Groups, Schedules, and Access Levels

Find the groups, access levels and schedules that set which doors each person can open, and when.

This article is for community staff who decide which doors open for whom, and when. Your community's access control provider sets which tabs you see in the Access section:

A Brivo community has the Groups tab.

An HID community has the Access levels tab.

Both providers have the Schedules tab.

Each tab also needs a permission. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles can open all three tabs. Only the Admin role can create, edit or delete a group, an access level or a schedule.

Groups (Brivo)

Select Access > Groups. The list shows each group in your community and its description. Use Search groups to find a group.

The Groups list with five groups and their descriptions. Guest visitors and Vendor visitors have a Visitor type chip after the name.

A group holds people and the doors that they can open. A member can be a user, a resident, a guest or a vendor. Select a group to open it. The top of the group page shows the name of the group, the number of users and the description. Under them are two lists:

Users lists the members of the group. A chip on each row shows the type of member.

Access points lists each door that the group can open under Current access, with the schedule for that door. Under Add new access, it lists the doors that the group cannot open yet.

The page of the Residents group, with its description and four users. The Access points list starts under the users.

To create a group or change its members and doors, see Create a Brivo Group.

Schedules

Select Access > Schedules. One list holds the schedules of your community, for both providers. Use Search schedules to find a schedule.

The Schedules list with the All Day, Office Hours and Pool Hours schedules

A schedule with a System chip comes from your access control provider. You cannot edit or delete it. System schedules appear only in a Brivo community.

To create a schedule or change its days and hours, see Create an Access Schedule.

Access Levels (HID)

Select Access > Access levels. The list shows each access level in your community and its description. Use Search access levels to find an access level. An access level works like a group, with one difference. A Brivo group holds people, and an HID access level holds credentials. The page of an access level has two lists: Credentials and Access points. To create an access level, see Create an HID Access Level.

Groups of visitor types

Each visitor type of your community has a group of its own, for example Guest visitors for the Guest type. In an HID community, this group is an access level. MyWatchtower creates the group for you.

In the Groups list and the Access levels list, the group of a visitor type has a chip after its name. The chip shows the name of the visitor type, for example Guest. If your role cannot see the visitor types, the chip shows Visitor type. Point to the chip to see what the group does. The page of the group also shows the visitor type under Visitor type.

At the kiosk, the PIN or QR code of a guest or a vendor opens only the doors of the group of their visitor type, at the hours of its schedules. A new group gives each door that has a paired kiosk, at all hours. If your community has no schedule for all hours, MyWatchtower creates one named All hours. After that, you can change the doors and the schedules of the group, as for any other group.

You do not add guests or vendors to this group. When a guest or a vendor holds a card, a Brivo or HID PIN or a Mobile Pass, MyWatchtower makes them a member of the group of their visitor type. The door readers then open the doors of the group for that credential. In an HID community, each such credential gets the access level of the visitor type. When the person holds no such credential, MyWatchtower takes them out of the group. A guest or a vendor with only kiosk PIN codes or QR codes is not a member.

MyWatchtower checks the members each hour. When the visitor type of a person changes, the check moves the person to the group of the new type.

You cannot delete the group of a visitor type while the type exists, so its row has no bin icon. When a person deletes the visitor type, MyWatchtower deletes its group.

Changes go to the hardware automatically

These screens have no button that sends a change to your hardware. MyWatchtower sends each change for you:

In an HID community, MyWatchtower puts each change to a schedule, an access level or a door in a queue. The queue sends the change to each controller. A change can take a short time to reach the controllers.

In a Brivo community, MyWatchtower sends each change to Brivo when you save it. If Brivo does not accept the change, the save fails and an error message shows.

Delete a schedule, a group or an access level

To delete a schedule:

1. Select the bin icon on the row of the schedule.

2. Read the dialog. You cannot undo a delete. In an HID community, MyWatchtower also removes the schedule from each controller.

3. Select Delete.

If a group or an access level still uses the schedule, MyWatchtower keeps it. The dialog shows This schedule is still in use and names each group or access level that uses it. Move each one to a different schedule. Then delete the schedule again.

To delete a group or an access level, select the bin icon on its row. Before you confirm, the dialog tells you how many members will lose access. A member keeps access to a door when another group gives them the same door. The group of a visitor type has no bin icon.

Need help?

If a tab in this article is missing, there are two possible causes. Your community uses the other access control provider, or your role does not have the permission for that tab. Ask your community Admin, or submit a help desk ticket.