Verkada Guest enables your organization to quickly and securely manage guest access to your building and key areas. Guest leverages camera feeds and door events to track guests and hosts across your organization.
Before you begin
Before you begin, you will need the following:
iPad (any iPad works as long as it on iOS 14 or higher)
Badge printer (we recommend Brother QL-820NWB or Brother QL-1110NWB, but any AirPrint-enabled badge printer works)
iPad stand (optional, but recommended for best Guest experience)
Verkada Command account
Create your first Guest site
Once a Verkada Guest license has been activated in your organization, a Guest tab appears on your homepage.
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Guest.
Click Activate your 60-day trial and create a new site, or you can use an existing site within your organization.
On the web console, click Connect your tablet to connect a tablet running the Verkada Guest app.
From your device's app store, download the Verkada Guest app, open it and use the 6-digit code generated by the tablet to add the tablet to Verkada Command.
When you are redirected to the Guest dashboard, on the left panel, click the Settings icon.
Customize your Guest settings
Your organization's needs are unique. From branding to custom sign-in flows and document types, admins can customize the experience in minutes.
Setting | Description |
Account | Manage the company name, logo, and colors, and upload a badge background image. These settings provide the default values for all Guest sites. Learn how to configure Guest types. |
Sites | Convert other pre-existing camera sites into Guest sites. Once a Guest site is created, you have additional per-site configuration options. |
Guest Types | Determine what information is required from a user when they check-in, including documents to sign, personal information to provide, etc. The selected options determine the guest flow and guide the guest through the check-in process. |
Documents | Upload new documents. When you upload a new document, you can insert variables that are automatically populated with the guest's information upon check-in.
Default documents include a COVID-19 questionnaire, a health document, and an NDA document.
|
Hosts | Choose who in your organization will host guests, which is used for tracking and logging. See Add a host. |
Notifications | Choose how you want to be notified once your guests are onsite. You can do this from the Admin tab or at guest.verkada.com. |
Security & Data | Add guests to the Previously dismissed matches in cases where they receive a false positive during our screening process. See also Customize duration to store sensitive data and Enable enhanced email authentication. |
Users & Roles | View a list of Guest users and their associated roles. Learn more about Guest user roles and permissions. |
Configure Guest types
Once you add a new Guest type, you are prompted to configure the required information for each Guest type.
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Guest.
On the left navigation, click the Guest Settings (gear) icon.
Under Guest Settings > Organization, scroll down to Guest Types.
Click Manage Guest Types to customize a guest's check-in requirements based on their visit.
(Optional) Create Global or Site Guest types. (This example is for a Site Guest type.)
Click Add Guest Type.
Name your Guest type, select Standard Guest Type, and click Save and Continue.
Note: When you select Security Screening and sub features, the guest is promoted to submit a photo of their ID. This photo will be scanned against an aggregated list of background and sex offender registries. To learn more about this feature, see Verkada Guest Security Screen.
Learn how to translate Guest types.
Create a document for a specific site
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Guest.
On the left navigation, click the Guest Settings (gear) icon.
Under Guest Settings > Sites, scroll down to Documents > Manage Documents.
Note: If you see an exclamation mark next to each document per site, this means it has not yet been translated. Learn how to translate documents.
On Documents:
Choose the site where you want to add the site document.
At the top left, click Add Document. You have the option to Add Global Document, but for this example, select Add Site Document.
Name your document and select Document or Questionnaire, as needed.
Click Save and Continue.
Translate the document's name then translate the document. Learn how to translate documents.
At the top right, click the checkmark icon to save, and then close.
Add a host
Choose one of these methods to add a host:
Add individual—Manually add a host.
Upload a CSV File—The comma-separated value (CSV)/(.csv) file must have the following case-sensitive headers:
Note: Both the phone and photo columns must exist; however, populating values for these columns is optional.
Use existing SCIM integration—Alternatively, if your organization has an existing System for Cross-domain identify Management (SCIM) integration, you can import hosts from your SCIM-managed groups. Learn more about SCIM.
Customize duration to store sensitive data
For your guests' privacy, you can customize how long to store sensitive data.
Enable enhanced email authentication
For enhanced security, you can toggle on Enable Enhanced Email Authentication so that guests can only accept an invite that originates from your company's domain.
Import Guest sites
Sites are used to segment guest management across your organization. As mentioned above, you can create a Guest site under the Sites submenu.
On Sites, click Import a Verkada Site to import existing Guest sites.
Once you import your site, click the site within the site list. The Detail page opens, showing a list of options; for example, where you can change the location of your site or the default logo of your site, change the default badge of your site, toggle on for zero-contact check-in, set a guest reminder to sign out, and use a tablet call button. See table below for details.
Zero-contact check-in displays a QR code on your iPad that guests can scan to check in, rather than entering information on the iPad itself.
Setting | What you can do with this setting |
Guest Languages | Select the languages that a guest can use to sign in and select a default language. Note: You need to translate items highlighted in the sign-in flow for each guest type. |
Badge Print Settings | When you configure a new guest type or edit an existing one, you can customize how badges will look when printed. |
Hosts | Configure a list of hosts for the site. See how to Specify default hosts.
You can manually add hosts, import hosts via CSV, provision hosts using SCIM, or use the employee list of the Guest site. |
Cameras | Click Manage cameras to add cameras to your guest dashboard that are within the same site. |
Doors | Click Manage doors to add doors to your guest dashboard that are within the same site. |
Tablets | Edit an existing tablet or add a tablet. |
Printers | A site-specific code appears here to enroll your printer in to your Guest dashboard. |
Deny List | Upload a .csv file with a list users that should always be denied when signing in. Both email addresses and phone numbers can be associated with these denied users. |
Staff Notifications | Notify contacts of check-in failures occurring within the site (for example, a guest is denied entry due to security screenings, a guest failed the questionnaire, or if a host approval failed). You can also choose to notify the host. |
Denied Entry | Configure how to inform the guest of denied entry, and which host to notify. For example, if a guest fails their COVID-19 screening, security screening, and so on, they are denied entry. |
Customize badges
Select the guest type you want to edit.
Under Badge Print Settings, select the sample badge.
Edit how you want to print the badge.
Specify default hosts
When a guest is unsure of their host, the Default Host serves as a fallback. For example, you may want to specify the receptionist as your default host.
Add a tablet
Select Add Tablet when you are ready to enroll your iPad into the Guest dashboard. Once selected you will be prompted to enter a code that will appear on the Guest app.
Add a printer
Set up a tablet for Guest app
Download the Verkada Guest app on to your iPad from the app store.
Once installed, the Guest app displays a 6-character code.
Use this code to add this iPad to your organization under Guest Settings > Sites > Tablets > Add Tablet.
You should now see your newly enrolled tablet in the site settings page.
Select the tablet to reveal key device information, such as how the Guest app appears, the OS, the IP address, the app version, and which printers the tablet can print to.
Once your Guest app is set up, tap and hold the bottom right corner to display the printer setup menu.
Under Printers, enter the PIN code.
Select any Airprint-enabled printer to begin printing badges.
View Guest dashboard
Once you add a host to your general settings, guests can begin the sign-in process.
When a guest signs in:
Their host is notified via text and/or email.
The guest's name, reason, host, and sign-in time is listed in the Guest dashboard.
All cameras display for a selected guest, where the guest was located and all documents the guest signed.
Admins can sign out a guest and reprint a guest's badge.
Admins, guest site managers, and guest site viewers can view:
Logs of guests at a particular site
Analytics showing all guest and host events
Related resources
Verkada Guest (setup guide)
Need more help? Contact Verkada Support