The Ultimate Guide to RFID Tracking for Business Operations

RFID tags are the glue that holds modern asset tracking and management systems together. They come in two varieties, either unpowered passive tags or battery-powered active tags. 

Much like the German planes that first generated these signals, a passive RFID tag doesn’t have an onboard antenna. Instead, it relies on an external transmitter to send a signal that it can process and bounce back to its source. The source RFID scanner then reads the modified signal and converts it into data. Because they’re unpowered, passive RFID tags can be manufactured quite small, often to the size of a small coin or pen cap. 

On the other hand, active-powered tags carry an onboard battery and antenna. They are bulkier than their passively-powered cousins but boast significantly greater read range. As a result, they’re cost-effective when you need to track high-value assets in a controlled environment. 

Both passive and actively-powered varieties can store a good amount of data. However, unlike their 1-bit ancestors, today’s RFID tags can hold up to 128 or 256-bits of information. That is enough capacity for detailed asset identification data. 

One of the other main benefits of radio frequency identification is that it doesn’t conflict with other wireless standards popularly used in workplaces, like WiFi internet or two-way radios.

Businesses use RFID tags to track various assets, from key rings to radios, mobile devices, toolkits, security equipment, and much more. If those assets are important enough to tag, you usually want them securely stored when not used. That is why most modern RFID tracking systems are built around storage cabinets. These hold assets while idle and often include charging ports and data cables for fault monitoring of electronics. 

Advanced asset storage cabinets also typically have a modular design so that cabinets can be stacked and configured for different floor plans and use cases. For example, a police precinct storing firearms, tasers, and kit bags will need a very different configuration from a regional warehouse with a vast, open indoor facility that wants to store dozens of identical handhelds. 

RFID readers receive signals from tracking tags and transmit them to connected computer systems for action. Where you place readers depends on the type of system you’re deploying. For example, a standard asset tracking system will have an RFID tag reader mounted at the storage cabinets that verifies the identity of assets users take and return. 

A full-fledged real-time location service (RTLS) identifies asset locations anywhere in an indoor space. These systems rely on RFID readers positioned throughout your facility, which can get accurate read locations on all tagged assets. In addition, RTLS systems typically rely on active RFID tagging to work at range. 

In addition to wall mounting or access terminal mounting—more on that in the next section—you can also use RFID readers for custom applications. One of the most popular that Real Time Networks helps deploy is as a muster point for emergency evacuation systems. When evacuating your facility, you need perfect staff management. RFID readers at muster points scan employee badges as they approach, automatically marking them safe. Emergency managers don’t have to worry about taking roll calls in this scenario. Instead, they can focus their attention on other aspects of the evacuation. 

The smart access terminal is your staff’s primary user interface with your RFID tracking system. Users authenticate themselves at the terminal when they want to sign out or return a stored asset. Access terminals can utilize one more access control method. Some of the most popular today include RFID tokens, PIN codes for lower-security environments, smartphone apps, or biometrics, such as fingerprint, iris eye scan, or facial recognition. 

Some access terminals are simple key entry systems, but you can also use advanced touchscreens for more rigorous or customized workflows. For example, when users sign out or return an asset, you can present checklists. You can use these checklists to gather valuable transactions and use information. They also help you improve accountability for equipment use as you can require users returning equipment to log repairs needed before the device reenters service. If they fail to log an obvious issue, supervisors can see the complete chain of custody in the transaction logs and follow up with the user.

Data from the sensors, cabinets, and access terminal all flow back to a software dashboard that system administrators use to get real-time tracking data on RFID-tagged people, equipment, keys, and vehicles. Most contemporary software dashboards are designed as web apps, which means they’re accessible from any secure device, like authorized desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets. 

Through the dashboard, your managers can receive real-time tracking alerts if assets are late for return or if a sensitive asset passes through an exit monitored by your RTLS system. Your managers can also generate reports that show them detailed tracking histories. As a result, they can help identify meaningful trends you might not see otherwise.

1. Improves your process controls  

   Detailed tracking data offers insights into all stages of critical business workflows. Better tracking will help you develop better process controls so that work is carried out consistently, reliably, and with good feedback when errors occur.

   Using RFID tracking, you can optimize each workflow that uses tracked assets. That will help you better support business methodologies like Lean or Six Sigma.

   ---

2. Enhances operations efficiency  

   Knowing precisely where vital assets are at any given moment, when they left, and when they’re due for return will make your business operations more efficient. You won’t waste time hunting for missing equipment. Instead, you can check when someone signed out the keys. You can see at a glance during a chaotic evacuation who is safe and who is still at risk in your facility. 

   ---

3. Reduce costs   

   Automating IT asset tracking using RFID can save hours of labor every week. Over time, that alone will quickly offset the upfront capital invested into an RFID tracking system, never mind all the other operating efficiencies you’ll gain. 

   Equipment, fleet, and personnel managers won’t have to spend as much time micromanaging transactions, usage logs, and reports. The RFID tracking system will automatically compile everything. 

