Datawatch Integration - User Guide

 Overview 

 The Datawatch integration connects a Datawatch access control system to Vismo, enabling two core capabilities: 

•  Cardholder sync — Vismo periodically pulls the cardholder list from Datawatch and attempts to automatically match each cardholder to a Vismo user. Matched cardholders generate scan-in activity when their card is read at a mapped door.

• Event polling — Vismo polls Datawatch on a configurable interval to retrieve Access Granted events and convert them into checkpoint scan-in records 

 This guide walks through each section of the integration in the order you would typically configure it: connection settings, buildings, door mappings, cardholder mapping, and the live dashboard. 

 

Getting started

Navigate to your account in the Vismo portal and open Integrations from the navigation menu. Select Datawatch to open the settings page. 

 Note: You must have administrator access to configure the Datawatch integration. 

 1. Configuration 

 Connection

The Connection section controls how Vismo authenticates with and communicates with the Datawatch API. All fields must be completed before enabling the integration.

• Integration enabled — Toggle to enable or disable polling and cardholder sync. Disabling this pauses the integration without losing your configuration 

•  Endpoint base URL — The base URL of the Datawatch API that Vismo polls. Confirm this value with the customer or Datawatch directly.

• User ID / Access token / Password — Credentials used to authenticate with the Datawatch API. Click Change credentials to update stored credentials 

 Note: Credentials are stored securely and are never displayed after saving. Use Test connection in the toolbar to verify the endpoint and credentials before enabling the integration 

 Polling interval

Controls how often (in minutes) Vismo polls Datawatch for new Access Granted events. The default is 2 minutes. A shorter interval increases responsiveness but also increases API load on the Datawatch server.

 Cardholder filter

Datawatch systems often contain non-personal cards such as parking remotes, visitor passes, and contractor cards. The cardholder filter lets you exclude these by specifying the Datawatch tent_name values to ignore.

Any cardholder whose tent_name matches a value in this list is excluded from the sync entirely and will not appear in the cardholder mapping. Anything not listed is treated as a real person and flows through to cardholder matching.

Type a label and press Enter to add a value. Click an existing label to remove it.

 

 2. Buildings 

 Buildings represent the physical sites registered in Datawatch. Each building must be added manually — Vismo does not auto-discover them. The building ID must exactly match the identifier that Datawatch's API uses for that site.

Adding a building

Click + Add and enter:

• Building name — A display name used throughout the Vismo portal.

• Building ID — The numeric ID Datawatch assigns to this building. Confirm this value with the customer or Datawatch directly.

• Time zone — The local time zone for the building, used when interpreting event timestamps from Datawatch. 

 Note: Disabled buildings are skipped by both the event poller and the cardholder sync. Enable a building only once it has been confirmed and is ready for live data.

 Building table columns

 

3. Door Mapping

Door mappings connect individual Datawatch door readers (identified by their Unit ID) to Vismo checkpoints. When Vismo receives an Access Granted event for a mapped unit, it creates a scan-in record at the corresponding Vismo checkpoint.

To manage door mappings for a building, select the building in the table and click Doors in the toolbar.

 Adding a door mapping 

 Click + Add and complete the following fields:

• Unit ID — The Datawatch unit_id for the door reader. This must exactly match the value Datawatch reports in its event feed. Enter * to map all doors in the building to a single checkpoint.

• Checkpoint — The Vismo checkpoint to associate with this reader. Use the search icon to find and select a checkpoint.

Note: Only Access Granted events for doors that have a mapping will generate Vismo scan-ins. Events from unmapped doors are silently ignored.

 4. Cardholder Mapping 

 The Cardholders page manages the link between Datawatch cardholders and Vismo user accounts. It is split into two tabs:

• Matched — Cardholders that the sync has successfully linked to a Vismo user. These cardholders generate scan-in activity when their card is read at a mapped door.

• Unmatched — Cardholders pulled from Datawatch that could not be automatically matched to a Vismo user. These require manual review. 

 Toolbar actions 

 How automatic matching works

The cardholder sync compares each Datawatch cardholder's name against Vismo user accounts. When a confident match is found the cardholder is moved to the Matched tab automatically. Cardholders with ambiguous or missing names, or where no Vismo user with a similar name exists, remain in the Unmatched tab for manual assignment. 

 Note: Cards excluded by the Cardholder filter on the settings page will never appear in either tab, regardless of whether a matching Vismo user exists.

Manually assigning an unmatched cardholder 

When a cardholder cannot be matched automatically you can assign them to a Vismo user yourself. This is the recommended approach for cardholders whose Datawatch name differs significantly from their Vismo display name, or where a new user has not yet been synced.

To assign a cardholder:

1. Open the Unmatched tab and locate the cardholder using the Filter if needed.

2. Click the row to select it.

3. Click Assign in the toolbar. A search dialog will appear.

4. Type the Vismo user's name into the search box and select them from the results.

5. Click Save. The cardholder will move from the Unmatched tab to the Matched tab immediately.

Once assigned, the cardholder is treated as a manual match. Subsequent sync runs will not override or remove the manual assignment — the link is preserved even if the cardholder's name in Datawatch changes. 

Note: If you assign a cardholder to the wrong user, select the cardholder on the Matched tab and click Unlink to remove the mapping, then re-assign them correctly from the Unmatched tab. 

 5. Dashboard 

The Dashboard provides a real-time overview of the integration's health and recent activity. Access it by clicking Dashboard in the toolbar on the settings page 

Connection status

A banner at the top of the dashboard shows the current connectivity state. A green banner confirms Vismo can reach the Datawatch API. If the banner is amber or red, check the endpoint URL and credentials on the settings page and use Test connection to diagnose the issue. 

Summary statistics

Building poll status

Shows the result of the most recent poll for each enabled building — the timestamp, a success or failure badge, and the matched/unmatched cardholder counts.

Recent syncs

A list of the most recent cardholder sync runs across all buildings, ordered newest first. Each entry shows the building name, timestamp, result badge, and cardholder counts.

Recent scan-ins

The most recent Access Granted events that were successfully converted to Vismo scan-in records, showing the user's name, timestamp, and the checkpoint where the card was read.

 

 6. Troubleshooting