warning & notice · before we get to the technical bits, ipulse would like to welcome you to...

IQSuite.cloud – Complete User Manual V5.7.x – Rev 05 ©2017-2020 iPulse Systems

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WARNING & NOTICE

The information provided in this document is the sole property and copyright of iPulse Systems, and all

rights are reserved in toto with respect to this copyright.

Whilst this information is provided freely to users of the iPulse product range, the information is provided

for a specific purpose and may not be copied, redistributed, reproduced or shared in whole or in part,

without the express written permission of iPulse Systems.

Furthermore, the information contained in this document may not be shared with other users for any other

purpose than the requirement to install or use the relevant iPulse product.

Where other company names or products are referenced in this manual, iPulse Systems acknowledges that

these are trademarks of their respective owners and has indicated as such with the symbol ™ or ®.

©2010 to 2020 iPulse Systems (Proprietary) Limited, Kempton Park, South Africa

©2015 to 2020 iPulse Systems, Inc, Irvine, California, United States of America


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REVISION HISTORY

REVISION HISTORY

Rev Description of Change Author Effective Date

01 Initial Release GM Chalmers March 2018

02 Update – Version 5.3 GM Chalmers July 2018

03 Update – VisitorIQ.cloud Identifiers Update GM Chalmers September 2018

04 Update – Version 5.5 GM Chalmers January 2019

05 Update – Version 5.7 MM Chalmers February 2020

06 Update – Version 5.7 – Corrections & Minutiae GM Chalmers April 2020

CONTACT INFORMATION

Before we get to the technical bits, iPulse would like to welcome you to our family and congratulate you

on starting your journey with IQSuite.cloud. IQSuite.cloud is the result of nearly 2 decades of learning and

adapting to our clients’ needs.

Our significant investment has allowed us to create a platform that allows you to manage your people from

one centralized hub, from anywhere in the world. We hope that you find that IQSuite.cloud will change

your life for the better, turning the once strenuous task of workforce management and access control into

something that you look forward to doing each day!

If for any reason you feel the need to contact us with regards to anything in this manual, please refer to

the table below where you can email, log a ticket or call us so that one of our employees can assist you.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Method of Contact Details

Visit our Support Portal https://support.iqsuite.cloud

Log a Support Ticket https://support.iqsuite.cloud

Email our Support Team [email protected]

Email our Sales Team [email protected]

Contact our Offices Telephonically SA: +27 (860) 478-573 USA: +1 (949) 681-6898

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents WARNING & NOTICE .......................................................................................................................................1

REVISION HISTORY ..........................................................................................................................................2

CONTACT INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................2

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................................3

WHAT’S NEW IN 5.7 ........................................................................................................................................6

SECTION 1 SYSTEM OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................8

1.1 Logging in to IQSuite.cloud .............................................................................................................8

1.2 Understanding the Home Screen ....................................................................................................8

1.3 Logging Out .....................................................................................................................................9

SECTION 2 PEOPLE ....................................................................................................................................... 11

2.1 Add People ................................................................................................................................... 11

2.1.1 Capturing Personal Details ................................................................................................... 11

2.1.2 Capturing Fingerprints ......................................................................................................... 14

2.1.3 Taking Photographs ............................................................................................................. 15

2.1.4 Using BIOVAULT ................................................................................................................... 17

2.2 View / Update People ................................................................................................................. 18

2.2.1 Person Details ...................................................................................................................... 19

2.2.2 Advanced Settings ................................................................................................................ 20

2.2.3 Edit Person – Identifiers and Cards ...................................................................................... 20

2.2.4 Edit Person – Fingerprints .................................................................................................... 21

2.2.5 Edit Person – View Clockings ............................................................................................... 22

2.2.6 Edit Person – View Access .................................................................................................... 23

2.3 Delete People ............................................................................................................................... 23

2.4 Re-activate People ....................................................................................................................... 24

2.5 People Reports ............................................................................................................................. 25

2.6 Dashboard .................................................................................................................................... 25

SECTION 3 DEVICES ...................................................................................................................................... 28

3.1 Add Devices .................................................................................................................................. 28

3.1.1 Getting the Device Information ........................................................................................... 29

3.1.2 Allocating the Device ........................................................................................................... 29

3.2 View/Configure Devices ............................................................................................................... 32

3.3 Delete Devices .............................................................................................................................. 38

3.3.1 Deleting a Device ................................................................................................................. 38

3.3.2 Reactivating a Device ........................................................................................................... 38


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3.4 Replace Devices ........................................................................................................................... 39

3.5 Device Reports ............................................................................................................................. 40

3.6 Dashboard .................................................................................................................................... 40

SECTION 4 ACCESS MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................. 44

4.1 Access Control .............................................................................................................................. 44

4.1.1 Understanding Access Control Lists ..................................................................................... 44

4.1.2 Understanding Time Access Schedules ................................................................................ 44

4.1.3 Adding, Editing and Deleting Time Access Schedules .......................................................... 46

4.1.4 Access Management Options .............................................................................................. 46

4.2 Transfer People to Devices .......................................................................................................... 47

4.2.1 Transfer Individuals .............................................................................................................. 48

4.2.2 Understanding Teams, Departments and Business Units .................................................... 48

4.2.3 Transfer Teams, Departments and Business Units .............................................................. 49

4.3 Removing People from Devices ................................................................................................... 51

SECTION 5 REPORTS .................................................................................................................................... 54

5.1 Clock Reports ............................................................................................................................... 54

5.1.1 Clock Reports - All Clockings ................................................................................................ 55

5.1.2 Clock Reports - Clockings by Person .................................................................................... 56

5.1.3 Clock Reports - Clockings by Device ..................................................................................... 56

5.2 People Reports ............................................................................................................................. 57

5.3 Device Reports ............................................................................................................................. 58

5.4 Access Reports ............................................................................................................................. 60

5.5 Time Reports ................................................................................................................................ 61

5.5.1 Latecomers Report ............................................................................................................... 62

5.5.2 Absentees Report ................................................................................................................. 62

SECTION 6 Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................................ 64

6.1 Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................................... 64

6.2 Help! I can’t clock! ....................................................................................................................... 64

6.3 Test a fingerprint .......................................................................................................................... 67

6.4 Look for similar prints .................................................................................................................. 69

SECTION 7 SETTINGS ................................................................................................................................... 71

7.1 Manage Access Time Schedules................................................................................................... 71

7.1.1 Add an Access Time Schedule .............................................................................................. 72

7.1.2 Update an Access Time Schedule ........................................................................................ 75

7.1.3 Delete an Access Time Schedule .......................................................................................... 76

7.2 Manage Reader Groups ............................................................................................................... 76

7.2.1 Add Groups .......................................................................................................................... 77

7.2.2 View/Update Groups ........................................................................................................... 78


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7.2.3 Delete Groups ...................................................................................................................... 80

7.3 Manage Locations ........................................................................................................................ 81

7.4 Manage Device Configs ................................................................................................................ 82

7.4.1 Editing a Device Config Template ........................................................................................ 82

7.4.2 Relay Trigger Time ................................................................................................................ 83

7.4.3 Device Identification & Verification Levels .......................................................................... 84

7.4.4 Allow PIN Codes ................................................................................................................... 85

7.4.5 Allow PIN Codes Only ........................................................................................................... 85

7.4.6 Editing a Device Config Template ........................................................................................ 85

7.5 Manage People Groups ................................................................................................................ 85

7.6 Users and Login ............................................................................................................................ 86

7.7 Change Theme ............................................................................................................................. 89

SECTION 8 TROUBLESHOOTING .................................................................................................................. 91

8.1 iPBx Readers Struggling to get online .......................................................................................... 91

8.1.1 Outgoing Ping ....................................................................................................................... 91

8.1.2 Firewall Ports ....................................................................................................................... 91

APPENDIX A UNDERSTANDING FINGERPRINTS ........................................................................................... 93

APPENDIX B ENROLLMENT GUIDE ............................................................................................................ 102


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WHAT’S NEW IN 5.7

The update to 5.7 has many noticeable changes to the software with the intent of making IQSuite.cloud a

more user-friendly application whilst at the same time adding powerful new features to fields like Access

Management, how Visitors are managed, Diagnostics and the Settings tab. There are of course changes to

the back-end software at a higher-level, but these will be explained in further detail.

Time & Attendance Integration

IQSuite.cloud now supports SmartTime – an extremely powerful Time & Attendance system – natively in

our system. A tightly knit integration allows IQSuite.cloud to link seamlessly with the database in

SmartTime, creating a platform to leverage the users and clocks from the IQSuite.cloud database directly

in SmartTime.

People Groups

You asked, and we provided. Teams, Departments and Business Units are now interwoven into the

application, allowing you to create numerous different ways of grouping people into logical structures that

making managing their access much simpler.

New Add Person Wizard

A powerful and user friendly new Add Person wizard makes adding people using our new Person Group

features much simpler and focusses on allowing the users to set key parameters at the time of adding a

person, instead of having to edit them afterwards.

Firmware 11.7.x

IQSuite.cloud 5.7x now works with firmware 11.7.x on the iPBx biometric devices. Vastly improved

functionality and stability include the following new features:

• Update iPB7 Menu

• Hugely improved person download functions

• Redesigned master loop for improved stability and uptime

• Significantly improved ability to handle difficult networks, and intermittent connectivity

Reporting

As always, reporting follows suit when adding the new functions, and this release will be no different. Over

the quarter, you can expect to see many new reports added in the regular quarterly updates.


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SECTION 1

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

1.1 Logging in to IQSuite.cloud

When you first load up your application, you will be presented with a login screen.

To login, you should use the iPulse supplied username and password. Alternatively, if you are the main

user/ administrator, you can login to www.iqsuite.cloud, and create a new username and password if you

wish.

Either way, to use the application, you will be required to present a username and password. Once you

have supplied this, you can click the Login option, and you should reach the Home Page.

Quick Tip: Select the Remember me checkbox if you don’t want to have to type in your username and

password every time you log on! If you want simple, but more secure, see Using Biometric

Login under Settings later in this document.

1.2 Understanding the Home Screen

Once you successfully logon, you will be presented with your Home Screen, which should look like the

image on the next page.

This is where you will be most of the time when the app is in a dormant state, as it is from this document

that you will launch most of the functions that you require.

Quick Tip: You will notice that your background may look different to the images shown in the manual.

These background images are customisable, and this will be dealt with under Changing

Themes under Settings later in this document.

http://www.iqsuite.cloud/


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The home screen is divided into 3 sections, which are the TOP BAR, the LEFT PANEL and the ACTION

SCREEN.

The TOP BAR is normally not used for much and is predominantly there for design purposes.

Quick Tip: Clicking on the IQSuite.cloud logo in the TOP BAR will always take you to the home page,

which is a useful shortcut to remember as you navigate around the application.

The LEFT PANEL is predominantly used for feedback and should always provide you with useful feedback

about the status of your system, the logged in user information, and your current version number.

