About access rules - An access rule entity defines a list of cardholders who are granted or denied access based on a schedule. Access rules apply to secured areas and doors for entry and exit, or to intrusion detection areas for arming and disarming.

About access rules - An access rule entity defines a list of cardholders who are granted or denied access based on a schedule. Access rules apply to secured areas and doors for entry and exit, or to intrusion detection areas for arming and disarming. - Security Center 5.13

Security Center Administrator Guide 5.13

Product

Security Center

Content type

Guides > Administrator guides

Version

5.13

ft:locale

en-US

Last updated

2025-11-18

An access rule entity defines a list of cardholders who are granted or denied access based on a schedule. Access rules apply to secured areas and doors for entry and exit, or to intrusion detection areas for arming and disarming.

Synergis™ uses access rules—not clearance codes or access levels—to control access. This approach simplifies access management and improves flexibility.

The key difference between access rules and access levels is where they apply:

Access rules define when a group of people has access. They apply to access points at physical locations and govern who can pass through a door and when.
Access levels define when access points at physical locations can be accessed. They apply to people and govern where and when a person can gain access.

An access rule includes the three W’s:

Who: Cardholders and cardholder groups the rule applies to.
What: Whether access is granted or denied.
When: The schedule during which the rule is active.

Synergis grants or denies access based on cardholders—not their credentials. This logic simplifies credential management. When a card is lost or stolen, you can associate a new credential with the cardholder without modifying the access rules already pushed to door controllers.

Interpreting competing access rules

When multiple access rules apply to the same door at the same time, the system prioritizes rules that deny access. When no access rules apply, the system denies access.

Example: The following access rules apply to Door A:

Rule 1 grants John access every weekday from 9 am to 12 pm and from 1 pm to 5 pm
Rule 2 grants John access on Wednesdays from 10 am to 1 pm
Rule 3 denies John access on Fridays from 4 pm to 5 pm

The system interprets these rules as follows:

If John badges at Door A on Monday at 9:15 am, the system grants access based on Rule 1.
If John badges at Door A on Tuesday at 12:30 pm, the system denies access because no rule applies.
If John badges at Door A on Wednesday at 12:30 pm, the system grants access based on Rule 2.
If John badges at Door A on Friday at 4:15 pm, the system denies access based on Rule 3.

Permanent vs. temporary access rules

Access rules are either permanent or temporary. A temporary access rule includes both an activation time and an expiration time. The system automatically deletes temporary access rules seven days after they expire to keep the system organized.

Common use cases for temporary access rules include:

Seasonal cardholders, such as students who need lab access during a semester.
Permanent cardholders who need short-term access to restricted areas, such as maintenance technicians working on storage servers in a secure data center.

Assign a temporary access rule to one cardholder at a time from the Cardholder management task. To assign a temporary access rule to multiple cardholders or cardholder groups, update the access rule properties in Config Tool.

Limitations

Temporary access rules work with both HID and Synergis units. However, only Synergis units apply temporary access rules while operating offline (disconnected from the Access Manager).

For HID units to support temporary access rules, the controller must remain connected to the Access Manager, and synchronization must be set to Automatically.

Temporary access rules activate at the scheduled activation time through host lookup, without requiring synchronization. However, expiration takes effect only after synchronization with Access Manager.