Before you begin setting things up, we strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with Units and their role in the system. You can find more information and context here.
This guide will walk you through the step-by-step process of setting up your units as a landlord, including:
- Initial setup of the units
- Create grants in shared and exclusive locks
- Change unit manager
- Delete units
- Lock synchronisation
The Scenario
During this explanation, we are going to work on the following example, in this case, Paul Smaart is the landlord and wants to create locks for 3 tenants, Stephan in apartment 101, Brenda in apartment 201, and Jim in apartment 301. Additionally, there are some shared areas that everyone can use such as the laundry room and the Building entrance.
Preconditions
- You are familiar with the Tapkey App.
- A locking system has been created and locks have been installed.
- Unit functionality is already enabled in the locking system. If not, please get in touch with sales@tapkey.com
Initial setup of the Unit
Step 1: Revocation Mode Settings for Shared Locks
Before starting with the setup, we suggest using the revocation mode set as Lenient Mode RCL in the locks that are going to be used in shared areas, for more information visit the help center article. This is going to allow better convenience for scenarios where there are locks managed by multiple managers.
Step 2: Navigate to Units functionality
1. Click on the Units feature
Use the Tapkey web portal to log in as owner and once logged in navigate to the Units item in the left menu.
2. Login to Units
It is expected that a new tab in the browser has been opened requesting a new login using Tapkey credentials. Please proceed with the login to access the Units functionality.
3. Add Unit
Once you log in, the Tapkey Units feature will be displayed, given that we have not yet started the configuration, no units will be displayed. Continue by tapping the button Add.
4. Fill out data & save
Fulfil the requested form with the data required, in this case, we are creating the unit for flat 101 with the following requirements:
- Manager: stephan@tapkeyacme.org
- Exclusive locks: flat 101 door
- Shared locks: entrance door, laundry room.
- Licenses: 5 (this is the contingent number allowed to be used by the tenant)
When you are finished, click the save button at the bottom right of the screen.
Important: It is suggested that for shared locks, the lenient mode setting is enabled in the locks. For more information visit revocation modes.
5. Congrats, you've set up your first Unit!
When the Unit has been created you will be able to see the confirmation screen. Now the tenant will get an invitation from us. Curious how it looks for them? Check out this helpcenter article that follows the tenant's perspective.
Note: You can use the REFRESH button to check if the invited unit manager has accepted.
Create grants in shared locks
Shared locks
Shared locks can be used by either other tenants or the landlord, this scenario can be used to allow the entrance of maintenance and technical personnel.
6. Create grants
This grant is visible to you (the landlord) but not to tenants, and the license contingent affected is the one from the landlord. Here you'll find a detailed description of how to issue grants to locks.
Exclusive locks
7. Synchronisation error
Exclusive locks can only be shared one time, if you are trying to create a second unit using an exclusive lock, the action will fail and you will see a synchronisation error. This action can be repaired by editing the Unit, then adding an exclusive lock that is not in use by other Unit and tap Save.
If the Landlord is trying to create a grant for a lock already shared in exclusive mode, an error will be displayed indicating that this action is restricted.
Change unit manager (tenant)
There are some scenarios where tenants are going to change for a Unit, and it is required to assign a new manager for the Unit. In this case, for the flat, it would be required to unlink the tenant and then link the new tenant’s email.
For this example, we are going to use the Unit named "Flat 101" with the current manager Stephan and we are going to link another tenant with the email jim@tapkeyacme.org.
Step 1: Unlink Unit Manager
First Navigate to the Units feature as described above.
9. Navigate to Unit
Once in the Units functionality, localize the Unit that is required to modify, in this case, it is “Flat 101”, and navigate to the details by tapping the row. Inside the Unit click the Edit button in the bottom right corner.
10. Unlink tenant
In Edit mode click UNLINK this action is going to deactivate the Unit Manager locking system and will allow you to assign the Unit to another tenant. Important: At this moment, the current Unit manager won’t be able to use any of the locks previously assigned.
Step 2: Assign a new Unit Manager
11. Link new manager
When the unlink process is finished, enter Edit mode one more time. There assign the new Manager, in this case, jim@tapkeyacme.org, and click Save. From this point, Jim must follow the steps described for tenants, once the invitation is accepted all the locks will be available in the new Unit Manager locking system.
Delete units
Units can be deleted in multiple scenarios, one scenario can be that the flat has been purchased directly, and the conditions have changed, in this scenario it is required to follow two steps.
First: Unlink the previous manager, following the steps described here.
12. Delete unit
Click the DELETE button at the top right of the screen. After this action, the Unit will disappear from the module and the licence contingent will be added to the main landlord account.
Lock Synchronisation
There are some scenarios where it is required to trigger a synchronisation, this is required when the lock conditions of the Unit have been modified. Scenarios like:
- lock deleted from the landlord's account,
- errors in synchronisation,
- license contingent changes,
- recover from errors.
There are two ways of executing this functionality.
13. Synchronise in details page
the first one is by clicking the SYNCHRONISE button on the Details page.
14. Synchronise in batch
The second option is to execute a synchronisation in batch, in the Units module index page the landlord can select multiple units and then click the button synchronise.
Frequently asked questions
Is it allowed for Unit managers to assign additional co-admins?
Once Unit Managers are added to the Unit, their account would behave like an independent Unit, the only action restricted is the increase of license contingent.
Unit managers can add additional co-admins and also can transfer the account to another owner, this action is not currently being notified to the landlord due to privacy concerns.
For more information:
What happens with alerts?
Warnings and alerts about battery, and synchronisation required are going to be displayed to both, the landlord and tenants, so maintenance tasks can be run by either:
- the landlord, owner, or owners of the main locking system,
- co-admin of the main locking system,
- unit managers,
- and co-admin in the Unit locking system.
How to run maintenance tasks in Locks?
What happens with NFC Transponders?
For security reasons, if there is any NFC Transponder associated with Exclusive Locks, the Unit is going to be blocked for creation until the transponder’s permissions are revoked over exclusive locks in the main locking system.
Who is responsible for the synchronisation of Locks?
These tasks must be defined by landlords at the moment of creating the Multi-Tenant installation. According to the business model, they can be responsible for running maintenance tasks in locks such as replacing batteries, answering questions for tenants, and handling sync scenarios for lost transponders. Or it can be defined as a task that needs to be executed by each tenant in Exclusive locks and by the Landlord in Shared areas. Our team is going to offer support via sales@tapkey.com.