Fragmented Employee Databases Transform to Unified Cloud ID Badging Platform

The Challenge

A U.S.-based manufacturer with more than 10 facilities across the Midwest was looking for a better way to manage employee identification across its growing organization. The project was initially driven by the company’s human resource team, which was dealing with a fragmented employee database and different processes from one facility to another. Several locations were still operating legacy systems for access control and time & attendance, while other facilities had more recently implemented different technologies.

The problem wasn’t simply that the company had multiple systems. There was no common technology standard that could support the company’s requirements across all facilities. At the same time, management wanted a consistent employee ID badge design that could be used throughout the organization and meet the identification requirements of its industry.

What began as a search for a turnkey cloud ID badging solution quickly became a much broader enterprise technology project involving:

• HR and employee data management
• IT standards and systems integration
• Physical Security and access control
• Time & attendance systems
• Employee photography
• ID badge design and production
• Existing and replacement card printers
• Smartcard and RFID technology
• Third-party technology vendors
• Data migration across multiple facilities
• Training and ongoing administration

The company needed a solution that could bring these requirements together without forcing HR or IT teams to manually maintain the same information in multiple systems.

Bringing the Stakeholders Together

Over six months, ADVANTIDGE worked closely with the company’s HR, IT, and Security teams while coordinating with third-party technology vendors involved in the project. As the stakeholders became more familiar with what a centralized platform could accomplish, the list of requested capabilities grew. Features that initially appeared to be “nice to have” increasingly became requirements that individual departments considered essential to their workflow.

Rather than forcing the customer to choose a solution before all of the requirements were understood, ADVANTIDGE helped document the evolving requirements and identify how each request would fit into the overall architecture. After becoming the preferred vendor among the stakeholders, ADVANTIDGE worked with the project team to narrow the requirements into a specific solution.

This included:

• Reviewing technical requirements
• Conducting multiple product demonstrations
• Coordinating with third-party vendors
• Confirming integration requirements
• Reviewing the proposed employee workflow
• Documenting responsibilities for each team
• Completing the required vendor and purchasing paperwork
• Confirming that the major stakeholder requirements were addressed

Once the final configuration was agreed upon, approval moved quickly. Then the customer provided ADVANTIDGE with the most important project requirement of all: a deadline for having the system operational across more than 10 locations.

Turning an Enterprise Requirement Into a Working System

With the approval in place, ADVANTIDGE’s technical services team moved into implementation. The first step was establishing the customer’s employee database structure within CardExchange Controller, the cloud ID badging platform.

ADVANTIDGE worked with the customer to establish the appropriate database fields and then imported employee information from multiple facilities. Because the source data came from different locations and legacy systems, part of the implementation involved validating the imported information and confirming that employees were properly categorized and assigned within Controller.

The objective was to establish a single, reliable employee record that could ultimately support identification, access control, and time & attendance requirements.

Automating Employee Photos

The next challenge was connecting hundreds of employee photographs to the correct employee records. Rather than requiring administrators to manually match every photograph, ADVANTIDGE configured the application’s photo automation capabilities using the CardExchange Admission module. The photos were processed and associated with the appropriate employee records.

Site administrators were then given access to their teams within Controller so they could review the records and validate that the correct photograph was associated with each employee. This created an important validation step before badges were produced.

One Badge Design for the Entire Organization

With the employee records established, ADVANTIDGE built the company’s universal employee ID badge design in the cloud. The approved design incorporated the company’s requirements for a consistent identification credential across all locations. Because the badge template was built within the cloud platform, authorized users could see exactly what the finished credential would look like before production.

Once an employee record and photograph were approved, the badge could move through the CardExchange Press workflow for printing. This gave the organization a standardized process rather than allowing each facility to develop its own badge design and production procedure.

Standardizing the Hardware

One of the project’s interesting developments involved the ID card printers. At the beginning of the project, several facilities indicated that they already had card printers and therefore did not expect new equipment to be necessary. As the project progressed, however, IT identified a larger issue. The existing printers were older models with unknown software configurations and different capabilities. Supporting those devices would have undermined the goal of establishing a company-wide standard for employee ID issuance.

The customer ultimately decided that standardizing the physical badge production environment was just as important as standardizing the software. ADVANTIDGE supplied each location with a new IDP Smart-51 dual-sided card printer equipped with a smartcard encoder. This created a common hardware platform that could be deployed and supported across the company’s facilities.

Connecting the Employee ID to Access Control

The printer standardization also solved another important requirement. The customer’s employee badges were not simply visual identification cards. They also needed to function as access-control credentials.

