Key Card Policy

§ 1 Scope of Application

1. This policy applies to all members of the Institute of Mathematics and to all holders of an Institute key card.
2. It applies to all Institute rooms whose doors are part of the lock system.

§ 2 Definitions

1. Key cards are the Institute’s chip cards used to open the doors of the lock system.
2. Authorizations determine which key cards open which doors. They are recorded in the lock system software as an assignment of key cards to rooms (a matrix of key cards and rooms).
3. The competent secretariat is the secretariat of the chair or unit to which the person concerned is assigned. If a person is not assigned to any chair or unit, the office of the Executive Directorate (GID) is the competent secretariat; for IT department staff, the IT department itself performs the tasks of the competent secretariat.
4. Unless otherwise specified, requests and applications to the IT department are to be directed to the IT department’s shared mailbox. Its address is set out in the SLA.
5. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) is the implementing instrument to this policy (§ 3(5)). It sets out the operational details left to it by this policy.
6. Office rooms are the working spaces assigned to a chair or unit.
7. Seminar rooms are Institute rooms used for teaching and similar events.
8. Computer pool rooms are the Institute’s shared rooms equipped with workstation computers.
9. Controlling authority is the authority to decide on the authorizations for a room and on its use.
10. Members of the Institute are all persons assigned to the Institute of Mathematics, in particular its employees, its research and student assistants, and the members of the university assigned to it. Guests are not members of the Institute.
11. Employees of the Institute are members of the Institute who are in an employment relationship with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
12. PI is the head of a chair or unit.

§ 3 Responsibility

1. The IT department administers the lock system. It is the point of contact for all members of the Institute.
2. Secretariats must submit requests for authorizations to the IT department electronically.
3. If the competent secretariat is absent for longer than one weekly cycle (leave, illness, other absence) and no other secretariat takes over the request, the Institute’s leadership may submit requests.
4. In addition to paragraphs 2 and 3, permanent academic staff and the PI of a chair or unit are also entitled to submit requests directly to the IT department for the issue of a key card and for the modification or extension of authorizations for members of that chair or unit, including on behalf of other members of the same chair or unit. In this respect they have the same authority to make requests as the competent secretariat. Paragraph 2 applies correspondingly to electronic submission.
5. The IT department must issue a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for this policy and keep it up to date. The SLA sets out the operational details left to it by this policy, in particular service hours, cut-off days, deadlines and quantities. It must not contradict this policy; in case of doubt, this policy prevails. Changes to the SLA do not require a change to this policy. The SLA in force must be communicated to the secretariats and members of the Institute in a suitable manner.

§ 4 Request and Issue

1. The competent secretariat must request key cards electronically; the right of persons entitled to make requests under § 3(4) to do so remains unaffected.
2. The request must include the following information:
   1. first and last name,
   2. HU account,
   3. the doors required.
3. The IT department hands over the key card in person and, in doing so, presents this policy or hands out a copy of it. Before first use of a key card or transponder, the user must be instructed on this policy and must confirm that they have acknowledged it. For guest cards, this instruction and the documentation of acknowledgement is the responsibility of the issuing secretariat (§ 6); otherwise it is the responsibility of the IT department.
4. Requests are processed on a fixed weekly cycle. Requests received after the cut-off day are processed in the following weekly cycle. The processing day, the cut-off day and the processing time are set out in the SLA.
5. The hand-over under paragraph 3 takes place during the IT department’s office hours. The office hours are set out in the SLA.
6. Requests with missing mandatory information under paragraph 2 are to be rejected without further inquiry.

§ 5 Use of Transponders as a Substitute

1. A transponder may be used instead of a key card. The transponder must be procured by the user themselves. The IT department will state, on request via the shared mailbox, which models are permitted.
2. The IT department integrates the transponder into the lock system. It replaces the key card. In all other respects, the same rules apply to transponders as to key cards.
3. Anyone using a transponder must additionally carry the key card as identification for teaching sessions and similar events in rooms of the Erwin Schrödinger Center (ESZ). By way of exception to paragraphs 1 and 2, a key card is issued to the user on request for this purpose; § 4 applies correspondingly. This rule has been coordinated with the ESZ administration.

