Discover all Access Strategies available on Izix and their functionality.
This feature's availability depends on your subscription plan and role.
Definition: An Access Strategy is a specific type of planning that allows the user to rightfully gain access to the parking lot. Users can only use the strategies that are allowed for them by their organisation (e.g. a Manager should always have a secured parking spot vs an employee who should book their spot manually).
Table of Content
- Why should I use different Access Strategies?
- Available Access Strategies
- Access Strategies and Group of Spots
- Cost required Accesses
- Access Sequence Enforcement (ASE) and No Re-entry
1. Why should I use different Access Strategies?
Each Access Strategy has a different impact on the time the user can access the parking, on the occupancy of the parking, and on the duration of the access. The goal is to regulate the access to the parking for users with different needs. Using different Access Strategies allows you as an organisation to differentiate and regulate access to your parking based on your requirements.
2. Available Access Strategies
Within Izix, there are several access strategies that can be set up according to the parking policy defined. They take into account priority, capacity to plan ahead, actions required by the user, etc.. The main Access Strategies are:
- Preferential (PREF): Automatic parking spot booking for the upcoming 90 days (every day renewed). Best used for users that should always have a guaranteed parking spot (e.g. Managers). The user must release the reservation if they are not planning on using it.
- Booking (BOOK): User manually books a parking spot in advance. The planning period can be defined by the administrator (e.g. as of one week in advance). No booking is possible if there is no availability of spots. This access strategy is recommended for hybrid work settings and limited availability of spots.
- First Come First Served (FCFS): Access depending on availability when arriving at the gate. No pre-booking possible. This is recommended for parkings with limited availability and no planning requirement.
- On-the-Fly-Booking (OTFB): The booking cannot be made in advance but upon being at the gate as long as there is availability. In contrary to FCFS, an end date/time must be indicated. This is recommended for parkings where shorter sessions may be needed and when the same parking also allows for booking access in order to avoid unused parking.
- Free-to-Pass: Free access is not taken into account for the occupancy of the parking. This is only designed for users passing through (e.g. deliveries) or for emergency access to always guarantee access without blocking a parking spot.
Pro-tip: If users should have a guaranteed parking spot on a specific day of the week vs. booking manually on other days, you may regulate this access via the schedule of an Access Policy. E.g. Create an Access Policy by using PREF access and set the schedule solely for Friday. Then create a separate Access Policy by using BOOK access for Monday-Thursday. This will guarantee a parking spot for every Friday for the assigned users and allows them to book a spot for Monday-Thursday.
Main functionalities (users):
| Name | Preferential (PREF) | Booking (BOOK) | First Come First Served (FCFS) | On-the-Fly-Booking (OTFB) | Free-to-Pass |
| Guaranteed parking spot | ✅ | 🔶 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cost required option | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cancellation specification |
- Can be released by user and admin before it begins (web). - Cannot be released on the app. - Cannot be release when ongoing |
- Can be cancelled by user (web & app) and admin (web) before it begins - Can be cancelled by admin when it is ongoing (web) |
- Can be terminated by admin | - Can be terminated by admin | N/A |
| App access | ✅ (no release) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| No Re-entry (auto-close) | ✅ | ✅ | N/A | ❌ | N/A |
| Access Sequence Enforcement (ASE) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Other Access Strategies:
- Visitor: Temporary access based on reservation made by the administrator. While visitors have profiles on Izix, they are not considered to be users. They do not have access to the Izix application nor can they manage their own bookings.
- Vehicle Preferential (VEHI PREF): Guaranteed parking spot and access to the parking assigned to the vehicle and unrelated to the user driving the car. Only allwos for ANPR access.
- Vehicle Booking (VEHI BOOK): Guaranteed parking spot and access to the parking assigned to the vehicle and possibility for a user to book the vehicle to gain access via ANPR and Izix app.
Main functionalities (others):
| Name | Vehicle PREF | Vehicle BOOK | Visitor |
| Guaranteed parking spot | ✅ | ✅ | 🔶 |
| Cost required option | ✅ | ✅ | 🔶 (Visitor Portal) |
| Cancellation specification | - Only by admin (web) | - By user & admin (web) | - Only by admin |
| App access | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| No Re-entry (auto-close) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Access Sequence Enforcement (ASE) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
3. Access Strategies and Group of Spots
An access strategy, which is basically a usage method of the parking lot, is linked to a group of spots. By default, a parking lot is composed of a single group of spots. An administrator has the possibility to divide it into sub-groups which will then be linked to an access service.
Use case example: An Access Policy "Managers" is created for managers and assigned to 4 users. This Access Policy foresees the use of the preferential Access Strategy and is connected to the group of spots #1 which holds 5 parking spots. Another group of spots #2 which holds 10 parking spots is designated for non-manager employees and visitors. Two Access Policies are created, one with the Access Strategy for visitors and one Access Strategy with FCFS for the employees. There are 10 employees and 5 visitors on a specific date.
Result: Preferential access means that a parking spot will always be booked for 4 users. The group of spots #1 with 5 parking spots will therefore be fully blocked. Group of spots #2 must accommodate two types of users: visitors and employees with FCFS access. If, on a given day there are 5 visitor bookings, this leaves only 5 parking spots for the FCFS access. Once the 6th employee arrives, they will not be able to access the parking due to a full occupancy. Despite the fact that there is one free spot on the group of spots #1, the employee cannot enter. This is because the Access Policy that they are assigned to, is only linked to the group of spots #2.
If you are already using a specific set of access strategies (e.g. FCFS) but you would like to add a new one (e.g. BOOK), please contact your Account Manager. The support of your Account Manager is recommended due to the impact on parking spot groups and similar.
4. Cost required Accesses
Some of these accesses can be configured as “cost-required accesses” : FCFS, BOOK and OTFB. This means that users with this type of access right may have to spend credits they receive to make use of a parking lot. Making use of the parking lot will then lead to a decrease in the number of credits the user receives at the beginning of the month. The number of credits depends on the profiles' budgets defined and the decrease is proportional to the access cost defined by the admin. Finally, Izix' Visitor Portal can also be enabled to be cost-required. In this case, the visitor pays online for reserving their parking spot.
See relevant articles for more information:
5. Access Sequence Enforcement (ASE) and No Re-entry
No re-entry refers to the automatic closure of the reservation when exiting the parking lot. This feature allows for real-time occupancy monitoring of your parking facility and helps avoid wasting unused parking resources. The auto-closing function updates the occupancy as soon as the user leaves, thereby freeing up parking spaces for new users to utilise the released spots without any additional manual steps.
Find out more about the functionality here.
Access Sequence Enforcement (ASE) is the validation that you cannot reopen a gate for the same direction when you have already entered/exited the parking lot and is unrelated to the no re-entry rule. Example: The user entered the parking lot via the IN gate and is parking inside the parking. They are now using the app to open the IN gate again to let somebody else in. This will not be possible if ASE is enabled.
Find out more about the functionality here.