You rely on your door lock system. You trust it both to keep unauthorized people out of your building and to allow your own staff convenient access to the building. Testing your business’ lock door systems is a smart way to ensure that you can still rely on them and that they are not causing security breaches or frustration for authorized users. Of course, incomplete testing won’t give you the full peace of mind that you need and won’t alert you to all of the potential security issues with your system. Here is how you can test your business’ doors and a few tips to make your testing more thorough.

The Basics of Testing

Essentially, to test your system, you need to challenge it with both an authorized and unauthorized attempt at entry. First, put yourself in the staff’s shoes and try to enter the door with permission. Use your phone on the door and see how it opens. Make a note of delays and errors. Then, try to access the door with a phone that does not have access.

Your system provider may have more sophisticated means to test your system, and if so, you should perform them regularly.

You may also wish to combine the testing process with the auditing process for convenience. This involves looking at the mechanisms on your door and ensuring they are free of damage, checking over video surveillance systems, assessing if there is visual cover for illicit activities (like landscaping that needs a trim) and much more. This way, you can find potential physical security weaknesses while testing your door’s access control software.

Scheduling Your Tests

Consider scheduling your tests for the same day every month so that you never go more than 30 days without checking the system. Ideally, you’d also schedule the testing for a time where the doors don’t receive much traffic. Keeping a consistent time month-to-month will help employees predict the testing and stay out of your way.

Follow a Checklist

When you walk through your building, ensure you are testing every single door that has access control. List all of the doors on a checklist so you can be sure you’ve tested every single one.

You can also follow a basic checklist to assess the door, such as:

  • Check to ensure all doors are monitored by security personnel or video
  • Check to ensure all doors and windows have functional locks
  • Assess how often you are issuing or replacing key cards
  • Assess if the security system can scale with new doors if you need to
  • Install additional readers at often forgotten points in the buildings: parking garage entrances, maintenance entrances and lobbies

Add Further Testing

This is the process of physically checking the door, but your access control system provider may also have software tests you can run. After testing is also a good time to ensure that your software is up to date and ready to repel the latest security threats.

If you need assistance testing your system, some installers and providers will perform testing for you.