Why Require a Birthdate

You’ve probably noticed by now that the kiosks ask for a birthdate when people sign in using their name. Isn’t that just an unnecessary complication to sign in? Wouldn’t it be easier to get rid of that step altogether?

Sure it would. In fact, it would be easier if people didn’t have to sign in at all! But let’s assume we aren’t going to extremes. There are a few good reasons to require birthdates for sign-in.

• Names aren’t unique. If Johnny Smith signs in with only his name, and there is more than one Johnny Smiths in your system, what happens? At a Self-Service kiosk, the person can’t sign in and must check with the front desk. At the Attended kiosk, your operator will be presented with a list of people to choose from. Let’s hope they pick the right Johnny Smith!
• Anyone could sign in as anyone. My name isn’t Johnny Smith, but what’s preventing me from signing in as him? Not much. However, unless I know Johnny’s birthday, this requirement will do a lot to dissuade my sinister ways.
• Birthdates are required for Security Checks. You can’t run checks without a birthdate; it’s just not practical. No one wants to be matched to 50 Sex Offender records because they’re also named John Smith. So if you are running Sex Offender checks on Visitors, you must have a birthdate!

So, when might you really not need birthdates?

• When you use key cards or key fobs. If your staff and volunteers all have their ‘barcode on a stick’, they will always be able to sign in easily and quickly with barcode, then they don’t really need a birthdate, do they?
• With students. You might have some problems with students who share the same name, but you also can’t expect a 6-year-old to type in their birthdate, can you?
• With lots and lots of people at big events. It’s true—requiring the birthdate means an extra step, because sign-in goes from taking like 5 seconds to taking like 10. When you have a crowd of 200 people wanting to sign in for the barn dance, that is a groan-worthy delay. Pick your battles.

KeepnTrack kiosks have settings that allow you to choose if a birthdate is required, so lets take a look at that. 

From your Kiosk, open Kiosk Settings. You’ll see an option for Require birthdate with name. This means when the visitor signs in with barcode they don’t need a birthdate, but if they are only signing in with a name, they need a birthdate.

You can turn this option ON or OFF for any kiosk!