Streamlining the Cost & Complexity of Identity Badging Projects

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1 Streamlining the Cost & Complexity of Identity Badging Projects Proper Planning and Management for High-Quality Credential Personalization and Production Implementing a corporate-wide badging project as part of a technology upgrade, regulatory compliance initiative or rebranding effort can be difficult. This requires substantial resources, rocksolid security, and a combination of both IT and logistical support. Increasingly, companies are opting to outsource their badging projects to service organizations that have the scale and resources to handle large-volume orders with tight deadlines. This would otherwise be difficult for an individual credential issuer or integrator to accommodate on its own. It is important that the service provider have the right blend of expertise, card technologies, visual security elements, personalization and delivery services required to meet specific badging project needs. This paper will explore the planning and implementation steps necessary to ensure that an organization s badging project is successfully completed. Planning for an Effective ID Badging Project Before embarking on a badging project with a service bureau, it is important to create a detailed plan. Successful projects depend on clearly defined objectives and an adherence to established best practices for secure, high-quality credential deployment. The following steps should be followed: Step #1: Define ID Card Parameters The service bureau s project manager or coordinator should be involved early in the ID card project. The service team can work closely with the customer and/or designated integrator to help define and achieve project objectives. Proper design should do all of the following: Enhance physical and logical security Increase efficiency and productivity Reduce vulnerability to counterfeiting Reflect the organization s brand identity Several questions must be answered. First, how many employees, contractors and visitors does the organization have? Will separate card designs be required for each? How many different areas of the organization will interact with the cards? Will different levels of security clearance be required for each? Does the card design need to comply with any government regulations? And finally, how will the identity of each cardholder be verified and authenticated?

2 2 Step #2: Determine ID card technologies that will be included Achieving an effective ID card involves three key elements: functionality, authentication and validation. It is important to solicit input regarding each of these areas from as many experts as possible, including the service bureau project team, security personnel, the system integrator and graphic designers. Some technologies affect the visual appearance of the card. The graphic design must accommodate the technology specifications. For instance, a particular barcode symbology will require certain dimensions and contrast levels to be effectively read by a scanner. The scanner may work in one or more wavelengths and may or may not be able to see the barcode relative to the background and overlaminant colors. More obvious technology/card integration is a magnetic stripe. The position of the stripe is governed by ISO standards. However, card manufacturers may offer slightly different stripe height. You need to confirm that specification if your design includes elements that are near to the stripe position. In a final example, if your card has multiple radio frequency technologies, you will want to design the personalization graphics to avoid the areas where those components may have affected the card surface. Alternatively, you can consider printer technologies (Reverse Transfer) that manage printing on irregular surfaces effectively. Step #3: Determine ID card orientation and layout To start, place fixed elements (such as smart card contacts, magnetic stripes and visual security elements) into position first. For maximum effect, explore both portrait and landscape orientations. There is no one right answer. The selected approach depends on how the card will be displayed and used, the location of card electronics, and whether the card will require a badge holder and lanyard (a great way for ensuring card longevity). Many companies also use layout orientation as a quick, at-a-glance verification aid; i.e., fully functional vertical cards might be worn by full-time employees, while less functional horizontal cards might be worn by visitors and short-term contractors. Step #4: Determine the level of required visual security An ID card is a security document and requires protection against tampering and forgery. The starting point of any secure ID card design is an evaluation of your company s authentication procedures and badge policies. Are employees required to wear badges at all times? Are employees trained to challenge/report anyone they do not recognize who is not wearing an ID? Are there physical areas that require certain credentials (i.e. only BLUE badges are allowed on the tarmac.) If visual security is an important component of the security program, then badge designs should be tested for quick recognition. Bold color blocks, large text and easily noticeable security features should be used. Obvious, but often overlooked, is photo dimensions. The photo should be large enough to discern from a reasonable distance (i.e. from across a table) and head sizes should be consistent and cropped tightly to allow easy visual authentication. Since it is common for ID badges on a lanyard to flip over, best practice is to image the photo on both sides of the ID card. The next step is to consider fraud detection. Today, anyone with a computer and photo-quality printer can easily create a legitimate-looking ID card. Establishing features and methods to recognize fraudulent badges are important design aspects.

