XWiki – Finally, a tool that will help you organize your company’s tribal knowledge.

By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

XWiki - Finally, a tool that will help you organize your company's tribal knowledge.I thought I would take a break from our normal security stories and talk about an internal communication tool that I found recently. I imagine that most companies struggle with communication, I know we do at times. We do a great job of talking to each other, but a lot of our knowledge is tribal, passed down from one member to another.

Over the years, we’ve created countless documents describing processes and procedures, trying to get the knowledge to be more formal and less tribal. However, that has come with its own challenges. These documents are spread out between a shared network folder in the office, printouts from a document on someone’s laptop, and on our cloud storage systems. Each location has a file/folder system designed by the original owner, which then itself becomes tribal knowledge. The cycle has been never-ending.

There are many systems out there proposing to organize the chaos. Although we’ve tried several, getting something that’s effective, won’t break the bank, and is fairly easy to adopt by our team has been a struggle. However, I think we might have finally cracked the code.

XWiki

XWiki - Finally, a tool that will help you organize your company's tribal knowledge.I happened upon a product called XWiki. XWiki is an open-source project that appears to be well-supported with ongoing updates. Since it’s an open source project, it is free to implement for yourself, or you can pay a provider to set it up and manage it on your behalf.

XWiki is the first Wiki or knowledgebase that I’ve found where I can copy a Word document, pictures, and pretty much anything else and then paste them into the editor and it works. (This has been our number one roadblock to implementing anything else.) In other systems, you had to be able to edit HTML or build a document from scratch in the editor. Just this one feature has made adoption for all departments so much easier.

The Extension Store

The next feature that makes XWiki amazing is the extension store. Extensions add features to the base program that make it even more usable. Some of the extensions are free and others you have to pay for, but even the paid extensions are reasonably priced. Some examples of  these add-on extensions are GUI configuration for Active Directory, integration with Draw.io, calender integration with Office365, and hundreds more.

Permissions

XWiki - Finally, a tool that will help you organize your company's tribal knowledge.The last feature that was a must for us was permission-based pages. I wanted to allow each department to be able to create and edit their own processes and procedures, while allowing other related departments to be able to view as needed. For example, the HR department can create policies for the employees and everyone in the company can view them in XWiki.

Of course, XWiki also comes with things you would expect from a wiki. The pages can be edited by anyone with permissions, the system keeps track of revisions, it be searched with keywords and tags, content can be organized into categories, and you can even have sub-wikis with their own set of permissions.

It’s exciting that we have finally found and implemented a tool we can use to document our tribal knowledge. The system makes it much easier to keep things up to date. And our staff can find things they need quickly with the search tools.

Click here to learn more about XWiki. And if you have any additional questions about how we are using this or you want to learn more about our commercial security offerings, please give us a call.

Our Technician’s Secret Sauce: Ongoing training, learning from peers and working as a team.

By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

I want to take a moment and talk about our amazing commercial security technicians. Technicians are where the rubber meets the road for Kenton Brothers. They are the ones who solve problems every day and make the systems work to protect people, property, and possessions.

Kenton Brothers Technician Training

It all starts with training.

Kenton Brothers supports many different technologies and products. Some of our team supports keying, master key systems, safety deposit boxes, safes, and more. Another part of our team supports commercial access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, and analytics. Some of our people know a little bit about all of it… and some of them know a lot about some of it.

With such a wide breadth and depth related to what they do, training is incredibly important. When a technician starts with Kenton Brothers, we have them do several training classes to get up to speed. It gives newer security technicians an introduction to the way we provide commercial security solutions and the language that we use. Ongoing training gives the more experienced technicians a refresher. After earning their stripes, a career development plan is created to help them learn new or deeper skills to make them even more versatile and capable.

Kenton Brothers Technician Training

Learning from peers.

Training and classes can get you so far, but learning from your fellow technicians is just as valuable. Seasoned technicians take their skills and turn them into an art. Several on our team have been a part of Kenton Brothers for over a decade. They take great pride in their work and have learned how to hone their craft. Part of being a craftsman is teaching the next person how to be an artist themselves. Thankfully, our technicians love to share their knowledge with newer technicians.

Availability.

I also want to give some appreciation to our team for always being available. Sure, like many service based companies we have an after-hours program. This gives you peace of mind that your company can be secure even after many of us have gone home for the day. But this is more than that. Our technicians pick up the phone when another tech needs help. There are many oddities in the security world and sometimes you need a “phone a friend” to figure out what you’re looking at. I am proud of the fact that our team is great about helping each other out, even when it isn’t easy or required.

The Kenton Brothers technicians are the best team I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. They are some of the best in their industry, with a ton of knowledge and great big hearts.

