In aerospace and defense, the moment someone walks into your facility, they’re more than a name on a logbook—they’re a variable in your risk equation.
And when that equation includes employees, contractors, vendors, foreign nationals, auditors, and VIP visitors—all with different clearance levels, onboarding requirements, and visit histories—disjointed access systems simply don’t do you any good.
Too often, organizations manage these groups in isolation: employees tracked in one tool, contractors onboarded through spreadsheets, and visitors manually approved by email.
What starts as convenience turns into chaos—opening the door to compliance violations, operational slowdowns, and invisible security gaps.
It’s not just inefficient. It’s risky.
The cost of that risk could be a failed audit, a delay in production, or a breach of sensitive data.
That’s why more and more aerospace and defense leaders are overhauling their approach—unifying contractor, employee, and visitor access into one platform.
The goal isn’t to create more control points. They need smart, automated control that adapts to each role and ensures everyone passes the same security standard—without creating bottlenecks.
Where complexity lives, risk hides
Split systems create inconsistencies that can quietly compromise your entire security system.
In one building, a contractor might breeze past screening because they’re “on the list”. In another, the same contractor gets stuck at reception because no one tracked whether their clearance was still valid.
Now imagine contractors working across a dozen sites, under multiple subcontracting agreements—and no unified solution to verify their credentials, approvals, or access level.
Multiply that across departments, vendors, and rotating personnel—and the gaps start to look less like process flaws and more like compliance failures waiting to happen.
And it’s not just theoretical.
When aerospace maintenance leader StandardAero reviewed their visitor policies across its 40+ global facilities, they uncovered major inconsistencies in how guests are screened, tracked, and approved.
Each site had its own manual visitor management process, creating security gaps and making compliance more difficult to enforce.
“The nightmare was controlling 40 companies that are on different systems,” said the Director of Compliance at StandardAero.
“Due to all the code and federal regulations, we have to be very consistent in our visitor policies—who is visiting our facilities, what background checks have we done, are they foreign nationals, and do they have authorization to be in our facility?”
To solve the problem, StandardAero implemented Sign In Solutions’ centralized visitor management platform—bringing every site onto one system that automates watchlist checks, captures approvals, and ensures every visitor is vetted before they step on site.
When you control the workflow, you control the risk
Disjointed access control systems create both more work and more risk. The only way to ensure consistency is to manage everyone in a single, intelligent workflow that adapts to clearance level, role, location, and compliance status.
With an advanced visitor management system, you can:
- Pre-screen visitors and contractors before arrival
- Assign role-based workflows that trigger only the necessary approvals, forms, and documentation
- Use advanced triggers to redirect high-risk roles (like foreign nationals) through special approval paths
- Deliver NDAs, visitor requirements, and certifications in advance—and block access until they’re completed
It’s flexible and customizable. Automated and robust. Allowing you to apply the right security rules. To the right people. At the right time.
Why modern FSOs are replacing manual oversight with automation
Facility Security Officers (FSOs) carry a lot on their shoulders. Clearance tracking, training logs, incident reporting, and policy enforcement. But what used to be a disjointed set of responsibilities is now centralized in one platform.
Modern solutions give FSOs what spreadsheets and siloed tools never could: clarity and control. Instead of chasing clearance updates or scrambling through documentation, they get a live view of who’s on site, why they’re there, and whether all compliance requirements have been met.
Role-based task assignments ensure nothing slips through the cracks, while automated alerts flag expired credentials, missing disclosures, or failed check-ins before they become audit risks.
And because everything is logged, FSOs can provide full visibility during audits or investigations without scrambling to gather documentation or evidence.
That’s the difference between being overwhelmed by the security system—and being in control of it.
From the front desk to the security door: Full access control
Managing access doesn’t end when someone signs in. That’s where it starts.
In high-security environments, it’s not enough to know who’s in the building. You need to know where they’re allowed to go, for how long, and whether their credentials are still valid.
That’s why modern visitor management systems integrate with physical access control, making it possible to assign time-limited, role-based access tied to real-time risk data.
When a project wraps up or a credential expires, access can be revoked. If someone attempts to enter an unauthorized area, security is alerted instantly. Every movement is tracked and logged, creating a complete, auditable record of personnel access across your facilities.
This is where traditional visitor management ends—and unified workforce security begins.
Prevention without all the paperwork—fully white-labeled
Contractor onboarding used to mean forms, emails, and last-minute delays. Now, it means digital pre-registration, automated screening, and real-time approvals. All before anyone arrives at the facility.
Your contractors and vendors can be pre-screened before they even arrive on site—submitting credentials and documentation in advance, acknowledging site-specific safety requirements, and receiving mobile-friendly check-in instructions.
If anything is missing, outdated, or non-compliant, access is automatically denied. It’s faster, safer, and more convenient.
High-security organizations don’t want more tools. They want fewer problems. And risk adaptive visitor management tools fit into their existing systems without forcing a rebuild.
Top tip: Look for a system that can be fully white-labeled, giving government contractors or defense organizations a branded experience that integrates with the tools they already use.
Key takeaways: What high-security workforces actually need
In high-security facilities, every sign-in is a potential risk event. And managing employees, contractors, and visitors through separate systems only increases that risk.
Unifying workforce access gives you one workflow for every personnel type, audit-ready records for every visit, and automated screening that flags problems before they reach your door.
It’s faster for your teams, safer for your operations, and stronger for your compliance efforts. If access control still feels fragmented and disconnected, now might be the time to rethink your approach.
Whether it’s a contractor with outdated credentials, a foreign national without proper clearance, or an employee whose access has expired, one missed step can lead to major consequences.
Will you close security gaps in your visitor access approach?
Sign In Solutions gives you one platform to manage it all—with automated screening, approval workflows, and audit-ready records.
Let’s talk about how we can help your organization eliminate security gaps, reduce manual work, and meet every compliance requirement.