Emporia State University

Alleviating admin through automation and customization

Founded in 1863, Emporia State University (ESU) was the first public institution of higher learning in the state of Kansas. Since its formation, ESU has educated, developed, and inspired students from around the world. ESU’s alumni base is made up of almost 60,000 individuals representing all 50 states and more than 70 countries.

Emporia State University had an access control system that was at the end of its life. It was cumbersome to use, was costing more in repairs and administration hours than its value, and most importantly, was not providing a good customer experience to their students, faculty, and staff. After reviewing multiple options, ESU found that Gallagher was able to provide the strongest solution for their needs. “Gallagher have been great because they’ve allowed us to use our existing door hardware, which helped us reduce the cost of migrating systems. At the same time, our new system has dramatically improved our student, faculty, and staff experience; has increased the functionality and flexibility of our access control solution; and has decreased our administrative overhead. It’s been a win for us, all the way around,” explained Cory Falldine, Associate Vice President for IT and Chief Information Officer at ESU. 

There were several areas on campus that required changes to door access, and many departments were interested in being able to administer these doors themselves. The previous systems installed at ESU did not have the flexibility to delegate administration to the door owners; however, Gallagher’s Command Centre platform made this possible. Now, these departments can schedule and adjust door access in conjunction with their own needs - whether it be to meet class, lab, and office hours, or to secure access to protected areas on campus. Entry can now be given to specific individuals, such as a faculty member or graduate assistant, needing access to that building, or room.

“Gallagher’s Command Centre software provided us with a much simpler, more customizable, and more easily scalable interface for our access control management,” Cory added. “Gallagher have allowed us the ability to distribute administration of door access throughout campus, which has been very well received. It has allowed us to refocus our administration and support on making the environment better for people, rather than having to manually make changes and fix technical problems. For instance, we can now provide 24/7 access to our students in specific learning spaces on campus, and our Residential Life staff can now quickly grant and remove access to their residents, as 
needed. Our imports during orientation and move-in no longer cause bottlenecks, and they have a lot more flexibility to quickly import special events, like summer camp participants, to provide access in bulk operations.”

Some of the customized integrations provided specifically for ESU include:

EDI – Gallagher is integrated with Emporia State’s ERP (Banner)
Allows ESU to seamlessly pull new students and employees directly into the system. This integration provides a relatively instant operation. The cardholder account is automatically available and equipped with basic access when the individual picks up their card. According to Cory, “...this has proven to save us valuable time during move-in, check-in, and orientation, which reduces confusion and lets students and parents focus on the events of an incredibly important day.”

Video Surveillance (Hikvision)
Exacq Vision Multi-server System with Gallagher Integration (current camera view count: 370+)

Gate Controls
Gallagher works with gate controls giving ESU the ability to control access at the exterior gate of one of their auxiliary sites.

ESU has invested in Gallagher’s Mobile Connect readers, which gives them the ability to take attendance for events offered on campus. They have had success taking advantage of the functionalities that allow them to track attendance and to follow up with patrons by sending surveys and thank you messages.

Since the Gallagher installation, ESU has seen a 70% reduction in issues with their door access system. This has created a positive ripple effect, increasing efficiency across Residential Life, Police and Safety, and the Memorial Union.