Overview

Key cards, especially study room key cards get A LOT of use. This means they frequently get damaged and need replacing for a variety of reasons. This page will discuss:

• The components of a key card and how key cards work
• Ways key cards get damaged and how to assess damage
• Things to consider before creating a new key card
• How to delete a credential and add a new credential in SMS Express
• How to process the key card for circulation.

Key card components and how they work

A key card has three components: a coil copper wire acting as an antenna, a capacitor which stores electrical energy and a chip which contains a formatted ID number. When you hold the card near the credential reader in the door lock, the card and the reader work together to create a direct circuit that powers the chip and allows the lock to read the id number on the chip. Once the lock is able to read the chip and recognize the number, it unlocks. (This is a very unscientific and broad explanation.)   

Determining Why the Card Doesn't Work

A key card may not open a lock for several reasons:

• The batteries in the lock are dying and not generating enough power to read the card.
• The key card has not been properly programmed into the lock.
• The key card has been damaged by a magnet or physical damage to the card.

It is important to properly test the card before replacing it. You don't want to waste time or money replacing a perfectly good key card. So take the following steps to determine the problem.

Test the card

• Open SMS and pretend you are adding a new credential to a user. 
• Follow the on Creating New Credentials page or further down on this page about adding a new credential to the point where you use the enrollment reader to read the card.
• If the enrollment reader is unable to read the card, then you know it is damaged and needs to be replaced. 
• If the enrollment reader brings up the serial number of the card, then the problem is something else.
• Write down the last 4-6 digits of the serial number
• Hit Cancel.

Check the room's assigned credentials

• Find the key card's room in the user panel and highlight that user.
• Look at the assigned credentials on the right side under "Credentials" and compare the last 4-6 digits of the serial numbers to the number you just wrote down.
• If they match, you know this card has been added as a credential. If they don't, then that is probably the problem.
• Add a new credential to this user.

Check the card's access rights

• Click on "Access Rights" in the main window of Schlage SMS Express.
• Click on "View By User" in the upper left corner.
• Scroll down until you find the room you need.
• Click on the first line of the door and look at the box on the right to see if the door is listed. 
  • If no door is listed or the wrong door is listed, you have found your problem. 
  • If the door is listed, click on the next line with the door number and check again.
  • If the correct door is listed, it is now time to check the batteries in the lock.

Check the lock's batteries

• If you haven't already tested the key card on the door, test it now.
• If it won't open, try to open the door using a PIN credential. Sometimes the lock will still open with a PIN when the batteries are low.
  • Watch the red and green lights when you test both the card and the PIN. 
  • The pattern displayed is a code that will tell you what is going on. You can find more by looking at the lock manual in the room coordinator's file.
• If the red light flashes 12 times before the green light flashes, the batteries need to be replaced.  

Check the lock codes 

• Red light flashes many times, no green, door doesn't unlock: Lock is in lock-out mode. You need to use a freeze credential to unlock.
  • I have also found that a pass through credential will also sometimes unfreeze the lock if the lock is just in error mode. All LEAD staff should have pass through credentials.

Replacing a Damaged Key

After you have ruled out all the other possible reasons a key may not work, it may be the key card needs replacing because of either external physical damage or internal damage to the electrical components inside the key card. The internal components can get damaged by strong magnets, static electricity and excessive bending of the card (like being put in pants pockets), or going through the laundry (hey, it happens). 

Note: If you are replacing a Grad Commons research room key card, please read the audit instructions for preserving the audit information before replacing the card.  

Update the record in the SMS Express Software

Delete the Damaged Credential

1. Log into the electronic lock computer with your login. This computer is in the Room Coordinators work space.
2. Log into the SMS Express software. There is a shortcut on the desktop. User name and password can be found in the Room Coordinator Binder.
3. Delete the key card that you are replacing.
   
   1. Click the Users icon. 
      
      
      
      
   2. This will bring up a list of all the users, which are the rooms themselves. The database is set up so that each room is considered a user. 
      
   3. Highlight the correct user on the left side of the screen. The credentials will be listed in the credentials box on the lower right corner of the screen.
   4. The box on the upper right corner gives descriptive details about the users.
      1. Each key card/credential has a 16 digit serial number. 
      2. Address 1 has the last 4 digits of the serial number for copy 1. Address 2 has the last 4 digits of the serial number for copy 2.
   5. Which one do you delete? Look at the address 1 and address 2 fields in the personal information box. These correspond to the last 4 digits of the 16 digit number that is assigned to the card. It's the number in the Value column. Address 1 is always copy 1's last 4 digits and address 2 is always copy 2's last 4 digits.
   6. Click Delete Credential.
      
