American Water Cutting-Edge Security System from ADT Helps Secure Water Facility Sites Across the United States.
Washington Dulles International Airport ADT performed design, installation and maintenance of all Washington Dulles International Airport security systems including access control, CCTV, digital recording and perimeter security.
Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport ADT designed, installed, and maintained a major CCTV System 8900 switcher expansion to include the addition of a 400-camera digital recording system.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport ADT provides all preventive and corrective maintenance activities for all airport security systems 24/7 with 20-minute response time during peak hours.
Cutting-Edge Security System from ADT Helps Secure Water Facility Sites Across the United States.
Situation
After September 11th, the U.S. water industry was forced to re-assess their risks. Realizing that the threat of an attack on U.S. soil had potentially increased, water service companies began to evaluate their security solutions. According to Bill Glover, ADT Security Services’ national accounts systems sales manager, water supply operations have three major vulnerabilities. First, chemicals used in the plant could be stolen and used for attacks on citizens. Second, terrorists could interrupt the water supply to towns and cities, and then set fires to buildings. And third, drinking water could be contaminated.
Serving more than 22 million customers, American Water of Vorhees, NJ is the leading privately-held water service company in the country. To help ensure that the company would be prepared for the new challenges, American Water underwent a comprehensive search for a business partner that could meet its security needs.
Solution
In order to undertake a nationally integrated program, American Water reached out to ADT Security Services, Inc., a business unit of Tyco Fire & Security, and the largest provider of electronic security services to nearly six million commercial, government and residential customers throughout the United States. The company has recently begun installing ADT’s state-of the-art video and digital security solutions in more than 100 water facility sites throughout the United States.
Implementation
The system was designed from the ground up, and required numerous planning meetings and site visits. The one-of-a-kind system allows water facility site managers to view video and manage security functions from on-site, and also allows them to manage the site’s security system from anywhere in the world via the Internet. The data is also sent to ADT’s servers, providing critical back-up in case of a major emergency.
The system provides access to centralized information and better prepares American Water for an emergency. The sites are equipped with closed circuit television cameras and digital video recorders for video capture and storage. The company is using an advanced integrated system for access control, alarm monitoring, intrusion detection and data collection. All of the equipment relies on GE’s Facility Commander™ command and control system. This provides plant managers with a single console for all access control, video surveillance and alarm management functions, making it quick and simple to manage the system. Its integrated, intuitive interface also reduces training time and costs, as well as operator errors.
Results
ADT's vast installation resources were key to meeting American Water's aggressive installation schedule. "ADT had the capability to install the systems in more than 100 facilities in just 300 days," said Bruce Larson, American Water’s Director of Security. Larson is pleased with the system's capabilities, particularly the ability to control the system remotely. "ADT isn't just a systems provider – they are our partner in this endeavor," said Larson. "We are pioneering the industry with this system, and we're doing it together."
Glover agreed. "I'm really proud to be working with American Water," he said. "It's great to know we're helping to keep U.S. citizens safe."
ADT performed design, installation and maintenance of all Washington Dulles International Airport security systems including access control, CCTV, digital recording and perimeter security. Major equipment includes Software House access control, American Dynamics CCTV and Loronix digital recording. ADT was also awarded a $1.3 million maintenance contract that runs through June 2006.
Since receiving the maintenance contract for the electronic security systems at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority facilities at Dulles and Reagan National airports (see Reagan information below) in 1999, ADT has added more than 250 Software House card readers and field panels to the access control system, in addition to providing all preventive and corrective maintenance on the existing equipment. As part of this contract, 15 ADT technicians were factory-trained and certified on all Software House equipment and software.
ADT has also provided access control, CCTV, digital recording, and other security equipment as a subcontractor to prime construction and electrical contractors at Washington Dulles. ADT provided access control and CCTV system components for a new pedestrian walkback tunnel as a subcontractor to Heller Electric; furnished and installed all security system components for the main terminal renovation as a subcontractor to Centex Construction; and installed access control and CCTV systems as a subcontractor to Turner Construction. The approximate value of these contracts was $ 3.8 million.
ADT designed, installed, and maintained a major CCTV System 8900 switcher expansion to include the addition of a 400-camera digital recording system. This project required the coordination of numerous trades in the construction of a new equipment room with HVAC and fire suppression systems. The security installations were all completed on time (between May 1999 and September 2000.
ADT provided design, installation and maintenance of access control, CCTV, digital recording and perimeter security. ADT was recently awarded a $1.2 million maintenance contract that runs through June 2006.
ADT provides all preventive and corrective maintenance activities for all airport security systems 24/7 with 20-minute response time during peak hours. ADT provides all maintenance and expansion support of the existing 375-camera CCTV system, including installation, setup, and programming. ADT provides the same support of the existing access control system and its more than 500 card readers as well as primary assistance in the expansion of the digital recording system, including installation and programming. ADT also provides the airport with labor and material for all new security projects with an estimated value of $1 million per year.
ADT designed and installed a new access control system. Equipment included a redundant Northern 3.0 ProWatch NT server with several imaging stations and more than 300 HID ProxCard readers. The work required transitioning from the existing access control system and database while keeping all equipment operational. The project was completed on time.
Providing integrated access control, intrusion detection and fire systems to a chain of underground stations
Situation
With 83 stations and 103 miles of track, the Washington, D.C. MetroRail system is often hailed as one of the finest in the country. Serving some of the national capital's most important government facilities, including the Pentagon, MetroRail required a number of security enhancements in the aftermath of 9/11. A multi-million dollar grant was made available through the federal government to fund an upgrade.