The ACTION SCREEN is the only part of the application that changes when you move from function to

function, and it is in here that your dynamic menu buttons will appear as you navigate through the

application. Selecting a button that has an end function will cause the ACTION SCREEN to launch the wizard

for that particular function.

Quick Tip: Clicking on either the PEOPLE or the DEVICES image in the LEFT PANEL will always take you

to the DASHBOARD, which gives you useful information about your system status. This is

covered in more depth in various other sections of the manual, but this is a good tip to

remember if you want to quickly see what is wrong with your system should the PEOPLE or

DEVICES icons NOT be showing green.

1.3 Logging Out

To exit the application, simply click on the Windows Close symbol (the “X” in the top right corner) at any

time. Due to the nature of this application, we have created a specific exit function and closing the

application in this manner is perfectly acceptable.


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SECTION 2

PEOPLE

This section deals with the management of People on your system and is arguably the most important

section in the manual. There are many small tricks and systems that iPulse has added to the system to

make your life simpler and easier to manage, and it’s a good idea to spend some time reviewing this module

before enrolling individuals onto the system to ensure that you get the most out of the tools at your

disposal.

2.1 Add People

When you first start to use the application, this will be the most important place for you to start. Adding

people to the system is designed to be quick, simple and intuitive, and there are different options that can

be configured in some countries.

For the purposes of this section, there will be a separate section on BIOVAULT, currently only available to

South African customers, at the end of this chapter, whilst the bulk of the wizard is the same for everyone.

2.1.1 Capturing Personal Details

The latest version of the add new person wizard has been designed to accommodate multiple scenarios,

and to be as simple as possible to use at the same time. In general, the wizard can accommodate a FULL

installation, from start to finish, or it can be used to pre-load individuals who are not present at the time.

When you first arrive on the new person wizard (assuming that BIOVAULT is disabled), you will see a blank

screen, ready for you to capture information. Please note that in order to add a person to the system, you

will at the very least need their first name, and their last name to be completed. If you do not do this, and

try to skip ahead, the system will stay on this screen, and provide two red stars next to these fields.


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The above screen is the starting point. If you try to click next, you should see the following screen:

Other than first name and last name, no fields on this screen are compulsory, and once you have captured

the required private information about an individual, you can move onto the next screen.

Quick Tip: The Known As field is very useful. You will see it auto populate with the first name when

you capture these details, but you can change it to anything. Use this for people who have

nicknames such as: “First name is Anthony but known as Tony”. Also use this for people

who have very long first names, which are hard to read or do not display correctly in places

such as reports or on the device screens.


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In the latest version of this wizard, you can now capture all the individual’s key information pertaining to

their person groups, and their Time & Attendance fields, on this screen. For most smaller clients, this screen

is not required, but in larger companies, grouping people is critical to help manage them.

The next screen allows you to configure a person’s start and expiry dates, as well as to select a specific

reader group to add the person too. Selecting a Reader Group will allow you to pre-define which readers

the person should be allocated to when the wizard completes.

Quick Tip: The use of VisitorIQ to manage access is only available to Enterprise clients who have

enabled a specific product called VisitorIQ.cloud on their networks. This system

automatically sets a person to immediately be expired, and then uses a kiosk to active them

under specific conditions moving forward.

** This should NOT BE SELECTED unless this option is active and available. **


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2.1.2 Capturing Fingerprints

Once you have completed all these details, you will be presented with the option of capturing

fingerprints. Should you be in the process of manually capturing numerous people’s details without

having them present, you may skip through this screen, save the record, and add another.

Obviously, given the importance of the fingerprints in the system, enrolling a person’s prints is a key

component of the software, and this manual will spend some time on the process at this stage.

Clicking next in the wizard will bring up the fingerprint capture wizard. You may skip this section is you do

not wish to capture fingerprints at this time.

Quick Tip: In order to use this wizard, the system will require a compatible enrolment device to be

present and correctly installed with its drivers on your machine. To determine if this is

correctly installed, please check the USB Biometric

Device icon shows GREEN and ONLINE before trying to

launch this wizard, or you will get an error each time.

Compatible devices include the iPulse iPB1, and any genuine Secugen enrolment devices,

although we highly recommend that you only use the iPB1 for this purpose to ensure

maximum compatibility of the fingerprints captures with the iPulse iPBx devices.

Over time, the screen shown below will become very familiar, but it is important to break down the options

and components on this screen so that you can easily navigate this important function.

The hand on the left side of the screen shows which finger is busy being captured. You will notice that by

default, the system captures two fingerprints. Ideally, you should capture one fingerprint from each hand

where possible.

Quick Tip: Where possible, you should use the fingers shown in the image for the capture. However,

for people who have poor prints on these fingers, you may use any finger – although the

most likely to succeed alternative is the thumb, which has the biggest images to be captured

overall.

To capture the fingerprint, place the finger (as shown in the picture above) on the scanner of the iPB1 or

another USB enrollment device. The finger should be placed firmly with a medium amount of pressure to

ensure that it is flattened against the glass platen (capture area) of the enrolment device.


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You can lift the finger up and down as many times as you wish. Each time you do so, the wizard will capture

another image. On the right-hand side of the screen, you will see the images you have captured.

IQSuite.cloud will always keep the 2 best images based on Print Quality and Image Quality and will thus

overwrite poorer quality images with better ones, keeping only the best two images.

Quick Tip: Sometimes, the system captures a poor or smudged image which does not want to go away

or be overwritten. In this case, simply click on the box containing that image to clear it.

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting a good fingerprint captured at this time.

Typically, this is only done once and should be used a training opportunity for the person being enrolled.

Not only will a good enrollment ensure better matching when the system is used, but by showing them

what is happening when they slide their fingers, or do not put them down firmly enough, you can help

them to use the fingerprint devices more efficiently and thus achieve less frustration at being rejected

by devices in the field.

In some cases, you may want to re-initialize or calibrate the enrolment device. Typically, these functions

should only be used when:

• Re-initialize device: This should be used when the device has become unresponsive for some reason.

• Calibrate device: This should be used when the images consistently appear too dark or too light.

Quick Tip: You should always select the Auto Exposure option when recalibrating your device. This will

use the systems intelligent light source monitoring software to set the sensor to the specific

light of the room in which it is being used.

2.1.3 Taking Photographs

Once you have completed the capture of your fingerprints, your next screen will allow you to capture a

photograph.


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You can use either an external USB camera or the Camera built into your laptop to capture the photograph.

Please ensure that you position the user in the center of the picture so that his / face is visible in the Profile

picture, as the wizard automatically zooms in on the center of the image.

Once you click next, you will finally see a summary screen of the data that you have captured thus far,

which should look like the screen below:

Clicking Save will close the wizard and complete the task. If you selected a Reader Group to transfer the

person to, the actions of the transferring the user to that group will now appear on the bottom right

hand side of the screen.

On successful completion of the wizard, you should be presented with the IQSuite.cloud “Thumbs Up”

screen to let you know that all has been completed successfully.


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2.1.4 Using BIOVAULT

At the time of writing of this manual, this service is only available in the South African market, for the South

African national ID number.

To use this function, BIOVAULT needs to be enabled for your use by iPulse a part of your access control

permissions. Once activated simply type in the ID number of any South African citizen into the block, and

press enter. Alternatively, you can scan any official government document, such as a national identity card,

old ID book or driver’s license, if you have this available.

Quick Tip: The South African ID number uses the Luhn algorithm to calculate if the number is a valid

number. iPulse uses this calculation to check and if the number is not valid, you will not be

allowed to continue. Only a valid ID number will allow you to press enter.

Once you press enter, the system will check BIOVAULT for data, and take you to the Add a Person screen,

with the first name and last name having been automatically completed.

You may change the data in the Known As field if you wish, as many people have a different first name on

their government documents to that which they use in real life – for example, many men whose names are

Robert are known as Bob.

Again, you should now complete the wizard as per the steps defined in Error! Reference source not found. a

bove, click Save and you are done with this task.


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2.2 View / Update People

To View or Update a person's profile, select a person from the list of available names and click on Edit.

Alternatively, you can use the search bar to type in a portion of the person’s name, which will be picked up

by the system.

Once you have found and selected the individual you want to edit, you should see the View/ Edit Person

wizard first screen – Person Details.


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The Edit Person Wizard allows you edit a person’s basic information, identifiers, fingerprints, as well as

commencement and expiry dates. This is also where you can view a person’s Clockings and the Access that

they have been granted. If you make changes, remember to click Save to save changes and exit the Edit

Person Wizard.

2.2.1 Person Details

On the Person Details tab, you can change a few things about an individual, including adding their email

address and mobile number. The most important field that you have here, which you do NOT have on Add

Person, is the ability to Inactivate a person.

Making a person Inactive is how IQSuite.cloud handles “deleting a person” from the system. Once marked

inactive, the person will remain on all devices that have access to currently but will be denied access to

anything. It is useful to know if someone who has been denied access to a device has tried to use it.

Quick Tip: IQSuite.cloud never deletes a person permanently from the database for multiple reasons,

the most important of which is that anyone added to the system has a history – for audit

purposes – and clocking events that are associated with them. This ensure that no fraud

can be committed, that a record permanently exists, and that the database does not

become fragmented.

Setting a person’s start and end date function is also particularly useful for contractors or part time

employees. This allows you to enroll someone who may only start sometime in the future, and to also auto-

expire them at a defined date.

Once a person’s record has reached its expiry date, the system will automatically deny the individual access

to any readers with the error message: Access Denied – Person Expired.

To navigate between tabs, you can either select the top row of tabs, or the green buttons on the side. The

next screen to visit is Identifiers.


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2.2.2 Advanced Settings

This tab has changed considerably in the latest update. We have now added new options for grouping

people into Teams, Departments and Business Units. This will be discussed in further detail under the

Access Control Section.

2.2.3 Edit Person – Identifiers and Cards

Identifiers are unique and user specific. No two users can have the same Identifiers. This screen allows

you to record several identifiers. Future versions will include the ability to store card numbers, and

customized identifiers, which can be configured in the database.


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Many applications that integrate with IQSuite.cloud require an Employee number, whilst the PIN code is

used on iPB7 biometric readers to allow 1:1 matching – a process whereby people with lower quality prints

can be matched only against themselves, rather than the whole database.

2.2.4 Edit Person – Fingerprints

The above image shows what a user who already has fingerprints captured should look like. The original

images seen during capture are not displayed for security purposes. Clicking on the Capture Prints button

will launch the Fingerprints Capture Wizard. This process is described fully in section Error! Reference s

ource not found. earlier in this document.

The wizard can be used to either capture prints for the first time, or to overwrite the prints stored in the

database with a new set of prints if required. This is often done for people who are struggling to use the

system, and re-enrolling their prints is highly recommended.

If an individual does NOT have fingerprints captured, the screen should look similar to this:


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2.2.5 Edit Person – View Clockings

This is a very useful screen for users of the system. It is a quick and easy way to view the clocking events

for a specific person, and to instantly have this information available.

This tab also has an Export button, allowing you to immediately export the information into an Excel

spreadsheet that can be emailed, manipulated, imported into other products or printed for other purposes.