If you want to be part of a team like that, and are willing to put in the work to become one of the best, give us a shout at careers@kentonbrothers.com. We are always looking for experienced security techs as well as good people who are ready to start a new career in commercial security!

Our Newest Apprentice? An International Soccer Player from Central Methodist University

Apprentice: Mark from CMUBy Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

Kenton Brothers has run an apprenticeship program for many years. Typically, we’ve used the program to introduce people to the field of locksmithing. Locksmithing is not something you would find in a college course catalog and it can take many years to hone and perfect the craft. Likewise, coursework in electronic security can be hard to find. Adjacent coursework like IT management or computer science is close, but not a substitute for hands-on learning.

Meet Mark

Mark is an international student, studying at Central Methodist University. We started talking to Mark earlier this year. He was looking for a place to get some hands-on experience related to his computer science degree. Mark comes from Hungary, where his father is a well known, professional soccer player. Mark is a talented soccer player himself (and played professionally in Hungary.) Mark determined that while he enjoyed soccer, it wasn’t going to be his career. So he found an opportunity to play soccer in the United States and with a scholarship for college. One of Mark’s classes sparked his passion for computer science, causing Mark to add computer science as his third major.

Getting hands-on experience for any degree can increase your demand after graduation.

Computer science is so broad as a topic, one could specialize in dozens of fields. Kenton Brothers focuses on computer science in physical and cyber security. Computers are behind most of the systems in our world today, and physical security is no different. By focusing on the computer systems in physical security, we can make them easier to use and understand for our customers. We also increase cyber security for the installed systems and focus on where the physical and cyber systems converge.

Mark was able to use his time during an internship at Kenton Brothers to increase his knowledge of control wiring, physical security principles, and cyber security hardening. He earned two manufacturer certifications to springboard his physical security experience. Then he focused on programming a large installation throughout the summer with several smaller programming tasks. And he has been able to experience implementations of commercial security access control, cameras and intercoms.

We look forward to working more with Mark as he continues working towards earning his degree and after graduating. Hopefully, we’ve fostered a curiosity for him  within the computer science niche of physical security.

If you or someone you know is  interested in computers and would like to learn more about our internship opportunities, please visit our apprentice program page.

Core Value: Continuous Learning – Electric Strikes with Assa Abloy

By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers

In a technology company like Kenton Brothers Systems for Security, constant focus on opportunities to refine our core values is always the goal.

Assa Abloy - Electric Strike Training Assa Abloy - Electric Strike Training

Continuous Learning

Assa Abloy - Electric Strike TrainingContinuous learning is one of those core values and it’s imperative to keep us at the top of our game. As you’ll see in the pictures, some of our security specialists take their training opportunities very seriously! Our team had a blast learning the latest electric strike installation techniques at a recent training event sponsored by Assa Abloy, the largest global supplier of intelligent lock and security solutions.

An electric strike is an electrified locking device. These are cut into the jamb of a commercial door to work with a card reader and a commercial access control system to secure an opening. It’s important to know how to survey the door opening properly by evaluating the existing door and frame as well as the existing mechanical locking mechanism to determine if an electric strike is the correct product to do the job.

There is an art form to properly cutting in the strike into the metal frame of a door. It’s not for the faint of heart!

Assa Abloy - Electric Strike Training Assa Abloy - Electric Strike Training

Great job Team KB! Thank you for investing in your skills and adding value to what we can bring to our customers!

KB is CSEIP certified to design access control systems for the Federal Government.

By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers.

We sent team members to Washington for CSEIP CertificationSpecial access control requirements require special access control people.

Our most complex access control customer is any federal government customer. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has a set of memorandums that outline requirements for any government office access control system. This allows the federal government system to authenticate who a person is as well as allow a person access to a building.

Certainly, this falls under “Special requirements” that spans way past allowing or denying access through a door.

Understanding the requirements itself is a challenge. But two of our guys, Ryan Nance and Chris Skinner, have stepped up to that challenge. Both of them went to D.C. for training that involves the latest in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), CAC / PIV Cards, and Biometrics. Both have been involved in multiple installations of government facilities across Kansas City for many years.

KB has CSEIP CertificationsCSEIP Certified

Ryan and Chris are both CSEIP certified to design and install physical access control systems (PACS as it’s known to the Feds) that meet OMB requirements.

Kenton Brothers has been helping the federal government for decades with their locks, keys, safes, containers and maintenance of their cameras and access control. This new certification means that Kenton Brothers is ready to serve the federal facilities in the Midwest region for their new PACS installations.

If your facility is ready for the latest and greatest in access control, let us know how we can help!