Solution
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) selected ADT to provide integrated intrusion detection, access control and fire alarm systems in a majority of the underground stations. David Couch, director of infrastructural renewal for WMATA, said ADT was chosen because the company offered the best integrated security products and programs to meet MetroRail's needs.
Implementation
ADT installed panels that integrated intrusion detection, access control and fire alarm technologies within MetroRail stations in 2003. The integrated system provides a single interface that is very cost efficient and easy to use. The system provides perimeter and internal protection as well as tracking of access to critical areas. Currently in development is the centralized command center that will provide monitoring for the entire system.
Standardizing security into a Bank-managed security solution
Situation
Following several years of growth through acquisitions, Citizens Bank, a Top 20 commercial Bank headquartered in Providence, R.I. with more than $70 billion in assets, found itself with inherited and oftentimes incompatible security systems throughout its network of 1,400 retail branches and ATM locations. At one point, especially after the Citizens acquisition in 2001 of Mellon Bank, the Bank was dealing with a number of security vendors providing multiple branch alarm panels and monitoring services. This contributed to higher than planned security costs, varying levels of service and support, and an unproductive environment for its security and branch personnel.
Solution
ADT teamed with Citizens Bank, an institution undergoing substantial growth, by designing a Bank-managed security command center to monitor and report all of its branch alarm activities and by upgrading and standardizing the Bank's network of alarm panels.
Implementation
Over the course of five years, Citizens Bank went from relying on the ADT National Monitoring Center to the ADT-designed Mastermind branch alarm monitoring and reporting system - open architecture technology designed to communicate with ADT's, as well as with other industry standard alarm panels. In phase one, ADT converted the alarm panels of all former Mellon branches to the new Citizens Bank specification. In phase two, ADT converted the balance of the Bank's 855 branches throughout the Northeast to this same security standard. As part of the standardization, ADT also incorporated a new network access control system of over 500 card readers to tighten security for the Bank's 25 non-retail locations, including data centers and headquarter facilities.
Results
ADT developed a solution that communicates on the Bank's network, both improving security and lowering overall security costs for Citizens Bank. Consequently, the Bank controls the management and alarm reporting of its security operations, ensuring more consistent end user operation and achieving lower false alarm rates. Most importantly, Citizens Bank has a security system capable of keeping pace with the Bank's growth plans.
"As we have grown through acquisitions, ADT has helped us streamline our security management, supporting us with a national account program and a service delivery infrastructure that mirrors our growing footprint," said Paul Gvazdauskas, Vice President, Corporate .
Video surveillance and access control at a General Aviation Facility
Situation
While security at commercial-service airports receives a great deal of attention from the public and the media, General Aviation (GA) airports are seen by some political and security experts as more susceptible to terrorist infiltration because there are no federal security mandates for these facilities. But just as larger airports are ramping up their security systems, GA facilities - which serve private, business and military aircraft - are assessing their risks. One of those is Martin State Airport, located nine miles east of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, and less than 50 miles from Washington, D.C. In addition to its proximity to the nation's capital, Martin State Airport is also home to the Maryland Air National Guard, making access control a high priority for the airport's operator, the Maryland Aviation Administration.
Solution
Martin State Airport called on the ADT Federal Systems Aviation team in 2002 to provide both a CCTV and card-verification system to help create a more secure environment for the aircraft and workers operating at the facility. ADT's aviation security professionals proposed an ADT Select Entry access control system. The system not only supports a number of card-reader technologies, but also includes a fingerprint pad for an added level of verification. The airport's perimeter and other vulnerable areas were further protected by a phalanx of high-tech security cameras.
Implementation
In total, ADT installed a CCTV system, a system administrator's station (with monitors, a switcher/controller, motion-detection software and a digital recorder), a security guard booth monitoring station, and a datavideo communications system that integrates the two stations seamlessly into the airport's fiber optic network. ADT Select Entry allows access control at key portals to help provide that only those authorized to enter may do so.
Results
Martin State Airport is beginning to see results by implementing the systems. ADT Select Entry assures control of personnel access. The CCTV system helps enhance physical security of the facility and contributes to airside operations monitoring and safety. In addition to its security protection, the CCTV system has already saved the airport millions of dollars in potential aircraft damage claims. After a February storm dumped 20 inches of snow on the airport, a hangar camera, monitored in the security guard booth, alerted officials to a collapsing hangar roof and the need to evacuate the aircraft. Martin State Airport officials are very pleased with the fine performance of its new security system.
Strategic alliance partners Carter Brothers and ADT team up to provide project management services
Situation
Today's evolving security climate and the increasing potential for disruption have changed the way companies think about security. The renewed focus over the past few years on property, asset and employee protection has companies big and small turning to ADT to help them meet the security needs dictated by the changing times. While ADT values its role as the industry leader, it also takes pride in the relationships and partnerships it establishes to ensure customer satisfaction. ADT partners with carefully selected companies - strategic alliance partners - which it can utilize for specific applications within its ongoing security projects. As an example, a manufacturer wanted to modify its facility to electronically control the work environment and secure employees while reducing physical guard force. The company selected ADT to install an integrated system that would allow them to manage and secure its buildings, but needed its new security system to be up and running within a short amount of time.