The clocking tab will show the latest clocks first, however, the table is completely customizable, allowing

you to order the clocking events in any sequence you like, and even to add and remove fields if you wish

to do so.


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2.2.6 Edit Person – View Access

This button was added in version 5.5 and since then has had several changes. This is an easy way of viewing

which devices a person has on your database by pulling a list of the different Locations that a person has

been allocated to. Readers are listed by Device name and Serial Number. The list can be filtered by Location

for ease of viewing, and the list itself is exportable into Excel.

This tab has an Export button, allowing you to immediately export the information into an Excel

spreadsheet that can be emailed, manipulated, imported into other products or printed for other purposes.

2.3 Delete People

IQSuite.cloud does not actually delete an individual from your database entirely. Deleting a person changes

their status to Inactive. Marking a person Inactive will cause them to lose ALL Access to any readers they

had access to at the time of their deletion.

Quick Tip: IQSuite.cloud never deletes a person permanently from the database for multiple reasons,

the most important of which is that anyone added to the system has a history – for audit

purposes – and clocking events that are associated with them. This ensure that no fraud

can be committed, that a record permanently exists, and that the database does not

become fragmented.

To delete a person, simply select their name from the list of individuals, and click on the DELETE button. As

usual, you can use the search bar to find and highlight individuals by typing in a few letters.

Once you click the DELETE button, you will see the following message box:


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An Inactive person is NOT removed from the biometric readers, but rather, kept there for future reference

to ensure that they can be tracked should they need to be. Should the biometric device run out of space

to store people, it will automatically begin deleting Inactive people to create space.

Quick Tip: IQSuite.cloud often offers multiple ways to perform a function. For example, you can also

delete an individual by marking them Inactive in the VIEW/EDIT PERSON function.

2.4 Re-activate People

Once deleted, or as explained previously, deactivated, a person can be fully restored by re-activating them.

Once again, select the name from the list of Inactive People, and click Re-activate. You will receive the

following message box:


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Reactivating a person that is selected from the list of Inactive People will change their status back to Active.

Once you have reactivated a person, they will receive all their previous permissions and you will not need

to reallocate them to any devices.


re-activate an individual by marking them Active in the VIEW/EDIT PERSON function.

2.5 People Reports

Clicking on this button takes you directly to the People Reports button on the REPORTS page. It is designed

as a shortcut to get directly to this point from within the PEOPLE sub-menu.

A full breakdown of which reports are available, and what they do, is covered in Section 5.2 of this manual.

For more information, please hyperlink to this point.


get to PEOPLE REPORTS by going to the REPORTS button on the Home Screen.

2.6 Dashboard

The Dashboard is a very powerful tool offered by IQSuite.cloud to help you troubleshoot your system and

understand at a glance what might be causing problems for People or Devices on your system.

This section will cover the People aspects of the Dashboard – for more information on the Devices section,

see Section 3.6 in this manual.

Clicking on the Dashboard button on the left panel will bring up the Dashboard.

Quick Tip: In order to collate this data for you, IQSuite.cloud must process several transactions in the

cloud database. Depending on the size of your system, this dashboard can therefore take a

substantial amount of time to populate. Please be patient as the results are worth it!


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The image below shows a typically healthy system, as can be seen from the left-hand panel, where all the

main system icons are GREEN, with the exception of Devices being RED, indicating that there is an issue

that needs to be addressed. We will cover only the People component of the Dashboard in this section.

The PEOPLE dashboard is designed to help you troubleshoot individuals who may be having a problem, and

to work out why this could be the case.

Typically, the most common issues experienced by people who cannot clock on the system are either they

do not have fingerprints enrolled, or they have not yet been added to a device.

There are two icons on the PEOPLE dashboard:

• People without fingerprints

• People not on Devices

Quick Tip: For your PEOPLE icon in the main screen to be green, all the ACTIVE people in the database

need to have fingerprints enrolled and need to be allocated to at least one device.

Quick Tip: If an icon in the dashboard is GREEN, no report will generate. A green icon means that there

is nothing to report, and therefore, the system will not react. On larger systems, please be

patient when clicking on an icon, as IQSuite.cloud needs to process a huge amount of data

to provide these reports.


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SECTION 3

DEVICES

This section deals with the management of Devices on your system. This section is aimed at installers and

system managers, and in general, should not need to be used often. General system users should avoid

using this section where possible, to ensure that they do not accidentally change things or inadvertently

cause problems through applying incorrect settings to any devices.

3.1 Add Devices

To use IQSuite.cloud you will need to first add devices to your system. Adding devices requires you to

perform a few simple steps, and to first ascertain if you going to add the device as a new device, or if you

are going to replace an existing device.

Adding new devices requires you to complete the following steps:

• Get the Device Information – This includes the serial number & secret key, found only on your device.

• Allocate the Device – Use the website to allocate this device to your IQSuite.cloud database.

• Add & Configure – Add, name and configure the device using the IQSuite.cloud application.

Quick Tip: Use Replace Devices instead of Add Devices when you are swapping out an existing reader

with another one, as this will remove the old unit from your database. If you first use Add

Devices, you will not be able to permanently delete the old device from your system.

All the steps – other than those inside IQSuite.cloud – are the same for both processes. It

is therefore very important to use the correct function inside IQSuite.cloud when finally

adding and configuring the device.


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3.1.1 Getting the Device Information

To add a new device to your system, you will need to have the physical device in your possession, or to

have access to someone who has the device in their possession. On the back of all iPulse devices, you will

see the following sticker:

There are three pieces of information available to you, namely:

Serial Number: The serial number is a unique number created by iPulse Systems and allocated to

every device that we manufacture. No two devices have the same serial number.

The serial number normally takes the format of the letters IPU, followed by a

dash, followed by two blocks of 4-digit numbers.

MAC Address: The MAC address is also a unique number. Every device on your network has a

MAC address, which is used for physical communication on the local network. All

iPulse MAC addresses start with 00:11:FF, which identifies it as an authentic

iPulse device.

Access Key: The Access Key, also referred to in some documentation as the Secret Key, is a

12-digit alphanumeric key specifically linked to your device. This key should not

be shared with anyone, as access to the key allows users to allocate this device

to their database. However, once allocated, only iPulse Systems or an authorised

support partner, can remove a device from your system regardless of whether

they have the key or not.

3.1.2 Allocating the Device

Once you have identified your device, you will need to make sure that it has already been added to your

database. By default, all iPulse devices are allocated to a central database during manufacture, and you

will need to ensure that the device has been added by the iPulse Projects Team before you can use the

application to add it to your system.

Quick Tip: In general, the devices will already have been added to your database prior to you receiving

them from iPulse Systems or the authorised partner who sold them to you. You should first

check this BEFORE contacting iPulse to add them to your system, by looking under both Add

Devices and View/Configure Devices to ensure that that the units you are trying to add are

not already on your system.

First check to see if there are any devices waiting to be added by clicking on the Add Devices button inside

IQSuite.cloud. When there are devices that have already been added to your system, they will appear in

this list.

If there are no devices on your system, you will need to contact iPulse through one of the mechanisms

provided in CONTACT INFORMATION above, and ask them to add the devices to your system.

Before your devices have been added to your database, you should see the following screen when you click

on the Add Devices button:


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Once your devices have been added to your database by the iPulse Projects Teams, they should appear in

the list, and you can now add them, then name and configure them for use on your system.

Select one reader at a time from the list, and either double-click on it, or click on the Add+ button in the

Navigation Bar below. This will bring up the Device Settings page, where you are able to configure your

device.


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Quick Tip: IQSuite.cloud uses preconfigured settings for your devices in most instances to ensure

simplicity and ease of use. Most of these settings are configured using a Configuration

Template, which can be edited and managed under the Settings button in your application.

It is generally not a good idea to change these templates as changes made to these can

have far reaching consequences to the functioning of your system.

You should now use this page to configure your device. There are few settings here, and in most cases, the

defaults will suffice.

Device Name: This will be the name of your device. On devices with screens, the device name

will display on the screen. Try to select something obvious and clearly descriptive,

such as Front Gate IN or Boom Gate IN, as this will help you to identify devices

at a later stage.

Location: Location is selected from a dropdown list. Locations can be edited and managed

under Settings. Use Locations to group devices into logical groupings, such as

Building A, or town Johannesburg.

Configuration Template: Configuration Templates contain key configuration information for your devices.

To ensure that consistency is applied to these settings, IQSuite.cloud uses

templates, which can be configured under Settings. Select the template that is

applicable to your device.

Time zone: You will see that the Time zone automatically defaults to the time zone of your

local computer to save you time. Should you wish to, you may change this now,

or later under Edit/Configure Device if you like.

Device Mode: The Default setting is Controller, for when you use the device with IQSuite.cloud.

The Slave setting is used for integrating the device into another access control

system. Changing this mode can cause your device to not function correctly, and

it is highly recommended that you do NOT change this setting unless specifically

instructed to do so.


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You can view the details pertaining to the Configuration Template you have selected by clicking on the

Configuration Template tab or button. This will display the settings linked to the specific template but will

NOT allow you to edit them.

Please remember to click the SAVE icon in the Navigation Bar to ensure that your changes are saved to the

database. Clicking HOME or CANCEL now will mean that no changes made are saved. You should see the

following screen after successfully adding the device:

3.2 View/Configure Devices

If a device has already been added to your system in the past, the only way to edit or change its settings is

through the View/Configure Devices option.

Clicking the button will bring you to the following screen:


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This list consists of all the device’s in your organisation that have already been added to the system.

The list of devices will default to a sort option that references the order in which devices were added to

the system. To sort the list by any other attribute, click on the description bar in the top line of the list.

Clicking on Name will sort all the devices by name, whilst clicking on Location will group all the readers in

a specific location together.

Clicking twice on any description heading will cause the list to sort in reverse order (i.e., highest to lowest).

Quick Tip: You can use the Search Bar by typing in any part of the device’s name, which will reduce

the list to show only items that have that specific sequence of letters or numbers in it. This

is particularly useful for long lists.

Once you have found the device you are looking for, you can double-click on it, or click on the Edit button

in the Navigation Bar below.

Quick Tip: In some instances – specifically where there are two different options for the same function

such as double-clicking or selecting the Edit button – the application can hang if both

options are clicked. To avoid this, always give your application a moment to respond before

selecting another option as the speed of response is often dictated by the combination of

internet speed, server resources and the size of your database.

The following screen should appear:


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The first tab is the Basic Settings screen which has almost identical options as those available to you on

the Add Devices page. You can edit any of these settings at any time from here.

The only difference is the Status dropdown, which should show Active. You can use this to deactivate your

device, or you can use the Delete Devices button. Once deactivated, you can use the same dropdown to

reactivate your device again if required.

The Device Information Pane on the right is a very useful tool, and provides you with an overview of the

key support information needed for your device, including the following:

• Device Type: This shows the device type name and should be the same as the device image.

• IP Address: This will be the last known IP address from which the device checked in.

• Serial Number: This will be the device serial number.

