Set up visitor management for your office
Configure your visitor management workflows, visitor types, and iPad kiosks
The Visitor Management feature enables you to setup business processes around who comes into your office and create a seamless entry experience. Users with a Global Administrator or Visitor Admin role can manage this feature via Backoffice.
The visitor iPad kiosk can be used for visitors to sign in/out, and the front desk administrators can manage the flow by viewing the logs of visitors invites and arrivals.
Connecting a visitors kiosk
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Download the Calven Visitors app on an iPad.
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When you open the Visitors app, you will be able to generate a pairing code. Generate the code and write it down. The code will expire in 1 hour - you can generate another one if you need to.
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Go to Calven and click Actions > Pair new kiosk
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Enter the kiosk name, which office the iPad is located in and a welcome message to be displayed on the iPad. When you click save, the kiosk will now be running. If you had already configured visitors previously for that office, you are done. Otherwise, continue onto Creating Visitor Types.
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We recommend enabling Guided Access on the iPad so it acts like a dedicated appliance. More information is available on that here: Use Guided Access with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support
Creating visitor types
Visitor types are used to create specific processes for different types of people that come into your office. Some examples of different visitor personas are:
- General visitors
- Facilities contractors
- Staff from other locations
- Family & friends
- Event attendees
To configure visitor types, go to Calven and click Actions > Create visitor type.
Name your visitor type, give them an icon and pick which offices the visitor type should be displayed at for sign-in.
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Configure the visitor type settings:
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Enabled - if a visitor type is disabled, it will not be shown on the kiosks for sign-in.
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Host required - when enabled, the visitor must pick a host when signing in.
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Notify host of sign-in updates - the host will be notified when the visitor signs in or out. They will be notified via the channels configured in visitor settings.
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Update messaging for the visitor if you want to override the default messages. The messages available to be configured are:
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Invite message - text that will be shown on email invites that are sent to visitors before they arrive.
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Sign in success message - message shown on the kiosk when a visitor completes their sign in.
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- List any Additional Notification Recipients
- You can add extra recipients, such as front-desk reception or an assistant, to also receive notifications (in addition to the host) when a visitor completes sign-in on iPad kiosk. Any email address can be listed, including a shared inbox address such as reception@acme.com
Some visitor types may need to have different messages based on your business logic. Invites for inter-office travelers may specify that they come into the employee entrance, while vendors may need to use the main entrance.
Configuring sign-in questions
Sign-in questions allow different questions to be shown for different Visitor Types; each has their own set of sign-in questions and settings.
Available question types
The following question types are available
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Text input. This can have a minimum and maximum number of characters available.
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Option. This can be single or multiple choice. A minimum and maximum number of selections can be set.
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Document. This shows a document to the visitor. This is further described in “Document Management”.
Sign-in flows & Conditional logic
Each question can have conditional logic layered onto it so that it is not asked each time to each visitor.
Response required. When enabled, a visitor signing in cannot bypass this question, it must be answered.
Ask returning visitors. When disabled, a visitor that is signing in and has already answered this question on a previous sign-in will not see or answer this question.
Conditional logic. When conditional logic is enabled for a question, an earlier option question is used to determine if this question will be shown.
Updating the iPad kiosk configuration with Pin Code
When you update your visitor types or other configurations in backoffice, these changes will have to be pushed through to paired devices using the kiosk app. Here's how to apply changes:
- Click on the Configure button in the bottom right corner of the iPad
- Enter the Pin Code (refer to Kiosks tab in Backoffice) to access the settings page
- Press the 'refresh' button to apply the latest changes to your kiosk
Sign-out flows
Visitors can use the iPad to sign-out, or an administrator can manually perform this on their behalf via the Visit Log page. If no manual sign-out is performed then the auto sign-out will be triggered at the time specified in the General Settings page.
Visit Log records
Access the Visit Log to view the details of visitors that have arrived. Use the date range selector to view more records for a specific date range, and the office filter chip to only view visitors at a specific office.
This is a great screen for front desk administrators to leave on and keep a list of visitors that have arrived at the office.
If further reporting or analysis is required then simply use the Action button and click on Export Visit Log to copy the records into a spreadsheet.
Viewing visitor details
Click on any row in the Visit Log to view details of each visitor. Answers to any questions will be shown there as well as the visitor information.
On this page you can also click “Previous visits” to see other visits by that same visitor.
Creating invites
Visitors can be invited ahead of time via:
- Backoffice (performed by Global Admin or Visitor Admin only)
- Outlook Add-in, if configured (performed by any user with the Outlook Add-in installed)
A list of visitor invites can be seen on the Invites page. All invites in the future will be shown here. When there are multiple visitors added to a single invite the users will be shown together in an accordion.
Connecting to a building system
Calven will also connect your Calven visitors system to a building visitor system to register the user with the building when new visitors are invited. This allows visitors to be sent a QR code in the invite which can be used to gain entry to the building. Please contact your Calven representative for more details.