Create a watchlist

Watchlists are used to flag visitors during pre-registration or sign-in, allowing you to automatically deny them permission to sign in or notify relevant personnel of their arrival.

Create watchlist

1. From the left sidebar in VisitorOS, click Manage, then select Watchlist.
   
2. Click New List.
3. In the Name field, enter a name for the watchlist.
4. In the Priority field, enter a number to set the order in which this watchlist is checked. Watchlists with lower numbers are checked first.
5. Under "List Type", select one of the following:
   • To approve matching visitors, select Permit.
   • To deny matching visitors, select Denied.
6. Under "Use Watchlist", select when to run checks.
   • To run checks as soon as a visitor signs in, select At Time of Sign-In.
   • If you site has pre-registration, and you want to run checks after they are submitted, select During Pre-Registration.
7. Under "Assign to Sites", choose which sites to add the watchlist to.
   • To add the watchlist to every site, select All Sites.
   • To add the watchlist to specific sites, use the drop-down menu to select one or more sites.
8. From the Visitor Types drop-down menu, select which visitor types the watchlist applies to. For example, if you select "Contractor", the watchlist will only run when a visitor chooses "Contractor" when signing in.
9. If you have a third-party integration with watchlists, from the Watchlist Source drop-down menu, select the name of the integration. Otherwise, leave "Custom Member List" selected.

10. If "Watchlist Source" is set to "Custom Member List", you can configure the following settings:

    • Under Matching Rules, select the fields used to match visitors. A visitor is flagged only when the selected fields match a watchlist member.
    • If you want users on your platform to specify why they are adding members to the watchlist, turn on and configure Reason for Inclusion. For more information, see Set up reason for inclusion.

    

11. From the Change Visitor's status to drop-down menu, select what happens when a visitor matches the watchlist.
    • To automatically approve matching visitors, select Approve.
    • To automatically deny matching visitors, select Denied.
    • To not have their status change, select Do not change.
12. Optionally, to automatically tag visitors who are matched against the watchlist, in the Assign tags field, enter the keywords you want to use as tags.
13. If you do not want visitors checked in other watchlists after a match is found, turn on Stop Processing Other Watchlists When Match Found.
14. Optionally, turn on SMS or email notifications. For more information, see Turn on watchlist notifications.
15. Click Save.

Set up reasons for inclusion

1. From the left sidebar in VisitorOS, click Manage, then select Watchlist.
   
2. Click New List or select a watchlist to edit.

3. Turn on Reason for Inclusion.

   Note:

   "Watchlist Source" must be set to "Custom Member List".

4. To require a reason when adding a member to the watchlist, turn on Mandatory.
5. In New reason, enter a reason, then click Add.
6. Once all reasons are added, click Apply.
7. Make any other changes to the watchlist, then click Save.

Turn on watchlist notifications

You can turn on SMS or email notifications to alert the host or specific users of a watchlist hit.

1. From the left sidebar in VisitorOS, click Manage, then select Watchlist.
   
2. Click New List or select a watchlist to edit.

3. If you want to send SMS notifications, in the "Actions" panel of the watchlist you are creating, turn on Send SMS Notification to Host.

   Note:

   To send SMS notifications, the host must have a phone number in "Mobile Number (for SMS Notifications)" in the address book.

4. If you want to email users, turn on Send Email Notification.

5. In the "Email Notifications Settings" side panel, take any of the following actions:

   • To notify specific users, in the Email Address field, enter one or more email addresses separated by commas.
   • To notify users by role, turn on Notify Users, then select one or more roles.
   • To email the host, turn on Notify Host.

   Note:

   If you choose Checkr Trust as your “Watchlist Source” and want the email to contain criminal and public record details, select Include Detailed Results.

6. Click Apply.
7. Click Save.

Next steps

Once the watchlist has been created, you can add members. To learn how, see Add members to a watchlist.