3 3 Methods of authentication vary from unaided viewing to the use of specialized light sources, scanners or proprietary software. Most of the same anti-counterfeiting technologies used for banknote and currency production can be implemented in ID badge production. Corporate enterprise, non-governmental ID badges generally rely on using inks that are difficult to procure. Printing patterns that are difficult to reproduce are also used to combat forgers. These techniques allow for easy training of security personnel allowing existing staff to recognize a forgery without special tools, or with inexpensive pocket size tools. The most common but effective features are: Optically Variable Inks These color-shifting inks work by reflecting various wavelengths in white light differently, depending on the angle of incidence to the surface. An unaided eye will observe this effect as a change of color when the viewing angle is changed. A simple back and forth rotation of the ID Card results in a specific image changing color. Holograms Similar to color shifting inks, genuine holograms evidence motion or image change when rotated at certain angles. Manufacturers generally offer stock images or custom images. The latter is significantly more secure as it requires elaborate set-up and is only available from a very limited supply chain. Planning is important with this feature as lead times for hologram origination and production can be lengthy. In addition to the hologram itself, how it is applied to the ID badge is also a point of security and usability. Holograms can be applied to the external surface of the card or to an internal layer. The latter option (embedded hologram) allows personalization over the hologram image which adds additional security. Invisible Inks For a more covert anti-counterfeiting mechanism, card designers can use invisible UV fluorescing images. Common on credit cards, currency and travel documents, fluorescing ink is popular because of its relatively easy implementation in the field. Fluorescing images can be applied at either the card surface level during personalization or at a sub-surface level during card manufacturing. Certain fluorescing ink is commonly available. The value of this feature as an anticounterfeiting device depends on the pairing of specific light sources and the ink formulation. In general, inks that fluoresce red, green, yellow and orange are difficult to acquire and require specific wavelength light sources. Blue/violet fluorescing ink is inexpensive, readily available, and illuminates with commonly available black lights. Guilloche and Micro-fine print Finally, card designers can use specially designed patterns that require ultra-high resolution printing mechanisms. These capabilities are not available in any desktop imaging system today. Guilloche printing uses fine-line, interlocking spot-color patterns to make complex, often multi-color background graphics that are extremely difficult to scan and reproduce. Micro-fine printing hides miniaturized text within a graphical design and is often used around the photo window to highlight any attempts to tamper with or replace an original, genuine image.

4 4 Step #5: Embrace corporate branding ID badges are more than just a security device and functional tool they are an extension of the organization s brand. They reinforce important messages and the organization s image. A welldesigned card is more likely to be worn. This goes a long way toward ensuring the effectiveness of your entire ID badge program. Full service card manufacturers are accustomed to answering the demands of brand managers and marketing departments. They can help guide the design to ensure that the various graphic elements are produced with the appropriate processes. For example, most corporate logo color matching should be accomplished using high resolution printing processes and custom inks, not by the personalization device that images the photo and name. Pantone spot colors and true metallic inks can be printed with this high resolution technique at the time of card manufacturing to guarantee the color accuracy required by the brand guidelines. Brand managers trained in graphic design can assist in achieving clean, sharp designs that enable readability and avoid common design mistakes. These include excessive font variety and poor alignment of elements. Brand managers can also help create distinct looks for the ID badge. Their exposure to industry trends make them more sensitized to new features used in the broader card marketplace. Examples of these materials include translucent materials and edge glow plastics. Not all general card market features will be possible for ID badges, but it is reasonable to ask early in the design process. Managing a Successful ID Badge Project Fast turnaround times Whether an organization needs 50,000 credentials within a month or 1,000 credentials within a week, the service provider should be able to scale accordingly, producing and delivering projects quickly and reliably anywhere around the world. Project monitoring and management You and your ID badge vendor should have visibility to the project progress. This enables you to better monitor and manage all aspects of ID badge personalization, from design and ordering through data transmission, high-quality multi-color printing, programming and delivery. Secure production and delivery Service bureaus must be able to demonstrate rigorous auditing and process controls to ensure the security of their data transfer and delivery infrastructures. This also extends to on-line web portals used to transmit sensitive project data. End-to-end solutions Organizations must be able to rely on a service bureau for every step of the badging process, from documenting specific requirements, to card manufacturing and personalization, through final packaging and delivery. Design expertise In addition to developing effective, counterfeit-resistant credentials, it is necessary to have a broad range of experience in developing attractive products that stand out from the rest. Database management Companies that outsource their badging projects must have the confidence that their service provider is capable of cleaning and consolidating multiple databases, applying different rules based on specific access rights and securely processing all record databases.

5 5 Multiple technology options ID badging service bureaus also must be able to produce credentials with one or more technologies, including proximity cards, contact and contactless smart cards, magnetic stripes and bar codes. Best Practice A detailed plan must be created for each project, to ensure mutual commitment to requirements and deliverables, as well as seamless integration within the system in which the personalized cards will be used. Customized fulfillment Service bureaus should be able to pre-sort and deliver credentials to one location, mail them directly to multiple addresses designated by the customer or any combination of the two. Worldwide coverage In today s global business environment, it is important that service bureaus have production facilities around the world, enabling them to deliver credentials to facilities and employees regardless of where they are located around the globe. Summary Today s complex badging projects can require significant planning, resources and logistics. Offloading this work to an experienced service bureau can make a significant difference by reducing total overall costs while ensuring consistently high quality and on-time delivery performance. Now, with the advent of secure, web-enabled project management, customers can more easily manage data transfers and re-order existing formats while simplifying project status tracking and monitoring. hidglobal.com 2015 HID Global Corporation/ASSA ABLOY AB. All rights reserved. HID, HID Global, the HID Blue Brick logo, the Chain Design are trademarks or registered trademarks of HID Global or its licensor(s)/supplier(s) in the US and other countries and may not be used without permission. All other trademarks, service marks, and product or service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. PLT-00837