Solution
To meet the time requirements, ADT enlisted Carter Brothers, LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, to provide onsite project management and staffing and keep the project on schedule. Carter Brothers, a company formed by brothers Cris and John F. Carter, is a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE). Carter Brothers provides ADT project/program management, consulting services, marketing support and a national syndicate of pre-qualified subcontractors. The strategic alliance between ADT and Carter Brothers, which incorporates components of a mentor and protege relationship, has become an integral complement to ADT's internal installation workforce.
Implementation
Just after the manufacturer signed the contract, the installation service provider hired by Carter Brothers was onsite to evaluate the situation. This allowed work to commence within a scheduled two-week employee holiday break. Despite the campus size, the contractors integrated the ADT-designed security system into one console room that housed closed circuit television (CCTV), fire alarm, access control and the building management system. This enabled management to control the interior and exterior of the facility by viewing all security cameras simultaneously. A system was also added to control the entrance and egress of the company's employees.
Results
Carter Brothers completed the project on time and within budget. The facility now provides a safer environment for employees, improved loss prevention mechanisms and enhanced security for the facility's remote geographic area. Subsequently, ADT enlisted Carter Brothers to work on two additional sites for the same manufacturer using the location as the model.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is emerging as one of the most valuable tools for tracking, counting and locating goods anywhere from the point of manufacture to the point-of-sale and beyond. RFID can address specific supply chain needs including verification of shipments sent or received, automatic location of content-specific merchandise and more accurate restocking. Major U.S. retailers and consumer product companies have made the commitment to implement RFID tagging in the supply chain by 2005. A growing number of manufacturers and retailers are beginning to recognize RFID as an industry-wide need and are accelerating their own planned investments in the technology.
Solution
Major retailers and manufacturers are turning to ADT® Security Services to benefit from its experience and integration capabilities. ADT offers a full range of products and services needed to execute turnkey RFID-based solutions, including readers, tags and integration software. Its RFID solutions seamlessly complement electronic article surveillance (EAS), digital video and access control products to take technology advancement to the next level. ADT provides flexible, modular solutions that work with industry-recognized open standards. RFID products include portable, handheld RFID readers, proven to decrease labor time associated with physical inventory counts by up to 80%.
Implementation
As the only company to work with RFID frequencies at all levels, including high, ultra-high frequency (UHF) and microwave, ADT provides significant added value in meeting the needs of its customers throughout the supply chain. When applying technology like RFID, it is reassuring to have a provider that anticipates issues, uses proven techniques to get maximum system performance and has the ability to make products easier to use.
Results
ADT has allocated significant resources for the development and delivery of RFID solutions and is committed to providing solutions that are modular, flexible and compatible with its customers' existing technology infrastructures. ADT provides EAS solutions to more than 80% of the world's top 100 retailers and its commitment to RFID is part of its investment in developing solutions that work with industry standards, allowing users to develop and expand capabilities as technology evolves.
No specialty retailer is immune from shrinkage. Inventory shrinkage, a combination of employee theft, shoplifting, vendor fraud and administrative error, cost U.S. retailers over $31 billion last year, according to the latest National Retail Security Survey report on retail theft, that analyzed theft incidents from 118 of the largest U.S. retail chains. Specialty retailers are looking for ways to deal with shrinkage by finding a cost-effective security solution to better control their potential for losses.
Solution
The ADT® Select Vision auditing program is an ideal protection package to assist specialty retailers in tackling the shrinkage issue. A total integrated video services solution, ADT's Select Vision system and the accompanying auditing software, provided by Arrowsight, allows ADT to measure store compliance by performing audits and providing a score to store management based on multiple factors. The hard data, supplied daily, illustrates the performance of a store and enables the retailer to take proactive actions before a compliance issue becomes disruptive or problematic. To corroborate ADT findings, management can view the secure video at any time, from any computer with Internet access. ADT's industry-leading digital recording technology enables automatic storage and the ability to search archived images quickly and easily.
Implementation
ADT Select Vision enables retailers to proactively utilize the system to perform process verification audits such as POS exceptions, monitor receiving door activity and employee access, backroom inventory procedures, and tracking inventory counts on high-value merchandise.
Results
By implementing ADT Select Vision, a specialty retailer can cut costs and increase revenue, resulting in a solid return on investment. This customized security solution significantly reduces shrinkage by allowing a retailer's management team - at the corporate, regional and store level - to anticipate loss vulnerabilities before they become unmanageable.
ADT designed and installed a new access control system. Equipment included a redundant Northern 3.0 ProWatch NT server with several imaging stations and more than 300 HID ProxCard readers. The work required transitioning from the existing access control system and database while keeping all equipment operational. The project was completed on time.
RFID Technology: The business advantage of early adoption. Putting Generation 2 to work today. Published on: 2005 Industry: General Business Solution: RFID
The future of RFID technology can have a big impact on your company's bottom line. That's because the standards in RFID tags and readers are constantly evolving and if you're investing in technology that can't adapt to the changes, it could be a very costly mistake. Therefore, if you're implementing or planning to implement an RFID solution, being well informed is critical.
ThingMagic's white paper, Generation 2: A User Guide, provides information on the evolving technologies and how the decisions that you make now could mean easier migration to new RFID standards later. In other words, doing some future-proofing today can translate into fewer problems and headaches, as well as lower migration costs, tomorrow.
