System and method for administering physical security access to components of a process control system

A method for controlling physical access to at least one component of a process control system, comprising:

• a. receiving user credentials by an electronic lock installed with an enclosure housing at least one component of said process control system;
• b. transmitting said user credentials and a lock address from said electronic lock to an access management component of a said process control system;
• c. requesting user granted permissions by said access management component from said process control system asset management component;
• d. identifying said enclosure by using said locking system network address;
• e. receiving physical access permissions of said enclosure by said asset management component from said electronic lock;
• f. validating by said asset management component whether said received physical access permissions are equivalent to said user granted permissions in said control system;
• g. providing access to the at least one component inside said enclosure if said user is validated for access to said enclosure contents, and preventing access if said user is not validated for access to said enclosure.

A method for restricting physical access to at least one process control component inside an enclosure, the system comprising the enclosure, an electronic lock installed with the enclosure, a process control system having an access management component and an asset management component stored on a computer readable medium having computer readable instructions thereon that when executed by a processor, comprising:

• a. receiving, by the access management system through an application programming interface, user credentials presented to said electronic lock and the corresponding electronic lock address;
• b. receiving, by the asset management system, the user credentials and electronic lock address from the access management component;
• c. retrieving the user role permissions defined by the asset management system using the user credentials;
• d. retrieving, by the asset management system, required permissions for accessing the at least one process control component housed in the enclosure;
• e. comparing, by the asset management system, the user role permission with the required access permissions for the at least one process control component;
• f. transmitting an open request over the application programming interface to the electronic lock with the user role required permissions;
• and
• g. permitting access if the user roles are equivalent and denying access if they are not equivalent.

A system comprising:

• a first enclosure having a first component for a computer system disposed therein;
• a first electronic lock configured to control physical access to the first component within the first enclosure;
• a first set of access permissions associated with the first electronic lock;
• a second enclosure disposed within the first enclosure, the second enclosure having a second component for a computer system disposed therein;
• a second electronic lock configured to control physical access to the second component within the second enclosure;
• and
• a second set of access permissions associated with the second electronic lock.