Staff badge management involves assigning staff to their Kontakt.io Smart Badge and replacing a badge if it becomes lost or damaged. When staff activate a duress alert from their badge, their assigned badge is how Kio Staff Safe knows their real-time location and provides responders with this critical information to locate staff when it matters the most.
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Assigned role: You must be assigned to the Staff Safe Administrator role to manage badges assigned to staff.
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Power on badge: By factory default, badges arrive powered OFF from Kontakt.io.and are required to be powered ON prior to distributing badges to staff. If your organization has ordered badges to arrive powered ON, when distributing a badge be sure to verify its powered ON.
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When assigning staff to their badge, be sure to verify they are associated to an Alert Rule.
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Badges can also be assigned from the Kio Entity Manager mobile app.
Before a Kontakt.io badge is distributed to a staff member, they must be assigned to the badge. Each badge has a Unique ID and MAC address, which is printed on the badge's holder, non-button side.
You can assign staff to their badge from the Kio Staff Safe web app (instructions below), Kio Entity Manager mobile app, or from the staff's entity in Company Settings.
With the badge in hand, complete the following steps from Kio Staff Safe.
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From your Kontakt.io Launchpad, select Staff Safe Emerg. Call.
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From the Settings menu, select Staff.
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From the list, locate the staff.
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Select their Staff ID or Name. Their profile is displayed.
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From the upper-right corner, select Edit.
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From the Assigned Tag section, search for the badge's 12-character MAC address or Unique ID > select the badge.
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Verify that the badge's MAC address or Unique ID is correct.
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Select Save.
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To verify the badge assignment and the staff is associated to an alert rule, it's recommended to activate a test alert from the badge. Once the alert is activated, you can resolve the alert and set its Resolution Code to Test and log a note indicating testing badge assignment and operation. If an alert was not activated from a button press (three times in quick succession), verify the staff is associated to an Alert Rule and the button press that triggers an alert (blue, red, or either button).
If the staff member is new to Kio Staff Safe, be sure to share the article Guide to activate a staff duress alert. This article also includes a Quick Start Guide and explainer video.
When a Kontakt.io Smart Badge is lost, damaged, or being returned to Kontakt.io for warranty, a new badge is required to be assigned the staff member. The staff's assigned badge (tag) delivers their real-time location when they activate an alert, which is why a proper replacement and badge assignment is critical. If a damaged badge is to be disposed of, be sure to follow your organization's electronic device disposal policy.
Tip
Write down the 12-character MAC address of both badges - printed on the holder, non-button side of the badge. If the badge being replaced is lost, you can get its MAC address during Step 1.
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From your Kontakt.io Launchpad, select Staff Safe Emerg. Call.
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From the Settings menu, select Staff.
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From the list, locate the staff member that requires their badge to be replaced.
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Select their Staff ID or Name. Their profile is displayed.
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From the upper-right corner, select Edit.
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From the Assigned Tag section, select the tag > select Clear Filters > search for the new badge's 12-character MAC address and select the new badge.
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Select Save.
Tip
To verify the badge assignment and the staff is associated to an alert rule, it's recommended to activate a test alert from the badge. Once the alert is activated, you can resolve the alert and set its Resolution Code to Test and log a note indicating a replacement badge test was performed. If an alert was not activated from a button press (three times in quick succession), verify the staff is associated to an Alert Rule and the button press that triggers an alert (blue, red, or either button).
The Deployment Status of a badge represents its current lifecycle, indicating whether it is:
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Deployed: in use (assigned)
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To be Deployed: available inventory (can be assigned)
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End of life: no longer in use or disposed of
The Deployment Status is also used by Kio Cloud Device Health to monitor badges (tags), with only badges in the Deployed status are actively monitored.
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From your Kontakt.io Launchpad, select Device Management 2.0.
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From the Inventory menu, select Tags.
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Update new badge status:
From the Search Devices field, enter MAC address of the new badge assigned > select is ID > from the General tab, set its Deployment Status to Deployed > select Save.
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Update the badge replaced:
From the Search Devices field, enter the badge's MAC address > select is ID > from the General tab, set its Deployment Status to End of life > select Save.
By default, Smart Badges are shipped from Kontakt.io with their power OFF and must be powered ON before use. However, you can request to have badges shipped powered ON when placing an order.
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If a badge's LED does not blink after pressing and quickly releasing either the blue or red button, follow these steps to turn it on:
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Press and hold either the blue or red button for 5 seconds.
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When you see the button LED blink, it's your confirmation the badge is ON.
To power off a badge, follow these steps:
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Press and hold either the blue or red button for 5 seconds.
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Once the LED stops blinking, it indicates that the badge has been turned OFF.
When OFF, the LED does not blink when pressing and quickly releasing a button.
To verify a badge is ON, press and quickly release the BLUE or RED button and verify you see its LED blink for a few seconds.
Warning
Continuously pressing either button may result in activating a button press event. If you do not see an LED blink after a button press, do not press a button for 5 seconds to allow the device to clear the previous button event.
Prior to distributing badges to staff, this handy reference card can be printed and inserted into the badge.
Download PDF for the Smart Badge model
Download PDF for the Smart Badge 3 model
Note
If your organization has Alert Rules configured to activate staff duress alerts from only the blue or red button or if the badges are configured to activate an alert with one press, please submit a support request. Our team can provide custom PDF inserts.
The following provide learning resources for staff wearing Kontakt.io Smart Badges.
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Kio Staff Safe Quick Start Guide
Provides instructions for activating a duress alert by pressing any button three times in quick succession, along with guidelines for wearing a badge.
The buttons that activate an alert, either the blue, red, or any button, and the number of presses may vary by your organization's deployment.
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Kio Staff Safe explainer video. Get a 2 minute overview of how it all works.
This video highlights a Portal Light infrastructure along with Smart Badges. Your deployment may vary to include third-party BLE to Wi-Fi gateways such as Cisco Access Points, and Kontakt.io Beam Minis or Portal Beams.
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