• MAC Address: This will be the device MAC address.

• Firmware Version: This will show the devices current firmware version.

• Device Image: This will display an image that looks similar to your device type.

• Device Online Status: This will show if your device is on or offline.

• Last Check In: This will show how long it has been since your device last checked in.

This tab can also be used to turn the Rescan Delay function on or off, and once turned ON, the number of

minutes must be configured – from 1 to 60. The default value is 1 minute.

Rescan Delay is an iPulse innovation that overcomes the need for the system to have an anti-pass back

function.

Anti-Pass back is an access control function that requires a user to exit the premises before being allowed

to go back in again. The principle behind this function is that it stops people from allowing others to use

their access rights to enter premises, most specifically in turnstile type access environments.

However, this function often causes unnecessary complications and locks people out of their office or

home when they forget to scan out at the end of a long day – especially in environments that are not access

controlled by user limitation access points such as turnstiles.

In this case, rescan delay is a PER DEVICE control that allows you to stop people using their fingerprint to

grant others access, for example, at a boom gate where only authorised users are allowed through, or at a

turnstile where you wish to restrict access.


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Quick Tip: Rescan Delay allows you to stop tailgating – the ability for multiple people to follow through

or go through on a single person’s finger – by activating a delay on that specific device which

causes only THAT user to have a time delay until they can use the device again.

When Rescan Delay is active, any user who uses that device will be unable to use it again

for the time specified, unless you specifically turn OFF Rescan Delay for that person. When

Rescan Delay is off, this rule is of no force or effect, regardless of the number of minutes

set.

To move onto the next screen, you can either click on one of the grey blocks on the left-hand side, or on

the actual tabs in the Tab bar. Clicking on either will achieve the same result.

Clicking the next tab will take you to the Advanced Settings page, which will provide the following options:

• Time & Attendance: Allows you to specify if the T&A system should collect clocks from this device.

• Authorisation: Allows to turn the Authorisation function on or off for this device.

• Panic Fingers: Allows you to turn the Panic Finger mode on or off for this device.

• GPS: Allows you to turn off GPS tracking (requires approved device integration)

• Door Status Monitor: Allows you to turn on the door status monitor function for this device.

• Connected Accessory: Allows you to tell the device to search for an approved accessory attached.

• Device Mode: This allows you to change the device mode if required.

• Keypad Mode: This allows you to Toggle the keypad modes.

You can once again navigate to the next screen by either clicking on one of the grey blocks on the left-hand

side, or on the actual tabs in the Tab bar. Clicking on either will achieve the same result.

The Configuration Template screen is next:


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This looks identical to the screen in Add Devices, and once again, you can only view the settings of the

specific template, or change the template allocated to this device.

The next tab is the Tools tab:

This tab has four functions, all of which are very useful for support of your device, namely:

• Reboot this device remotely: Allows you to reboot this device anywhere in the world.

• Reboot this device on the local network: Lets you reboot a device on the same network as your PC.

• Re-transfer users to the device: Allows you to retransfer all the users on the device

• Remove everyone from the device: Allows you to delete all users on a device

Reboot the device remotely allows you to do exactly what it says – schedule the device for a reboot when

it next checks into the server. This should be done if the device is not performing as it should, or if the

device is not responding to user interaction but is still online.


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Reboot the device on the local network is an extremely powerful tool for users who are running on the

same physical network as the biometric readers. This function searches the local network for the biometric

reader specified and uses local network commands to connect to the reader and reboot it. This is far more

useful than a remote reboot in many cases, as this allows you to fix a reader that has actually gone offline

or has crashed somehow but is still up on the local network.

Retransfer Users to this device allows you to remove everyone from the device and then resend them all

back to the device. This is a very useful tool when new users do not appear to be transferring to the device,

or if any inconsistencies are experienced, such as certain persons being denied access when they should

be granted access or vice versa. This can happen (although very rarely) when the device database gets out

of sync with the system database due to an error in communication. This function forces the reader to

completely rebuild its entire database and should only be done if the readers is experiencing problems.

Remove everyone from the device is a way of clearing the Access Control List from a reader and removing

every single person from the device. There is no way to recover the user list after using this function – this

does not only delete everyone on the reader, but it also removes every single person allocated to the

reader from the master list.

This should be used ONLY when resetting a reader, or when you want to remove everyone from it. There

is no recovery from this function!

Finally, the last tab is the View Access tab, which shows you the list of people who have access to this

specific device.

This is an easy way to determine if someone has access to a device that they should not, or if they are not

being granted access for some reason, to check if they are linked to that specific device.

Quick Tip: This is one of the quickest ways to troubleshoot a device. If your device shows that there

are still people to add, as in the above example, it means that this device has not yet fully

updated its Access Control List, and this means some people will not yet be able to clock.


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3.3 Delete Devices

3.3.1 Deleting a Device

Clicking on Delete Devices will bring up the now common list of devices, with the search button at the top.

Scroll through the list, search for a specific device or sort the readers using the description buttons to find

the specific device that you are looking for.

Once you have found the device you wish to delete, click on the Delete button at the bottom of the screen.

This will bring up a message box confirming that you want to delete the device, as shown below.

Figure 1 - Delete Device Message Box

IQSuite.cloud does not actually delete devices from your system, just as it does not delete people. This is

due to the nature of the system, which requires a history of access to be recorded even for devices or

people that have been deleted.

In this case, all devices that are deleted from the system are marked as Inactive. They will no longer appear

in your standard reports or show up as offline in your dashboard. However, all their history and information

are still stored in the database for reporting if required.

3.3.2 Reactivating a Device

Reactivating a device is therefore just a matter of going to View/Configure Devices and asking the system

to show you the Inactive devices by clicking on the show Inactive devices radio button under the Search

bar. This will bring up a list of all devices that have been deleted:


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To re-activate the device, select it from the list of Inactive devices, then either double-click or select the

Edit button below. This will bring up the View/Configure Device screen, where you can change the status

from Inactive to Active by clicking on the dropdown list, selecting the Active option, then saving your

changes.

Quick Tip: iPulse devices clearly demonstrate when they are Inactive if they are powered on. iPB7

devices display a large INACTIVE on the screen, whilst iPB4 devices flash orange every thirty

seconds. In both cases, all people will be refused access with the clock status Access

Denied: Reader Inactive. No matter who is on the device, an Inactive device will NOT grant

access to anyone.

3.4 Replace Devices

This is one of the most powerful functions available in IQSuite.cloud and should always be used when

swapping out a device for any reason.

Whilst it is possible to use the Add Devices function to add a new device, configure it, and then delete the

old one, using the Replace Device function allows you to do all of this in one simple process designed to

ensure that the change is instant and accurate.

When replacing one device with another, you can swap between devices such as an iPB4 and an iPB7 as

well.

Typically, this function is used when a device fails or is being upgraded for a newer device. In both instances,

the process is as follows:

• Get the Device Information – This includes the serial number & secret key, found only on your device.

• Allocate the Device – Use the website to allocate this device to your IQSuite.cloud database.

• Replace & Configure – Replace the device using the IQSuite.cloud application to keep all settings.

For the first two steps, read the detailed explanation under Section 3.1.1 and Section 3.1.2 respectively.

These are identical regardless of whether you are Adding or Replacing a device as in order to perform either

function, you need a New Device to be available to complete the process.


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Once you have added the device/s you want to use as a replacement, select the Replace Devices option.

You should see a list of available new devices that you can select.

Select the device you want to use as a replacement device and then click on the Next button below.

You will now be prompted with a list of all devices currently active on the system. To view inactive devices,

simply select the Show inactive devices radio button below the search bar or use the Show all devices

option to see everything.

Once you have selected the device you wish to replace, you can click the Replace button below. This will

bring up the usual blue warning message box to confirm if you want to proceed:

At this point, you can still cancel the process if you wish to by selecting No from the options. However,

once you select Yes, the devices will be swapped out.

If both devices are online when the swap out is performed, the old device will appear as an unallocated

device under New Devices, allowing you to reallocate it or add it back later.

If the old device is offline, then it will not appear in your database until it has been brought back online.

3.5 Device Reports

Clicking on this button takes you directly to the Device Reports button on the REPORTS page. It is designed

as a shortcut to get directly to this point from within the DEVICE sub-menu.

A full breakdown of which reports are available, and what they do, is covered in Section 5.3 of this manual.

For more information, please hyperlink to this point.


get to DEVICE REPORTS by going to the REPORTS button on the Home Screen.

3.6 Dashboard

The Dashboard is a very powerful tool offered by IQSuite.cloud to help you troubleshoot your system and

understand at a glance what might be causing problems for People or Devices on your system. This section

will cover the Devices aspects of the Dashboard – for more information on the People section, see Section

2.6 in this manual.

Clicking on the Dashboard button will bring up the Dashboard.


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The image below shows a typically healthy system, as can be seen from the left-hand panel, where all the

main system icons are GREEN. We will cover only the Devices component of the Dashboard in this section.

Quick Tip: In order to collate this data for you, IQSuite.cloud must process several transactions in the

cloud database. Depending on the size of your system, this dashboard can therefore take a

substantial amount of time to populate. Please be patient as the results are worth it!

The DEVICES dashboard is designed to help you see at a glance if you have new readers waiting to be

added, or any offline readers. Typically, in most systems, only the center icon will be green, showing you

all your readers are online.

Clicking on one of the icons brings up a System Exception report, as shown below:


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This report will show you any device that are offline. If there are no devices in the list, this is because there

are no offline devices at present.

As usual, all reports can be exported to Excel and saved, edited or printed for future reference.

Quick Tip: Unlike the People icons, clicking on any icon here will generate a response, even if there are

no devices showing in the category. On larger systems, please be patient when clicking on

an icon, as IQSuite.cloud needs to process a huge amount of data to provide these reports.


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SECTION 4

ACCESS MANAGEMENT

4.1 Access Control

Once you have captured people’s information, and added your devices to the system, your most important

function is going to be adding people to devices – or managing access – to your premises. If you have

experience with previous version of IQSuite.cloud, be sure to pay close attention to this section as there

have been dire changes in how Access Control is now managed.

4.1.1 Understanding Access Control Lists

Whilst access management can seem like a complex and confusing topic, it is quite simple when you

understand that all access control devices work on what is known as an ACL – Access Control List – that

combines the following factors:

• Person: The person you are adding

• Device: The device you are adding that person to

• Time Schedule: The times that person can use that device

IQSuite.cloud offers several different ways to simplify and speed up the adding of people to devices, but

all of them use this same principle even if you do not have to manually select it.

As the manual has already covered People and Devices quite adequately, this section will first introduce

Time Access Schedules to the user so that they can have a broader understanding of the key role that these

schedules play in access control.

4.1.2 Understanding Time Access Schedules

Time Access Schedules normally work on a minimum of a 7-day schedule – Monday to Sunday, but many

have up to 9 days which can include Public Holidays and user definable events – such as Emergencies.

IQSuite.cloud uses the 9-day schedule to allow you maximum control over your access.


