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Security Technology Executive
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Building on Success
Loyola University 's Frank Dale oversaw a massive, Campus-wide security upgrade that earned the project the 2007 SECURITY INNOVATION AWARD from Security Technology & Design magazineThe Latest from SIW
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By ST&D Staff
Ranked a top national university, Loyola University Chicago is one of the largest of the 28 Jesuit universities and colleges in the United States , with three campuses in the greater Chicago area. Two of the three campuses, the Lake Shore and Water Tower campuses, were the focus of the security upgrade. Lake Shore , with more than 40 buildings, serves as the main residential and undergraduate campus. The Water Tower Campus is located just off Chicago 's famed “Magnificent Mile,” making for an urban campus environment. Each campus is quite different from the other, separated both by distance and by different security needs and challenges.
Prior to the upgrade, Loyola University maintained a classic, patchwork security system comprised of analog cameras; VCRs and DVRs; two different, unrelated types of access control readers; and variety of different access cards that each student and staff needed to keep track of, as did the many departments administering the different cards. Loyola approached its security consulting team, led by Jim Gompers, with an initial single goal: create an integrated single-card platform to simplify life for students and create greater efficiencies in administration.
Single-card System as Starting Point
With a single-card platform as the starting point, the team took a step back to look at this goal within the context of the entire security program and campus operations as a whole. They devised a multi-year, multi-phase program to update security initiatives across the board and to meet the one-card goal within the university's three stated objectives: effectiveness, acceptability and affordability.
The initial assessment process revealed the many stakeholders in the program. It also clearly demonstrated the critical need to ensure that all players would be involved in planning and implementation — no easy task. The main goal of the initial phase of the project was to get rid of the multiple cards and systems and put all functionality and access onto a single card. The team first determined what systems were critical for inclusion on the single card platform. Then they developed a plan to roll out the new system to the almost 20,000 “customers,” that is students, faculty and staff.
A Massive Project Followed by Two Additional Phases
Phase I. What followed was a massive project to integrate disparate databases and entirely separate mainframe systems onto one database platform. Departments and functions included were security, housing and cafeteria access, library privileges, multiple retail POS systems, parking access and billing, and others. In addition, all faculty and staff data — located on a separate system altogether — was migrated onto the platform, so they too could enjoy the convenience of the single-card system. Eventually all data would reside in one PeopleSoft database.
Next, a middleware database in Oracle was created, called LUware, which has its own server to act as gatekeeper to populate the different databases used to administer the card. Throughout this process, as mentioned above, the planning and implementation was devised and overseen by multiple departments including IT/IS, parking, accounting, university liaison to retail/POS, library, housing, facilities, security , and along the way a few more. Still in Phase I, the group moved to implement a single access control technology. All legacy bar code/bar lock hardware was upgraded to proximity readers, and this upgrade was accomplished within tough budget constraints. All access control panels were upgraded to a current Maxxess Systems ISMS (Integrated Security Management System) platform. As part of the access control upgrade, optical turnstiles by Gunnebo Entrance Control were installed in parts of the campuses open to the public, such as libraries, to ensure better control and more efficient, effective administration of visitors.
At the end of Phase I, Loyola was equipped with state of the art access control with ISMS capabilities on both campuses, and a new single card system across what were once multiple silos of unconnected databases.
