There was a period where controlling the visitor involved a spiral-bound book lying on the reception desk, a pen hung from a string, and an understanding that everyone who entered could write legibly and truthfully.
This period existed for far too long.
A Daily Ritual With Zero Accountability Built In
For many years, the visitor sign in procedure followed the exact same format at any office, hospital, school, or warehouse. A person visits. A receptionist pushes over a log book. The visitor writes down his or her name, possibly the correct one, along with the time, and leaves. No one verifies. The pen is hung back onto its string.
When the log book was full, it would be stored somewhere deep in a drawer, and pulled out only once for two reasons: to show evidence that a visitor was indeed at the facility and to fulfill audit requirements.
The Real Price of a Paper-Based Visitor Sign In Process
The issues with visitor sign in manually were not hidden, but simply ignored. Inconsistent handwriting made fifty percent of the entries unreadable. As there was no identity check process, anybody was able to enter any kind of information in the book. It wasn't possible to alert that some visitors have been blacklisted, or to compare with any kind of watch list at all. Privacy was not even a thought here – the person standing next in line could see everything about each visitor.
And whenever there was an issue with the site, such as a theft or safety violation, the logbook would be the least reliable source of information.
When Everything Was on the Line and the Logbook Had Nothing
Emergency Evacuation brought out everything about the paper system. When a building had to count all the people present, the visitor register provided a name list with no time stamp, no zones, no confirmation and no information on who had already evacuated the premises.
The log book wasn’t what the first responders required. They needed accurate data, which the logbook could not provide.
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