Access Specification ­Support and Software Tools from Assa Abloy

When the goals are better buildings, safer building users and happier customers, the answer lies in a combination of digitalization and personalized service. A unified digital thread eliminates any confusion that can occur when stakeholders juggle multiple versions of documents. Personalized specification support ensures that stakeholders select the right door solutions, project their costs accurately, and minimize costly errors along the way. From initial design to final handover, everyone works smarter.

Software Tools and Specification Support

Assa Abloy has solutions for almost any building or opening, from doors and door closers to wireless digital locking devices and complete digital access ecosystems. This vast range and breadth of project experience creates uniquely broad-based knowledge, including the latest innovations in low-impact mobile access and other energy-saving digital solutions. Assa Abloy specification experts can ensure fire safety and barrier-free accessibility are factored into early versions of a design, for example. This helps building owners and investors to meet the compliance and safety requirements directly from project initiation, saving time and stress later.

The company has therefore developed software tools such as Openings Studio to help security specialists and distributors specify accurately and to manage their stock efficiently. When a digital thread is maintained by building management, fire and safety inspectors can also complete their tasks time and cost-efficiently. Openings Studio brings projects together in one intuitive environment by creating a transparent digital platform where everyone contributes. For this reason, it is already deployed all over the world as a trusted design, specification, compliance and ordering tool for building projects of every size and type. Deployed alongside personalized support from locally based Assa Abloy specification teams, it offers material benefits to every stakeholder.

Stakeholder #1: Architects

Architects need everyone on the same page to be able to realize their vision for the final building. Efficient collaboration and effective management of communication help them stay in control of the project’s quality and timelines. Openings Studio streamlines this without eating into the time architects need to focus on design. “Openings Studio software introduced us to a whole new way of thinking and efficiency,” says David Zarhy, whose firm Zarhy Architects used Openings Studio for the Broadcom R&D Center at Tel Aviv University.

The project transparency and knowledge-sharing that Assa Abloy bring to security specification is also invaluable, saving time and preventing mistakes. With detailed specifications supplied digitally at an early stage, architects visualize door and security solutions accurately as soon as possible. This way, aesthetics and usability are not disrupted by last-minute hardware surprises.

Stakeholder #2: Building Developers and Owners

Investors want to maximize and future-proof the ROI of their property portfolio. At the same time, they have a responsibility to ensure compliance with barrier-free building access regulations and fire safety. Personalized specification support helps them to weigh options, meet their legal obligations, and control ongoing property management costs. To also meet booming demand for green building accreditations, Assa Abloy offers in-depth support for developers seeking accreditation in six leading green building programs: BREEAM, LEED, Green Star, WELL, DGNB and HQE.

Another welcome benefit for ownership: returns on investing in greener buildings can boost more than just the environment. According to property experts JLL, “… buildings with better sustainability credentials are achieving markedly higher capital values and rents.” They estimated improvements of 20.6 % and 11.6 % respectively in one analysis of BREEAM-certified premises for the UK office sector.

Stakeholder #3: Building Contractors

In the construction phase, more than at any other, time is money. Hitting every deadline and budget directly impacts the bottom line. Working smarter with software and specification support ensures that customers come back in the future, supporting a sustainable, profitable business. The path from design to build is smoother when hardware data and deliveries are accurate, so all project changes must be communicated quickly along the stakeholder chain. Openings Studio ensures that builders waste less time coordinating clients and suppliers – which means less disruption of their day-to-day work. Site workers access authoritative specification data for every opening quickly via intelligent tags and QR codes embedded within Openings Studio, for example, which saves time and prevents mistakes.

Stakeholder #4: Security Hardware Specialists and Consultants

The best way to keep customers coming back is by delivering great service. For hardware specialists, this means specifying technical jobs quickly and accurately. Tools and support that help to automate tedious manual tasks and enable slicker collaboration provide a welcome efficiency boost.

Assa Abloy deliver support through a network of local BIM and specification teams, each with specific knowledge about applicable standards and regulations. They supply products that are manufactured to eco-design principles and that help to reduce ongoing energy use. Detailed, product-specific EPDs highlight the concrete benefits delivered by using more reusable and recyclable materials, and in embedding low-energy and eco-design principles – detailed information that will be essential when the European Performance of Buildings Directive is implemented from 2026.

Stakeholder #5: Distributors

Satisfying customers means shipping the right products on budget and on time, every time. To achieve this, staying on top of current pricing and specification is critical, even when these are in flux because a project is evolving. Effective coordination and accurate quotes are made easier and faster with the help of Openings Studio software.

Part of a longstanding collaboration with Swedoor in Denmark, a large project for Østre Landsret, the High Court for Denmark’s Eastern region, was streamlined with the help of Openings Studio. This intuitive tool underpinned door discussions, ensuring efficient decision-making and component delivery for every closer, lock, and cylinder.

In Denmark and elsewhere, Openings Studio has become the focal point of collaboration between Assa Abloy, Swedoor, locksmiths, building contractors and architects. According to Per Løvstad, Sales Manager at Swedoor in Denmark, “Cooperation consists of a total review of the entire door project, door by door, so that our mutual customer feels confident that the doors and the entire package fit together. I can only recommend this collaboration to anyone who has to go through larger projects with doors and fittings.”

Stakeholder #6: Building Inspectors

Entrusted with making sure that buildings are safe for users, the inspectors need transparency in fire, safety and accessibility compliance. In the past, this meant manual updates and endless spreadsheets – carried everywhere, even out of the office. “With Openings Studio, you no longer need to rely on paper or spreadsheets to manage doorset data,” explains Marc Ameryckx at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions EMEIA. “It is all digitally managed in one place over the life of the building, which saves everyone’s time.”

Openings Studio helps to maximize the effectiveness of inspections by safeguarding a reliable, up-to-date source of specification info and making it available on demand – even on an inspector’s mobile phone. Doorview, who conduct fire inspections in the London area, use Openings Studio to speed up their work. “The Openings Studio app allows us to instantly share fire door inspection reports with our clients,” explains Doorview’s Jody Purcell. The mobile app equips inspectors with powerful, speedy and transparent reporting tools by leveraging the same information from the design phase through to maintenance of the completed structure. The app also helps Doorview to implement a remedial action list, which reassures the client that their building is compliant and safe. Maintenance staff can upload a photo when any required refits have been completed. Working digitally with Openings Studio assures the transparency of this process.

“Because specification and BIM teams are based at locations spanning Assa Abloy’s global network, they bring experience and expertise on local issues, standards and certifications,” adds Marc. “With digital collaboration in Openings Studio – plus dedicated specification support from a global team of local experts, Assa Abloy can help you transform the way you work. You will deliver faster, better projects, hitting budget targets and meeting the needs of building managers and users, now and far into the future.”

To learn more about the benefits of Openings Studio software, visit www.openingsstudio.com