As the leader in the field of security, ADT is committed to maintaining our technological expertise and continuing to make advancements in this new area of technology. Our Agile RFID readers are flexible and adaptable, and compatible with EPC open standards, allowing users to expand and change their RFID networks as technology and standards evolve.
ADT's partnership with ThingMagic, and our participation in EPCGlobal, is aligned with our commitment to maintaining thought-leadership in the RFID industry. And, more importantly, it also allows us to offer best-in-class solutions for your specific RFID requirements.
Generation 2: A User Guide provides excellent industry insight in regards to RFID technologies that will most certainly help you navigate and prepare your business for the future.
Remote Video Auditing: The smart way to build a strong future on your past investments. Published on: September 2005
The Business Case for RVA: Getting More, Spending Less After years of tentative economies and tight budgets, companies in today’s business climate are struggling more than ever to maintain, and preferably increase, profitability. But the laws of business — and nature, for that matter — suggest that in order to see increases in one area, there may have to be decreases in others. In the case of profitability, those corresponding decreases may come from operating, marketing and staffing expenses. Unfortunately, some companies even choose to cut services, an option many industries have found leads to high failure rates, unacceptable customer attrition rates and fierce competition.
So how can you leverage your past investments by building on your current infrastructure? Reaping ROI from past investments is critical for accomplishing these goals within today’s tight fiscal constraints. In this decade of corporate cutbacks and a glut of technology investments, ingenuity is as respected as innovation. The companies that can combine both will win, because they will have a solid formula for improving every aspect of business, from the balance sheet to the break room.
These new challenges require new thinking; dynamic new solutions that can evolve along with today’s business demands. One such approach that delivers on all of the requirements facing companies across a broad spectrum, is a new service called Remote Video Auditing (RVA). RVA’s premise is both simple and revolutionary: leverage existing hardware infrastructure with enhanced software and services to produce returns from current investments.
It’s that simple.
RVA takes video—both live and recorded—to new levels of functionality. RVA auditors view video associated with a procedure, process or alarm event and generate reports containing statistical summaries, web hyperlinks to video, and still images captured through the RVA systems and software. The auditors use both saved video data and "facility tours" using live video feeds to compile the reports. These reports — or "scorecards"— are then sent to the company, summarizing a location’s performance on a Rating 1/Rating 2 basis.
RVA uses existing video hardware cameras and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), linked through a central server architecture and viewed through the web, to monitor and audit operations, allowing businesses to realize greater efficiency, better safety and higher security.
By using the web for Remote Viewing Services (RVS), and through very inventive uses of video, RVA is quickly becoming a business best practice for addressing security issues, alleviating safety concerns and ensuring the efficacy of marketing initiatives.
RVA’s Technology: A Suite of Management Tools
Alone and unmonitored, recorded data is useless. Audited and analyzed, however, the findings provide enormous value for businesses spanning retail, quick serve restaurant, food processing, convenience stores, manufacturing and healthcare. Additionally, RVA provides companies with a solution to one of their core challenges: auditing recorded video.
RVA software is designed to leverage current investments, using existing video cameras and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). Data is audited and analyzed by accessing existing security video cameras and DVRs through the Internet and corporate Intranets.
Then, through RVA Reports, the recorded and reviewed information is transformed into actionable intelligence. With RVA systems, companies are provided a suite of tools for monitoring processes, managing people and maximizing profit.
A Tool for Monitoring Processes: RVA can dramatically improve the monitoring process, as audits, once executed bi-weekly or bi-annually with much preparation and employee anticipation, can now be a daily, routine process. Off-site monitoring of facilities can take place daily through a review of images taken by strategically placed video cameras.
RVA auditors routinely view video associated with a procedure, process or alarm event. Examples of such procedures span all scenarios and industry sectors: From the cleanliness of a restaurant to gauge service levels, to compliance of regulations and third-party certification of a food processing plant to ensure the health and safety of the public, to back-door openings at a retail store as a measure to thwart theft. Each of these procedures at each and every critical control point is monitored for best practices and better operations.
In addition to statistical summaries generated daily, weekly or monthly, the reports contain web hyperlinks to video and still images providing visual documentation of events captured by the auditors. Weekly e-mail "scorecards" summarize an individual location’s performance on a Rating 1/Rating 2 basis. If auditors detect problems, abnormalities or anomalies, they identify those pictures in their reports.
According to Adam Aronson, CEO of Arrowsight, Inc., a leading developer of RVA services, "Due to the need to reduce costs and drive productivity, analyzing the live and recorded information — and transforming it into actionable intelligence to reduce spending — is becoming a mission-critical management tool." A Tool for Managing People: RVA can also be used as a valuable positive reinforcement tool. When auditors identify optimal performance and practices, the results are noted so as to give businesses a boost and employees the recognition they deserve. Principles of industrial psychology indicate that observation data is more effective as a tool for encouragement, than as a mechanism for critique. Therefore, successful monitoring programs drive a message of positive reinforcement and can be leveraged as a tool for increasing employee retention and morale.
"When you use this powerful information as a management tool to identify people who do the right thing," says Aronson, " it lowers turnover, boosts morale, and improves productivity."
According to Aronson, RVA installations typically see compliance scores go up — and stay that way.
A Tool for Maximizing Profit: Because of the new thinking behind the RVA software, it’s able to bring together a business mentality with technical ability, creating a valuable profit tool.
