Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for security agencies.
A checklist built from how security agencies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Site contracts and posts
- Monthly roster with relievers
- Mobile attendance with photo and location
- Guard records, verification and training
- Uniform and kit issue
- Night check log
- Duty-based billing and wage sheet
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For operations managers
- For field officers
- For guards
- For accounts and payroll
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Duties delivered against duties contracted, site by site
- Posts left open, and who filled them
- Attendance by guard for the month
- Wage sheet with overtime, advances and deductions
- Client invoices with ageing
- Incidents by site, with what was done
- Guard papers and training dates falling due
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- SMS
- Bank salary transfer files
- Biometric devices at large sites
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Our guards do not all have smartphones. Will attendance still work?
- Can it bill each client post by post?
- Does it work out wages with pension and insurance deductions?
- Does it make our agency compliant with security licensing rules?
- Can invoices and wage summaries go to our accounting package?
- Can guard and site records be moved in?
- How is an incident at midnight recorded?
- Who owns the attendance and guard data?
- What does it cost?
- We run four sites. Should we use a ready attendance app?
- How soon could supervisors mark attendance from the post?
- What should operations and accounts have ready?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The muster is counted from registers
- Relievers are arranged by phone
- Clients question our bills
- Night checks cannot be proven
Prefer to talk it through? See the security agencies page.