Create a Credential

Give a resident, a guest or a vendor a new card or PIN credential with the New credential wizard.

Community staff use the New credential wizard to give one person a new credential, such as a card or a PIN. The wizard has three steps: Enter details, Select format & groups and Review.

Before you start

  • To create a credential, your role needs Key fobs & cards set to Add & edit. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles have it.
  • Your community needs at least one group (Brivo) or one access level (HID). Until it has one, the wizard does not open. When you select Create credential, a message tells you what to create first.
  • If the credential is for a vehicle, add the vehicle to the record of the person first. The wizard cannot add a vehicle.

Open the wizard

1. Select Access in the navigation.

2. Select the Credentials tab.

3. Select Create, then select Create credential. If your role can create only credentials, the button is Create credential. The New credential wizard opens.

The Credentials list, with PIN and QR code rows, and the Create button

Step 1: Enter details

1. In Search for a property, type at least 3 characters of the address. Then select the property.

2. Under Assign to, select Guest (Personal visitor), Vendor (Service provider) or Resident (Property occupant).

3. Select the person in the list. The list shows the people of the property. To filter it, type at least 2 characters.

4. Optional: select a Vehicle. If the record of the person has a vehicle, the wizard selects it for you.

5. Select Next.

The resident list shows people with an account (USER) and people with no account (RESIDENT). The guest and vendor lists do not show restricted visitors, or visitors whose visit starts in the future.

If you change the property later, the wizard clears the holder type, the person, the vehicle and the groups. Step 2 then shows the message "This step was reset". So choose the property first.

Step 1 of the New credential wizard, with 101 Heron Bend Lane, the Resident type and Elena Marsh selected

Step 2: Select format & groups

In an HID community, this step is named Select format & access levels.

1. Select a credential format card. Your community can preselect a default format.

2. Type each value in Credential values:

  • In a Brivo community, the facility code fills in from your community settings, if your community has one.
  • In an HID community, each value has digits only. A PIN has exactly 6 digits. The facility code is optional.

3. Select the groups (Brivo) or the access levels (HID) of the credential:

  • In a Brivo community, the wizard first selects the groups of the person. A group membership belongs to the person, not to one credential. If you clear a group, MyWatchtower removes the person from that group on all of their credentials.
  • In an HID community, select at least one access level.

4. Under Credential validity, Permanent credential is selected. Keep it for a credential with no end date. For a dated credential, clear it, then set Effective from and Effective to. Effective from starts at today, and the calendar does not offer a day in the past.

5. Select Next.

Each holder type can have a permanent or a dated credential.

Step 2 of the wizard, with the Barcode format selected, its card number and facility code filled in, and two groups selected

Next stays unavailable until the step is complete. Step 1 needs a property and a person. Step 2 needs a format, each value of the format and, for a dated credential, both dates.

Step 3: Review

1. Check each card: Details, Credential and Groups. To change a value, select Edit on its card.

2. Select Create credential.

The Review step, with the Details, Credential and Groups cards

The message "Credential created successfully" shows, and the Credentials list opens.

If the community already has a credential with the same values, MyWatchtower does not create the new one. The wizard shows an error message, such as "A credential with these values already exists in this community".

Check the new credential

In the Credentials list, the new credential shows Perm when it has no end date, or Temp when it has one.

Select the row to open the page of the credential. Check the holder, the values, the start and end dates, and the groups or access levels.

The page of credential 41001, with its holder, its values and its groups

To give the credential to a different person later, see Assign or Reassign a Credential.

Need help?

If you do not see Create credential, your role cannot create credentials. Ask your community Admin.

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