Beyond helping to ensure high levels of service and customer satisfaction, the system can increase profits by decreasing operating expenses. For instance, with RVA, a manager in charge of multiple locations can view the daily practices and operating efficiencies of his regions remotely, instead of spending a considerable amount of time and money traveling to each location.
RVA also allows executives to troubleshoot problem areas, identify winning practices and build better management models, as in the case of McDonald’s franchisee Tony Delligatti. After using RVA at his different locations, Delligatti achieved dramatic improvements, including increased sales. As he puts it, "When we receive the intelligence, we are able to show our managers actual video of a car sitting at a drive–thru for two minutes. It’s very powerful; it focuses our people on solutions." In addition to drive–thru wait times, Delligatti uses RVA to reduce food waste, increase employee productivity and ensure food compliance.
Because of the issues it solves, the tools it provides and the benefits its produces, RVA is now the evolving standard for web-based video viewing through a single remote interface.
RVA’s Proposition: The New Value Equation for Business
Companies today are pressed to get more out of existing investments and develop new sources of ROI. Couple those directives with the ever-growing concerns related to Homeland Security, food safety, loss prevention and customer service, and the result is a broad-based business focus on preventive measures and effective practices. RVA’s beauty is its simplicity; the software and services integrate with existing security and monitoring systems, enabling companies to maximize their investments and minimize expenditures. Add the innovation of its technology to the ingenuity of its services and RVA heralds a New Value Equation to Increase Business Performance.
RVA in Practice: RVA’s Role as Consultant and IT Integrator Because RVA features both consulting and technology implications, RVA professionals fulfill the roles of both Consultant and IT Integrator.
In the role of consultant, RVA specialists assess and analyze each customer’s core business and overarching problems. This diligence enables the team to identify critical points of care in the supply chain. In this capacity, the RVA team is centered on alleviating the "pain points" that represent prime opportunities for RVA to deliver on the company’s proposition in better, faster and cheaper formats.
RVA specialists step into the role of IT Integrator by using the intelligence gathered in the consulting phase to integrate any of the client’s existing data seamlessly into the RVA service platform.
Combining these two roles — a business mentality with the technical ability of RVA — is what makes RVA such a unique approach to the issues facing business today. An approach that has been proven to work time and time again, as evidenced in the numerous case studies available at the end of this paper. RVA’s Promise: To Deliver Value Beyond Security and Operational Issues
In fully leveraging video and related data, RVA can go beyond operational and security functions to provide true enterprise-wide value.
Where departments were once disparate and disjointed, RVA systems can facilitate an enterprise–wide view of the company’s flow and framework. While many consider RVA a technical tool, managers quickly realize its value as a business enhancement tactic.
Mike Rozzano, GM of Plumrose USA, a meat processing company founded in the 1930s, remarks on the results yielded through his plant’s implementation of RVA: "When we receive poor audit reports, we are able to make improvements to the specific areas necessary. Equally important, when we get good audit reports, we are able to use those to both improve corporate morale and leverage the findings as a marketing tool—pointing to the findings that support our plant exceeding at food – safety goals."
Because the auditing reports are customized for each customer and created daily, weekly or monthly, the results are significant and substantial. RVA is currently being used in the marketplace to help reduce risk and increase returns for the meat-processing industry; to monitor "time–in–line" for the quick serve restaurant industry, increasing profits and employee performance; to reduce internal theft in the retail industry; and to provide remote management capabilities, allowing self-operating Laundromat chains to expand.
Simply put, RVA makes managers aware of operations and opportunities that may otherwise be increasing costs, risk and exposure to the organization.
RVA’s Proposition: Points of Performance: There are many ways that RVA can help a company realize returns. Profits: The metrics and measurements RVA uncovers fuel profits from two primary standpoints:
RVA reveals new opportunities and optimized practices for profit potential; and
RVA detects areas for decreasing operating margins, adding money to a company’s bottom line.
Safety & Security: Certainly when a business envisions the uses of RVA, heightened safety and security top the list. After all, RVA is a smart strategy for ongoing monitoring and management systems for a retail store, manufacturing plant, food processor, restaurant venue, military base or Homeland Security Hotpoint.
Productivity & Efficiency: Business byproducts of RVA include an increase in staff productivity and a boost in overall efficiency. When properly acted upon, the information RVA uncovers helps create far more streamlined, money–saving organizations.
Employee Retention & Coaching: RVA can be an effective tool for encouragement. The reports can be used to pinpoint areas for improvement and reward, producing a performance–based training and coaching program.
Risk :The quickest way to sabotage a business is to increase risks or exposure in any part or portion of the supply chain. Whether healthcare delivery, food processing or meat preparation, risk is the number one priority, with profits a close second. RVA heeds this call by being employed at critical care and critical safety points within the corporate continuum.
Service :Competition for market share is too high and customers’ memory banks are too good for businesses to cut back, fall short, or fail altogether on service levels. Especially when the issues can be easily uncovered and adequately repaired with the use of RVA systems and software. Along with identifying meaningful metrics and tracking customer touch points, RVA provides an ongoing assessment of how the businesses’ internal operations are responding to external demands and market drivers.
ROI: As noted in the Value Equation, RVA leverages current technology investments with new methodologies to produce an ongoing stream of returns on existing investments.
Practices & Processes: In addition to tracking events and breaches, companies can better track their businesses for areas of productivity and profit, leveraging the tools and transparency afforded through RVA.
