Sport Manitoba is the lead planning, programming and funding agency for the development of amateur sport in Manitoba. National Industrial Communications, Inc.is the project integrator.

Jeff Hnatiuk, President and CEO, Sport Manitoba, described the security challenges for the Sport for Life Centre, which houses Sport Manitoba’s operations. “We have 65 separate offices each representing a sport, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, a Sport Medicine Centre, Sport Performance facility, as well as a conference centre and meetings rooms. This is a unique facility and the security needs are also unique and challenging.”

As Hnatiuk explained, each of the different entities housed in the Sport for Life Centre has a wide range of access management needs: the 65 sports offices need 24/7 access; the medical and performance centers require separate entrances, schedules, and provisions for medical privacy; the Hall of Fame space (once open) will have extensive public access during business hours and special access after hours; and the conference and meeting rooms have heavy use on the weekends and sometimes late into the night.

Approximately two years ago, during renovations of the future Sport for Life Centre, Hnatiuk worked with an architect and security consultant to help them understand exactly what Sport Manitoba needed in advanced access control. “We were asking for a system that would enable us to be very secure, very much in control, but also offer a high degree of flexibility.” The project security consultant recommended Brivo to meet the organisation’s needs.

The Brivo system has enabled Sport Manitoba staff to set up different access schedules for the public areas on floors one and two and entirely different schedules for the offices located on floors three, four, and five. Sport Manitoba’s system controls access at 32 doors for 235 users, and is also integrated with the building’s two banks of elevators. “We really like the web-based system,” said Hnatiuk, “we can make changes from anywhere and change levels of access at any time.”

The primary administrator for the Brivo system is Scott Brandenburg, the Building Engineer. Brandenburg uses the system’s alert features to inform him of important events, and he runs reports when needed on access patterns and if anything seems amiss. Recently, Sport Manitoba had a theft on the premises and by using a combination of their video surveillance cameras and running a report on the Brivo system, staff were able to gain the information they needed to complete their investigation.

“When we started this process, we weren’t sure we could get a system that could provide the level of flexibility and access, both public and private, that we wanted,” said Hnatiuk. “So, we’re very pleased how this Brivo system performs, it works extremely well. We have the peace of mind that our building is secure, but we have the access 150+ employees, our coaches, our volunteers, and contract staff need so that we are operating efficiently and effectively. This has turned out very well for us.”