So you’re planning a major event. Regardless of your industry, the number of attendees or the size of your venues, your reputation – and possibly the future success of your organisation – rests on the security, efficiency and flexibility of your accreditation system. But how to select the right system for your event? We take a look at the top five features that every high-quality accreditation solution should include:

1. A secure, centralised personnel database 
   At the core of any accreditation system should be a single, secure database of every visitor, staff member and contractor who will be onsite. While many systems focus solely on visitor accreditation, the highest risk of a security breach comes from staff or contractors – the so-called “insider threat”. A quality accreditation database will allow you to build and maintain a profile on every individual, automatically ensuring they have provided the correct documentation and/or certification.
2. Personnel document upload capability
   Organisers risk severe reputational damage and huge fines for hiring illegal, unqualified or undocumented personnel. It is therefore essential that your accreditation system is capable of storing digital copies of all right-to-work documents, passports and visas, as well as any required certification such as security licences. Clients should also be able to set additional requirements, such as criminal record checks for high-risk areas.
3. Real-time access control with instant pass cancellation and tracking
   Staff, contractor and visitor badges should be produced from within the system and should features a unique barcode ID of each applicant within the database. Your integrated access control system should then allow you to track, replace or deactivate existing passes in real time, allowing you to respond rapidly to developing security situations.
4. Scalable, multi-zonal access control
   As your event grows and becomes more complex, you will need an accreditation system which can evolve too, allowing you to process 100 or one million visitors. It should also allow you to apply graded levels of accreditation to different individuals or groups of staff or visitors, depending on their needs, security clearance or status. And by setting date and time perimeters for venue zones in real time, you should be able to control and monitor access across the entire venue.
5. VAPPS
   A well-designed vehicle access module (VAPPS) will allow each visitor to apply for a pass through their account by entering their vehicle details (including brand, license number and vehicle type). Once an application is made, you can approve or reject an application and assign appropriate access levels and load/unload times. This reduces the risk of unauthorised vehicles entering your venue, and ties each vehicle to a registered individual, adding an extra layer of security.

Accredit Solutions is one of the world’s leading providers of intelligent accreditation systems, with a reputation for prioritising venue and event security at potentially vulnerable sporting, defence industry and political events. With offices in the UK and the Middle East, the company has a global reach and has successfully implemented projects around the world.