Getting started with Visitor Management

Learn the basics of the AskCody Visitor Management module

• Using the Visitor Management Portal
• Using the custom messages and text

Using the Visitor Management Portal

You can now register visitors while providing your front desk with the tools to easily manage the flow and planning of visitors. Everyone in the organization will be able to create their own visitor lists with the AskCody Visitors Add-in for Outlook and Office 365 and the front desk will control everything using the Visitor Management portal.

When using the Visitor Management Portal, has three core features: Check-ins, Visitors, and Hosts. These three features are explained in the next part of the guide.

Check-ins
Check-ins are the dashboard and the front face of the Visitor Management Portal, and the start screen of this module. The key element of the dashboard is the list of current visitors where all expected and on-site visitors are shown. For each visitor you can see all the information about that visitor, check-in expected visitors, check-out on-site visitors, and print out labels with the visitor's information. Below is a list explaining each column in the current visitor list.

• Status is the current status of the visitor. The visitor can either be expected, notified, on-site, or off-site.
• Visitor is the name of the visitor.
• Company is the company of the visitor.
• Note is for comments left by the host or user when registering the visitor.
• Custom field is a text field that the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal can edit for internal communication. This is for additional information like further notes.
• Host is the host that has registered the visitor.
• Meeting is the title of the meeting that the visitor is registered to attend.
• Expected arrival is the expected arrival time of the visitor.
• Time of check-in is the time and date of the visitor being check-in to the system.
• Actions are the way the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal can interact with the visitor. For expected visitors they can be checked in, on-site visitors can be checked out and labels can be printed for all visitors.

The search for check-ins page allows you to specify information about a check-in you are looking for and search among all the check-ins in the reception.

Next to the Check-ins tab is the Add button that lets the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal create check-ins, visitors, and expected visitors manually if needed.

Visitors

The Manage Visitors page is the complete list of visitors. Here the name, company, email, mobile number, preferred message language, and the number of historic check-ins are stored for each visitor. Also, the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal can quickly mark a visitor as expected without having to use the Visitors+ add-in for Outlook.

The Manage expected visitors page shows you a list of all currently expected visitors and allows the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal to view and edit each one.

The Search expected visitors page lets you search for expected visitors that are expected within a certain timeframe.

The Manage expected groups page shows you a list of all currently expected groups and allows the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal to view and edit each one.

The import pages let you import expected visitors or groups by uploading a CSV file with the required information.

Hosts
The Manage hosts page is the complete list of hosts. Here the name, company, email, mobile number, preferred message language, and notification settings are stored for each host. Also, the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal can edit a host manually if needed, but this can also be done automatically via the Active Directory Sync.

The View deleted hosts page is a list of all the hosts that have been removed from the host list of this reception. Here the users with access to the Visitor Management Portal can undo a deletion of a host if needed.

The import page lets you import hosts by uploading a CSV file with the required information, as an alternative to the Active Directory Sync. 

Setting up custom messages and text

When you send an email or an SMS to a visitor you want the content of that message to be unique and informative so that the visitor feels welcome and has all the information that they need in order to fulfill the purpose of their visit. Therefore, the next step for setting up your AskCody Visitor Management solution is to customize the messages and text (also called Check-in Properties) that the visitor will be seeing when visiting your organization.

Please go through these steps to customize your Check-in Properties:

1. Log in to the AskCody Management Portal with the credentials created when creating your organizational account on the signup page. Choose EU or US.
2. On the left navigation panel, click on the cog, it will take you to the Admin Center.
3. Go to Visitors and select Check-in Properties.
4. Select what property you want to customize.
5. Replace the existing text and click Update.

The custom properties are split into four types: Screen, Terms, Email, and SMS.

- Screen properties are the text displayed on the Check-in Kiosk and can be customized to include a unique greeting. 

- Terms properties are the text that will be shown when the visitor clicks on the terms and conditions of my visit link on the Check-in Kiosk. Here you can specify the building's security policies, non-disclosure agreements, etc. If you have defined your own terms and conditions, the system will automatically require that the visitor accepts these before they are able to check-in.

- Email properties are the emails that will be sent to visitors and hosts.

- SMS properties are SMS that will be sent to visitors and hosts.

Next Step: Test Visitor Management Set up