Over the course of its history, this facility has strengthened national security with a tradition of science and technological innovations—anticipating, developing, and delivering solutions for the nation’s most challenging problems. With its talented and dedicated workforce, world-class research capabilities, and missions reaching across biosecurity, counterterrorism, defense, energy, intelligence, nonproliferation, science, and weapons, the facility has been making the world a safer place for more than 65 years.

Problem:

Like most organizations, the facility faces the unavoidable challenge of properly accounting for everyone within its multiple buildings and high-security areas. “Personnel accountability was handled in a single location, a marker board, in each facility, and we needed to be able to account for personnel working in multiple locations with multiple entry points,” says a Process Control Engineer at the organization.

The arrival of COVID-19 introduced even more complexity, as new protocols were introduced to reduce shared touch points. This prompted a search for a system that could replace traditional marker boards while meeting the facility’s unique security and compliance needs.

Search:

As the organization started looking for a solution, it prioritized finding a US-based company they could trust. With Michigan roots, and a long history of working with government entities, municipalities, state and federal agencies, and military organizations, Savance Workplace was a perfect fit.

A critical requirement for the facility was finding a solution that could be hosted on-premise. During the search, they realized that most alternatives were cloud-based and required an internet connection, which was incompatible with their need for network security. Since Savance Workplace offers both cloud-hosted and on-premise solutions, the facility was able to implement an on-premise system they could trust. “We needed the software to maintain our FIPS compliance, and Savance made sure that we were able to accomplish that,” explains the Process Control Engineer.

Solution & Implementation:

Working with Savance, the facility was able to replace their marker boards with custom-designed status boards in each building. “The customer was very specific about the status board they envisioned,” says Sofia McClure, the Graphic Designer assigned to the project. “They knew exactly what they needed to achieve better visibility at their facilities, and we worked together to make sure their vision was brought to life.”

After working through several design options, the facility decided on a board layout that provided full visibility of residents, non-residents, and visitors, along with a real-time count of cleared and uncleared personnel present, plus a news feed for important announcements. In addition to the status boards, Savance also developed a Visitor Management kiosk, custom-branded to the organization, for easy visitor self-check-in.

“The design team works very hard to provide a solid, workable solution,” says the Process Control Engineer. “The final, customized product makes for a very elegant welcome as employees and visitors enter our facilities.”

Savance’s technical team found the project to be a rewarding experience as well. “I enjoy working with clients like this one,” says Robert Joseph, DevOps Engineer at Savance. “Some people would say, ‘he’s sharp as a tack,’ but this client’s team lead is sharp as a katana. He keeps up with me on software concepts in ways I couldn’t keep up with him on organic chemistry.” The Process Control Engineer shared a similar appreciation for the implementation process, describing Joseph as “one of the good ones.”

Results & Benefits:

For the facility, one of the greatest benefits of implementing Savance Workplace was the extended functionality it brought to safety, security, and personnel accountability.