Security Management: gate check-in, pickups, and incident tracking

What Security Management covers

The Security module in School Vault handles physical school security: who enters the campus, who leaves with a child, and what incidents occurred on site. It has four tabs:

• Check In/Out — gate register for daily student arrivals and departures.
• Authorized Pickups — the list of people approved to collect each child.
• Incident Reports — a log of security incidents with severity, status, and resolution tracking.
• Security Settings — configuration for access control requirements and security zones.

Go to Security from the main sidebar to open the module.

Check In/Out

The Check In/Out tab is the daily gate register.

Checking a student in

1. Go to Security → Check In/Out.
2. In the Quick Actions area, select the student from the "Select student to check in" dropdown.
3. Click Check In.
4. Alternatively, click Scan QR Code to scan the student's QR card instead of selecting manually.

The stats row at the top updates: Total Today (students tracked), Checked In (currently present), Checked Out (left for the day), Absent (not yet arrived).

Checking a student out

1. Find the student in the Today's Check-In/Out list (the sub-tab below the stats).
2. Click the log-out icon button (a small arrow-out icon) that appears in the student's row. This icon-only button is visible only for students whose current status is checked in. Once clicked, the student's status updates to checked out and the icon is replaced by a "Complete" badge.
3. Verify the person collecting the child against the Authorized Pickup list before clicking the icon.

Attendance History and Reports sub-tabs

The Attendance History sub-tab lets you search past check-in/out records by student name and date. The Reports sub-tab generates summary reports of gate activity over a selected date range.

Authorized Pickups

This tab lists every person approved to collect students from school.

Viewing the authorized list

The table shows: Name, Child (which student this person may collect), Relationship, Contact number, ID Number, Status (Active/Inactive), and action controls.

Adding an authorized person

1. Go to Security → Authorized Pickups.
2. Click Add Person.
3. Fill in the person's name, relationship to the child, contact number, and ID number.
4. Optionally upload a photo for visual identification at the gate.
5. Save. The person appears in the authorized list for that child.

QR Scanner sub-tab

The QR Scanner sub-tab lets you verify an authorized pickup person by scanning their QR code (if your school issues QR cards to authorized collectors) rather than checking against the name list manually.

Incident Reports

The Incident Reports tab is a log of security events on school grounds.

Logging an incident

1. Go to Security → Incident Reports.
2. Click Report Incident.
3. Fill in the incident type (e.g. Safety Issue, Security Breach), location, date and time, and a factual description of what happened.
4. Set the severity: low, medium, or high.
5. Save. The incident appears in the Recent Incidents list with status Open.

Updating incident status

1. Find the incident in the list and click View Details.
2. Add investigation notes as the situation develops.
3. When the incident is closed, click Update Status and set it to Resolved.

The stats row shows Open Incidents, Resolved, and Total Reports as live counts.

Security Settings

The Security Settings tab has four sub-tabs:

• Access Control — toggle switches for: ID Verification Required (require ID for all pickups), Photo Verification (compare person with authorized photo), Biometric Access (fingerprint or facial recognition), Visitor Registration (mandatory visitor check-in), Parent Notifications (notify parents of all access events). Also shows Security Zones (Main Entrance, Playground, Admin Office) with their current status (Active / Monitored / Restricted).
• Monitoring — configuration for monitoring tools and CCTV integration.
• Notifications — which security events trigger parent or staff notifications.
• Privacy & Data — data retention settings for gate logs and incident records.

Click Test System to run a connectivity check on integrated hardware (QR scanners, door access systems). Click Security Report to generate a PDF summary of security activity for a date range.

Common mistakes

• Not checking the Authorized Pickup list before releasing a child — the check-in/out stat row shows who is present, but the security check at checkout must happen against the Authorized Pickups list. Do not rely on recognising faces alone.
• Setting incidents to "Resolved" before a full investigation is complete — once resolved, the incident is removed from the active count and may be overlooked. Keep the status as Open until the incident is fully closed.
• Leaving the Access Control toggles at their defaults without reviewing them — the default settings may not match your school's policy. Review Access Control when first setting up Security Management and adjust to your actual procedures.