Recently, I saw a news article regarding a Canadian school’s mishap with their key system.  Somehow the pin codes for the schools had been released to the public and there was fear that anyone could get a copy of a key for the entire school district made.

The initial thought was that the entire school system was going to have to be rekeyed. For over 100 schools, they were estimating the price for rekeying every lock to be around $700,000! Fortunately, the school had gone with a proprietary key system, and the solution wasn’t going to be nearly as costly.

While accidents are inevitable, this one mistake could’ve lead to a huge chunk of money if the school system used an unrestricted key system.  If this were the case, there would have been an urgent need  to rekey every single lock throughout the district. However, since they had a proprietary key system the damage and cost was minimal.

Proprietary Key Systems: How They Work

With proprietary key systems, the keyway is owned by either the end-user or a vendor.  One has to have proper authorization to get a key copy.  In this case, the school owned the keyway, and as such, they didn’t have to worry about any random person being able to purchase a key blank that would coordinate with the cores throughout the schools. Unless they were specified as someone who could purchase that key blank, they were out of luck.

Since the school district owned the keyway, they could either purchase the keys directly from the manufacturer or they could have set up a distribution program with the manufacturer and their designated vendor. This way, the vendor would be contractually obligated to restrict the key blanks specifically for the school and no one else. Granted, just like with any restricted key system, the convenience of same day rekeys isn’t an option, but in the big picture, that’s a small price to pay.

Check out this infographic giving you some basic information on key systems:

We can tell you time and time again how important the management of your key system is, but it’s helpful to have an example like this one that really shows you the security and savings that come out of a proprietary key system. With a proprietary key system being the most expensive of the various types of key systems, that price tag at the beginning can be a little tough to swallow. However, proven in this example, the amount of money it can save you in the long haul, the peace of mind it can provide, and level of security gained is definitely worth it.  If the cost of a proprietary system is too much to swallow, you can consider a restricted system.  This still requires proper authorization, but it’s quite as secure as a proprietary system.

Check out this article for more information on all things pertaining to key systems or download our white paper.