Creating credentials

You can create a new credential, configure its properties, and assign it to a cardholder or visitor, using the Credential management task.

To create a credential:

1. In the Credential management task, click Create new credential ().
2. Select one of the following options:
   • Automatic entry:

     Present the card at a reader.
   • Manual entry:

     Manually enter the card data. Use this method when you do not have a card reader near you.
   • PIN:

     Create a PIN credential.
   • License plate:

     Enter a cardholder's license plate number. Use this method if a Sharp camera is being used to trigger a vehicle access barrier. In this case, the cardholder's vehicle license plate can be used as a credential.
3. If you select Automatic entry, you must then select a reader (USB reader or a door) and present the card at the reader.
   

   If you have a smart card encoding reader set up, set the option Encode before enrollment to OFF to read a pre-encoded card.

   

   When the reader LED turns green (ready to read), place the smart card on the reader. The reader LED turns yellow and then green with a short beep before turning off.

   If you want to generate and encode on your card a random 128-bit MIFARE DESFire credential before enrolling it, set the option Encode before enrollment to ON.

   NOTE: Your Security Center license must support smart card encoding.

   

   When the reader LED turns red (ready to encode), place the smart card on the reader for approximately 2 seconds. The reader LED turns yellow and then green with a short beep before turning off. If you hear a long beep and the LED stays red, try again.

4. If you select Manual entry, you must then select a card format, enter the required data fields, and click OK.

   

   CAUTION: Enter your card data carefully, because the system cannot validate whether the data you entered correspond to a physical card or not.
5. If you select PIN, you must then do the following:
   
   1. Enter the PIN as a numerical value.
      NOTE: Be careful not to exceed the number of digits accepted by your readers. A typical PIN length is five digits. But certain models accept up to 15 digits.
   2. Click OK.
6. If you select License plate, you must then do the following:
   
   1. Enter the license plate number.
      NOTE: You do not need to enter spaces that appear in the license plate number. The system treats "ABC123" and "ABC 123" as the same plate.
   2. Click OK.
7. In the Entity name field, enter a name for the credential entity.
   The following screen capture is for card credentials. The dialog box looks different if you selected PIN or License plate credentials.

   

8. Click the Belongs to field, select a cardholder or visitor to assign the credential to, and then click OK.
   Without assigning a credential, you cannot monitor the activities, or generate activity reports for that cardholder or visitor.
9. In the Status section, set the status and activation period for the credential.
   If the credential is inactive, the cardholder or visitor does not have access to any area.

   • Status:

     Set the credential status to Active.
   • Activation:

     Displays the current date.
   • Expiration:

     Set an expiration for the credential:

     • Never:

       The credential never expires.
     • Specific date:

       The credential expires on a specific date and time.
     • Set expiration on first use:

       The credential expires after a specified number of days after the first use.
     • When not used:

       The credential expires when it has not been used for a specified number of days.
10. If custom fields are defined for credentials, such as the manufacturer, the card model, and so on, enter the credential’s custom information under the designated section.
11. (Optional) Click the Advanced section, and configure the following credential properties:
    1. In the Description field, type a description for the credential.
    2. Assign the credential to a partition.

       Partitions determine which Security Center users have access to this entity. Only users who have been granted access to the partition can see the credential.

12. (Optional) If the credential is a card credential (not a PIN), select a badge template.
    1. In the lower-right corner of the credential details dialog box, click the badge image.
    2. Select a badge template, and then click OK.

       Badge templates are created in Config Tool. For information, see the Security Center Administrator Guide.

       A print preview of the badge appears, with data corresponding to the credential.

       NOTE: The badge template remains associated to the credential even if you unassign the credential from a cardholder or visitor.
13. To print the badge, in the lower-left corner of the credential details dialog box, click Print badge.
14. When you are finished editing the credential, click Save.