Door cards guide, part 1: what you need and how it fits together

This is part 1 of 6 of the Xenia door cards guide: 1. What you need and how it fits together · 2. Add the bridge in Xenia and set up your rooms · 3. Put the bridge on the hotel computer · 4. Connect the encoder · 5. Make room cards · 6. Special cards and the card register.

This guide takes you from a card encoder in a box to a guest's key card, step by step. It uses a made-up hotel, Sunrise Hotel in Lagos, so no real guest or room appears. Part 1 explains how the pieces fit. Parts 2 to 4 set everything up, once. Parts 5 and 6 are what staff do every day.

Three things work together

• The encoder. The small box that writes a key card. It is plugged into one computer at the hotel, usually the front desk computer, and works with one make of lock. Xenia works with the Tengo encoder.

• The lock bridge. A small program that runs on that same computer. It is the only thing that talks to the encoder. Think of it as a driver for the encoder that takes its orders from Xenia over the internet.

• Xenia. What your staff use in the browser. When the front desk asks for a card, Xenia sends the request to the bridge, the bridge tells the encoder to write the card, and the result comes back to the screen.

What happens when staff make a card

1. Staff open a guest's booking and choose Make a room card.

2. Xenia checks the booking and sends a request: this room, valid until check-out.

3. The bridge on the hotel computer receives it, tells Xenia it is starting, and writes the card on the encoder.

4. The bridge reports the card's number back. Xenia shows Card made and records who asked, when, and for which room.

What you need before you start

• A Tengo card encoder, plugged into a Windows computer at the hotel, with its power on.

• That Windows computer. It must be on whenever cards are made, and connected to the internet. It only needs to make outgoing connections.

• Nothing to find or copy for the encoder's library files. The files that drive the encoder (LockSDK.dll for Tengo, v9RF.dll for RF and Pulmos, and the files that go with them) are already inside the Xenia installer. It puts them in place for you.

• The Tengo authorisation card. The card from your lock supplier that unlocks the encoder for your hotel. You use it once.

• The bridge installer. One file you download from the Door locks page in Xenia (part 3).

• Blank cards to test with.

• An owner or general manager login to Xenia. Only they can add a bridge.

• Each building, floor and area code your locks use. You will enter them in Xenia so each room knows its address. Part 2 explains.

Who does what

• The owner or general manager adds the bridge in Xenia and sets up the buildings, floors and areas (part 2).

• Whoever looks after the hotel's computers installs the bridge on the encoder computer and connects the encoder (parts 3 and 4). This is a one-time job of about an hour, and no command window is needed.

• The front desk makes room cards every day (part 5).

• Owners and general managers make special cards such as floor and master cards (part 6).

Next: Part 2: add the bridge in Xenia and set up your rooms.