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Figure 2 - Access Time Schedule - Weekdays

The principle is simple – when you define a Time Access Schedule, you need to select the times that people

who are using this schedule will have access to your devices, and thus your premises. IQSuite.cloud

separates normal weekdays from weekends and special days, allowing you to focus on them clearly.

In the example above, you can see that the Weekdays schedule has been set to allow access from 05:00am

in the morning, to 6:00pm at night, Monday through Friday. There are quick functions that allow you to

make access an “All-day” event, or to decline any access on that specific day.

All-day access is exactly what it sounds like – for the full 24 hours of that specific day, any user allocated to

a device using this access schedule can use the device at any time. This is normally granted to senior

management, staff who work unusual hours, or administrators/ building managers.

Typically, most companies will want to allocate access from Monday to Friday at least an hour before work

officially starts, to at least an hour after work hours officially end to ensure that staff have access.


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Once the weekdays have been arranged, weekends, holidays and Emergency events can be scheduled. At

this point in time, IQSuite.cloud does not support emergency events, but a future version will make

provision for this function. Typically, this would define what would happen to certain devices in the event

of an emergency – such as a fire. Should anyone be granted access in the event of an emergency, or not.

As you can see from the above example, most of these schedules simply deny access on weekends and

holidays, but of course, you can set this at any time.

Using the above model, it clear to see that anyone allocated to a device using this schedule would be able

to access that device between 05:00am and 06:00pm Monday to Friday, and not at all on Weekends or

Holidays.

Should they clock at any other time, access would be denied with the message Access Denied: Outside

Schedule.

4.1.3 Adding, Editing and Deleting Time Access Schedules

This is covered under Section 7 – Settings in depth and will not be covered further in this section.

4.1.4 Access Management Options

When clicking on the Access Management button, you will be presented with two options, as follows:


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4.2 Transfer People to Devices

Clicking on the Transfer People to Devices Button brings up a screen with an additional five buttons as

shown above. The new logical sequence in which a person is transferred is as follows:

1. Select how you would like to identify the people you want to transfer.

2. Select the Individual/Team/Department/Business Unit/Group that you wish to transfer.

3. Select whether you would like to transfer them to:

▪ Locations

▪ Individual Devices

▪ Groups

This process is followed throughout each of the blocks above.


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Quick Tip: Before you start Access Management, make sure that you have created your Locations and

Reader Groups in the Settings Tab and allocated the correct devices to each respective area.

4.2.1 Transfer Individuals

The simplest method of transferring a person in version 5.7 is by selecting specific individuals. This is useful

in companies with a small number of people on the system, or when you want to add only a specific

individual.

However, this method is extremely inefficient for groups of people, and should not be used in larger

companies when more than ONE person is required to be transferred.

4.2.2 Understanding Teams, Departments and Business Units

Teams, Departments and Business Units are three different types of groups that are all used in the same

way. Grouping people together is a powerful tool that allows you to grant people access to a variety of

readers instantly.

Quick Tip: A person can be part of a Team, Department and a Business Unit. This is the true power

behind having three different means of grouping people.

The first step in using Teams, Department and Business Units is to create them in your database under the

Settings tab. This is a process that should ideally be completed before enrollments but can be done at any

time using IQSuite.cloud when new groups are required.

Once you have created your Team, Department and Business Units, you can add people to these groups.

Clicking on any of these drop-down lists will give you the list of all the groups that you have created. Under

the Advanced Settings Tab, the three groups will be on the top of the screen as follows:


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Quick Tip: It is important to keep in mind that this process is simply adding them to a group of people

and has not yet actually granted anyone access.

4.2.3 Transfer Teams, Departments and Business Units

To use Teams, Departments or Business Units to transfer people to readers, you should select the specific

option you want from the buttons below.

Selecting one of the options, in this case Teams, will bring you to a page where you can select which Team

you want to use.


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Select a team from the list. You can select multiple Teams by using the CTRL button when clicking on them.

Once selected, click NEXT and you will see the following options:

Select whichever option is most convenient from the list above. Transferring to a Location or Reader Group

will transfer the selected Team to every reader in the location or group, whilst selecting individual devices

will allow you to specify which devices you want to use.

When you click save, you will be presented with the following screen that confirms how many people you

are about to add to a specific number of devices. Click SAVE if it looks correct and DO NOT close

IQSuite.cloud whilst the task is running, you can simply minimize it and carry on with other work until it is

done.


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4.3 Removing People from Devices

Removing a person from a device has never been easier. Simply select the device that you wish to remove

a people from and click NEXT. You will be presented with a list of names of people who are currently

allocated to the device you selected.

The next step is to select the person/people that you wish to remove by clicking on the box to the leftof

their names. Once done, click NEXT.

Quick Tip: You can select multiple people on this page if you wish to remove more than one person at

a time.


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After selecting the person/people that need to be removed, the page above will pop up confirming the

steps mentioned above. Click SAVE to ensure that the changes are saved and DO NOT close IQSuite.cloud

whilst this task is running or else the person/people may not be removed.


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SECTION 5

REPORTS

This section covers the reporting module, which is broken into 4 categories:

• Clock Reports - View all clocking-related reports

• People Reports - View all people-related reports

• Time Reports – View all time-management related reports

• Device Reports - View all device-related reports

• Access Reports - See which people have access to which devices

5.1 Clock Reports

The most used reports on the system will be the Clock reports. Selecting this button will take you to a sub-

menu, where you can select the type of report you want from the following options:

• All Clockings - Display ALL the clockings for the selected period

• Clocking by Person - Display clockings for a specific individual for the selected period

• Clockings by Device - Display the clockings for a specific device for the selected period

• Clocking by Person Group – Display the clockings for a specific Team, Business Unit or Department


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5.1.1 Clock Reports - All Clockings

To generate Clock Reports, select the Clocking Type and a Date Range, then select “Generate”.

A new feature allows you to show clockings for people with specific identifier types. This is particularly

useful when managing employees by identifiers such as Employee Number.


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5.1.2 Clock Reports - Clockings by Person

To generate Person Reports, you can either select a person from the full list of People on the system, or

choose to find them using an identifier – a new option designed to speed things up when looking for people

on large systems.

5.1.3 Clock Reports - Clockings by Device

To generate Device Reports, select a Device from the list of Devices on the left-hand side, select a Date

Range, then click “Generate”.


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5.2 People Reports

Next up is People Reports, an easy way to view information about a group of individuals. Selecting this

button will take you to a sub-menu, where you can select the type of report you want from the following

options:

• People on system - Show all the People enrolled on your system

• People without fingerprints - Show People without fingerprints on your system

• People without clockings - Show People who haven’t clocked on a device in a specific period

• People not on devices - Show People who aren’t allocated to any devices

• Deleted People - Show People who have been deleted

There are no setup or configurations for People reports – clicking on any of the buttons will take you

directly to that report. As these are largely for manipulation and storage, the reports can easily be exported

to Microsoft Excel (provided that you have this installed on your system), where they can be manipulated

into any format required.

All reports will open in a separate window, allowing you to leave them open in the background whilst

continuing your work in the application if you so desire.

Once presented with a report, you have the option to do nothing further, or to complete one of the

following actions:

• Export report – Export your report to Microsoft Excel (requires Excel)

• Reload report – This allows you to refresh the data displayed in your report

• Print Preview - Show a sample of what your report will look like if printed

• Print Report – Take you to the print menu

• Close Report – Close the report (clicking on the red cross in the corner achieves the same result)


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All the report screens have the same layout, and the same functions, throughout the reporting module.

Once you familiarize yourself with the options available on this screen, you will be in a position to work

with any report in the Reporting module.

5.3 Device Reports

Device Reports, simply put, is a window into what is happening with the devices on your system. Selecting

this button will take you to a sub-menu, where you can select the type of report you want from the

following options:


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• Devices on system - Show all the Devices added to your system

• Online Devices – Get a “Point in Time” view of all devices that are online

• Offline Devices - Get a “Point in Time” view of all devices that are offline

• Deleted Devices – Show all devices that have been deleted (made inactive)

There are no setup or configurations for Device reports – clicking on any of the buttons will take you directly

to that report. As these are largely for manipulation and storage, the reports can easily be exported to

Microsoft Excel (provided that you have this installed on your system), where they can be manipulated into

any format required.

All reports will open in a separate window, allowing you to leave them open in the background whilst

continuing your work in the application if you so desire.

Once presented with a report, you have the option to do nothing further, or to complete one of the

following actions:


• Reload report – This allows you to refresh the data displayed in your report





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5.4 Access Reports

The system has two simple but very powerful access management reports. Selecting the Access Reports

button will take you to a sub-menu, where you can select the type of report you want from the following

options:

• Report by Device - Show all the People enrolled on a specific device

• Report by Person – Show all devices that a specific person has access to

Selecting Report by Device will ask you to select the device you wish to view and will then generate a report

of all the people on that device.


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You will then see a report of all people on that device, with the usual options available to you on the screen:

Selecting Report by Person will ask you to select the person you wish to view the information for and will

then generate a report showing all devices linked to that person. This report can be very slow, depending

on the size of the system, as it needs to collate data from multiple sources.

A report allows you to do the following:


• Reload report – Refresh the data being displayed in your report




5.5 Time Reports

Finally, Time Reports are used in this system as a workforce management tool. The screen looks as follows:


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These reports allow you to manage basic time keeping for specific individuals or groups of people on the

system.

5.5.1 Latecomers Report

The latecomers report allows you to select a category of

person who arrived late on a specified date. You can select the

time the date and time that you want, and the system will pull

a report displaying all people who arrived AFTER the selected

time on that date.

Please note that this report will also display people who did

NOT ATTEND AT ALL on that date. This report should therefore

be used in conjunction with the Absentees Report, described

below.

5.5.2 Absentees Report

The Absentees report works in the same way as the Latecomers report, allowing you to select the date and

type of person. After this, it will run the report, and extract a list of all people who did NOT CLOCK on the

specified date.


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SECTION 6

Troubleshooting

6.1 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting gives you access to tools designed to help you identify where problems lie and guide you

to solutions that will ultimately help to solve them.

IQSuite.cloud has been designed from the ground up to be a simple system to manage, yet very powerful

in its functionality. Over time, IQSuite.cloud will incorporate more of the diagnostic tools that iPulse

Systems has developed for installers, once their use case has been confirmed, and the usability or User

Experience has been completed.

Currently, there are three functions available under Diagnostics, as follows:

6.2 Help! I can’t clock!

As the name indicates, this tab is sued to help identify why a user is unable to clock on a reader. Clicking

on this tab will bring up a list of people, click on the person that is struggling to clock and click the Next

button on the bottom right of the screen.

The screen above will appear with results from a query that has been pulled checking for the following:


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1. Whether or not the person is Active on the database or not – if they have been deleted.

2. If they have Fingerprints enrolled.

3. If they have reached their Expiry Date on the system.

The table below has the reasons that each of the boxes would be red, as well as the solutions to each

problem:

Reason Solution

The person is Inactive Go to the person’s details and change their

setting from Inactive to Active and click save.

