Case Study by LENSEC
LENSEC has partnered with Pflugerville Independent School District to provide a district-wide enterprise surveillance solution at more than 30 campuses in Central Texas. LENSEC’s solution is built on an enterprise software called Perspective VMS®. PVMS is easily scaled for Pflugerville ISD’s security system. Easy to use features provide advanced capabilities and power that couldn’t be achieved in the district’s previous security solution.
In all, Pflugerville ISD now has over 2000 cameras streaming video managed by Perspective VMS®.
The Problem
The need for security camera coverage and an adequate enterprise surveillance solution at campuses in the Pflugerville Independent School District was recently creating big problems. The medium-sized Central Texas school district serves nearly 25,000 students. Pflugerville ISD has more than 30 campuses spread over 95 square miles around Austin, TX.
Executive Director of Technology, Victor Valdez, came aboard with the school district and found an existing surveillance system that wasn’t meeting the district’s expectations. There were many problems that created a less than positive security experience.
One of the problems Valdez had to overcome was inadequate camera coverage. Existing cameras were creating problems and needed updating. In addition, the overall number of cameras was lacking.
Administrators experienced difficulty in working with a system that was didn’t fully meet their needs. The user login provided was below requirements. IT personnel had to travel to school sites to make configuration changes and software upgrades due to lack of central management capabilities.
Principals and School Resource Officers found it difficult to tag video and share files with each other. In fact, Valdez says the staff was placing video clips on the shared drive to distribute files to other personnel. This wasn’t a secure transfer method and didn’t meet district requirements.
The Bond Program
In 2014, Pflugerville Independent School District entered into a bond program to revamp their district-wide video security system and upgrade their network infrastructure. Work was done to install a 10 gigabit Fiber backbone that would be used to improve bandwidth across the district.
LENSEC stepped in as an expert partner with the school district providing support to upgrade the network and adding new cameras. This improved camera coverage to all schools. The district added an enterprise-level video management software that could be centrally managed from the technology center.
The Solution
In all, Pflugerville ISD now has over 2000 cameras managed using Perspective VMS®. LENSEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Marianna Leybovich, says “The architecture was very easy to organize. The whole implementation took about two months.”
The district saw value in LENSEC’s solution. “The concern we had was how best to make that an easier process for people. The idea was that anyone who has access to the system should log into a computer and get to the software. So, I really wanted something that was very web-based and a lost less impact for support on my staff,” says Valdez.
Perspective VMS® delivers an enterprise solution that easily scaled for Pflugerville ISD’s security system. Easy to use features provide advanced capabilities and power that couldn’t be achieved in the district’s previous security solution.
The Map Interface
The map interface in Perspective VMS® is a valuable tool that system users can appreciate. School Resource Officers’ have an improved situational awareness when using the map tool. The software provides a navigable, multi-layer map for the entire school district. Mapped floor plans show camera placements for each school. Hovering over cameras in the map view pops up a live video stream. The video may also be added to the camera dock for a heads up view from the map page.
“This [provides] an ability to continue browsing through the maps of an enterprise, but keep an eye on what may be happening that is important for you,” says Leybovich.
Even users that aren’t familiar with camera positions may easily pull up multi-view camera views from any remote site and find the interface very easy to navigate.
The Single Sign-On
Active Directory integration makes it easier to manage groups and users in Perspective VMS®. Pflugerville ISD likes the capability to simplify the user login process. Staff can log into any computer with a single sign-on. Their user permissions follow them to any computer on the network, including remote access.
This enterprise feature in Perspective VMS® provides authorizations for basic users that restrict their access to the items they are allowed to view. Administrators with more rights, can also gain access to all their rights and privileges on the system from wherever they may be.
The End User Experience
When users had an opportunity to train on the new software and solution provided by LENSEC, they had a night and day experience that was eye-opening for them. The district’s security team began training School Resource Officers and Principals on the new security system.
The proof was first evident during a training session with end users. These were people who were used to the old system and had been vocal about their frustrations. One assistant principal had seen a lot of problems. Once she realized that tagging video and sharing it with others is a very simple process, Valdez says she exclaimed that was all she needed to know and left the training session satisfied.
“The concern we had was how best to make that an easier process for people. The tagging and sharing views video component is really one of the best pieces that we’ve seen,” says Valdez.
The Conclusion
The partnership between LENSEC and Pflugerville ISD is providing success in overcoming problems the school district had previously faced. By addressing the security concerns, the school district staff is better able to provide students with a safe and nurturing school environment.
