How the Global Client Programme makes security rollouts much easier

How the Global Client Programme makes security rollouts much easier

We’re really thrilled that our Global Client Programme has been nominated as a finalist in this year’s GIT Security Awards. It’s led to more people asking what the programme actually entails, so this blog gives an insight into the process.

The Global Client Programme is a project rollout system that we manage on behalf of companies that want to standardise their security internationally. It makes it easy for multinationals to implement, maintain and update AEOS (our access control system) across their buildings around the world.

How do we get started?

The prospect of unifying security internationally can feel overwhelming for many clients. But, because we’ve done it many times before, we’ve got a robust process in place.

It all starts with one or more programme assessment workshops, which we use to gain answers to questions such as:
• What are your strategic objectives?
• How is your company structured?
• What infrastructure do you have and how is it organised?
• What’s already standardised?
• What roles need to be filled to implement the project?
• How is your technical support system structured and where should we sit within it?

Your rollout handbook

Next, we distil all the information collated and the plans discussed and create your rollout handbook. This includes a basic security design showing floor plans, transitions and standard security measures for each transition type to ensure your security policies are enforced at each location. It may stipulate, for example, that main entrances have one badge reader while storage room entrances have two badge readers.

It also specifies the kind of hardware that will be used and the prices to benchmark against. And it lays out the roles and responsibilities within the project and contact details for key people. It states, for example, the role types we need at each location, who will be involved at a regional level, who will be on the central project team and who will review the security design.

In short, your rollout handbook contains all the information we need to standardise implementing AEOS at each of your locations, and to manage the process efficiently.

The rollout begins

Once the rollout handbook is finalised and signed off by you, we’re ready to begin the rollout – and this is when our systematic approach really pays dividends. Each of your local projects runs to the same pattern with a uniform execution from design to delivery and beyond.

Our tried and tested rollout process for the Global Client Programme includes four stages:

• Design and budgeting
• Delivery
• Site acceptance test
• Post go-live support

Design & budgeting

By using the rollout handbook, and taking advantage of AEOS’s flexibility, we can easily create security designs for each of your individual locations. We ensure they’re not only standardised but also locally compliant and appropriate. When your CSO has signed off the security design for a location, we issue it to an installation partner that we carefully select from our trusted partner network. Part of their role is to ensure compliance based on the agreed design.

When our installation partner responds with a proposal, we check it against your rollout handbook and regional pricing to ensure it meets your needs and is competitive. Then we send it on to you. We ensure each proposal is structured in the same format, with default drawings and components for each location. This makes it very easy for you to review and compare documents across your projects.

If you’re happy with the proposal, the installation partner takes the lead and meets your local team on site to check that the proposed design is practical for that location. They’ll then finalise the design so you can send them a PO. If you feel the need to challenge their proposed design at this stage, and would like our help doing so, we’re here to support you.

Delivery

When it comes to the delivery phase, we take charge of two separate streams – hardware installation and software configuration. On the hardware side, we keep a watchful eye on the goods being shipped. We make sure the orders are processed properly and everything is on track to be delivered to the right place at the right time. We also oversee our partners to ensure the installation happens as planned.

The software configuration is led by a project engineer from our team to ensure it’s properly standardised and all the requirements laid out in the rollout handbook are implemented.

A third stream is the HR set-up and the issuing of badges or other identifiers. Our clients usually handle this internally because of the systems involved, but we check to ensure it’s completed in time.

Site acceptance test

Once AEOS is up and running at the location we do a final test to ensure all the features that you’ve requested and paid for are operating as we’d expect. There’s then a formal sign-off procedure between our engineer and representatives from your team, the Nedap project team and the installation partner.

Post go-live support

After the site acceptance test, we ensure an intensive care period of two weeks before handing over to your central support team. During this period, your installer will adjust anything that isn’t working as it should be or make tweaks on a very detailed level to ensure the system achieves your objectives. We can also make any changes needed at a software level.

If the changes made are relevant to the whole rollout we update the rollout handbook. Or if they’re only relevant to that particular location, we just update the documentation for that project. On completion of your project, we pass these documents to your central support team and hold a project closing call to hand over to them.

After this, we’ll remain there for you as third-line support backing up your facility managers and central support team.

Big-picture management

Implementing a new access control system at one location alone has plenty of complexity. But when you’re coordinating implementations at several locations around the world it can become incredibly complicated. So we take care of project and stakeholder management for you at a central level. And we provide guidance to your local project managers and installation partners, stepping in to assist with local project management where needed.

Our managers hold weekly meetings to keep each individual project on track. In addition to that, our central team meets each week to run through your whole rollout from a strategic point of view. This enables us to ensure your deliveries are well paced and coordinated and that your projects are staying on track in terms of timings and budgets. It also allows us to identify what’s going well so we can replicate it across the rollout. And we discuss where there are risks, deviations or other issues that we need to address – either locally or globally.

Stay on track while being set free

Few people will be responsible for implementing a new, internationally standardised security system more than once in their career. But the Global Client Programme makes it easy for you to get it right first time and with minimal stress.

We issue clear reports to you providing strategic updates and individual project data, so it’s easy for you and your teams to stay on top of the rollout. Which leaves you free to get on with your other commitments.

Using The Global Client Programme doesn’t just make life much easier for you, it offers lots of other commercial benefits too. But for those, I’ll hand over to my colleague Timon Padberg who’s written a blog about them.

Want to know more about how the Global Client Programme works from a technical point of view? I’d love to hear from you at coen.gortemaker@nedap.com