   ---

4. Fosters better accountability 

   Since every transaction and asset movement is tracked, RFID systems enforce better accountability among their users. Storage systems record the condition of every asset signed out. Readers placed throughout your facility monitor movement in real time. And the state in which assets are returned to storage is fully logged. 

   ---

5. Supports better standards compliance  

   An RFID tracking system’s management dashboard includes many powerful pre-built reports. You can customize your own reports too for business or industry compliance needs. 

   ---

6. Offers reliable emergency management  

   Digital RFID tracking systems can’t get flustered. They do their jobs reliably even when staff are on edge during an emergency evacuation. Using RFID tracking to manage evacuations and roll calls at muster points makes everything error-free. There’s no rushed, panicked human operator who can miss an employee or accidentally mark someone safe who might still be at risk.

   ---

7. Cuts equipment losses  

   Automating equipment and key tracking reduces the opportunities for staff to lose vital assets. And when assets are not returned on schedule, supervisors can receive instant alerts, so they can start searching faster, increasing the chance that you will recover expensive or mission-critical equipment. 

   ---

8. Integrates technology and business practices 

   RFID tracking better integrates your business and security technology to your business practices. It connects the digital world in which your data lives with the physical world. We’re moving towards a converged workplace in the coming decades. RFID tracking is one of the more important tools we have today to build the foundation of our smart workplaces of tomorrow. 

RFID tracking systems help you keep tabs on all the vital handheld devices employees need day-to-day. For example, manually tracking who has a working handheld scanner and when it’s due for return can be a full FTE job. Automating that work with an RFID asset tracking system frees valuable manager time for other activities.  

Law enforcement personnel and emergency medical service (EMS) teams carry a large amount of gear on duty. Some items, like police radios, even come with embedded RFID chips. Automating kit signouts using an RFID tracking system helps ensure everyone leaves for their shift with all necessary gear. The storage system will know if they forget a radio or other tagged equipment. It will read the RFID tag on the item still in the cabinet and alert the user. 

Real time location service RFID tracking can also improve corrections officer and inmate safety and security. 

Many law enforcement agencies also use RFID tracking systems for evidence management. It helps them maintain an airtight chain of custody on evidence they must provide during disclosure and bring to trial. 

Hospitals, clinics, ambulatory companies, and other healthcare agencies must ensure that medical equipment is available when and where needed. It’s vital for patient care, and it is expensive too. Healthcare budgets are tightening everywhere, and unnecessary equipment losses are costs many centers can’t afford. 

RFID tracking your medical equipment can improve quality of care by helping nursing staff find equipment when needed. Also, nursing supervisors will know which nurses or technicians signed out which equipment, which rooms they’re going to, and when they’re scheduled to return it. Quickly checking their RFID tracking dashboard will tell them where to find anything they need.

RFID tracking systems can manage secure, unattended sign-outs of educational tools and electronics, like tablets and laptops. This will improve institutional equipment and campus security. You’ll see which student or instructor signed out each device, so you always know who is accountable for what. 

You can also facilitate technical support. If there is a problem with a device, the teacher or student can report it through the access terminal when they return it. The tracking system can then lock the device out of circulation and notify IT so a technician can retrieve it for servicing.

High-quality guest service means having your keys and equipment ready at a moment’s notice. Many hotels and other venues now routinely distribute tablets to service staff to help make operations more reliable and improve housekeeping efficiency. For example, housekeepers can notify the front desk through a tablet app when a room is turned over for a waiting guest. In addition, RFID tracking systems manage key and equipment sign-outs, so nothing ever gets lost, and vital electronics have a secure storage location with built-in charging.  

Since RFID tracking systems will reach through many facilities and organizational layers within your company, you should start by ensuring everyone impacted has a seat at the table in selecting the one you’ll use. 

Start by identifying the business units impacted by the delivery of a new RFID tracking system. That might include IT, physical plant, security, accounting, and different operational units. 

You’re not asking them to select a new product yet. First, you need to get their input on what improvements they want to see in your company’s asset tracking. 

Once your stakeholders have weighed in on what matters to them at the operational and strategic levels, you can move on to assessing the risks and opportunities you face switching to RFID-based tracking. At this stage, you want to identify the risks of deploying new technology and the potential opportunities using it might generate. How will your business landscape change for good and bad?  

What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you want to monitor while tracking assets? Understanding the KPIs you want to set will help you narrow down the assets you want to track. Although you don’t want to invest in RFID tracking resources for every last item your company owns, there needs to be a threshold for tracking you establish, likely tied to what KPIs you care about. Determine that scope now. 

Now it's time to shift from strategic-level planning down towards operations. First, consider where you will want to install the storage cabinets for your RFID tracking system. Your goal here is to balance security and functionality. You shouldn’t leave your assets open to unnecessary theft or other risks, but you also don’t want to hide them so they’re difficult to get during day-to-day operations.  

Technology is wasted if your personnel don’t know how to use it. So set aside time and resources to train your system administrators and users to operate a new RFID tracking system. No matter whether it is for day-to-day operations managing asset transactions or a muster system for emergencies, your people need to know the ins and outs of your new RFID tracking system.