How to specify a CCTV system for a multi-site business

Start with one written coverage standard, not one shopping list

The most common multi-site mistake is specifying equipment before specifying coverage. Branch managers then get slightly different systems, footage quality varies, and head office has no way to compare one site with another.

Write a coverage standard instead: for every branch, define the positions that must always be covered and what each one must be able to show. Equipment then follows the standard, and a branch in a smaller building simply needs fewer cameras to satisfy the same rules.

• Main entrance — identify anyone entering
• Cash handling or till positions — see the transaction, not just the person
• Stock, stores or back-of-house doors — see what leaves the building
• Delivery and loading areas — see vehicles and handovers
• Rear or unlit access points — record any use at all

Decide retention centrally, because it drives cost everywhere

Retention — how many days of footage you can go back through — is the biggest cost driver after camera count, and it is the requirement branches are least able to judge for themselves.

Incidents at multi-site businesses are often reported late: a stock discrepancy surfaces at the monthly count, a customer complaint arrives a fortnight after the visit. If your retention is shorter than the delay in discovering problems, you will keep paying for a system that cannot answer questions.

Set a single retention figure for the group, then let each site's storage be sized against it at the resolution and frame rate you are recording. Two branches with different camera counts will need different disks to hold the same number of days.

Insist on consistency between sites

Consistency is what makes a multi-site estate manageable. When every branch uses the same camera families, the same recorder platform, the same channel numbering and the same naming convention, anyone can look at any site and know what they are seeing.

It also changes maintenance economics: spares are interchangeable, technicians do not relearn each site, and a fault at one branch is diagnosed with knowledge gained at another.

• One recorder platform and one viewing application across the estate
• Camera naming that identifies site and position, not just channel numbers
• The same channel order at every site where the layout allows
• One document listing every site, camera count and retention figure

Plan remote access and who is allowed to see what

Head office usually wants visibility of every branch, while a branch manager should see only their own site. That is an access design decision, and it is far easier to set up during installation than to unpick later.

Remote viewing also depends on each site's internet connection, which is rarely uniform across a group. A branch on a weak connection may view fine locally and poorly from head office; that constraint should be identified during the survey rather than blamed on the cameras afterwards.

Specify maintenance in the same document as installation

Multi-site CCTV degrades invisibly. A single unmonitored branch can be recording nothing for weeks, and the first anyone hears of it is when footage is requested and does not exist.

Put scheduled checks into the specification: camera cleaning and re-aiming, verified playback of the oldest available footage, storage health, and a written record per visit. Without a verified-playback step, a maintenance visit only proves the pictures are live.

What to put in the tender or scope document

If you are asking several contractors to price the same thing, give them the same specification. Ambiguity is what produces quotations that cannot be compared.

• The coverage standard, position by position, with what each position must show
• Required retention in days, at a stated resolution and frame rate
• Storage sizing calculations shown, not just a disk size quoted
• Camera schedule per site with type, position and mounting height
• Cabling, containment and power arrangements, including backup power where required
• Remote access requirements and the user structure for head office and branches
• Naming, labelling and handover documentation
• Maintenance scope, visit frequency and what a visit includes