After hearing about the recent adjustments made to the University of Houston’s key system, UH Facilities is proud that Southern Methodist University hopes to implement one similarly structured after UH. With the expertise of Supervisor of Access Services Roland Bourque and Application Developer 2 Lawrence Dang, it took UH Facilities over one and a half years to establish an effective method to request keys on campus.
The hard work and dedication to implement the program is being recognized. These two Facilities employees are being asked to help give guidance and advice. Hoping to gain a better knowledge on how to improve SMU’s security during one of the many phone conversations, Scott McCulloch asked for a few tips on monitoring a large number of keys distributed across campus. Bourque explained the process consists of issuing keys based on peoplesoft numbers for every individual on campus, separating active keyholders by departments, and automatically updating the system when any keys are received or returned.
Bourque further explained that all lost or stolen facility keys must be reported to the University of Houston’s Police Department for a case number to protect student and faculty’s safety to further secure the key process. Individuals are limited to one copy of each key, unless approved otherwise. This is also explained in the Key Control Policy which was proposed by Bourque and adopted by the University on February 23, 2017.
October 2016 was truly a groundbreaking experience when the new key audit process for UH was set into place. Roland Bourque stated, “97% of the keys used on campus are now in the system.” which is a huge accomplishment. Multiple trainings were held before the audit began with approximately 250 people attending. The audit went as smoothly as could have been anticipated for the first year, but “there are always changes that can be made, so Lawrence will update some issues on a needed basis” said Bourque.
Fortunately, Facilities has had great support from UH in establishing the new key system and hopes Scott can do the same for their school.