Updating electronic door access is a much smoother process at the College of Engineering thanks to a OneIT subproject.

Managing door access at the college used to be a complex and time-consuming endeavor involving both technical and administrative staff. Even without its new annex, the college has 177 doors with electronic access control. The Iowa One Cards of nearly 3,000 faculty, staff, and students had to be manually provisioned to swipe into appropriate classrooms, labs, conference rooms, and offices.

The beginning and end of each semester were particularly hectic, with a large number of new students requiring basic building access and recent graduates needing their access rights removed. Many employees, student organization leaders, and students enrolled in various courses needed access to specific spaces as well.

But the card-provisioning process became easier and more efficient in the past year thanks to a door-access automation initiative—a subproject of the OneIT Identity Management Project.

Now, a UI student or employee’s Iowa One Card door access can be automatically provisioned based on data feeds from UI systems such as MAUI (the student-record system) and human resources or housing databases. Along with reducing the effort of assigning door access, automation increases security by ensuring that door access is automatically removed when the cardholder is no longer eligible.

“The new automated method means that basic access provisioning and class-based space access happens automatically, with no further intervention by departmental administrative staff or engineering IT staff,” says Dan Mentzer, senior systems administrator in the College of Engineering. “That workload has been completely removed.”

Some ad-hoc provisioning remains for a handful of exceptions and for access requests that aren’t based on MAUI data, but the total number of transactions is much smaller. Mentzer conservatively estimates that the college saves nearly 40 hours of staff time every semester—time and talent that can be reinvested in efforts that more directly support the teaching and research mission of the college.

“Automated access is a big win for all players,” says Jordan O’Konek, who heads the Directory and Authentication Team in Information Technology Services and co-leads the Identity Management Project. “It saves operator and faculty time and reduces risk. While institutional data doesn’t exist to automate everything, we do proactively seek out opportunities and expect more automations to come soon.”

In addition to the College of Engineering, the subproject enabled automation for university residence halls and computer labs, the College of Public Health, and the College of Law.

An initial level of door-access automation already existed so that if an Iowa One Card were lost, stolen, or destroyed, the ID Card Office could quickly discontinue access rights. The OneIT project took automation a step further by building new data feeds from MAUI that automatically add or remove access when a student enrolls in or drops a course.

The most complex aspect of implementing automation is defining the business rules that dictate who is eligible to access which doors. It can take a lot of back and forth with unit officials to delineate, for example, which spaces students in a particular course should have permission to access.

Excluding the hospital, the UI has about 3,700 doors with electronic access. Facilities Management Key and Access Services is responsible for building security. ITS and the Department of Public Safety are crucial partners in making this effort successful; this collaborative effort has been in place for more than 10 years and has resulted in several system improvements, including the expanded use of the Iowa One Card, automated de-provisioning, and identification of lost or stolen cards.

Ann Rosenthal, associate director of building services in Facilities Management, says automated access provisioning is a valuable tool for both departmental software users and Key and Access Services staff.

“It provides access to general areas and has reduced some of the mundane data-management tasks,” she says. “The biggest benefit is knowing that cardholder access is being automatically removed when individuals no longer meet the eligibility requirements, which helps achieve the goal of the improved security of people and property on campus.”

Some doors use a different type of card reader that the UI is phasing out as facilities are built or remodeled. The new card-reading technology has enhanced automation capabilities, among other benefits.

The OneIT Identity Management Project is managed by ITS Senior Project Manager Kris Halter and led by O’Konek, Senior Director of ITS Administrative Systems Mike Noel, and Housing and Dining IT Director Brandon Mills. The subproject is complete, but the team will continue to accept automation requests.

Interested units can contact ITS Directory and Authentication Services or Key and Access Services.