The Scottish Government
The Scottish Government
The Scottish Governement have selected Mitrefinch to provide access control for sites throughout Scotland
The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. It is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Scotland including health, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport.
They have 6 main buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow plus nearly 40 buildings elsewhere in Scotland. If you include their Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Associate Bodies, the number of sites runs into the hundreds.
Mitrefinch provide The Scottish Government with their Automated Access Control and Time Management/Flexi Systems. The fact that these systems are linked means their pass holders require a single card which they find convenient and user friendly. They were also keen to realise the benefits of system integration, shared services and support for the two systems which had to be backed up by robust functionality and reporting capability. The Scottish Government's Deputy Departmental Security Officer (DDSO) felt the Mitrefinch system "ticked all the boxes."
The Mitrefinch system is a well designed and user-friendly system. In the main, it is proving itself to be reliable with few card failures. The DDSO explains "The Mitrefinch Access Control system offers us integration between sites and with our other management systems. We benefit from having central control of the system for administration purposes, coupled with the flexibility to tailor the system to the needs of individual sites. For example, some of our sites require the provision for extra security measures which the Mitrefinch team are able to configure to meet our needs."
The reporting features have allowed the security team to provide useful management information, for example the number of lost passes or who has access rights to certain secure areas. The speed at which this information can now be accessed is essential in providing robust site security. However, The Scottish Government would like the report facility to have increased functionality and Mitrefinch are working with them in this respect.
Mitrefinch worked closely with the team at The Scottish Government to devise an effective roll-out plan for the ten sites completed to date. Plans are being drawn up for a more extensive roll-out in the future. The DDSO describes the project management as "Good" and added that "The project team were very approachable and professional and it really helped that they had the flexibility to adjust the project timescales to accommodate tight deadlines. The engineers who installed the hardware were excellent and were prepared to go that extra mile to help deliver the project. The aftercare is also excellent; problems and queries are followed up effectively and we have the opportunity to attend User Group seminars for further training and system updates which are really useful."
In terms of value for money, the DDSO advised "In our experience, there is not much difference in costs where access control systems are concerned but Mitrefinch's system has proved to be good value for money. The software is robust, easy to understand and importantly is backed up by people with good technical knowledge."