During the printing process, the smartcard encoder could program the access-control credential and associate the card number with the employee record in Controller. That meant the employee’s identity information and credential information could be maintained together. Instead of requiring HR to enter an access-control number manually—or requiring another administrator to separately maintain that information—the process became part of the badge issuance workflow.

The result was a centralized platform capable of managing the information required for:

Employee → ID Record → Photo → Badge → Access Credential → Time & Attendance

This reduced the amount of data entry required when onboarding a new employee or replacing an existing credential, in addition to preventing manual errors.

Extending the Platform Beyond ID Badging

Another advantage of establishing a centralized employee identity record was the ability to share information with other business systems. CardExchange provides API connectivity and integration capabilities that can be used to exchange information with other applications.

For this customer, that created an opportunity to eliminate additional manual data entry beyond the ID badge process. Instead of treating the ID system as an isolated application, the company could use the centralized employee record as part of a broader technology ecosystem.

Training the Organization

A successful enterprise deployment requires more than installing software and printing the first batch of cards. ADVANTIDGE provided implementation support, configuration assistance, training, and an annual support plan. Rather than attempting to train every user individually, ADVANTIDGE worked with the project leaders to establish a train-the-trainer approach. ADVANTIDGE conducted training sessions with the designated administrators, who could then support users at their respective facilities.

The ADVANTIDGE team also helped create a custom user guide based on the workflow that had been approved by the customer’s HR and IT teams. This was more useful than a generic product manual because it documented the customer’s actual process—from employee data through photo validation, badge approval, credential encoding, and printing.

A Long-Term Credential Management Process

The implementation did not end when the initial employee badges were printed. As individual facilities use their supply of RFID cards and printing ribbons, they can simply contact ADVANTIDGE for additional credentials and supplies. Because ADVANTIDGE maintains the customer’s credential information, replacement and replenishment orders can be managed without creating duplicate card numbers.

The customer uses both low-frequency proximity credentials and high-frequency MIFARE DESFire EV2 technology depending on the application. ADVANTIDGE maintains the necessary credential information on file so that subsequent orders can continue the established numbering and technology standards.

The Result

What started as an HR initiative to solve a fragmented employee database became an enterprise-wide identity management project. The completed solution provided the manufacturer with:

• A centralized cloud-based employee ID database
• A standardized employee record across more than 10 locations
• Consistent employee badge design
• Automated employee photo association
• Standardized card printing hardware
• Integrated smartcard credential encoding
• Centralized credential information
• Reduced manual data entry for new hires and replacement badges
• A common process for HR, IT, Security, and facility administrators
• API-based integration opportunities with other business systems
• A repeatable process for ordering credentials and supplies
• Train-the-trainer implementation and customized documentation
• Ongoing ADVANTIDGE technical and support resources

Most importantly, the company moved from a collection of facility-specific processes to a standardized approach that could be managed across the organization.

The project demonstrates that enterprise ID badging is rarely just an ID card project. When employee data, physical access, time & attendance, credential technology, badge production, and multiple facilities are involved, the success of the project depends on understanding how all of those pieces need to work together.

With 25+ years of expertise, ADVANTIDGE focuses on helping customers turn complex, real world challenges into  standardized, scalable workflows through tested software, top tier hardware manufacturing partners, professional services and intelligent workflow automation.

Technical Details

CardExchange Cloud Suite Controller

Cloud-based ID and credential management platform used as the central employee database and administrative interface. Controller can manage employee records, photographs, credential information, card issuance, and related ID workflows while supporting integration with other systems.

CardExchange Cloud Suite Admission

Used for employee registration and photo management. In this implementation, Admission’s automation capabilities helped associate hundreds of employee photographs with the correct employee records.

CardExchange Cloud Suite Press

Cloud-based card production component used to manage the approved badge design and move employee credentials into the printing workflow.

IDP Smart-51 Dual Sided Card Printer with Omnikey Encoder

Dual-sided ID card printer deployed as the standardized printer platform across the customer’s facilities. The configuration included a built-in smartcard encoder for programming employee access credentials during card production.

Low-Frequency 125Khz Proximity Cards

Low-frequency RFID/proximity credentials used for compatible access-control applications. ADVANTIDGE maintained credential information to help prevent duplicate numbering when additional cards were ordered.

High Frequency 13.56Khz MIFARE DESFire EV2

High-frequency contactless smartcard technology used for applications requiring more advanced credential capabilities and security.

API & System Integration

CardExchange supports integration with external applications through available APIs and connectors, allowing employee and credential information to be shared with other systems and reducing duplicate data entry.

ADVANTIDGE Professional Services

ADVANTIDGE provided solution design, database configuration, data import, photo association, badge template development, hardware standardization, credential configuration, training, customized documentation, and ongoing technical support.