforms not only enhances campus security, it also maximizes the value of security budgets and ensures a cohesive, responsive approach to managing complex security environments.
In an era where proactive and vigilant security measures are essential, collaborative system design tools are not just a luxury — they are a necessity for modern campus security management.
Maureen Carlson is the co-founder and vice president growth for System Surveyor.
NOTE: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to Campus Safety.
