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New patrol management system

Guard monitoring solutions have been manufactured by OnGuard since 2004 and the company has released its third-generation patrol system, according to Richard Frost, managing member of Astute Electronics. The latest release has several improvements, including new features, some of which are unique to the OnGuard system.

OnGuard’s vision is to provide the customer with an end-to-end solution, starting with staff vetting, data verification, patrol management and ending with time and attendance reporting. In an effort to assist the industry and improve the efficiency of staff vetting, OnGuard now provides a free service to PSIRA registered security companies. This service allows the participants to upload their staff data to the company’s server.

The system automatically verifies PSIRA information and keeps a record of the employment history. The information is not publicly available and can only be accessed when the employee resigns from their present company. The purpose behind the service is to enable employers to establish the employment history of an applicant in order that fly-by-night staff can be quickly and efficiently vetted. An added bonus to participating companies is that they can print staff ID cards by using the company’s software. “Staff photographs are easily uploaded to our server using our free android phone application,” says Frost.

Our patrol system facilitates time and attendance reporting and reduces the possibility of buddy clocking. The benefit of using an OnGuard system is that the controller is able to verify that each site is correctly manned with the appropriate number of staff assigned for that shift. This is achieved through a simple yet efficient Web-based controller interface.

Each OnGuard is remotely configurable to cater for the correct staff complement for the particular site. Clocking data is immediately available to the controller and the information is automatically compared to the site roster. When the site is correctly manned, the warning showing an under or over posted site is removed from the screen.

A question is often raised as to “who watches the duty controller”? OnGuard takes care of this by including in its daily report to managers, a report on how efficiently the signals from the various sites were dealt with in the previous 24 hours.

“Daily reports are the key to managing a properly run guarding company,” adds Frost. “Ours are really very easy to read and supervisors are able to drill down to problem guards with one click of a mouse.

“Patrol management is the heart of the system and through years of refinement we have built what we believe to be the best system on the market today. We are able to cater for multiple guards doing simultaneous patrols as well as different patrol durations for each of the routes required. A unique feature is that of the interpoint delay. Our systems are configurable to prevent the guard from hurrying his patrol in order to get back to a warm and cosy guard hut. A point will simply ‘glow red’ to indicate that he must wait before proceeding if the guard gets to the point before the allotted time. Other features include a ‘stay-awake’ function to eliminate the possibly of the guard going to sleep during his rest period.”

In the MKIII version, OnGuard has included RFID technology which now allows it, as an option, to provide our customers with RFID points and an RFID baton.

Cost is a big factor when supplying a service to the guarding industry, says Frost. “The bulk of our customers rent patrol management systems from us and included in the rental fee is full maintenance. A service department is expensive to maintain and the result is that to drive the rental prices down we have to improve the product so as to avoid unnecessary expenses. This is a win-win situation for both OnGuard and our customers.

Despite inflation, we have kept our rental fees constant over the past four years. This has been achieved as a result of strong company growth and improvements in the reliability of our hardware.”

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