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Integrate Kisi with VORTEX by VIVOTEK

The VORTEX by VIVOTEK integration brings cloud video surveillance and access control together, giving you a single view of who's coming and going across your facilities. Connect VORTEX by VIVOTEK with Kisi to:

Catch unauthorized entries in real time with AI line-crossing detection, and get incident reports with camera snapshots. Pull the footage tied to any access event straight into your Kisi dashboard for quick review. Count people across areas you define on the camera feed, and watch live camera streams alongside real-time unlock activity on the Live Monitoring page. You're not limited to VIVOTEK hardware either — third-party cameras connected to a VORTEX NVR can be brought into Kisi too.

You can also send Kisi access events to VORTEX by VIVOTEK and unlock Kisi doors directly from the VORTEX platform.

This guide covers​

  1. Kisi access control in VORTEX by VIVOTEK: Seamlessly send Kisi access events to VORTEX by VIVOTEK and unlock Kisi doors directly from the VORTEX by VIVOTEK platform, ensuring efficient access management.

  2. Video clip fetching into Kisi: Easily fetch video clips from VORTEX by VIVOTEK into your Kisi dashboard, allowing for quick review of relevant footage linked to access events.

Prerequisites​

  • Kisi Organization Administrator access rights
  • At least one camera set up in the location
  • A VORTEX by VIVOTEK license that includes third-party integrations

Kisi access control in VORTEX by VIVOTEK​

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This is a partner-built integration, maintained and supported by the partner.

Generate a Kisi API key​

You need to have organization administrator or organization owner rights to create an API key. We recommend creating API keys from the organization owner's account, to avoid the API key becoming invalid when an organization admin loses their admin rights.

  1. Sign in to Kisi
  2. On the top right corner, click on your name and click on My Account
  3. Next, select the API tab and click on Add API Key
  4. Enter the name for the API key and your Kisi password and click Add
  5. Copy the API key shown on the screen and click Close

Configure the integration in VORTEX by VIVOTEK​

  1. Sign in to your VORTEX by VIVOTEK account
  2. Navigate to System (cogwheel icon)
  3. Click on Access Control
  4. Paste the Kisi API key that you obtained before
  5. Click Add
  6. Click Connect camera
  7. Select the cameras that you want to map to Kisi doors
  8. Click Select

Test the integration​

  1. In VORTEX by VIVOTEK, go to View. Here you can see camera footage for all your selected cameras.
  2. Click on the key icon in the bottom-left corner of the footage, and select Unlock. This will remotely unlock the door.

Video clip fetching into Kisi​

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This is a Kisi-built integration, maintained and supported by Kisi.

Set up the integration in Kisi​

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Please note that the two setups for this integration are independent. You’ll need to configure the camera mapping in Kisi, even if you’ve already set up the access control integration in the VORTEX by VIVOTEK dashboard.

  1. Sign in to Kisi
  2. Click the integrations icon (3x3 grid of dots) > Add Integration
  3. Open the Type dropdown and select Vortex
  4. Click Add. The Sign in to Vortex form opens.
  5. Enter the Email and Password of your VORTEX by VIVOTEK account and sign in. If you see Invalid email or password, check your credentials and try again.
  6. Click on Add Camera
  7. Under Select Device, select your VORTEX by VIVOTEK camera. Devices that are already connected to this integration aren't listed.
  8. Under Select Place, select the Kisi place where you have the camera installed
  9. Under Search Doors, select the door you want to assign the camera to
  10. (Optional) Under Snapshot Offset, enter a whole number of seconds between -30 and 30 to start the clip earlier (negative) or later (positive) than the event. The default is 0.
  11. (Optional) Select Enable Visual Analytics to use this camera for visual analytics
  12. Click Save
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Sign in with a VORTEX by VIVOTEK account that has access to the cameras you want to connect. Kisi keeps using this account's credentials, so if the account's password changes, the integration stops working until you sign in again.

For FE931-EHV and FE912-H cameras, Add Camera can show a second Setup Tailgating step. Select Skip tailgating setup for now if you only want video, or see VIVOTEK VORTEX tailgating detection to set it up.

If Select Device shows Error fetching devices. Please verify that you have the required permissions in Vortex., sign in with a VORTEX account that has access to the camera. If a Kisi camera with the same VORTEX device already exists outside this integration, a Camera Already Exists dialog lets you delete it and reconnect the device to this integration.

Test the integration​

  1. Unlock the door assigned to the camera
  2. Wait a couple of minutes, then go to Event History. A video clip from your VORTEX by VIVOTEK camera is attached to the corresponding Kisi unlock event.

Clips are 10 seconds long by default. To change this for every camera in the integration, click Settings on the integration page, select the Clip Duration tab and choose 10, 15 or 30 seconds under Select Clip Duration. A clip is attached after the clip duration plus about 1.5 minutes of processing.

Manage cameras​

  • To change a camera's settings, click the edit (pencil) icon next to the camera
  • To delete cameras, select them in the cameras list, click Delete and confirm with Delete Cameras. This also deletes the matching cameras in Kisi.
  • Removing the VORTEX integration deletes every Kisi camera it created

Camera online status is synced from VORTEX to Kisi every 15 minutes. If VORTEX can't be reached, the cameras are shown as offline.

Camera warnings​

A camera in the cameras list can show a warning when Kisi can't fetch its video clips:

  • Not a camera - the selected VORTEX device isn't a camera, for example an NVR. Clips stop until you connect a camera instead.
  • Firmware outdated - clips stop until the camera's firmware changes, then resume automatically
  • Export queue full - a temporary condition that Kisi retries automatically

If the VORTEX sign-in becomes invalid​

If Kisi can no longer authenticate with VORTEX, for example because the VORTEX account's password changed or the sign-in expired:

  • The integration is disabled in Kisi, and organization administrators receive an email with the reason, such as Refresh token expired or Invalid Vortex credentials
  • Live streams from the integration's cameras don't load
  • If you use tailgating detection, line crossing events are ignored, so tailgating detection stops

To fix this, open the VORTEX integration. The page shows Your Vortex authorization has become invalid. Click Sign in again and sign in with your VORTEX account. Signing in again re-enables the integration.

View VORTEX live video streams in Kisi​

With the VORTEX integration, Kisi users can view live video streams from VORTEX cameras directly within the Kisi web app. This provides real-time visibility into entry points and other critical areas, enabling admins to monitor activity, verify identities, and respond quickly to events — all from a unified interface without switching platforms.

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No additional configuration is required. Once VORTEX video clip fetching is set up in Kisi, live streams are available in the Kisi web dashboard. A stream only loads while the VORTEX sign-in is valid.

Access live video streams​

  1. Sign in to Kisi
  2. Click on the VORTEX integration and open the Cameras tab. The live stream of the first camera is shown by default.
  3. To view another camera, click its row in the cameras table

Live streams from VORTEX cameras also appear on the Live Monitoring page.

Last updated on by valentinanikitina