RVA’s Applications: Many Sectors, Multiple Solutions One of the most compelling aspects of the RVA software is the span of industry sectors it supports. There are common denominator and driving demands — for all businesses. How do you ensure the safety of the public and the security of your property? What are the optimal levels of staffing? How can you set systems in place to reward and retain employees? How do you keep customer service levels high? And employee turnover low? Which marketing programs are yielding returns and what, if any, budget dollars are being wasted on ineffective initiatives? These questions can all be answered by RVA. With its vast array of applications, RVA is helping businesses reap ROI, not just from a single use of the software but from its multiple solutions.
Compliance Solution (Safety): Nowhere is safety more important than in meat preparation, where the health and welfare of the public is at stake. RVA systems, placed at critical control points in the processing continuum, help ensure health, compliance and quality guidelines are monitored and met — through the assurance level that only third-party certifications can provide.
Security – Enhancement Solution (Security): Security staff and systems are enhanced through an RVA installation.
Remote – Management Solution (Staffing):RVA assists with staffing self-operating and limited on-site personnel properties through remote management of operations and services.
Real – Time Research Solution (Marketing):RVA provides research in real time, by giving management and marketing a veritable bird’s-eye view of how customers and prospects interact with their products and services, and what offers initiate purchases.
Efficiency – Indicator Solution (Efficiency):Bolstering efficiency is an enterprise-wide initiative and RVA makes it possible for management to view the enterprise thoroughly and transparently.
Customer – Satisfaction Solution (Service):RVA monitors a range of customer care and service levels, including the cleanliness of the property, the waiting time for customers and the quality of product offerings.
Performance – Level Solution (Coaching):With promotions and pay rates based on performance, RVA provides a positive reinforcement method and training mechanism to help make managers better and encourage employees to hone their skills.
RVA provides many valuable benefits to a multitude of sectors. From healthcare to Homeland Security, restaurants to retail, military to manufacturing, meat packing to food processing, grocery stores, convenience stores and many more, RVA has claimed its place and purpose — and proven its performance.
About ADT® Select Vision ADT Select Vision, a remote video auditing service powered by Arrowsight, provides custom reports to monitor a range of critical success factors. ADT Security Services is the largest single provider of electronic security services to nearly six million commercial, government and residential customers throughout the United States.
For more information, please visit: http://www.adtselectvision.com
Using Innovative Video Technology To Help Increase ROI and Reduce Operating Risks Published on: September 2005
Introduction In today’s economy, security has just as much to do with the bottom line as it does with protecting facilities. A critical factor in that observation is that many businesses have some type of security infrastructure in place and would like to leverage that investment. With the growth of digital video, that challenge can now be met. Video solutions today allow companies to help streamline operations, improve customer service, manage product placement and replenishment, hire and train more efficiently, investigate fraud, monitor inventory procedures and much, much more. ADT continually evaluates new video technologies so that it can bring the most beneficial products to its customers to leverage their security investments across their organizations. We also work with other experts in the industry so that we provide an offering of products and services that meet diverse needs within a variety of industries. This paper aims to provide a concise overview of how innovative video solutions, based on a digital video platform and utilizing current video surveillance and other loss prevention equipment, can not only be utilized in traditional security applications but can be turned into operational and risk management tools. The combination of technology and ADT’s experience in the industry results in a system that can help you achieve an increased return on your investment as well as reduce your risks. We invite you to find out more about ADT Security Services by visiting our website at www.adt.com or by contacting us at 1-800-ADT-ASAP.
Video Technology Overview
The demand for video surveillance technology has never been greater and it is this security technology that is expected to see the highest demand in the coming years. Advances in video technology have expanded its capabilities from typical closed circuit television and video recording security applications to applications that can enhance virtually every aspect of a business – from security to operations to risk management. Understanding why video technology is changing so rapidly requires a brief look at the components of a video system. There are two main components: one is the camera and the other is a recording device that records the video and then acts as a remote server for the cameras. In legacy systems, the device used to record video is a VCR, or video cassette recorder. While a good first step, VCRs have inherent challenges: difficulty in retrieving and saving specific images without time-consuming searching and tapes that need to be changed, stored and replaced. On the other hand, the latest video systems have been enhanced by new technologies such as digital video recording, software and biometrics as well as in equipment improvements such as smaller, more reliable cameras with higher picture resolution and color capabilities. Market demand for remote video capabilities has also pushed video technology to new heights. Of all these changes, it is digital video that is making the greatest impact.
Digital Video: The Foundation of Today’s Video Surveillance Technology At the foundation of today’s video system is the digital video recorder, or DVR. DVRs are really just video processors that change the camera’s analog video output into a digital file. While DVRs were introduced years ago, the price, quality, capacity and capabilities of currently available electronic components make this technology more affordable than ever. Part of its affordability is also because it is not only being used for security applications but can be leveraged by operations and risk management. While the benefits of video surveillance alone are invaluable to a business, using digital recording technology adds to those benefits by offering ease of use, immediate retrieval and remote retrieval options. DVRs offer a number of advantages: .. Instant access to recorded images by time, motion or event – an important timesaver to any business. .. Images that are easy to save, organize and review at a later date. .. Ability to hold more information and better manage multiple video files than traditional video cassette recorders. .. Increased reliability and savings because all information is electronic – there are no tapes to buy, change or store and no maintenance or cleaning associated. Importantly, use of digital video does not require replacing existing cameras and camera accessory equipment. It just takes the place of legacy recording equipment, yet offers a multitude of additional benefits as part of the foundation of a video system. Additionally, digital video can increase the value of other systems, such as cameras, Using Innovative Video Technology 5 of 12 burglar alarms and point-of-sale exception software because it can leverage each of these technologies to their maximum potential as will be explored in the next section.
