6 ways to automate key and alarm handovers

#1 - The basic check

Who it's for: Cleaners holding a single site key, where one person opens up and locks down on their own.

What it is: A key and alarm handover is a short record of who holds a site key and whether the building was left secure. The check runs twice in the same visit: once on arrival when they take the key, and once on the way out when they lock up and hand it back. They pick which one it is, type the key or fob number and their name, and on the way out confirm the alarm was set and the doors were locked. Each completion is one time-stamped record.

In practice: A sole cleaner holds the only key to a small accountancy office. At 6am they open the canvas, pick "Taking the key", type "front door fob 04" and their name, and submit. The lock-up steps do not apply yet, so they mark them "Not applicable". Server timestamp captured. Two hours later, on their way out, they run it again, pick "Returning the key", confirm "Yes, set" on the alarm and "Yes, locked" on the building, and submit. Two stamped records for one visit, both on a phone, no key book hanging by the door.

Why it works: The record is the proof. The time-stamped log of who took the key and the separate confirmation that the alarm was armed and doors locked before they left means if the office is found open the next morning, the manager can see exactly who held the key and whether they logged it as locked, instead of working back through a paper book.

Steps included:

• 1 single choice (2 options: Taking the key, Returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit: Yes set, Not applicable)
• 1 single choice (building locked: Yes locked, Not applicable)

#2 - With written guidance

Who it's for: Firms where keys pass between several operatives, so the person locking up tonight may not be the one who opened up this morning.

What it is: The basic check plus two guidance panels woven through the canvas. The first sets out the lock-up order: windows, then doors, then alarm, then log the key as returned, in that order so nothing gets missed in a rush to leave. The second covers the awkward case, when the alarm throws a fault and will not set. A cleaner who has never locked this site before gets the same routine as the supervisor who set it up, without a phone call.

In practice: A contract cleaning firm covers eight retail units in a shopping park, with a small crew rotating across sites night to night. Tonight a stand-in is closing a homeware unit they have only opened before, never locked. The top panel walks them through it: check the windows, lock the doors, set the alarm, then log the key. They get to the alarm and a zone will not clear. The second panel tells them not to just leave it, but to call the duty manager before they lock up. They make the call, the manager talks them through resetting the zone, and the unit is left properly secured instead of armed-with-a-fault or wide open.

What it adds to the basic check:

1. A "lock-up routine" panel that fixes the order, so the last one out does not skip a step.
2. An "if the alarm won't set" panel that tells the cleaner to call the duty manager rather than leave a site unsecured or armed with a fault.
3. A shared standard for what locking up means, so a stand-in and a regular do it the same way.

Why it works: Written guidance sits inline at the moment the cleaner is about to act. The stand-in reads the lock-up order the first time they close the unit, and the alarm-fault panel is right there at the exact step where the alarm refuses to set. It is not a briefing they half-heard when they joined. It is on the screen at the moment of the task, every time.

Steps included:

• 1 guidance note (lock-up routine: windows, doors, alarm, then key)
• 1 single choice (taking or returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit)
• 1 single choice (building locked)
• 1 guidance note (if the alarm won't set)

#3 - With a signature

Who it's for: Key-holding contracts where every handover needs a name signed against it.

What it is: The basic check plus a signature at the end of every run. Four parts on a single record: the timestamp, the typed key and name, and a finger-drawn signature confirming the handover and that the site was left secure. A client or an insurer reviewing a key-holding contract would accept this as contemporaneous evidence at the level expected from a paper key register, captured in under a minute on a phone.

In practice: A cleaning company holds keys to a chain of gyms that open early and close late. The contract says every key movement is signed for, both the cleaner taking the key before opening and the cleaner locking down after the last member leaves. At lock-up the closing cleaner picks "Returning the key", confirms the alarm and doors, and signs at the bottom. The signature is captured on the touchscreen, time-stamped, and attached to the same record as the key. When the gym's facilities manager reviews the contract, they pull a month of handovers, see a name and signature on every key taken and every site locked, and the review closes in an afternoon instead of a back-and-forth over who held what.

What it adds to the basic check:

1. A signature step at the end of every handover, on both the take and the lock-up.
2. A named confirmation on the same record as the timestamp and the key.
3. A defensible key register at the level a client or an insurer expects, with no paper book to keep.

Why it works: The signature closes the loop. The timestamp says when. The key and name say what was taken. The signature adds: and this named person confirms it. Captured on the same device, at the same moment, in the same record, the three together are what a client reviewing a key-holding contract expects to see.

Steps included:

• 1 single choice (taking or returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit)
• 1 single choice (building locked)
• 1 signature (sign-off)

#4 - With photo evidence

Who it's for: Sites wanting photo proof the building was secured, where a tick that says "locked" is no longer enough on its own.

What it is: The basic check plus a photo step on the way out. When the cleaner locks up, they take a quick shot of the armed alarm panel. The photo lands in the same record as the "building locked" tick. The client sees the panel showing "armed", not just a box that someone ticked, and the photo carries its own time stamp so there is no doubt when it was taken.

In practice: A care-home housekeeping team cleans a day centre that closes overnight. The site has to be empty, alarmed, and locked before the last cleaner leaves, and the manager wants to see it, not just trust it. On the way out the cleaner picks "Returning the key", confirms the alarm and the doors, and photographs the alarm panel showing "armed". The photo lands in the record with the time stamp. If anything is queried the next day, the manager opens the record and sees the panel armed at the moment the cleaner left, instead of asking them to remember.

What it adds to the basic check:

1. A photo of the alarm panel, taken at the moment of lock-up.
2. Visual proof the client can open and check, instead of relying on a tick alone.
3. A time-stamped image that pins exactly when the site was secured.

