Booking a cinema ticket online last weekend was not something I look forward to repeating. I had to set up an account. Why? Hopefully so that the next time I want to go to the cinema, I don’t have to input half as much information. But they didn’t explain that.

I just wanted to book two seats. But they wanted to know my date of birth, gender, I half expected them to ask my hair colour. Why? Probably because they want to be able to send me messages about upcoming films that I might be interested in. But they didn’t explain that. It took too long, and I was left annoyed.

But in the world of accreditation and venue security, we almost always have to ask intrusive questions and gather sensitive documents. Contractor licenses and insurance documents. Worker IDs, photos, permits to work, qualification certificates…there is a lot of information to collect efficiently, and store securely if you are going to know exactly who is in your venue, and be sure that they are safe and legal to be there. What is the best way to set up an accreditation form?

Make it simple

It’s all about the user. A simple-to-use front end user interface is paramount. You’re potentially asking them a lot of questions and asking them to upload documentation, so the entire application process needs to be easy for the user to access and get back into – a password protected login portal should allow users to update details and add documents when needed.

And let’s not forget photos. If you want photos on badges, then they have to be a certain size, and must follow certain criteria. If your system has the ability to re-size and crop photos once uploaded, and give you the opportunity to accept or reject them you’ll be saving everyone a lot of time.

Ask the right questions

The actual questions to be asked and the documents to collect via an accreditation form will need to be prescribed by the venue and security teams depending on the level of security required.

But contractors, workers, security personnel, sporting teams, broadcasters, journalists, volunteers…they all need a slightly different vetting process. So your accreditation system needs to be able to accommodate different categories of personnel with unique applications forms. Only ask what you need to know, and always explain why you need it.

Keep information secure

Once you obtain the data you want, dumping it into a spreadsheet isn’t good enough. Gathering sensitive information isn’t something you can take lightly, users trust that you won’t lose it or abuse it. Make your privacy policy clear, encrypt information where possible and protect your systems against cyber-attacks.