Credentialing: You want to transform the process – where should you start?

Transforming your credentialing process

If you don’t have a credentialing process in place, it can feel daunting. For you and your team, a well thought out credentialing procedure can have a major impact on the efficiency and safety of your games, events or venue. Here are six steps to help you get started.

Step 1: Look at the big picture – what do you want credentialing to achieve?

Credentialing is not just about producing badges. It can help you:

• Automate and simplify labour-intensive tasks
• Improve operational efficiency and game or event security
• Ensure you process data legally
• Prevent the insider terrorist threat
• Stop you from employing illegal workers
• Save time and money

You need to decide on your priorities to get the best out of the situation, as this will affect who needs to be involved and how the entire process is set up. Here are some useful questions:

• Do you need a solution to collect and manage your data more effectively?
• Is your priority to make the movement of staff around the event more efficient?
• Do you want to reduce threat levels with background checks?
• Do you want to gain the efficiencies of speed?

You can achieve all these things, but make sure you decide what you want your credentialing procedure to do.

Step 2: Consult all departments affected

For you and your colleagues, keeping a venue or major event safe is a team effort and your credentialing procedure will need input and buy-in from venue and event managers, security, technology, and operations teams. If everyone understands the benefits of a better credentialing process and knows who is being credentialed, and why, it will save everyone a lot of questions further down the line.

Step 3: Map out your access control zones

Visualise your venue with a venue plan to map out who needs access. Where do they need to enter? Where should they not be allowed to go? Consider everyone that isn’t a ticket holder – building contractors, catering teams, event or game day staff, security workers, venue staff, cleaners, officials, players, event organisers, concession staff, volunteers, members of the media and VIP guests.

Use this information to map out access zones and areas that need controlled entry and build a list of who needs credentialing and what access permissions they should have. Think about how you want this information displayed on the badge for quick visual checks, but also how this can work with the static or mobile access control solutions.

Step 4: Find a software supplier 

Gone are the days of spreadsheets, endless emails and merging sets of data in sequence to get a badge printed or issuing an un-personalised string pass. To manage credentialing effectively and efficiently, you need the right system from a technology company that specialises in credentialing.

Here are some things for your team to consider when comparing solutions:

• What functionality do you need?
• Do they have any experience working on similar projects to yours?
• Is the system cloud-based so you can access it from anywhere, from any device?
• How do they keep your data and files secure?
• What level of customer support can you expect, and how quickly do they respond to client queries, and what time zones do they operate in?
• Can they integrate with your other systems, such as access control, workforce management and security services?
• Do they have partnerships with other software, consumable, and hardware suppliers?
• What do their other clients think and would they recommend the platform?
• How long will it take to get your system set up?
• Do they have an in-house development team that can adapt the platform for your future needs?
• How much will it cost, and is that cost inclusive?

Step 5: Build your credentialing team

Whoever leads the credentialing process needs experience and the ability to work well under pressure. Good project managers with the ability to have conversations with senior teams are essential. Many experienced credentialing managers operate on a freelance basis as they move from event to event. If you find this to be the case, then consider employing someone temporarily to develop and implement your credentialing procedure and build a team that can then manage it on a full-time basis in the future.

Step 6: Work in collaboration with your technology partner

Should you secure a trusted and proven credentialing solution provider, they will have experience in working across a range of sectors, events and venues and will have a knowledge of how all of these have run their credentialing process.

With insights about what has worked well for other clients, they’ll be able to share best practices. Working together with experts means your system will be set up specifically to your requirements.

From stadium to city-wide operations, the Accredit platform is built to give you control of your event and ensure safety when it matters most. Please get in touch to find out more.