Assign or Reassign a Credential

Give a credential to a holder, move it to a new holder, or take it from its holder and keep it on file.

Credentials

When a credential goes to a different person, you do not have to delete it and create a new one. Community staff move credentials in Access > Credentials. Select the ⋮ (More actions) button on the row of a credential to open its menu:

Assign shows on a credential that has no holder.

Reassign and Unassign show on a credential that has a holder.

The menu also has Edit, Suspend and, for roles that can delete credentials, Delete. These actions work only for Brivo and HID credentials. They do not work for a PIN or a QR code. For the other credential tasks, see *Managing Access Credentials*.

To use these actions, your role must be able to add and edit credentials. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles can. Only the Admin role can delete credentials.

The menu of a credential on the Credentials list, with Reassign, Unassign, Edit and Suspend

Find unassigned credentials

A credential with no holder shows an Unassigned chip. A PIN or a QR code that belongs to a property or to the community has a holder, so it does not show this chip. To show only the unassigned credentials, set the Assignment filter to Unassigned.

Assign or reassign a credential

1. Select ⋮ on the row, then select Assign or Reassign. The Assign credential or Reassign credential dialog opens. For a reassign, the dialog shows the current holder.

2. In Select property, find the property of the new holder. For a reassign, the property of the credential is already filled in.

3. In Select holder, select Resident or Guest/vendor.

For Resident, select the person in the Resident list. The list shows the users and the residents of the property.

For Guest/vendor, search for the guest or the vendor.

4. Review the Select groups section (Brivo) or the Select access levels section (HID). A check box shows each selected item.

5. Select Assign or Reassign.

The new holder must belong to your community. MyWatchtower refuses a holder from outside the community.

The Reassign credential dialog, with the current holder, the Select property and Select holder sections, a new resident and the Residents group selected

Check the groups or access levels before you save

The selection in the dialog is the full access that the save gives.

On Brivo, the dialog fills in the groups that the new holder already has. It does not copy the groups that the credential opened before. A Brivo group belongs to the person, so a change applies to each credential of that person.

On HID, the dialog fills in the access levels of the credential. The access levels stay with the credential.

If you clear an item, the save removes that access. On Brivo, if you clear all groups, the save removes each group membership of the person, on all of their credentials. On HID, if you clear all access levels, the save removes each access level of the credential.

A selected item that the list does not show gets its own row at the top of the list, with a selected check box. To remove that access, clear the check box. The check boxes are the only control that changes the selection.

On Brivo, if the new holder has no groups and you select none, the dialog tells you that the assignment adds no groups.

Brivo rules

You cannot reassign a Mobile Pass credential. Revoke the pass and issue a new one.

One person can hold up to 16 credentials.

When the previous holder has no credentials left, MyWatchtower removes their group memberships.

When the new holder is a guest or a vendor, MyWatchtower adds the group or the access level of their visitor type. A previous holder who is a guest or a vendor leaves that group when they hold no card, PIN or Mobile Pass from your access control provider.

Unassign a credential

Unassign takes the credential from its holder and keeps it on file, so you can assign it again later. Use it when a person returns a card that you will give to someone else.

1. Select ⋮ on the row, then select Unassign.

2. Read the dialog, then select Unassign.

On Brivo, the credential does not work while it has no holder. To make sure that a credential cannot open a door, suspend it or delete it. If a credential must never work again, delete it. See *Delete a Credential Safely*.

The Unassign credential dialog, which says that the credential stops working while it has no holder, with Cancel and Unassign

Tips

After a change, select the credential to open its page. The Belongs to section shows the holder. The page also shows the groups or the access levels of the credential.

To stop a credential for a time while the same person keeps it, use Suspend. See *Suspend or Unsuspend a Credential*.

Need help?

If these actions are not in the menu, your role cannot add and edit credentials. Ask your community Admin for help.