A smart-card company now has attendance and door access on one NFC card

Challenge

The client makes and supplies smart cards. Its customers wanted more from a card than a photo and a name: they wanted the same card to record attendance and to open the doors a person is cleared to use.

That meant building software that talks to card readers reliably, keeps an accurate record of who came in and when, and lets an administrator change a person's access without reissuing a card.

Solution

Lenor Ventures designed and developed an NFC-based attendance and access system for the client. Our custom software team builds systems that work with hardware as well as web platforms, dashboards, mobile apps and APIs, and this project drew on both sides of that work.

• Design of the system around the client's NFC cards and readers.
• Attendance records captured each time a card is tapped.
• Access control, so each card opens only the doors its holder is cleared for.
• An administration view for managing people, cards and access.

The system covers two devices.

• Indoor device: a Wi-Fi unit that reads NFC cards, shows each tap on a small display with a sound and light signal, and releases the electromagnetic door lock for cleared cardholders. Taps are stored on a memory card when the network drops, and the software updates over the air.
• Bus device: the same card reader with a 4G connection and satellite positioning, so attendance is recorded on the move along with where the bus is.

Results

The system is deployed with the client.

The system is built: both devices and the software that runs them.

The project is one example of what our custom software work covers: software that has to work reliably with physical devices, not only on a screen. If your product depends on cards, sensors or readers, we can design and build the software around it.