The person has no Fingerprints enrolled

Go to the person’s details, click the tab at the top

called Fingerprints and enrol the person’s

fingerprints.

Their Expiry Date has expired

Go to the People tab, click on Activate Temporary

Access button and change their expiration date to

however far in the future you desire, we normally

suggest 10 years ahead.


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If all three options have green ticks, you move on to the next screen with a list of all the readers on the

database. Select the reader that the person is struggling to clock on and click the Next button.

The next screen will show displaying a new query that has been pulled with three other troubleshooting

checks.

The screen shows that Matthew has ticked all three checks yet again, indicating that:

1. He has been allocated to the device.

2. The device is not currently waiting for new people to be added.

3. The device’s ACL has fingerprints loaded on to it.


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6.3 Test a fingerprint

Testing a fingerprint is an incredibly powerful tool that compares a fingerprint of a person to anyone else

in the entire database. Clicking on this tab will bring you to the screen below where you will be required to

capture a fingerprint in real time of the person that you would like to test.

Click on “I’d like to capture a live fingerprint for comparison”.

A list of all the individuals on the database will now appear. Select the person that you would like to test

and click Next.

In a situation where a person tests their prints against their own prints, the desired screen would look like

the one below. There is a high match between the prints, meaning that the person’s prints that are

recorded on the database are up to date and will allow that person access on the readers with ease.

In a situation where an individual tests their prints against someone else in the system, if the screen below

appears, there is a major issue. This means that the person has enrolled their prints under another person’s


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name. Moving forward, both individuals should be called in and examined – if both people display the same

result i.e., they both have matches against each other, it is highly likely that there is an instance of fraud at

hand. Re-enrol both people with extra care.

If a person is comparing their prints to a different person the screen below appears, this means that they

will not come up with that person’s name when they clock. Anything under 30% will never really match

against a fingerprint. This is good news, the person testing their prints will not appear as the person that

was tested against.

In an instance where a person is testing against their own prints and this screen appears, there is a major

issue. This probably means that this person’s initial enrolment was done very poorly and needs to be

redone. Assist this person in re-enrolling their prints.


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6.4 Look for similar prints

Looking for similar prints is similar to the previous section, “Test a fingerprint”, only on a larger scale.

Instead of comparing a fingerprint to one individual, it compares the print to every fingerprint on the

database.


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SECTION 7

SETTINGS

The settings menu has several options for configuring your system. Remember – the golden rule here is

that if you are not sure what you are doing, don’t do it! Changes here can have significant, system wide

changes that result in unexpected consequences. You have been warned – here be dragons!

7.1 Manage Access Time Schedules

Access Time Schedules have been clearly and carefully explained in Section 4.1.2 of this manual. For more

information about WHAT they are, and how they work, please review this section.

Clicking on the Manage Access Time schedules button will bring you to the home screen, which has 3

options available:


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From this menu, users can add, edit or delete Access Time Schedules to their IQSuite.cloud database.

IQSuite.cloud ships with a few pre-defined schedules, which are as follows:

• All Access: Grants access at all times – 24/7/365

• Weekdays, 6 to 6: Grants access Monday to Friday only, from 06h00 to 18h00

• Weekdays, 8 to 5: Grants access Monday to Friday only, from 06h00 to 18h00

These typical schedules should be enough for most small systems, but in larger installations or complex

environments, users may want to add their own schedules, or edit the supplied ones to meet their needs.

This section will cover these options.

7.1.1 Add an Access Time Schedule

Adding an Access Time Schedule is a fairly simple process – especially when using the Use Quick Settings

option provided.

Clicking on the Add an Access Time Schedule button will take you to the first screen of the process:


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At this point, you have two options available to you – either select the Use Quick Settings option to have

everything pre-defined, or manually set up each item yourself.

Selecting Use Quick Settings still allows you to edit every individual item as you go through the wizard, so

unless you are creating some very specific Access Time Schedules, it is highly recommended that you select

this option.

Once you have typed in a name, and a description, for your schedule, your screen should look something

like this:

Always try to give your Access Time Schedule a highly descriptive name, such as the default ones supplied

with the installation. Of course, as the name is restricted to 20 characters, this is not always possible, and

this is the reason for the description option.


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Remember that users will have to choose this when they allocate access to people or create groups, and

thus it is important that the name and description be clear and descriptive.

You should also select the start and end hours for your template. The default is 12 to 12, which is 24-hour

access on that specific day.

In the above example, I have selected Access on Weekdays only, and set the times from 05:00am to

10:00pm. These values will automatically be populated for me on the schedule pages when I click NEXT.

Once you click NEXT, you should see the daily access rules for Weekdays, which should have your pre-

populated times as selected in the first screen. You can edit these values here if you want to make one or

two days slightly different (or even completely different) and even remove access on a specific day.

There are quick action buttons to the right of each day that allow you to grant all-day access or remove

access for that specific day.

Once you are done, you can click on the NEXT button, which will bring you to the Weekends and Holidays

tab, where you can complete the exact same process.

In the example chosen here, Weekends and Public Holidays were NOT selected to be on by default, and so

they are all greyed out.

Once again, this can be manually amended or changed by using the check boxes on the right-hand side of

each day, where you can re-activate a specific day – such as Saturday for example, and then manually set

the times you would like access to be granted.

The screen below shows the all OFF or unselected option for Weekends and Holidays.


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Once you have completed your changes, you can click on the SAVE icon, and your Access Time Schedule

will be added to the system.

7.1.2 Update an Access Time Schedule

Once you have an existing Access Time Schedule, it is possible to update or change the information that is

contained in it. When updating an access time schedule, you can click on the Update an Access Time

Schedule button and select the schedule you want to edit from the list of available schedules.


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It is very important to notice that this list will show both Active and Inactive schedules that are on your

system. The reason for this is that if you wish to reactivate a schedule, you will do so by Updating it, which

will automatically change its status to Active.

In IQSuite.cloud, Access Time schedules are linked to devices and people. Therefore, you cannot delete

them but can only make them “Inactive”. However, editing an existing template does mean that these

rules will update on every device and for every person associated with them, so be wary when changing

existing templates to avoid confusion or unexpected problems.

Once you have selected the Access Time schedule you want to manage, simply complete the same steps

as you followed when Adding an Access Time Schedule. You can even change the name and edit the

description.

When done, hit the SAVE icon and this will update your schedule.

If the schedule was Inactive, and you want to reactivate it without changing it, all you have to do is click

NEXT through the wizard, and then SAVE, and the template will status will change to Active.

7.1.3 Delete an Access Time Schedule

As explained in 7.1.2 above, it is not possible to delete an Access Time Schedule, as doing so could cause a

major problem in the system functionality. Therefore, the delete function marks a template as Inactive,

causing it to no longer appear in lists and views.

To delete a schedule, or mark it as Inactive, select it from the list, click on the DELETE icon, and confirm

that you wish to delete it. This will immediately change the templates status.

7.2 Manage Reader Groups

In IQSuite.cloud, groups are used to allocate people to a pre-defined combination of devices, with a pre-

configured Time Access Schedule. Groups can be added, edited and deleted from the system without any

concern, as they are not LINKED to any devices or individuals.

Essentially, groups are used in IQSuite.cloud to simplify the process of adding new people to the database,

or to make bulk changes to people’s access permissions on the system, rather than being an integral part

of the Access Control List.

It is important to understand that in IQSuite.cloud, editing a group will NOT AFFECT ANYONE already on

the system, only new people that are added using the amended group settings. As the groups are NOT

LINKED, they are simply a template for speeding up the process of adding individuals to multiple devices.


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There are no pre-defined Groups on the system, as groups require you to select the devices you wish to

add to it when creating it. Therefore, to use the Groups functionality, you will need to first create a group

on the system.

7.2.1 Add Groups

When adding a group, you will need to know which devices you want to grant people access to, and what

Time Access Schedule you will be using. It is therefore important to add all your devices BEFORE creating a

group, and to edit and define your Time Access Schedules in advance as well. Selecting the Add Groups

button will bring you to the first screen of the wizard, where you will select the devices you want to add to

your group.

Once you have selected which devices you want to add to the group, you will select the Time Access

Schedule you wish to allocate to the people who will be allocated using this group:


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After selecting the Time Access Schedule, click on the NEXT icon, and provide a name for your new group.

Remember to try use something descriptive, such as Developers, or Financial Team, so that people will

easily be able to identify it later.

When you are done, click on the SAVE icon, and your group will be added to the system.

7.2.2 View/Update Groups

As with the other functions described in this section, Viewing and Updating Groups is almost identical to

the Adding New Groups function.

First, select the group you wish to edit from the list of available groups:


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Then, review the list of devices that have been added, and add or remove devices as required:

Once you are complete with this process, you will now decide if you want to keep the Time Access Schedule

the same as it was or change it.


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If you decide to keep the same Access Time Schedule, you can click on the NEXT icon to continue. If you

want to change the Access Time Schedule, click on the Allocate a new Access Time Schedule radio button,

select the new schedule, and then click on the NEXT icon to continue.

Finally, you can decide if you want to keep the group name the same or change it. Once you are done, click

on the SAVE icon to complete the wizard, and the task.

7.2.3 Delete Groups

The last function available under groups is the option to delete existing groups. This function is simple, and

groups may be deleted with no impact on the system.

Please bear in mind that unlike other functions, this delete will physically remove the group from your

system, and if you want it back in the future, you will need to recreate it using the Add new group function.

To delete a group, click on the Delete Groups button, then select the group you want to delete from the

list and click on the DELETE icon. You will be prompted to confirm the action, and once you say yes, the

group will be deleted.


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7.3 Manage Locations

Locations are an extremely powerful tool if used correctly and are specifically aimed at organisations that

have iPBx devices installed in multiple locations.

When a device is added to the system, a location is required to define “where” it is inside the organisation.

Whilst many smaller companies do not worry about this, anyone with more than one physical location

should use this to help them manage their sites.

Quick Tip: On sites that occupy a single physical location, but which have many biometric devices, it is

often convenient to group sections of the building – such as floors, wings or other user

defined areas – using locations. For example, in a building, you could define the locations

as 1st Floor, 2nd Floor, 3rd Floor, or East Wing, West Wing. You could also use locations to

define devices located in a specific user-defined area of your building, such as Factory, Wash

Area, Admin Offices, etc.

Locations are used in reporting, whilst making granting access to a specific site much easier without the

need to create a group.

There are 10 pre-defined locations allocated to each instance of IQSuite.cloud. Clients who would like more

can ask for these to be added at no additional charge.

Locations cannot be added or removed from the system through the user interface. The only option

available is to edit the name of a location from its pre-defined title to anything that suits your specific

requirements.

To edit the names of the system locations, click on the Manage Locations button, and select the location

you would like to rename from the list of available options:

Once you have selected the location you wish to change, click on the NEXT icon which will allow you to

rename the location you have selected to your own descriptive name. Remember that Location names are

restricted to a maximum of 20 characters, so try to make your naming convention something that will fit

into this allocated space.