§ 6 Guest Cards

1. Guests receive key cards exclusively; the use of transponders under § 5 is not permitted for guests.
2. Secretariats maintain a stock of guest cards and issue them to guests as needed.
3. The stock of guest cards per chair or unit is limited to a maximum number set out in the SLA. No more guest cards may be active at the same time per chair or unit than the stock comprises.
4. To issue a guest card, the secretariat requests activation for the required doors from the IT department. The IT department activates the card.
5. The card remains part of the secretariat’s stock. After use, the guest must return the guest card to the issuing secretariat; the secretariat notes the return in its list under paragraph 6 and requests that the IT department block the card. For use by another guest, the secretariat must request activation again.
6. Each secretariat must keep its own list showing, at all times, which of its guest cards has been issued to which person for which rooms.

§ 7 Authorizations and Controlling Authority

1. The competent secretariat, together with the persons of that chair or unit entitled to make requests under § 3(4), has controlling authority over the office rooms of a chair or unit. Authorizations for office rooms only arise at the instigation of, or with the consent of, one of these persons. If none of these persons is available, the Institute’s leadership has controlling authority instead.
2. Seminar rooms are assigned to all members of the Institute by default. No separate authorization or request is required for this.
3. Any employee of the Institute may request an authorization for computer pool rooms. Unlike seminar rooms under paragraph 2, access to computer pool rooms only arises on request.
4. For changes or extensions to an authorization, an informal email from the persons entitled to make requests under § 3(2) to (4) to the IT department is sufficient.

§ 8 Handling Key Cards

1. Everyone must keep their key card carefully and protect it against loss and unauthorized access.
2. Passing on key cards to third parties is prohibited.
3. Loss or defect of a key card must be reported to the IT department without delay. The outermost reporting deadline is set out in the SLA.

§ 9 Loss and Defect

1. The report under § 8(3) is made informally to the IT department; an email is sufficient.
2. The IT department blocks reported key cards without delay and provides a replacement. The deadlines for blocking and replacement are set out in the SLA.

§ 10 IT Department Loan Cards

1. The IT department maintains its own stock of loan cards (IT loan cards). These cards are owned by the IT department and are to be distinguished from the guest cards administered by the secretariats under § 6.
2. If a person has lost or forgotten their key card, the IT department may temporarily issue them an IT loan card for quick relief. In doing so, the IT department enters on the IT loan card the same doors for which the person’s personal key card or transponder is authorized. The loan is time-limited; the deadline is set out in the SLA.
3. If a person’s HU account has not yet been issued but they already need access to their office, the IT department likewise lends them an IT loan card. The competent secretariat notifies the IT department that the HU account is still pending and names the doors required. In this case, the loan is limited to a maximum of 14 days.
4. The IT department activates the IT loan card for a limited time and automatically blocks it once the deadline expires. The user must return the IT loan card to the IT department once the reason for issuing it ceases to apply, and at the latest once the deadline expires. In all other respects, §§ 8 and 9 apply correspondingly.

§ 11 Return

1. The key card must be returned as soon as:
   1. the employment relationship ends,
   2. the reason for which the card was issued ceases to apply.
2. The IT department documents the return. Sentence 1 of this paragraph does not apply to guest cards under § 6; their return is governed by § 6(5).
3. If a reason for return under paragraph 1 arises, the competent secretariat must notify the IT department without delay and request the key card back from the user. § 3(3) applies correspondingly.
4. If the key card is not returned within the return deadline set out in the SLA, the IT department blocks the card and documents this.

§ 12 Annual Inventory

1. Once a year, the IT department carries out an inventory of the key cards issued together with the secretariats. The inventory also covers the stock of guest cards administered by the secretariats (§ 6(2) and (5)).
2. The IT department must agree the exact inventory period with the secretariats and announce it in good time. The regular period is set out in the SLA.
3. Discrepancies between the cards on hand and the entries in the lock system software must be resolved jointly by the IT department and the secretariats.

§ 13 Data Protection

Personal data is processed under this policy exclusively for administering the lock system and in accordance with applicable data protection law, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

§ 14 Entry into Force

1. The Institute Council of the Institute of Mathematics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, has adopted this policy; it enters into force on the day after its adoption.
2. Until the first Service Level Agreement under § 3(5) is issued, the IT department provisionally determines – in agreement with the GID – the operational details left by this policy to the SLA, and communicates them to the secretariats and members of the Institute in a suitable manner. This provisional determination ceases to apply once the first SLA is issued.
3. The obligations under this policy whose fulfilment does not depend on the SLA apply regardless of whether it has been issued; in particular, loss and defect must be reported without delay (§ 8(3)) and the inventory must be carried out once a year (§ 12(1)).