Take your property security to the next level by integrating your Genea Access Control system with your Cisco Meraki camera system.
Why Integrate with your Security Cameras?
A CCTV system, such as Cisco Meraki, allows you to capture video, and if something terrible should happen, review video to catch the culprit. Security cameras also serve as a great deterrent to any vandals or thieves. More advanced security teams also know that your company’s CCTV system enables you to verify access control logs for auditing and investigations. While having your access logs in Genea allows you to establish a basis for identity, having video to verify is a great way to ensure the validity of your access logs.
Why Cisco Meraki?
At this time, Genea only has a direct API integration with Cisco Meraki. Many of Genea’s largest customers use Cisco Meraki cameras to monitor and secure their facilities. In order to give our customers the ability to link their access control logs with the power of the Meraki platform, we decided to integrate these two best-of-breed cloud-based products.
Setting Up Your Genea + Meraki Camera Integration
1) Navigate to the 'Integrations' tab in your Genea admin dashboard.
2) Find the 'Video Management Systems' integrations, and click 'Install' under the Cisco Meraki integration.
3) Input your API key. You'll find your API key in your Meraki Dashboard. While in Meraki, navigate to your 'Profile' --> 'API Keys' --> 'Generate New API Key.' Copy your API Key and input it into the 'API Key' box in your Genea dashboard.
4. Map your cameras to your doors. In order to get instant access to the right video feed at the right time, Genea needs to know which cameras are monitoring which doors.
To map your cameras to your doors, click the '+ New' button.
Select which Meraki camera network to which your cameras belongs, the specific door you are mapping the camera(s) to, and the specific camera from the drop downs. If the door has multiple cameras assigned to it, press '+ Add Camera' to map any additional cameras to the door.
5. Press 'Save' to save each camera mapping configuration.
Meraki Settings
With the Genea Access Control + Meraki integration, you may enable GIFs and event snapshots that can be viewed via Slack and within your Genea admin dashboard.
IMPORTANT: GIFs and snapshots are currently only be available for Door Force Alarms, Door Held Alarms, and 'Deny Access - No Door Access' events. All other video events captured within Genea will route you to your Meraki dashboard for review.
Under the 'Meraki Settings' section on the integration set-up page, you can customize how long before or after an event occurrence is captured.
ENABLE VIDEO
To enable Snapshots available for review within your Genea activity log, click the toggle button next to 'Enable Video.' When enabled, the button will be blue in color. Once enabled, your system will capture and provide a link to review the event snapshots directly within you Genea activity log.
You may capture up to 10 frames if the Snapshot option is enabled - 5 before the event occurs, and 5 after the event occurs. To set how many frames your Genea system will log before and after the event, move the slider next to the 'Snapshot (frames)' to the desired number of frames.
ENABLE GIF
If you utilize Genea's Slack integration, you can enable your system to capture and share short GIF notifications.
To enable GIF capture, click the toggle button next to 'Enable GIF.' When enabled, the button will be blue in color. Once enabled, your system will capture and provide GIF notifications via Slack Alert. Please keep in mind that GIF Slack alerts may be delayed in delivery by up to two minutes.
CAMERA LINK OFFSET
You may customize your Meraki integration capture settings to determine when an event video capture begins, and how long after the event is recorded.
You may set your system to capture video of an event up to 10 seconds before, and up to 10 seconds after. To set how long an event is captured, move the slider next to the 'Camera Link Offset (seconds)' to the desired number of seconds. Keep in mind that this setting will only be utilized for video events available for review within your Meraki dashboard.
Congratulations! You're now ready to start monitoring your access logs with Meraki cameras!
Now that your systems are linked, you’ll have the ability to view any access event or notification. In your Genea activity log you’ll see a new column titled 'Camera Link. '
IMPORTANT NOTE: A Genea administrator must have access to your Meraki dashboard in order to review surveillance footage.
If you have any questions about this integration, or have any feature requests, please reach out to acsupport@getgenea.com.