An intelligent identity system can deliver much more than identity
How do you ensure the security of those working in the world's most
famous retail store? How do you design a system integrated across a
number of sites spread miles apart? How do you base an entire payroll
process on information derived from a single ID card system?
UK-based Harrods is a world renowned retail institution. While most
are familiar with the store, its logo and its famous owner, Mohamed
al Fayed, few realize the complex day-to-day operations behind the company.
There are over 20 separate locations within the Harrods Group in the
UK, including retail outlets, warehouses, distribution centers and administration
offices. Over 8,000 individuals work for Harrods. This includes both
those directly employed by the company and "concessions,"
those working for third parties that have departments in the Knightsbridge,
London store. Also, hundreds of building contractors work every week
across the sites and 500 temporary staff are employed to cater for the
extra demand during the two famous Harrods sales each year.
Richard Morris is a business analyst at Harrods and the man tasked
with implementing and maintaining a solution that met the needs of the
company. A retail organization with a difference required an ID card
system with a difference, and this is the story of how it was achieved.
A developing system
The card system for Harrods needed to be a dynamic solution to meet
the various needs of the retail organization. Card systems within the
retail industry are not a new development. In fact, more and more retailers
are realizing the benefits that a sophisticated card-based solution
can bring, not just for customer loyalty schemes, but also access control,
staff time and attendance and cashless vending.
But retail establishments have their own set of demands - the large
number of individuals on site without cards (customers), the number
of doors (on shop floors) that are not access control linked, and the
overall "relaxed" security environment when compared with,
for example, a research establishment - all of these pose their own
problems for those responsible for security.
Harrods first installed ID card technologies back in the early 1990s.
The store implemented a system that incorporated four key elements:
1) The first element was to provide time and attendance information
for the staff payroll. Within the retail industry, the vast number of
staff working varying shifts in various locations gives department managers
huge headaches regarding the confirmation of who worked what hours.
With the Harrods card system, cardholders could swipe in and out, with
the information being logged onto software which, in turn, printed reports
for managers to sign off. A bar-coded plastic card was given to all
members of staff and concessions based at the Knightsbridge store and
their main distribution center at Osterley, some 10 miles away.
2) The second element to the original Harrods system was for the building
contractors working on-site. Because of the huge amount of building
work being undertaken across all locations, literally hundreds of contractors
worked on company premises. The card contained the holder's name, photo
and details of the contracting company they worked for. When entering
Harrods premises, the individual's photo showed up on screen, ensuring
the validity of the cardholder.
To streamline administration and ensure correct authorization, cards
were actually issued by the relevant architects and a report was printed
detailing the exact number of hours worked.
3) The third element of the system was a limited amount of access control.
A magnetic stripe card was issued restricting entry into generator and
power distribution rooms together with security offices. Finally, another
magnetic stripe card was issued to staff and contractors working at
Osterley allowing them access through car park barriers, computer rooms
and secure areas holding valuable merchandise.
4) In the summer of 1998, a cashless vending element, (the fourth element)
was added. Harrods installed Girovend food and beverage machines, initially
at Osterley, and then at other locations enabling less cash handling
for Harrods staff.
Evolving issues
There were however, a number of problems with the system. "First,
each element of the system was provided by a separate supplier,"
said Richard Morris. "For example, the access control was provided
by one company, the cards system for contractors was provided by another,
as was the time and attendance system. It was difficult therefore to
integrate the system."
As each element was supplied by a separate supplier, there were different
levels of service and maintenance back up. The numerous suppliers also
meant greater overall cost implications.
The system was impractical. Members of staff could be walking around
with numerous cards, each with different functions. Staff at Osterley,
for example, were equipped with an identification card, a car park card
and a Girovend card. Contractors cards were also different than staff
cards, and the time and attendance reporting was only site-based, thus
headaches were caused by those working across numerous sites. Finally,
the more cards there were, the more cards were lost, requiring new ones
to be produced.
There was also the millennium bug to consider, as the existing systems
were not Y2K compliant.
Morris was tasked with the challenge of evaluating the systems and
making appropriate recommendations. "It was clear," he said,
"that after initial evaluation, all indicators pointed to the need
for greater integration, with a single card system performing all of
the previous functions and perhaps more."
Aims of the new system
Two years ago, Morris began evaluating what was required of the new
system; the functions, the capabilities and the cost. Meetings were
held with various relevant departments including human resources, security
and technical services (responsible for contractors) to determine the
exact aims of the new system.
"The main requirement," continued Morris, "was that
the system had to be integrated across the entire company. If, for example,
we inputted the personal details of an individual at Osterley, the systems
at all of the other locations needed to be updated immediately. This
form of global reporting was also vital for the credibility of the time
and attendance system, as well as overall security, of course."
The new system needed to support all the applications, such as the
Girovend cashless vending machines, access control and time and attendance,
integrating them all on to just the one card. These cards needed to
be produced quickly and conveniently, on-site and on-demand, being of
a high standard with a good quality color photo. The instant over-the-counter
issuance of the system would make it unique among other retailer systems.
Risk analysis
By outlining these requirements, Morris drew up a short list of 12
potential suppliers, which was filtered down to six after discussions
regarding capabilities, resources and expertise.
Morris identified six critical areas of "risk," crucial factors
that the potential suppliers would have to guarantee they could deliver.
The first risk was that of the ability to handle the huge rate of traffic
that passes through Harrods every day. Anything up to 20,000 card swipes
a day are made by staff, concessions, contractors and visitors. On the
morning of a sale, up to 8,000 individuals need to gain access to the
building via the staff entrance before 9:30 am, the majority arriving
within 30 minutes of opening time.
