The first and most important element for designing a quality Access Control System is to understand the customer's desired use and capabilities for the system. If a customer has 24/7 guards continually monitoring the system for dispatch of a roving patrol, a live monitor feature will likely be more of a requirement and will differ from an unmonitored system. There are a plethora of considerations for all the differing specific site and security level considerations but some of them are:

Value of location and items being secured

Software Interface – Proprietary or Browser Based

Reporting requirements for system – Both live and transactional

Alert capabilities and communications formats – Text and/or e-mail alerts

Quantity of Readers and Credentialed Access Devices

Distance from Readers to Control Panels

Distance between control panels

Existing Networks and Cabling

Dual Use Possibility - POS