Using Video Technology to Help Increase ROI and Reduce Operating Risks
In the past, a video system was provided to be utilized mostly as a practical security tool to minimize loss from burglary, theft and inventory shrinkage. With today’s ability to cost effectively utilize digital video as the foundation of a video surveillance system, video technology has been turned into an operations tool that can help businesses address productivity, logistics and workplace safety. It has also migrated into a risk management tool to help mitigate such issues as premise liability, workplace violence, drug usage and harassment. By moving into these areas, video technology has become an important way for companies to help reduce costs and reap an improved return on their investment. Above all, while the return on investment for security applications was at times elusive or at the very least difficult to determine, the ROI calculation for operational aspects is much easier to calculate and is applicable to a variety of individual business cases. Having digital video as the backbone of a video system gives organizations flexibility in how they leverage their investment. Today’s video technology allows companies to take on as much or as little as their resources or core business goals demand. Digital video offers the capability to "do it yourself" and monitor basic video locally. It also allows companies to activate the technology’s network capability to perform remote video monitoring while still utilizing internal personnel. Then, for more advanced operations and for companies who either cannot or select not to manage their own video services, there are service partners who can step in with experienced, trained personnel. Using Innovative Video Technology 6 of 12 Regardless of how video technology services are managed, the goal is the same – leveraging your investment to obtain the most cost savings possible while meeting your needs. Although video technology cannot solve every business issue, there are certainly areas in which it excels as the most effective tool a company can put in place. These areas are discussed in the following pages.
Exception Reporting Virtually anyone in loss prevention is familiar with the term "exception reporting." It fundamentally means that incidents associated with increased chances of loss are filtered out from all of the other business activities or transactions. At its most basic level, the goal of exception reporting is to reduce the time it takes to identify where losses may be occurring so that they can be fixed in an efficient manner. Whether burglar alarm, access control or video surveillance, most security technologies have evolved to offer some level of exception reporting.
The real benefit, however, lies in exception reporting through integrated systems. Imagine a retailer whose point-of-sale reporting software is combined with video images of a fraudulent transaction. Or, a burglar alarm system that supplies data that a backdoor was opened at an unauthorized time combined with video showing who opened the door and what activity occurred.
Through a video technology called video auditing, exception reporting utilizing integrated systems can be made even more valuable. Video auditing allows a business to identify its own criteria, or risk areas, and either utilize self-monitoring or a monitoring service to periodically monitor exception events and provide valuable feedback on exception activity. Video auditing can be applied to a number of industries – retail, fast food, grocery, manufacturing, marketing and even transportation facilities. Return is based on the specific needs of the business, and even by location. For instance, a business may be interested in looking at certain criteria across all of its facilities plus it may be interested in why a certain facility is experiencing higher than usual losses or compliance issues in a particular area. Video auditing allows for this type of exception reporting. In one example of ADT’s remote video auditing service in a retail facility, the customer was interested in verifying compliance with employee purchase policies, refunds, voids, smaller dollar amount sales and backdoor openings. With that criteria identified, audit service professionals periodically monitored exception events and provided the district manager and loss prevention with valuable feedback on exception activity. Within a few months, shrink at the pilot store was reduced by more than 60 percent.
And it isn’t just retailers who benefit from this type of auditing service. In another example, a company running a number of laundry facilities has implemented the service. They are utilizing the audit service to identify and report on doors left open, personnel compliance with company procedures and maintenance needs at its facilities. It is anticipated that this technology will reduce headcount costs while increasing the number of facilities that can be operated. The efficiencies gained will truly have an impact to the bottom line.
Video auditing technology is an especially innovative use of video for exception reporting because it provides a dashboard to show management at authorized levels what exactly is happening in their facilities or overall business. Based on criteria set by the business, video auditing allows a look initially at still pictures, then video, associated with either something having to do with a procedure or some type of alarm event. As a key result, it helps facilitate decision making on how to improve on inefficiencies.
Compliance to Safety and Security Policies/Procedures In the section above on exception reporting, both examples of facilities utilizing video auditing are using it in some way to address compliance issues. This is an important function of video technology whereby video clips can be linked to exception reports to provide visual documentation. Critical company policies or procedures can encompass any activity that is important to a specific business’ core success.
For instance, in a point-of-sale environment it may be looking at cash refunds, excessive void activity, manually entered credit card transactions, unusual activity in departments with significant shortages, discount and markdown abuse, transactions that occur before store openings and after closings, and training issues that result in poor productivity or customer service. To look at these events, video auditing can be linked together with a store’s video surveillance cameras, digital video recorders, point-of-sale exception software, electronic article surveillance system and its burglar alarm system.
In a food industry application, it may be important to look at something as simple as whether the facility was clean, if food safety regulations were followed in the food preparation area, if only authorized personnel were in the facility or that certain events occurred after a rise or fall of temperature in a food storage area. Video auditing, in this case, may be applied at certain times of the day when a facility was supposed to be cleaned, when food preparation was taking place or when a temperature alarm was triggered.
All businesses have policies and procedures for ensuring safety, quality, productivity and cost efficiencies. Video technology can help verify that those specific compliance interests are being met.
