Building access¶
Access to the building along with and its facilities is managed with a combination of centrally provided and locally provided services. There have been plans to overhaul these procedures, notably with a shift to complete swipecard access as planned with the intended relocation of the department; however, with the suspension of the move, we are left with a hybrid system.
Facilities
A discussion of the available facilities, both in the physics building and further afield can be found on the facilities page.
===== Staff and students ===== Despite everyone that uses the building requiring the same access, the ways one goes about securing access is different depending on the individual's role. Information here is slated for people either within the UTAS system or those joining UTAS. Information for arranging visitor access can be found [[infrastructure:access#Visitor_access|below]].
==== Card access ==== Access to the building is managed by [[https://www.utas.edu.au/infrastructure-services-development|Infrastructure Services and Development]] (ISD). To gain access to the building, one must first have an access card (see [[infrastructure:starting|Starting at UTAS]] for details on how to obtain one), and then must complete a [[https://utas1.service-now.com/selfservice/?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f58beea6db610340f32d75a9bf9619ef|Building and Facility Access Form]]. Upon completion, this form is forwarded to your line manager for approval before changes are effected; once approval is granted, cards are typically activated within a few hours.
Currently, due to the [[safety:covid-19|modified safety protocols due to COVID-19]], access to buildings will not be possible until you have successfully passed through a "health screening" station.
==== Key access ==== Keys for the department are managed locally. The system was designed some years ago and all evolution has been in the form of add-ons, meaning that the system is somewhat convoluted. For example, keys are allocated effectively based on rank, with staff members sharing a common key, PhD. candidates sharing a common key, and honours students sharing a common key. The breakdown of this system has occurred mainly in areas which were keyed differently in past, for example for rooms associated with the now defunct biophysics group, which can lead to the people holding or requiring //rare// keys.
To obtain a key, note to which room you require access, [[https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=VV3rFZEZvEaNp6slI03uCDI6H9so-KtBvNbgHLIh6eVUNlBMREM0V0lUTUMzMVJBQzVEUDZCWVJSOCQlQCN0PWcu| fill in this form]], and then visit the senior technical officer in room 225. In times gone by, it was required that people fill in a form and provide a cash deposit of $20; however the practice has ceased. Now, information is stored in an excel spreadsheet (hosted on the [[its:storage|university's server]]) and keys are issued on good faith, with the presumption that the key will be returned once it is no longer needed.
Keys for the department come in different forms, but the primary family is the [[http://www.australianlock.com.au/bilock-57.html|bilock]] style, notable for its distinctive twin-blade key. These are used university wide, where different coloured handles are used to indicate the building in which they function. In the case of physics, the keys are have a red handle. Keys are identifiable thanks to an engraving of the building number, lock identifier and key number. Details of the lock identifier are given below, but an example string is 217PH1.55, where the 217 denotes the physics building, PH1 is the lock identifier and 55 is the //unique// key number, meaning that the keys are traceable.
The list of bilock keys is shown below, and a full list of keys can be found [[infrastructure:keys|elsewhere]].
^ Key code ^ Group/access ^ Designees ^ | PH1 | Staff master key | Staff, PhD students | | PH2 | Storage areas | N/A | | PH3 | Workshops | N/A | | PH4 | Antarctic and cosmic ray | Visitors | | PH5 | Biophysics | N/A | | PH6 | Optical astronomy | ? | | PH7 | Radio astronomy | AuScope room (including the "radio lab") | | PH8 | Lecture theatres and laboratories | ? | | PH9 | Student offices, general access areas | Honours students | | PH10 | Computer labs | ? | | PH17 | Workshop (223) | ? | | PH18 | Workshop (441) | ? | | PHMK | Master key | As required |
==== Key management ====
=== The current situation ===
The current management of keys is mess. Not only is the actual keying system a shambles, the record keeping is in a state of mayhem. This is in part due to legacy documentation being poor, but also the desire to monitor who has completed the [[https://mylo.utas.edu.au/d2l/home/350185|university safety and wellbeing induction]] has resulted in a system which is not fit for purpose. In the case of ensuring compliance with the induction, currently the only way to monitor this is to check an [[https://universitytasmania-my.sharepoint.com/
/r/personal/fiona_taylor_utas_edu_au/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?e=eOl1s4&share=Ecnunwxq17pAik_qdkV5vHkBn3-EGPZn-ySOf4uT6GxS5A|irregularly updated spreadsheet]]. A simpler way to ensure compliance would be to not give access to buildings with completion of the module (//à la// the [[safety:covid-19|COVID-19]] safety module), but given that there is little appetite to implement such a change, compliance is monitored when keys are issued. Hence the hodgepodge spreadsheet of key information.
