Sequencing a Kantech job in a building that cannot close
Kantech is the Johnson Controls access control line: EntraPass management software and the KT controller families. Most Kantech work in Georgia happens in occupied buildings, which makes the order of operations more important than the parts list. This is how the work is actually staged.
1. Door schedule before anything is priced
Every opening gets written down: lock type, request-to-exit, door position contact, power, fire alarm interface, egress behavior and existing reader. That document decides controller count, and it is also the document that outlives the project. Buildings that have changed hands rarely have one, and the drawings that do exist are usually out of date.
2. Software edition and where the server lives
EntraPass edition selection follows site count, number of workstations, gateway needs and required integrations. A single Athens property and a Georgia operation running Atlanta, Macon and Savannah locations from one office are different software architectures, not the same system with more doors on it. Decide at this stage whether the server is physical, virtual or hosted, and who is responsible for backing it up.
3. Controller topology
KT-1 is a compact single-door IP controller that suits scattered openings and small door counts. KT-400 is the multi-door controller with expansion modules, and it earns its place where doors cluster near a communications room. Distribution buildings behind the port and manufacturing plants near Macon or on the I-185 corridor at Columbus often mix both, because a plant has a tight group of office doors and then a handful of isolated openings at the far end of the building. Expansion modules and accessories get verified against the exact controller and EntraPass release rather than assumed.
4. Reader and credential inventory
What already exists usually decides how much of the project is a migration. Existing readers can often be reused; existing credential formats sometimes cannot be carried forward cleanly. If the plan is to move to OSDP readers, wiring standard, run lengths and reader addressing all change, and that has to be settled before cable is pulled rather than after.
5. Rough-in while the building keeps running
Cable, enclosures, power and battery go in alongside the existing system. Nothing is removed yet. Facilities that run around the clock get scheduled around their own constraints rather than ours: logistics tenants near Hartsfield-Jackson, distribution operations along I-16 and I-95 with fixed dock windows, and medical space in Augusta where egress hardware cannot be out of service during clinic hours.
6. Phased cutover, group by group
Doors convert in groups. Each group is proven before the next one starts, and the old system stays live for the doors that have not moved. Egress hardware and fire alarm release are tested at every group rather than once at the end. During summer storm season a cutover window gets a battery-backed supply and a written rollback, because losing a circuit halfway through a door group is not a theoretical risk in Georgia.
7. Functional test and handover
- Every opening tested for granted, denied, forced and held-open behavior, and against its schedule.
- Controller communications deliberately interrupted to confirm local decisions and event recovery when the link returns.
- Administrator permissions, reports and any integration events confirmed with the people who will actually use them.
- Door schedule, panel map, software release, backup routine and credential records handed over in writing.
Where the panels end up
Enclosure placement is an environmental decision in this climate. Mezzanines, dock walls and unconditioned electrical rooms are hot and humid, and standby battery capacity should be sized for the real hold-up requirement and then derated for the temperature where the battery will sit. Surge protection belongs on the power feed and on any copper that leaves the building toward a gate or a second structure.
Related scope: security system service and repair and access control systems. KSEDCO’s Georgia office is at 2700 Cumberland Pkwy SE, Suite 410, Atlanta GA 30339, (888) 360-0035.
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