Why it works: A tick is a claim. A photo is the thing itself. The two together let someone who was not there be sure the site was secured. The tick says the cleaner locked up; the photo shows the panel armed. Captured at the moment of lock-up, on the same device, it cannot be staged after the fact or misremembered later.

Steps included:

• 1 single choice (taking or returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit)
• 1 single choice (building locked)
• 1 photo of the alarm panel

#5 - With Poppi checking the photo

Who it's for: Teams where the photo gets taken but nobody reviews it. Multi-site groups where head office can't look at every photo.

What it is: A photo-checked handover is the basic check plus a photo of the alarm panel that Poppi (AI) reviews the moment it's saved. Poppi answers one question about that photo, set by you: does the alarm panel display show the system armed or set? A single named spot is something an AI can actually judge, where a wide shot is not. If the answer is no, Poppi posts what it spotted to the team chat, so the problem gets fixed before everyone leaves.

In practice: A three-site contract cleaning group closes each night at 5pm. The closing cleaner photographs the alarm panel as always. Poppi reads the photo: the panel shows "armed". Verdict yes, and nothing changes. On a rushed evening the photo shows the alarm has not been set yet. Poppi answers no and posts the reason to the team chat ("The alarm panel does not show armed status"). The cleaner sets it and retakes the photo while still on site.

What it adds to the basic check:

1. A photo of the alarm panel that gets checked the moment it's saved, not just stored.
2. A team chat message with Poppi's reason the moment a photo fails the check.
3. The manager stops being the only person who ever looks at handover photos.

Why it works: The check happens in the seconds between the photo being taken and the cleaner leaving. That's the only moment the problem is still cheap to fix. A manager reviewing photos the next morning can only record that the alarm was not armed; Poppi catching it at 5pm gets it fixed before the site is left unsecured.

Steps included:

• 1 single choice (taking or returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit)
• 1 single choice (building locked)
• 1 photo of the alarm panel
• 1 Poppi decision (judges the photo against your question)
• 1 Poppi action (posts to the team chat if the photo fails the check)

#6 - With an alert for an overdue handover

Who it's for: Teams with a set handover deadline that sometimes doesn't get logged. End-of-shift lock-ups at shared buildings, multi-site groups, and cleaning contractors where a missing handover leaves the security status unclear.

What it is: An overdue handover alert is the basic check plus a Poppi (AI) action set to the workflow's deadline. If the handover is not completed by the time the building is due to be locked up or the shift ends, Poppi posts a message in the Pilla team chat so the outstanding handover gets done before anyone leaves. It watches the deadline, so it catches the handover that quietly got skipped, not just the one that was late.

In practice: A cleaning team at a 6-building office park has to complete and log the key handover by 5pm when the facilities manager locks up the office. On a busy Friday the team is spread across sites and it is easy for the last handover to get forgotten. With this version, if the handover is not signed off by 5pm, the team chat gets a message, so the supervisor catches the missing site that evening rather than the facilities manager discovering the building was never logged as checked the next morning.

What it adds to the basic check:

1. A message in the team chat if the handover is not completed on time.
2. A catch for the handover that got skipped entirely, not just the one that was late.
3. A record of when the handover should have been done, next to when it actually was.
4. The supervisor finds out that evening, not from the next day's walk-around.

Why it works: The alert is tied to the handover deadline, so an incomplete handover raises its own hand. Nobody has to notice it is missing; the deadline does.

Steps included:

• 1 single choice (taking or returning the key)
• 1 text input (key or fob ID)
• 1 text input (who holds it)
• 1 single choice (alarm set on exit)
• 1 single choice (building locked)
• 1 Poppi action (posts to the team chat if the handover is not completed by deadline)

How to pick the right version

You don't need to know our product to choose. Every version here is the basic check plus one addition, so pick the additions your site actually needs.

Do other people run the handover?

If it is just you holding the one key and opening and locking the same site, the basic check is enough. You know the lock-up order on your own site. The moment the key passes between several cleaners (a rotating crew, stand-ins, a different person opening and closing), #2 adds guidance panels so everyone locks up the same way, windows then doors then alarm then log the key.

Does the handover need a name signed against it?

If the handover is internal and no client or insurer will ever pull the records, a typed record is enough. If the contract is key-holding and every key movement has to be signed for, #3 adds a signature that closes the loop on every take and every lock-up.

Do you need photo proof?

A ticked record says the handover was done; a photo shows it. If you want visual proof of the armed alarm panel at the moment of lock-up, #4 adds a close photo of that exact spot.

Does anyone actually look at the photos?

If a manager genuinely reviews every photo, #4's record is enough. If photos get taken and filed unseen, #5 has Poppi (AI) check each one as it's saved, and tell the team chat when something's wrong.

Does the handover have to be finished by a set time?

If a tired team sometimes leaves the last handover, #6 posts a message to the team chat when the deadline passes with the handover still not logged.

Need more than one addition? Open the version with the addition that matters most in the playground and add the others as steps. That's how the product works anyway: every option here is one step added to the same check.

Related workflows

• Lone worker check-ins
• Proof of attendance
• Chemical store lock-up
• Equipment pre-use checks
• End-of-shift reports

Conclusion

A key and alarm handover is a short record of who holds a site key and whether the building was left secure, run once when the key is taken and again when the site is locked down. Every version above is the same basic check plus one addition: guidance, a signature, a photo, an AI check on the photo, or a deadline alert. Pick the ones your site needs and combine them in the playground.

→ Build your own key and alarm handover on Pilla.