How to set up a Watchlist

Secure your building and enforce compliant visitor check-in processes using watchlists.

Pearl McGuire avatar
Written by Pearl McGuire
Updated over a week ago

What is a watchlist in Proxyclick?

The general principle of the watchlist is to alert specified users (typically your security staff) when a visitor matches a record in a watchlist.

Watchlists in Proxyclick can be internal or external:

  • Internal watchlists are created and managed by you. You can create one or more internal watchlists with records of unwanted visitors or restricted parties

  • External watchlists are created and managed by external specialized providers. They are very powerful in case you need to comply with specific or global regulations

In this article we will cover a few main topics:

  • How to create your first watchlist

  • Who can receive watchlist alerts

  • What happens when a visitor matches a record in a watchlist

We’ll also touch on more advanced topics:

  • How to use a watchlist across multiple locations

  • Introduction to external watchlists managed by a third party

How to create your first watchlist?

Step 1: Go to Settings > Building security > Configure watchlists > Add watchlist

Step 2: Give your watchlist a name (this name will appear in the email alerts, text message alerts, and in the exports)

By default, we apply a standard matching algorithm that is triggered if the visitor details are identical or similar enough to a record in one of your watchlists.

If you feel you receive too many “false positives” then the standard matching method may be too broad. If this is the case, then you can change the matching method to the narrow matching option.

Here is a chart detailing standard and narrow matching:

Step 3: Add one or more records to the list. The first and last names are mandatory fields. Other fields are optional. A picture can be useful if you want to compare it with the picture taken by the Kiosk app

Once your records have been added, it is easy to edit (or delete) them at any time.

In case you want to differentiate between the levels of threats posed by visitors, you can create multiple watchlists and name them accordingly.

Who can receive watchlist alerts?

Every time a visitor matches a record in a watchlist, an alert is sent to the recipients defined in Settings > Building security > Watchlists.

If you select the SMS option, then the recipient will also receive the alert via text message (which can be handy if the alert requires their immediate attention).

If your security staff have access to the Logbook, they can also receive a convenient alert popup on the Logbook.

If you ever need to temporarily deactivate all alerts, you can just set the Alerts to “off” without deleting the list or removing the recipients. This setting is applied on all internal, external, and shared watchlists.

What happens when a visitor matches a record in a watchlist?

Alerts

The alert is sent every time a new visit matches a record in one of your watchlists.

This can happen in two scenarios:

  • At pre-registration: when the visitor is created from the Logbook (and is thus still in status “expected”)  

  • If there is no pre-registration, then the alert will be sent when the visitor checks in

In other words, in the case of pre-registration, security will be informed as soon as the visit is created (which can be days before the planned check-in). The time of the visit is always available via email and logbook alerts.

  • In case the visitor matches multiple records in a single list, only one email is sent (on the first match).

  • This is also the case should the visitor match a record in multiple internal lists: one email per list will be sent.

  • If you also implement external watchlists, a separate email and text message will be sent.

Note: If the visitor triggers an alert in more than one list, only the first list will be shown in the export. Also, if a visitor triggered more than one alert in a given list, only the first match will be shown.

Email alerts

The recipients will receive an email containing information about the visitor, and about the matched record, so the security officer can check them.

Text message alerts

If you choose to send text message alerts, the watchlist recipients will receive something like the following:

Logbook alerts

Logbook alerts automatically show up on the Logbook. When you click, more information about the visitor and the record is displayed and direct action can be taken from the logbook.

Logbook

Users with the right to “See watchlist matches in the logbook” will be able to see the watchlist matches right from the logbook.

First, they must be given the right to the appropriate user groups. By default, admin and security users can see watchlist matches in the logbook.

Here is what the users in this group will be able to see in the Logbook:

Exports

Information about the watchlist matches is also provided in the exports where you’ll find the following information:

  • Whether or not the visitor triggered the alert (see column S in the screenshot below)

  • The name of the watchlist (you can have more than one, see further)

  • What record in the list actually triggered the alert  

Exports can be generated directly from the Logbook.

Alerts are only visible to the recipients and always visible in the exports. Visitors will never know that they triggered an alert from Proxyclick. Your reception team will see what they need to see in the Logbook based on their user rights. The goal is to provide a check-in experience that is seemingly normal for the visitor and receptionist (in order to prevent an inappropriate response, especially in the event of a false positive) while at the same time alerting security.

How to use a watchlist across multiple locations?

Let’s say you have three locations: New York, Paris, and Singapore. You want to have one central watchlist (managed from the NY office) that triggers an alert in case of a match in any of the three locations.

In order to do that please follow the following steps:

  • Go to the New York location, Settings > Building security > Configure watchlists, and create the list

  • Name it (e.g. Global Watchlist), and enter the records

  • Go to the two other locations (as an admin) and go to Settings > Building security > Configure watchlists

  • You should see the global watchlist under “Watchlists from other locations.” Just activate it and do this in both locations

Done.

Visitors matching the list in any of the three locations will trigger the alert.

As a general note, the system is very flexible and will allow for many configurations:

  • You can create multiple shared lists

  • You can create lists that are linked to some of your locations only (not all)

  • You can create a shared list and local lists.

Introduction to external watchlists managed by a third party

In addition to the internal watchlists described above, Proxyclick also supports external watchlists. External watchlists are not managed inside Proxyclick, they are not created in Proxyclick, and you can’t add or remove records from it directly in Proxyclick. Instead, you create a link between an external watchlist provider and your Proxyclick account.

Why would you do that? Because external watchlist providers maintain an incredible amount of records in different watchlists. They update their lists often and their matching methods are highly configurable. Here are a few examples of such lists: 

  • Export-related Restricted, Denied, and Blocked Persons Lists (e.g. Department of Commerce, Department of State, and the Treasury)

  • Law Enforcement-related Wanted Persons List (e.g. FBI’s Most Wanted)

  • Sanction Programs-related Blocked Persons List (e.g. United Nations consolidated list)

  • General Service Administrations Lists (domestic)

  • Multiple additional lists related to Wanted Persons, Politically Exposed Persons, and International Terrorists and Blocked Persons

You might be interested:

  • This article explains how to link Proxyclick to external watchlists

This feature is part of our Premium plan.


If you have any questions or feedback, please contact support@proxyclick.com or send us a message on the live chat.

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