For more details, also see Ubiquiti's article with instructions and descriptions of UniFi Access features
Users & User Groups
Each individual is entered as a user in the UniFi Access application. They are assigned 1 or more credentials (see below).
- You can organize users into logical groups, such as "Employees," "IT Staff," or "Maintenance". This way, you can assign a policy to a group rather than to each individual user. If you link your Unifi Access system to your wider company directory, the users get automatically added, removed, and assign to groups based on that directory.
Credentials
- Users are assigned one or more credentials such as a key card, key fob, PIN, the UniFi Identity mobile app. You may enforce multi-factor authentication if you want to require both a key card and a PIN
Locations & Location Groups
Every entry point—including doors, gates, or elevators—is added as a location in UniFi Access.
You can create location groups, like "First Floor Doors" or "Server Room Entrances". This allows you to apply a single access policy to multiple doors at once.
Schedules
You can define reusable schedules, such as "Business Hours" (Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or "Maintenance Window" (Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.).
UniFi also allows you to configure exceptions for holidays, overriding the normal recurring schedules.
Policies: The core of the system
Policies define who (a user group) can access what (a door or location group) and when (a schedule) - in other words, the 4 things above set up the details but don't do anything on their own. Policies actually apply them in the desired combinations.
Visitors
Visitors work very similar to Users - they still are assigned credentials and are manually configured with locations and schedules instead of having policies that apply to groups as a whole. There is also some functionality available for users to invite visitors themselves, visitor self-check in kiosks, badge printers, and ID verification in situations where that may be helpful.