The second risk was the capacity of the database. By globalizing the
network and basing the company's entire payroll process on the system,
a complete time and attendance report would need to be produced and
printed every week. As this report is over 4,500 pages, the system's
capacity and print reliability would be crucial.
The next risk area was that of the staff entrance at the Knightsbridge
store. At this point, the system needed to be able to check the validity
of cardholders and their access to the building quickly and efficiently.
Morris estimated that three individuals a second would need to be admitted
through the entrance and into the store, a number that would rise considerably
during the Harrods sales.
The fourth risk area was that of overall administration. Access to
the system needed to be simple and easy to use, providing users with
the ability to update the system with the click of a button at any location.
The fifth risk was that of access control reliability. In a business
spread over many sites and utilizing a wide range of communications
equipment, it was vital that access control and swipe recording was
maintained even in the event of complete network failure.
The card itself was the final risk area identified by Morris. Irrespective
of the functionality of a system e.g. the reliability, the speed and
the various applications - the final piece of the jigsaw, the card itself,
was the most crucial. Good quality, durable cards would need to be printed
quickly and conveniently on-demand. The card would incorporate bar code
and magnetic stripe functions in order to retain the time and attendance,
access control and Girovend information. Each card would be color coded
according to rank and require a good quality color photo. Also, access
to EPOS tills needed to be incorporated to enhance the management of
the hundreds of sales associates working in the building.
Sourcing the supplier
To be able to deliver the system outlined above, Morris placed huge
importance on choosing the correct company to design and install the
system. A list of six companies was narrowed to three after the completion
of a functionality checklist. He then issued an "invitation to
tender."
From the three companies, NBS Technologies, an ICMA member, was chosen
to supply the system. NBS designs, manufactures and markets an integrated
line of card, card issuance, identification and point-of-sale products
and software. The company provides bespoke solutions similar to what
was required by Harrods to those in market segments such as financial
institutions, retai-lers, government agencies and healthcare organizations.
NBS markets its range of Javelin desktop color card printers and the
easy-to-use Mosaic for Windows ID card software. This software was customized
in order to provide a common front end to all the different applications
incorporated into the Harrods solution. NBS Javelin printers are available
from a number of major ID card value added resellers in the UK, Europe
and around the world.
As well as a number of retail operators, clients of NBS and its dealers,
Javelin users include Manchester University, Imperial College and the
Institute of Psychiatry, the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth,
Orpington and Hammersmith hospitals, and many of the United Nations
offices throughout Europe and Africa.
Deciding factors
"There were a number of reasons why we chose NBS to provide the
system," said Morris, "such as the ability to integrate all
the various locations on to the one system. But the overall deciding
factor was that NBS best provided evidence of being able to remove all
the risks of the desired system that we had identified."
As part of a full working demonstration of the system Morris identified
in the brief, NBS created a report of three million card swipes. "This
obviously removed one of the biggest risks that I had identified, the
ability to handle the sheer quantity of information that the system
needed to process," Morris noted. NBS also provided Harrods with
a formatted time and attendance report for these swipes, which took
just 15 minutes to produce.
As part of the solution, NBS sourced access control barriers from Fastlane
which process each swiped card in less than two seconds. NBS proposed
that the installation of six of these barriers at the staff entrance
would more than meet the highest levels of demand.
The unique retail card system
The NBS solution for Harrods was (and still is) unlike any other retail
system, as it allowed for instant, on-demand over-the-counter issuance
of each card. Morris added, "This had the massive benefit of allowing
individuals to be added to the system, who could then have instant access
to appropriate facilities. This is important for those working on tills
who have been issued with temporary or new cards and can use the machines
immediately after registration."
NBS installed six Javelin desktop card printers which processed and
printed each new card for staff, contractors and visitors within a minute.
The card itself is color-coded according to staff category and displays
the name of the cardholder. Further information is kept in the database
on the appropriate cost centre, start and end dates (for contracted
individuals) and whether the cardholder is till-trained or not. Full
color cards are produced for staff members and concessions, while cards
with monochrome photographs are produced for contractors.
Once appointed to provide the system, records for 8,000 individuals
were created by NBS in July 1998. Existing cardholders exchanged their
old cards for the new ones during a one week period and the system went
live in the following October.
Benefits of the new system
"The benefits that we are enjoying affect both the staff and the
management," said Morris. "The staff are really pleased with
the new card. Its functionality coupled with the fact that they no longer
have to carry so many separate cards has gone down particularly well."
From a management point of view, the benefits are massive, he added.
"Administration has been greatly enhanced through NBS' integration
of all the various functions across all the sites. If someone loses
their card, they can have the old one stopped and a temporary one instantly
produced by a security officer. If they are a sales associate, the system
has been updated with details of the new card, by the time they arrive
at the till! This instant over-the-counter issuance is unique amongst
other retail establishments."
The access control software can display the photo of the cardholder
on the security officer's monitor each time the card is swiped and the
individual enters the premises. The images are stored on the system
centrally and can be immediately displayed at any location.
"The NBS software is incredibly dynamic. At any moment in time,
I can print off a wealth of reports such as who's been through a particular
door, the movements of a particular individual, who was where when,
and induction reports," Morris continued. "The entire 4,500-page
time and attendance report is produced and printed within two hours,
and the relevant section delivered to each cost centre manager for approval
by noon every Monday. This is pretty impressive when you consider that
since the system went live it has handled over four million swipes."
An integrated future
Almost 100,000 individuals have now been entered onto the database
and it is likely that Harrods will be increasing this even further.
Morris said he is planning to add more sites onto the system in the
near future. "With such an excellent system, there's no reason
why we shouldn't utilize it to its full capabilities. And that is exactly
what we intend to do."
For further information, please contact Philip Barton, NBS Technologies
Limited, tel: +44 (0) 1932 351531; email: philip.barton@nbstech.co.uk