Reduction of Physical Guard Services
For certain businesses, guard services are often seen as a necessary business expense as previously there have been few other options. Video technology now offers an alternative. Utilizing remote video monitoring, a company like ADT can periodically observe stores on a live basis – referred to as remote guard tour service. For instance, instead of having a guard present at all times during the day, an employee at ADT’s central station can utilize special software to look into a location to help determine the current situation. ADT can also add two-way voice capability. ADT customers can specify what ADT looks at, when and how often they look at it and, if two-way voice is enabled, what ADT says to employees, customers, or even loiterers.
If a company employs guards in several locations, remote guard tour service can help deliver returns and efficiencies. If a guard typically costs about $60,000 a year, a company might be able to reduce that expenditure by $30,000 to $50,000 depending on what kind of frequency they require ADT to remotely view a location.
Protection of Assets and Inventory
The issues that video technology can help address certainly aren’t mutually exclusive. The protection of assets and inventory closely relates to the issue of compliance which was discussed earlier. A company has procedures and policies in place to protect assets and inventory. That may take the form of how a retailer conducts cash register transactions, how a food processing or water filtering plant protects its products from contamination, or how a manufacturing facility receives goods.
Regardless of industry, one of the goals of all businesses is to control shrinkage, or loss – and video technology can help each of them address their specific critical control points. Utilizing the example of video auditing services, a facility that has high theft losses may have merchandise disappearing out the back door. Each time that back door opens, the customer may wish to have a manager present since it would less likely be a theft. The opening of the back door can trigger an alarm event which can signal to the video recorder to begin recording so that the business can perform the appropriate verifications.
Employee Productivity
Video technology can have significant impact on employee productivity – not only from the aspect of those being observed but also those doing the observing. For employees, knowing they are being watched can significantly impact behavior and improve compliance to company policies and procedures. Video auditing can help to identify where breakdowns occur and give managers at all levels the evidence they need to coach their staff. Studies have shown that monitoring combined with coaching significantly improves employee performance and retention. It can not only result in operational efficiencies but improved employee safety. Employees who understand the purpose for the monitoring and where management uses it correctly as a coaching tool often welcome it as a benefit to their job.
Take for example a fast food operation. It is critical that a drive-thru lane not have too many cars waiting or a long line of people waiting for food at the counter – customers might just turnaround and leave. When one popular fast food chain introduced video auditing at a franchise, it resulted in a 30 percent improvement on time in line because employee training issues and staffing inefficiencies were identified and corrected.
At the management level, it offers the opportunity to identify training issues and resolve them before they become unmanageable. It also offers a way for management to identify and reward employees for doing their job correctly. Importantly, video auditing services can help reduce turnover at the management level because managers know they have someone helping them periodically monitor the exception activity.
Compliance with Quality Assurance Procedures
In no industry is quality assurance procedures more important than in the food industry where the health of the public is at stake. Video technology in the form of video auditing can help improve compliance with quality assurance procedures throughout the food supply chain. From how raw food is handled to how final products are packaged, remote video auditing can incorporate food industry regulations, sanitation and food safety criteria through the integration of a plant’s security and food monitoring systems.
In other industries, quality assurance control points can include standards on how employees interact with customers, how goods are manufactured, or if enough services or products are available to meet customer demand and much more. Video technology can be applied to help companies cost effectively identify exceptions to their procedures and then direct their resources to correcting the issues.
Conclusion
Digital video is certainly making its impact on video technology. Its capabilities and technology will continue to provide improvements in business solutions for security, operational and risk management applications. With additional integration efforts, video promises to become an even larger part of facility and operations management. Through video auditing, remote monitoring and remote video guard tours, ADT’s video experience can help leverage current investments in video surveillance equipment while making them work double time. This repurposing of video surveillance equipment investments can help improve safety, security and compliance – helping to reduce operating risks and increase return on investment.
For articles and other documentation on our products and services, see The Q CONTROL System Resource Collection CD, ADT The Solution Source, Volume 2, No.1 Spring 2000 and ADT Wire, Volume 35, Issue I, February/March 2000.
Eye scanners part of security boost; Colonie Equipment to identify airport staff before allowing access to restricted areas
The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, August 5, 2003, Page B4
Albany International Airport is installing new, futuristic staff security equipment that will scan workers' eyes to confirm who they are before allowing them into restricted areas.
The new scanners are part of a $255,000 program that will include upgrades to the airport's other security equipment and software. A Federal Aviation Administration grant will contribute $198,900 toward the cost of the equipment and installation from Tyco-ADT.
"It is nonintrusive, and it is not harmful to people," acting Chief Executive Officer John O'Donnell said of the biometric technology, which he said can "read" the distinctive pattern of an eye's colored iris and determine whether it matches the record on file for that person.
There will be three Iris Recognition Stations set up for airport staff only, O'Donnell said.
The enhanced security systems for staff come at a time when the airport's federal security screeners are stepping up scrutiny of some small passenger items in response to heightened concerns about potential hijackings.
Paul Varville, the federal Transportation Security Administration director at Albany International, said the change follows new warnings that terrorists may be planning to disguise explosives or weapons inside routine electronic items.
"What we do, when we get these kinds of alerts, is we give more thorough screenings to things such as cameras and laptop computers," Varville said. "We've always looked at these items, but now we are looking at them more carefully, as of last week."
