Thank goodness for the Contact Us form on this website.

Not for the reasons you probably think, either.

Selfishly, I love it because I get a ton of blog ideas from the questions that come through that form.

This door closers post? Contact Us form.

Vetting a lock technician? Also a result of the Contact Us form.

It’s a great way to figure out what you are thinking about and helps us give you relevant information you can apply.

This week I received a question about a facility manager who wanted to keep better track of employee traffic. Luckily enough, we have an answer for that and it’s audit trails.

Audit Trails: What Can They Do For You?

Audit trails happen to be one of loss prevention’s greatest benefits, in my humble opinion. Before I get ahead of myself let me explain their purpose.

The information differs based on the capability of the lock, but audit trails leave information on who passed through a particular entryway and at what time. That, of course, is just the basic information. You can get much more data if you choose to have a more advanced lock.

Some locks simply collect the badge information or a code that is entered at the time of entry and call it a day. This method is flawed because badges can be borrowed and codes can be given out. If you really want to get down to business on keeping track of which employees have entered the premises, you could always go the biometrics route.

However, for most, a simple audit trail with the basic information will suffice.

The Locks that Accompany Them

There are a few electronic locks such as the E-Plex, the iQwik by Marks, and the Trilogy that hold audit trails and are standalone locks. These systems use a code or a badge swipe to gain entry and the information stored is very basic.

If you want something more advanced, you would need to look into electronic access control with a lock that works with a hub. This will require a computer (usually a laptop) to be connected to the lock to pull the data from the lock and the data will be much more detailed. This is something high security facilities would use.

Regardless of what level of information you need, they can be incredibly handy when it comes to gathering information about who is entering and exiting your facility.

If they’re something you’re interested in, we have plenty of people here who would be more than happy to help you out. As always, you can find the Contact Us form here and someone will be in touch shortly…or maybe your question will show up here as a blog post!s