Virginia Tech University
The Problem
Virginia Tech currently enrolls more than 30,000 full-time students and is one of the country’s top research institutions. With such a large student population, it maintains more than 200 buildings, most of which have multiple sets of master keys.
To keep track of building keys, Anthony S. Watson, the associate director of facilities, buildings, and grounds, required employees to sign a log when they checked keys in or out. The university, he said, needed “better accountability for who had been issued keys and how long they had them checked out.”
While the log sheet gave Watson some idea of when keys were accessed, the biggest key control issue the department had was tracking down overdue keys.
"We have been able to quickly search issue history for sets of keys that have aided our [police department] with some investigations."
The Solution
Watson decided to implement a key management system to track keys more accurately. He selected a KeyTrak system not only because the system is user friendly but because it has extensive reporting capabilities.
In addition, the system automatically authenticates users and records each transaction, eliminating the need for employees to sign an access log each time they remove or return keys.
The Results
Watson reported that the KeyTrak system has allowed his department to meet its internal audit requirements for key security.
“Our checkout policy is for daily use, and the reporting feature lets us identify overdue keys very easily,” said Watson. “We have been able to quickly search issue history for sets of keys that have aided our [police department] with some investigations.”
He added, “The system met all our needs and is very user friendly. I would recommend this system for anyone tracking and issuing a high volume of keys.”