The badge
The credential as a physical object — issued, lost, lent, cloned, and not handed back.
The Badge as an Object
A credential is a physical thing with a cost, a lifespan, an issuer and a failure rate, and it is managed on most sites as though it were a database row.
The Day It Is Lost
Somebody left their badge at home. What happens in the next five minutes is the most frequently exercised process in the whole system and the least designed.
The Temporary Badge That Became Permanent
A card issued for one shift, to somebody whose name was written on a scrap of paper, is still in use eighteen months later and belongs to nobody in the records.
Lending It
Card sharing is the behaviour biometrics were sold to stop. Why people do it is worth knowing: most of the reasons are about the arrangement, not dishonesty.
What It Is Worth to Clone
Older proximity cards can be copied with cheap equipment. Whether that matters on a time clock is a question most sites have never actually asked.
The Badge That Also Opens the Door
One credential doing two jobs means one set of settings serving two requirements, and the stricter requirement always wins even where it does not belong.
The Leaver's Badge
The last day is the moment every system should be updated at once, and it is handled by a checklist three departments each hold a different version of.