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Once you are done, click on the SAVE icon, and your location name will be updated.

7.4 Manage Device Configs

Device Config Templates are used to broadly apply settings to a group of devices. Like many such items in

IQSuite.cloud, these templates cannot be added or deleted through the user interface, as they affect the

way devices perform, and define key settings in the device configuration files.

IQSuite.cloud comes pre-configured with 10 device configs, which cover most eventualities and

requirements that an average installation should need. It is highly recommended that these settings only

be changed under controlled circumstances, or by individuals who clearly understand the impact of such

changes.

Device Config templates manage the following settings:

• Relay Trigger Time

• Device Identification Level

• Device Verification Level

• Allowing PIN & Print Access

• Allowing PIN Code Only Access

As each of these settings is important to your system and can have a major impact on the way it functions,

this section will explain the concepts behind each, and why they are set to the values they have.

7.4.1 Editing a Device Config Template

To edit a device config template, you will need to click on the Manage Device Configs option under Settings.

Select the Device Config template you want to edit from the list displayed, then make the changes you

would like to the various settings – each of which is clearly explained and described below. When you are

finished, click on the SAVE icon to update your settings.

These settings will be applied to all devices who are linked to that Device Config within 60 seconds of the

template being updated, so please be sure that the changes you are making are correct.


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7.4.2 Relay Trigger Time

The relay trigger time can be set to 5 pre-defined levels, each of which is clearly described as follows:

• Pulse – 0.5 seconds

• Very short – 1.5 seconds

• Short – 3 seconds

• Medium – 5 seconds

• Long – 10 seconds

Pulse is used for specific access control situations where the mechanism controls its own open/close status

on the relay, for example, a turnstile or a boom gate.


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In this situation, a brief pulse is sent to the turnstile to inform it that it should allow a user to pass through.

Once the turnstile receives this pulse, it will then use its own controller to manage how long the turnstile

is able to be turned, how far it can turn, and how many times it can turn.

Boom gates operate in a similar, opening when they receive the pulse, and only closing when a vehicle or

person has passed through, using their own sensors to determine when this has happened.

For all other type of locks, such as mag locks, striker locks and other electronic locks, you will need to set a

delay that suits the location.

Typically, a Short relay trigger time is used for most doors. Lasting approximately 3 seconds, this timing

works in most instances.

However, there are times when a longer delay is required, such as when the device is mounted further

away from the door. It is not a good idea to use these longer delays unless required, as they can present a

security risk in that the door will remain open whilst the relay is triggered, possibly unintentionally allowing

someone else to get access to the premises.

7.4.3 Device Identification & Verification Levels

The device identification and verification levels set the level at which biometric matching is done on the

device. The lower the level, the more likely people are to be granted access, and the higher the level, the

more likely people are to be denied access.

All access control works on a simple graph – convenience versus security. The more convenient, or the

lower the level, the easier it is for people to get in. The more secure, or the higher the level, the harder it

is for people to gain access.

All biometric systems try to create a balance between two forces – False Acceptance and False Rejection.

False acceptance is where users who are not on the system are granted access because they are identified

incorrectly as someone who is on the system – this occurs when the levels are set too low.

False rejection is where someone who is on the system is not granted access because the matching settings

are too high.

Typically, an average system will use a value of Normal, which is the best balance of security and

convenience in most cases. Higher levels are only used under extremely secure situations, whilst lower

levels are only used in environments where people have extremely low-quality prints.

To avoid the second scenario being needed, the iPulse iPBx devices offer both an identification and

verification mode.

Identification is one-to-many – where people place their fingerprints on the device, and it searches through

the database to find a match, and grant or deny access. This is the default mode of the iPulse devices –

standalone biometric access. iPulse iPBx devices support either 3,000:1 or 10,000:1 matching by default,

depending on the model.

Verification is used to confirm a person’s identity, rather than to find it. Verification is usually set to Below

Normal on most systems – the lower value being less important as you are only doing 1:1 matching.

To use verification, the device requires information about the person, such as a PIN code, or access card,

to identify who is present. The fingerprint is then used to confirm this identification – also known as

verifying the identity – of the individual.

Verification can be used on iPB7 devices in conjunction with a PIN code, or on any iPBx device that has a

card reader module.


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Quick Tip: If you have people on your site that struggle to get accepted (in other words, there are

some people who have low quality prints), then you should activate the PIN code option,

and allow them to first type a PIN, followed by the print. This option is only available on

iPB7 readers.

Quick Tip: If you are getting too many people who appear as other people, this is normally caused by

your IDENTIFICATION level being too low. If you get too many people being rejected, even

though they are enrolled on the system, then your IDENTIFICATION level may be too high.

It is not recommended that you change the default values without extensive testing to ensure that the

security of your site, or the usability of the system, is not compromised.

Here be dragons – be warned!

7.4.4 Allow PIN Codes

Activating Allow PIN codes will mean that on all devices using this specific Device Config, and which have a

keypad, PIN codes may be typed in. To use PIN codes, you need to allocate a PIN code to a person under

Add Person or View/Update Person.

Once a PIN code has been allocated, and Allow PIN Codes has been turned on, any iPBx device with a

keypad will accept numbers typed as a PIN, search for the PIN, and if found, match the fingerprints of the

user against the record for that person – 1:1 matching – to grant access.

Fingerprint only access is STILL active on these devices, and users who do not have a PIN may continue to

use fingerprint only for access.

7.4.5 Allow PIN Codes Only

To use this option, Allow PIN Codes need to be active. Once selected, this will allow people to use a PIN

code ONLY to gain access to the premises.

iPulse Systems strenuously suggests that this option never be used unless absolutely required. Activating

this option essentially means that anyone who knows the PIN number – regardless of whether they are

enrolled in your system or not – will be able to access your premises.

7.4.6 Editing a Device Config Template

To edit a device config template, you will need to click on the Manage Device Configs option under Settings.

Select the Device Config template you want to edit from the list displayed, then make the changes you

would like to the

7.5 Manage People Groups

This feature in Settings is the latest edition in version 5.7 that has been discussed in various parts of this

manual already. There is a huge amount of power behind People Groups when it is utilized correctly.

Under this tab there are two features available:

• Editing People Groups

• Adding People Groups

There are three types of People Groups, namely:

• Teams

• Departments

• Business Units


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Clicking on any of the “Add a new…” tabs will bring up a screen that looks like this.

Type in the name and description of the group. Here are a few examples of different ways you can name

and describe your groups:

Name Description Code

Marketing Team A Team that consists of all the members of

the marketing department.

JHB – Cleaning Staff A group of all the cleaning staff that works

in the Location Joburg.

Client A All the Clients in company Client A that need

access to the Client A readers.

Clicking on any of the “Edit an existing…” tabs will bring up the screen above, allowing you to change the

Name, Description and Code of that existing group.

Quick Tip: Changing a group’s name will not remove the people from the group that were previously

in that group. It will simply update the name under their details and their access will remain

the same as before.

7.6 Users and Login

This is not only an incredibly convenient function, but also, an extremely secure option. Since most

computers that run IQSuite.cloud have an iPB1 attached to them for enrolment purposes, you can use this

option to configure a biometric logon to IQSuite.cloud instead of needing a username and password.


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It is highly recommended that you use this option for security reasons. Should you wish to change the logon

name or password for any reason, this can still be done at the time of starting up the application, so there

is no downside to activating this function.

To do so, click on the USERS and LOGIN button. You will see the configuration screen show below:

To activate the function, click the ON/OFF button, which will then change the SAVE icon into a NEXT icon,

as shown below:

When you click NEXT, you will see a list of users on the system, with those having login permissions already

on the right, and those with no login permissions on the left. If this is the first time you are doing this, you

will probably see a screen that has no one on the right-hand side.


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To add users who will be able to use their fingerprint to login, simply select them from the left-hand panel,

and click on the Add selected option.

In the above example, I have granted access to Teddy Bear. Clicking the SAVE icon will save your settings,

and the next time you log in, you will see the following screen:

Place your finger on the iPB1, and you will be logged in (if you have given yourself permissions to do so of

course). If – for any reason – you cannot log in using your fingerprints, you can always select the Log in

with username and password instead, which will take you back to the standard login screen.

Quick Tip: On some computers, the fingerprint login screen appears BEHIND other applications, and

as such, may not immediately appear to be visible. If you launch the application, and

nothing appears to happen, check behind any open application, or minimise all other open

applications, to find your fingerprint login box.


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7.7 Change Theme

Changing your theme is a light-hearted aspect of the application, and by no means something you need to

do. However, as most people have different preferences, IQSuite.cloud caters for this and allows you to

select from a pre-arranged series of backgrounds to brighten up your application.

To change your theme, click on the CHANGE THEME button, and you will see a series of images that you

can navigate through with the arrows on either side.

You can cycle through the options using the arrows, and when you are done, click on the SAVE icon to

complete your changes.

To change the theme, you will need to relaunch your application, but the message box gives you the option

of doing this for you:

Select YES to relaunch the application and get instant gratification on the change of your theme, or NO to

continue working, and only see your theme changes when you next open the application.


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SECTION 8

TROUBLESHOOTING

8.1 iPBx Readers Struggling to get online

This is the most common problem experienced by users, and it’s pretty simple to solve. Most of the issues

relate to having a DHCP server available, and to applying the correct rules to your firewall. Once these

issues have been addressed, most of the problems go away.

Firstly, the iPBx devices are configured by default to use a DHCP server to get their IP address and gateway.

If there is no DHCP server on the network, you can use a Static IP, but this requires the iPulse Configuration

Tool to set up, and it is recommended for advanced users only. To find out more about this tool, and how

to get it, visit www.iqsuite.cloud.

The rest of the troubleshooting is easy. Follow these two simple steps, and you should be up and running

in no time:

8.1.1 Outgoing Ping

The outgoing ping function needs to be enabled on your firewall. Without this, the iPBX devices

will always assume that the network is offline, as they use the PING command to check for Internet

connection.

8.1.2 Firewall Ports

The following ports should be opened on your firewall, as these are all requirements for your iPBX

device to function correctly:

• Port 53 (DNS)

• Port 80 (HTTP)

• Port 123 (NTP)

• Port 443 (HTTPS)

http://www.iqsuite.cloud/


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APPENDIX A

UNDERSTANDING FINGERPRINTS

FINGERPRINTS: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

One of the most common questions surrounding fingerprint biometrics is whether or not we store an actual

image of the fingerprint. The simple answer is no! The data is extracted using an algorithm, unique to each

company. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for calculations, used for data processing and

automated reasoning.

In this instance, the algorithm extracts identifying points, known as minutiae, from the image of a person’s

fingerprint. These points, based on the patterns found on the fingerprint, are mapped as a series of data

points called a minutiae string. A biometric template is constructed from at least two minutiae strings,

and this what gets stored for later use in a database or on a device.

BASIC PATTERNS

Fingerprints usually consist of one of three basic patterns:

• Arch: Ridges enter from one side of the finger, rise in the center forming an arc, and then exit the

other side of the finger.

