NASA Uses Their Measurement Instruments, While at Home They Rely on SPICA’s Solution

Dewesoft: Partner in the Artemis II Mission and the Visionary Creator of the City of Acrobats

Dewesoft is a high-tech company from Slovenia, specializing in the development of advanced measurement systems for data acquisition and analysis, or DAQ, short for data acquisition. Its products combine proprietary hardware and software into comprehensive solutions that enable precise real-time measurement of physical phenomena.

Among its most prominent references are collaborations with organizations such as NASA and ESA, as well as with leading automotive manufacturers, including Volvo, VW, Porsche and Bugatti.

Dewesoft’s technology has also been used in projects related to the development of rocket systems, battery testing and advanced energy solutions. Most recently, the Slovenian-based company was part of the wider supplier ecosystem for the Artemis II mission and the flight around the Moon. Its role was connected with precise testing and certification of systems in preparation for the mission.

Part of Dewesoft’s ecosystem is also Katapult, an entrepreneurial ecosystem that encourages the development of new technology companies. At Dewesoft, however, they are already visionary in designing the City of Acrobats.

This technology park will be a campus modeled on major technology companies. According to current projections, it will create:

• 110,000 square meters of building space,
• 300 to 500 high-quality jobs five years after construction,
• 600 to 1,000 high-quality jobs ten years after construction.

With the appearance of acrobatic aircraft wings, the unique building will also become an important architectural attraction for the town of Trbovlje in Slovenia.

The Challenge in 2016: Rapid Growth Requires Different Security Standards

Dr. Jure Knez, founder of Dewesoft, established a very relaxed access control system with his team, which was then a startup. As the high-tech company grew, however, the need emerged for a different arrangement of access control and time and attendance.

Ten years ago, the company had around 50 employees. The access control and time and attendance regime was extremely relaxed. Arrivals and departures were not recorded, and records were kept only in an Excel spreadsheet.

“The company was smaller at the time,” says Tine Ahlin, IT administrator at Dewesoft, adding: “Somehow, the understanding was that everything was accessible, since the company follows an open-door principle. Because of the dynamic nature of the work, access was not restricted. After 2016, however, this began to change, also from the perspective of IT security.”

The situation before the decision to implement SPICA’s solution was as follows:

• The company had long maintained a culture of open access, where employees had broad rights of entry into different areas. As the company grew, however, such a regime became increasingly difficult to manage.
• Access to key areas, such as production, laboratories and the server room, was not clearly restricted or traceable, since the access regime was quite informal.
• Solutions that worked with a smaller number of employees were no longer sufficient due to the company’s growth. The complexity of the organization exceeded the possibilities of manual access management.
• Time and attendance records were kept manually, in Excel, which limited visibility in the actual situation and made further data processing more difficult.
• Access and presence management was not centralized, which meant weaker control, more administration and more difficult compliance assurance.

A New System in a Technology Company: Different Levels of Access

The main purpose of SPICA’s solution at Dewesoft is access control across all company units. 

“We restricted access to certain areas, such as production, accounting, the server room, the room with the EMC chamber and the test laboratory. We record arrivals and departures, and these are transferred from SPICA’s solution to our ERP system via API calls. That is where we manage the complete time and attendance records,” says Tine Ahlin.

With automated processes, such as transferring data into payroll and integration with HR and ERP systems, there is less administration, and the data is more reliable.

At Dewesoft, different levels of access control have been introduced. Access to certain areas is restricted according to the employee’s role.

Some development staff, for example, have access to production, but not all of them. Production is therefore more separated from development than it used to be. Access to certain other areas is also restricted, such as accounting, the server room, the room with the EMC chamber and the test laboratory.

Access Control Works Excellently and Is Easy to Use

“Employees are satisfied with the solution. In the IT department, we have had a good experience with terminal configuration and adding access rights.”

Dewesoft employees register at the terminal with a card or key fob. The system is also ready for the future use of a mobile application for access control, should the company decide on this method of use.

Data on arrivals and departures is transferred from SPICA’s solution to the ERP system, where they then also manage presence and absence data, such as sick leave, vacation and working from home.

Time is a valuable resource, which is why it is important to monitor it. Accurate time and attendance records are the basis for measuring and improving productivity. Effective data collection is also useful for managing and monitoring trends, for example absenteeism.

6 Benefits of SPICA’s Solution for a High-Tech Company

What did Dewesoft gain with SPICA’s solution?

1. A Reliable Partner for Long-Term Security and Development

By introducing the solution, Dewesoft gained a stable partner that understands the complexity of a high-tech environment and enables gradual system upgrades, for example a transition to mobile identities or additional strengthening of security. 

2. Significantly Less Administration in Time and Attendance

Automatic data capture and transfer to the ERP system have relieved HR and administration, since there is no longer a need for manual data collection, checking and reconciliation.

3. Fewer Human Errors and Greater Data Reliability

By automating the registration of arrivals and departures, errors that were previously the result of manual entries or unclear records have been reduced.

4. Multi-Level Access Regime Without Physical Keys

The access control system enables different access regimes for individual areas without physical keys. Advanced technologies and standards are in use, such as HID iCLASS SE, HID Origo, IEC 60839 Grade 4 certification and relevant ISO certificates.

You can read more about SPICA’s certificates at: https://www.spica.com/about-us

5. Greater Transparency and Better Control Over What Is Happening

Management and IT have a clear view of who accesses certain areas and when this happens. This enables better management, greater traceability and faster response in the event of deviations.

6. Foundations for Further Growth and Higher Security Standards

The system enables expansion to new locations, more users and higher security requirements without the need to replace the infrastructure again. This is crucial for a fast-growing high-tech company, since the system must follow the development of the organization, not hold it back.

Dewesoft is an example of a company that has grown from an agile startup environment into an internationally recognized high-tech company. Such growth also requires more mature systems for managing access, security and time and attendance.

With SPICA’s solution, Dewesoft has preserved user simplicity while gaining greater security, better traceability, less administration and stable foundations for further growth.