At a staffed gate, you record the decision about each visitor in Mission Control. This article is for community staff who work the gate. It tells you how to select the gate, fill in the entry, and approve or deny it.
To find the property and the visitor first, see *How to Find Properties and Residents in Mission Control*.
Before you start
- To record an entry, your role needs Gates and Entry history set to Add & edit. To list the gates, it also needs Entry points set to View. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles have all three. Your community can change these permissions.
- To open a gate when you approve, your community must use Brivo or HID access control. An approval opens the gate in the same way for both.
Select your gate
1. In Mission Control, select Select Access Point, then select your gate. To clear the gate, select No Access Point.
2. Optional: to keep this gate for the next time on this device, select Set Default. A green Default mark shows next to the selector.
After each entry that you record, the selector goes back to your default gate. If you set no default, the selector keeps the gate that you selected.
MyWatchtower saves the gate on the entry. When you approve the entry, MyWatchtower opens that gate. If you select no gate, MyWatchtower records the entry and opens no gate.
Select the property and the visitor
Select the property, then the visitor. You can also scan a driver's license or a QR code. See *How to Scan a QR Code in Mission Control*.
Step 3, Entry, opens. The Record entry card shows the property and the visitor, with the photo of the visitor when one is on file.
If the visitor has no record yet, select New Visitor. See *Create a Visitor at the Gate*.
Fill in the entry
1. In License plate, type the plate of the vehicle. The field is optional. It takes up to 20 characters.
2. For a vendor, type the name of the driver in Driver name. The field shows only for a vendor. MyWatchtower records the driver name on the entry. If you scanned a driver's license, MyWatchtower fills in the name from the scan.
3. In Notes, type a note. You can also select a chip above the field: Approved by phone call, Denied by phone call, Delivery, Uber/Lyft or On Guest List. A chip adds its text to the end of the note. You can edit the text after that.
Approve or deny the entry
- To let the visitor in, select Approve entry.
- To refuse the visitor, select Deny entry. You must write a note first. Deny entry is not available while Notes is empty.
You cannot approve the entry in these cases:
- The visitor is restricted. The card is red and shows Restricted visitor. You can only deny the entry. Write the reason in Notes.
- The scanned QR code has no uses left.
When MyWatchtower records the entry, a message names the visitor and the property, for example Entry approved for Priya Raman at 101 Heron Bend Lane. Mission Control goes back to step 1, and the form is empty for the next visitor. MyWatchtower adds the entry to the entry history of the community. The members of the property can get a notice of the entry.
On a phone, the Deny and Approve buttons stay at the bottom of the screen.
When you approve, the gate opens
When you approve an entry and a gate is selected, MyWatchtower records the entry and then opens the gate.
If the gate does not open, the message starts with Entry recorded, but and the name of the gate, for example Entry recorded, but "Parking Gate" did not open:. The message then gives the reason.
The entry is saved, but the form stays on the screen. Do not select Approve entry again, because that records a second entry. Open the gate with Open gate. See *Open a Gate from Mission Control*. If the problem continues, tell your community admin.
Check the name on a scan
If you scan a driver's license and a QR code for the same entry, MyWatchtower compares the two names. If no part of the names matches, the card shows NAME MISMATCH: License name does not match QR code. Verify identity. Ask for a photo ID before you approve the entry.
In offline mode
You can still record an entry in offline mode for a visitor whose record is on this device. MyWatchtower keeps the entry on the device and sends it when the server answers again.
- An Offline chip shows next to the Record entry heading. When entries wait in the queue, the chip also shows their number.
- A note tells you that the entry goes to a queue on this device.
- After you approve or deny, the message ends with is queued and will be sent when the server answers again.
In offline mode, the gate does not open when you approve. Open the gate another way. You cannot record the entry of a new visitor in offline mode, because MyWatchtower cannot create the visitor. See *Using Offline Mode*.