One of the most common systems users connect with Arcules video is access control. The visual context provided by video about the actions taken in facilities makes both video and access control systems more powerful. Integrating Arcules live and playback video with Genea access control events helps empower situational awareness quickly and easily.
What is Genea Access Control?
Genea Access Control is a cloud-based access control solution that keeps facilities safe, provides valuable access data, and monitors hardware. Instead of having to manage and maintain faulty on-premises servers with outdated technology, Genea makes it easy to store your access control data on a third-party server. Genea Access Control also simplifies and streamlines access management, helping businesses provision key cards to users, monitor access, create custom roles and track access events.
The Arcules-Genea integration is provided as part of your Arcules subscription at no additional cost.
Integration feature set
This integration sends Arcules video into the Genea system interface.
View live and recorded video - access video from any associated cameras
Map cameras to doors - correlate one or more camera(s) to relevant door(s)
Monitor access logs with video - link to the recorded video from the time of a specific event
Camera Wall - view multiple cameras simultaneously on a single screen
Prerequisites
The only configuration required within Arcules is the creation of an API User to connect your Arcules and Genea systems.
Create an API User
Add a user in Arcules - refer to our People article here. It is recommended to create a separate user account used solely for integrations, not an account someone uses to regularly log in to the Arcules portal.
Assign this user the API User role - refer to our People article here and our Role article here for details.
Assign this user each Location at each Site where there are cameras that you will access in the Genea system - refer to our People article here for details.
Enter an email address for this user and click 'Send Invite' - refer to the People article here for details. NOTE: you must use a unique email address for this API user account that is NOT associated with another Arcules login.
Follow the registration and first login process the same as a regular user - refer to details here. NOTE: you may use the same phone number that is used by another Arcules login(s) to verify this API user account.
Additional notes
While all configuration of the integration is in the Genea interface, all camera settings and configurations (like frame rate, retention time, and motion detection) as usual.
A user that is assigned the API User role solely cannot use most features inside the Arcules portal, including viewing live and playback video. This user role is not intended to be used as an active user login.
Configuration within Genea
All integration functionality is configured in your Genea interface. Refer to the Genea Knowledge Base for the most up-to-date configuration information.
Genea User Account with Global Admin Role
You should already have a Genea User Account with Global Admin Role before proceeding with the installation. If you don't have one, please contact your Genea administrator to create an account for you.
Steps for setting up your Arcules + Genea Integration
1) Login to Genea Platform and Navigate to the 'Integrations' tab in your admin dashboard.
2) Go to 'Video Management Systems' integrations and click 'Install' under the Arcules integration.
3) Provide necessary information and click 'Install'.
Note: The account credentials entered during the setup of the integration should be an active account on Arcules. (See the Create an API User section under Prerequisites above.) If the account is deactivated, the integration will not function as expected. Additionally, the account role on Arcules should be set as 'API User' role or higher privilege with All Sites & Location access for smooth operation of the integration.
Suggestion: We recommend creating a new user account on Arcules with the 'API User' role assigned, assign all the sites & location in the Arcules and entering those details here on the Genea platform.
4) Genea is now connected with Arcules successfully.
5) Set 'Camera Link Offset' from the setting screen
This setting enables you to customize the offset time for the camera link to sync the access event and camera times.
The internal clock of cameras may drift from the exact time and vary from room to room. And access events being critical, it is necessary that we display the exact video clips against a particular access event in the activity log. To ensure the correct video clips are displayed along with access events, this setting can be used.
You may set your system to capture video of an event up to 10 seconds before, or up to 10 seconds after the camera time stamp. To set, move the slider next to the 'Camera Link Offset (seconds)' to the desired number of seconds.
6) Mapping Cameras to Door
Locate the Location setting at the bottom of the page, it will show list of all the locations. Click on exact 'Location' from the list where you need to map the door.
Click on 'New' to add mapping of door to camera.
Click on Door 'Dropdown' to select the door. Click on respective cameras attached to that door against Camera 'Dropdown' and 'Save' the choices.
Note: The door may have several cameras installed, and settings can be configured from this screen.
You now have access to the list of Door to Camera mappings, giving you the option to 'Edit' or 'Delete' the mapping.
Clicking on any camera, will give you the Live Feed. It will help you double check mapping of Door to Camera.
Congratulations! You are now ready to start monitoring your access logs with Arcules cameras!
Monitor access logs with Arcules cameras:
Now that your system is integrated, you will have the ability to view any access event or notification. In your application activity log, you will see a new column titled 'Cameras'.
Clicking on the camera link will open the recorded video for that event in the video player.
View live video
Live video will be visible in the 'Control Center', under 'Door' tab. For each door there will be a link to the camera mapped to it.
Upon clicking the camera link you will be able to see the live feed.
Camera Wall
Camera Wall is a complementary video management feature available with the Arcules integration that provides an intuitive and simple user interface to monitor live feeds from the cameras within your Genea application. Genea's built-in camera wall allows you to view your cameras from multiple remote locations on a single screen. You can change the arrangement and preview the layout of the cameras, for your security needs.
The camera wall feature allows every admin to personalize their wall views. This is a user-based feature and allows you to create a monitoring wall for yourself. Admins can set up different camera wall views with their own logins to the Genea application.
To set up your own camera wall, proceed as below:
1) Navigate to 'Control Center' > 'Camera Wall' from your Genea admin dashboard and select cameras.
This is the camera wall where you can see multiple cameras on a single screen. You can select Full Screen view too.
Once the camera wall is set up within the application, you will be able to monitor your cameras from the wall view.
Video Player Features
The video player is useful in playing the recordings of the camera; for example, to track door events by instantly re-watching the segments of video for analytical purposes.
The Video Player is designed with several useful features that will allow you to inspect the video footage with ease.
#No | Name | Description |
1 | Date Picker | Use the Date Picker to choose a specific date and view the corresponding historical video |
2 | Live View | To access real-time video feed, simply click on the 'Live' button. Once selected, a vibrant red 'LIVE' icon will appear on the video screen, signifying that you are now in live viewing mode. |
3 | Rewind or Fast Forward | You have the option to skip forward or backward by 10 seconds, or jump to the previous/next available clips. |
4 | Play/ Pause | You have the ability to both play and pause the video by utilizing this button. |
5 | Time Ribbon | To access the archival video click on the timeline ribbon. |
6 | Scalable Time Ribbon | You have the option to zoom in and out to adjust the time ribbon scale. |
7 | Door Unlock | To unlock the door that is currently being monitored by a specific camera, simply click on the "Door Unlock" icon displayed on the player interface. |
8 | Quick Grant | A Quick Grant emulates a credential swipe, triggering the targeted door captured by the camera to temporarily unlock, enabling someone to pass through. When you click on the icon, the door will open for a duration of 5 seconds, after which it will automatically re-lock itself. |
9 | Mini Player | You have the option to watch videos in mini-player mode, which lets you view videos in a floating window, so you can continue watching while interacting with other websites or applications. |
10 | Full-Screen View | At any time, you can minimize the video screen to full scale and vice-versa. |
11 | Camera Name Label | The camera's name, combined with the corresponding door's name, will be displayed on the upper left corner of the video for convenient identification during event inspection. The format will be "Camera Name | Door Name", where the camera name is sourced from Arcules and is combined with the mapped door name from the application using a pipe (|) separator to create the camera name label. |
If you have any questions about this integration or have any feature requests, please reach out to acsupport@getgenea.com.