• Loop: Ridges enter from one side of a finger, form a curve, and then exit on that same side.

• Whorl: Ridges form circularly around a central point on the finger.

A fingerprint can also combine more than one pattern of the same or differing types, such as a double-loop

or a two deltas that accidentally form a whorl.

On average, roughly 65% of the population have loops, 30% have whorls and only 5% have arches.

Scientists have found that family members often share the same general fingerprint patterns, leading to

the belief that these patterns can be inheritedi.

Figure 3 - Common fingerprint Types


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MINUTIA

Minutia points are the major defining characteristics of a fingerprint. When a fingerprint is analyzed, each

minutia point is marked and mapped in relation to other minutia points as well as its general location in

the fingerprint.

Figure 4 - Common minutia points

Common Minutia Points

• Ridge ending – a point where the ridge terminates.

• Short ridge or dot – ridges with a significantly shorter length than the average ridge length on the

fingerprint.

• Bifurcation – points where a single ridge splits into two ridges.

• Island or eye – a point where a single ridge splits into two before converging into a single ridge again.

• Spur or hook – a shorter ridge terminating soon after it branched from its originating ridge.

• Bridge – a short ridge that connecting two larger ridges. It can also be seen as two bifurcating ridges

that share a common branch.

• Core – a ridge that bends back on itself or forms a U-turn.


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THE FINGERPRINT ENROLLMENT PROCESS

Now that we understand the identifying features in fingerprints, let’s take a look at what happens behind

the scenes when a biometric template is constructed.

Note: iPulse makes use of Secugen optical sensor technology. For the purposes of this document,

explanations are based on the use of these particular devices.

Before we can proceed, we need a digital image of the fingerprint. When a finger is placed on the biometric

scanner’s touch plate, a visible light, commonly red, is shined on the fingerprint through a clear prism. The

reflected light from the fingerprint is picked up by the optical sensor (an optical biometric device is,

essentially, a highly-specialized digital camera) in the device and a digital image is created.

Image enhancement

Image analysis

Binary processing

Thinning

Ridge reconstruction

Minutiae extraction

Figure 5 - Fingerprint Enrolment Process


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IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

Before we can analyze the image, we need to clean it up a little: reduce noise, sharpen and enhance the

difference between ridges and valleys in the image, optimize the contrast and generally improve the image

quality as much as we can.

IMAGE ANALYSIS

Using the enhanced image, we move to analysis. In this step, we select the background region to mark

smeared or smudged regions which shouldn’t be used as part of the template. Once those have been

isolated, we split the image into blocks and determine their direction.

BINARY PROCESSING

Analysis complete, we carefully convert the image to binary. To do this, the grayscale image is converted

to a black and white image. Once in black and white, the image can be digitized into ones and zeroes, as

shown in the images below.

Figure 7 - Analysed image with background and smudges removed

Figure 6 - Base to Enhanced Images


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THINNING

Digitizing complete, the image is cleaned some more. All ridges are thinned down until they are no more

than a single pixel wide. This allows much easier identification of the overall shape of the print.

RIDGE RECONSTRUCTION

Now that we’ve got the image in its most basic format, we can start a process known as Ridge

Reconstruction. During this process, we eliminate a number of interferences like spurious fusions –

multiple joining points - and air bubbles and islands – little ovals in the print lines – before we re-join any

cuts that have occurred and remove remaining fake ends.

Figure 9 - Digitized to Thinned Images

Figure 8 - Enhanced to Digitized Images


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The image on the right shows an example of a reconstructed image:

MINUTIAE EXTRACTION

A highly complex mathematical formula, part of what differentiates each manufacturer’s algorithm from

others, is used to classify fusions and endings, their directions and relative locations to each other. When

the algorithm has mapped all these points, it builds the final template: the minutiae string that uniquely

identifies this fingerprint. To the eye, this looks like nothing more than a long string of random numbers.

The image below shows the overall progress – from the base image we started with to one where the

minutia points and their directions as an overlay on the original. This is what the information looks like

before the final minutiae string is built.

On this image, each red dot represents a minutia point. The list to the right

shows the numeric location of each of these points, which will, eventually,

become the minutiae string data.

Figure 10 - Ridge reconstruction

Figure 11 - Base image Figure 12 - Base image with the minutia points and directions overlay


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MEASURING PERFORMANCE ON BIOMETRIC SYSTEMS

Measuring the actual performance of a biometric system is a complex process affected by various factors,

including – but not limited to – environmental conditions, human interference and incorrect, sometimes

conflicting system settings.

Fingerprint-based biometric devices allow manual changes to the threshold at which a print is deemed an

accurate enough comparison to be considered a successful match. With a low threshold – for example,

only 10% of the minutiae points need to be matched for a “successful” identification – very few people will

experience trouble being identified by the system. The drawback to this, however, is an increased risk in

possible “false” identifications.

Raising this threshold holds true for the opposite: with a higher number of minutiae points required for a

successful match, chances are increased that people will not be identified by the device. At the same time,

the risk of someone being identified as someone else drops quite significantly.

The ideal is a balance between these two extremes, a setting where the threshold for successful matches

is high enough to avoid false identifications, yet low enough to match people consistently and without

difficulty. These settings can be changed dynamically according to the requirements of the situation.

CORE METRICS

In general, three core metrics are used to determine the performance of a biometric system.

False Rejection Rate (FRR) Also referred to as False Non-Match Rate (FNMR), this indicates the probability that the system will fail to

detect a match between the input pattern and a matching stored template. It measures the percentage of

valid inputs that are incorrectly rejected.

False Acceptance Rate (FAR) Also referred to as False Matching Rate (FMR), this indicates the probability that the system will incorrectly

match the input pattern to a stored non-matching template. It measures the percentage of invalid inputs

which are incorrectly accepted.

Equal Error Rate (EER) Also referred to as Crossover Error Rate (CER), this indicates the rate at which both false acceptances (FAR)

and false rejections (FRR) errors are equal; i.e. for each false acceptance there will be one false rejection.

The EER is a quick way to compare different biometric systems – the system with the lowest EER score is

the most accurate.

CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES

The first two metrics (FRR and FAR) are usually published by the International Biometrics Group (IBG), a

for-profit biometric industry organisation that performs these tests. There are, however, several

deficiencies and shortcomings in the IBG tests, the most crucial of which is that all tests are performed in

laboratory conditions with a relatively small sample database.


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The American National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) is the only internationally well-

respected, neutral third party that performs independent tests on fingerprint capture devices. This

organisation uses a standard database of images and standardised procedures on fingerprint-based

biometric devices to determine the FAR, FRR and EER rates, bestowing a Minutiae Interoperability

Exchange or MINEX certification based on performance.

THE MINEX CERTIFICATION

The MINEX certification exists to

• Provide measurements of performance and interoperability of core template encoding and matching capabilities to users, vendors and interested parties.

• Establish compliance for template encoders and matchers for the United States Government's Personal Identity Verification (PIV) program.

The Secugen sensors and algorithms used in all iPulse biometric devices are rated as follows:

IBG: FAR 0%, FRR 0% NIST: EER of 0.0042 and certified MINEX compliant

COMPARING FRR / FAR RATINGS ON FINGERPRINT, FACIAL AND VOICE BIOMETRICS

There are always questions relating to the different biometrics available - fingerprints, facial, voice etc. –

and how they compare. Different studies have been conducted with a focus on the FRR and FAR rates. The

table below indicates the outcomes of some of these studies.

The manner in which a match is obtained can make a large difference to the perceived performance of a

biometric system.

1:N (ONE-TO-MANY) MATCHING

One-to-Many matching is another name for the process of identifying an unknown person from a provided

biometric credential like a fingerprint. Once the person has placed his/her finger on a sensor, the provided

biometric sample is matched against each stored biometric template on the device / in the database.

If no such template matches the sample, no data is returned. If a matching template was found, the identity

linked to it will be returned.


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Benefits

• Simple to use – a biometric sample is all that is required.

Drawbacks

• Can be slow – depends on number of templates to match against and the efficiency of the algorithm

used.

• Higher chance of false rejections and false acceptances

• Only a single factor on which authentication will be based.

1:1 (ONE-TO-ONE) MATCHING

One-to-One matching is another way of referring to the process of verifying that the provided biometric

sample matches a single, specified identity. Because we know which identity we’re looking for, we don’t

need to match against every stored biometric – we take the provided sample and compare it directly to

the biometrics linked to the specified identity. The result will be the acceptance or refusal of the identity

claim.

The term ‘verification’ was defined in a previous draft of the Harmonized Biometric Vocabulary document

as a ‘one-to-one process of comparing a submitted biometric sample (…) against the biometric reference

template (…) of a single enrolee (…) whose identity is being claimed, to determine whether it matches the

enrolee’s template’. Contrast with identification (…)”.

Benefits

• One-to-One matches are much faster than One-to-Many matches.

• Because we know which biometric template the provided sample needs to match, we can lower the

matching threshold to allow a better chance of a match being detected.

• Significantly lower chance of false acceptances and false rejections.

• Multi-factor authentication offers better security with each additional factor.

Drawbacks

• The person may forget or lose a card

• The person may forget a PIN code

MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an approach to authentication which requires the presentation of

two or more authentication factors of the following kind:

• A knowledge factor: something only the user knows, like a PIN or password.

• A possession factor: something the user has, like an ID card or NFC tag.

• An inherence factor: something the user is, a biometric characteristic such as a fingerprint.

A one-to-one matching system based on multi-factor authentication significantly increases the security of

your system while lowering false acceptance and rejection rates. Presenting a smart card to a device

capable of reading it, for instance, immediately satisfies the possession factor and tells the system exactly

which identity we wish to confirm. By placing a finger on the biometric reader, the inherence factor is met

and a 1:1 match can be done. We now have two levels on which we can authenticate the person’s identity:

• Has the person presented a recognized card?

• Does the fingerprint match the identity linked to the card?


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APPENDIX B

ENROLLMENT GUIDE

A QUICK GUIDE TO ENROLMENT

It is important to keep in mind that the enrolment process is the most important part of the user’s

experience. Capturing better prints at the time of enrolment will increase the user’s experience when using

the rest of the system for life.

The iPulse IQSuite Cloud 5.0 software system has one of the most comprehensive and easy to use

enrolment processes in the world, clearly help you to visually understand the quality of the print you have

captured.

When capturing a fingerprint, there are a few important rules to keep in mind:

• Don’t tap – Place your finger down firmly and keep it there until a print is captured.

• Don’t hover – Do not hover slightly above the sensor, be assertive.

• Don’t slide – Do not slide you finger onto the sensor, simply put it down firmly.

• Cold fingers – Always try to warm your hands and fingers before capturing prints.

• Dry fingers – Always try to have a little moisture or oil on your fingertips.

The user should put their finger down firmly in the centre of the sensor and keep it there until the image

is captured. It is advised that the user do it multiple times to ensure they are comfortable using a fingerprint

reader. Below are some guidelines that will help with finger placement to ensure the best quality capture.

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