   7. A pop up will appear.
      
      
   8. Click Yes. And then this window will come up:
      
   9. Select Trashed/Damaged or Lost as appropriate.
   10. Once you have deleted the key card from SMS Express, draw a line with a Sharpie through the descriptive label. If you are processing multiple key cards or the two key cards are both in like new condition, you can easily get mixed up and not know which one is the new card. Here is a good example:
       
       Notice how the plastic loop is still intact and the key card is in general good condition. Easily mixed up with the new card you're making.
       You will still need the barcode for updating the record in Alma and Open Room, so keep the key card around and do not strike through the barcode with the Sharpie since it will render the barcode unreadable by your scanner.
4. Grab a new key card out of the room coordinator's desk.

• Click OK. This will take you back to the main screen for "Users"
• Update the corresponding address in the Personal Information. To do so:

• Click on the Edit button on the left side under the users list.

• 
• If replacing copy 1, click on the address 1 text box to edit the 4 digit number, which is the last 4 digits of that unique 16 digit number. 
• If replacing copy 2, click on the address 2 text box to edit the 4 digit number, which is the last 4 digits of that unique 16 digit number. 
• Enter the 4 digits that you wrote on the back of the key card. 
• Click Save.
• Click Close in the Users window to return to the main SMS Express menu.

Grant Access Rights

1. You will need to give the key card permission to open the door. 
   
   1. Click the Access Rights icon in the main SMS Express window.
      
   2. There are multiple entries for each door; these represent each credential (key card or PIN) associated with the door. Find the entries for the room that you are replacing the key card for. Select the entry that does not have any access rights to any doors. For example, the second entry for User 1160 does not have any access rights. But the first entry for User 1160 does. See the images below for the difference.
      
      VS.
      
   3. Click the Add button at the bottom of the window.
   4. A pop-up window listing all the doors in this file will open. Select the door that you are programming; in this example, I am working with 1160.
      
   5. Click Add. which will bring you back to the main Access Rights window. You have just given the highlighted credential access rights to open the door you selected in the pop-up. Pay close attention when doing this to make sure you have selected the correct door. You can double check by clicking on the user and checking to see what door name shows in the window on the right.
   6. Click Close to return to the main SMS Express menu. There is no save button at this point. 

Processing the new key card

1. Turn on the PT-P700 Brother Label Maker.
2. Open P-Touch Editor. There is a shortcut on the desktop.
3. Click "Open" to open a file. Most can be found under the Recent Layouts tab.
   
   1. For Classroom key cards select "Classrooms Template" for the front of the key card and "Classroom-Tech Guide Url" for the back of the key card.
   2. For Study Rooms, select "Study Room Template small" and "Replacement $25" (There are usually extra copies of this second label already printed.)
   3. For Research Rooms, select "Research Room Template small" and "Replacement $25" (There are usually extra copies of this second label already printed.)
4. If you can't find the file you need, search the Computer tab and browse the Shared drive until you find the correct template.
   1. S:>Shared>LEAD>Circulation>Label Maker Templates
5. Edit the label as needed.
6. Check the printer to make sure you have the correct color and type of label. 
   1. Classroom key cards use the .96" label rolls. All others use the .47" label rolls
   2. White for copy 1 of study rooms and research rooms
   3. Blue for copy 1 of classrooms (including Grad Commons classrooms)
   4. Yellow for copy 2 of all rooms.
7. Click print and wait for the label to come out.
8. Close the program. Do not save changes. Too many saves will corrupt the file.
9. Trim excess to fit onto the key card.
10. Place a room label (i.e. 1842) on the upper front of the new key card. Below it place the replacement cost sticker". Check existing key cards for the orientation of labels on the key card.
11. Place a new barcode on the lower front of the new key card

Updating Barcode Records

The key code barcode will need to be updated in both Alma and the Circulation desk spreadsheet. Because there are two copies of each room key, you want to make sure you change the correct item record. This is why you hang on to the old key card until the very end of this process.

Alma

1. Scan the old key card's barcode for a physical item search to bring up its item record in Alma.
2. Take a minute to look at the status of the item. Is it "In place" or something else?
3. Click on the barcode hyperlink which will take you to the item edit screen.
4. Delete the old barcode number.
5. Scan the new key card barcode. The record should automatically save once you scan the barcode. If it doesn't, click save and exit the item record.

Google Spreadsheet

1. Click the field with the barcode for the appropriate key card
2. Delete the information in the field
3. Scan the new barcode. It should autopopulate the field with the new number
4. Verify the numbers match
5. Save and exit

Wrapping Up

Now you can put a black line through the barcode on the old key card. You can throw away the old key card. Put the new key card in the drawer at the Circulation desk.