== Lost deposits == Some of the $20 cash deposits which were collected previously have disappeared, not because of nefarious activity, but just poor storage and management and consequently the situation can arise when someone comes to return a key and collect their deposit, and there is no record of them having a key nor having made a deposit. In this case, a [[https://universitytasmania.sharepoint.com/sites/financial-services/SitePages/Forms-Guidelines-Training.aspx|non-staff payment request]] can be processed using [[https://login.utas.edu.au/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO?execution=e2s1|eForm]].
== Data merging ==
The legacy records did not merge well with the well-formatted MyLO data, so a fair chunk a manual data cleaning was required; however should one wish to repeat the process (not advised) the code is below.
import pandas as pd # Required for dataframes
import datetime as dt
directory = '//utas.ad.internal/groups/Science, Engineering and Technology/School of Physical Sciences/Maths & Physics/Access passes and keys/' # Directory whree files are stored
keyfile = directory + 'Keylist 2020 AJM.xls' # File containing (actual) key information
completionsfile = directory + 'Staff MyLO completions.xlsx' # File containing staff training information
keys = pd.read_excel(keyfile, sheet_name = 'Keylist 2020') # Open the Excel file
completions = pd.read_excel(completionsfile, sheet_name = 'SNS') # Open the Excel file
keys.SURNAME.fillna("", inplace = True) # Make NaN blank for merging
keys.NAME.fillna("", inplace = True) # Make NaN blank for merging
keys = keys.set_index(['SURNAME', 'NAME']) # Set the index
completions = completions[:-17] # Drop the summary rows
completions = completions.set_index(['Last Name', 'Preferred Name']) # Set the index
completions.index.rename(['SURNAME', 'NAME'], inplace = True) # Rename the index
completions = completions[completions['Owning Org Structure - Discipline/National Centre/Dept'] == 'Maths&Physics'] # Select only Maths & Physics
df = pd.merge(keys, completions, how = 'left', left_index = True, right_index = True) # Merge the dataframes
df = df.reset_index().set_index('Employee ID') # Reset the index to Employee ID
df.drop([df.columns[-2], df.columns[-1]], axis=1, inplace = True)
if True:
writetime = dt.datetime.today().strftime('%Y%m%d')
df.to_excel(directory + 'Collated{}.xlsx'.format(writetime))
</code>
The current approach to maintenance of key records is manually updating the master spreadsheet, including the manual addition of any compliance information.
=== The future ===
The university apparently has access to propriety key management software [[http://keymanager.com.au/|promaster]]; however access to the software must be provided by ITS. This is potentially an avenue to streamline the actually allocation of keys, but it will not solve the safety induction compliance issues.
===== Visitor access =====
==== Card access ==== The information listed here is correct as of the beginning of April, 2021, and was provided by [[mailto:mark.vass@utas.edu.au|Mark Vass]], the //Security Technical Officer//.
Access cards for guests can be arranged by emailing [[mailto:uth.security@utas.edu.au|security]] and requesting an access card for a visitor. Include the name of the person, their purpose of visit, the dates of their visit, and the spaces to which they will need access; it is likely that they will need access only to the maths and physics building (SB.AU.14). Once approved, cards can be collected from the security office in the [[https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/81153026|corporate services building]] (SB.BE.20), which is accessed via a [[https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/81153029|service road]] behind the Hill Street grocer on Churchill Avenue.
It is important to note that these cards function identically to staff cards, and consequently access to buildings will not be possible until the bearer has successfully passed through a "health screening" station.
==== Key access ==== Key access for guests is [[infrastructure:access#key_access|managed as for students and staff]]; however, it is the responsibility of the hosting member of staff to ensure that the key(s) are returned upon the departure of the visiting person.