Registration is the moment the record is created, and everything downstream depends on it: the notification, the badge, the evacuation list and any question asked about the visit months later. It is also the only part of the system a visitor experiences, so what it asks for and how long it takes are decisions about the building's manners as much as about the record.
Registration at the door and registration in advance
Two shapes. At the door, the visitor types their details on arrival, which is simple and slower. In advance, the host invites them and the visitor confirms before they travel, which makes the arrival a two-tap confirmation and gives the desk a list of who is expected. Most receptions end up running both, because not every arrival is planned and not every planned arrival remembers to register.
What to collect, and what to leave alone
Name, host, company, arrival time. Vehicle registration if parking is managed. A signature on an NDA or a site rule if your building genuinely requires one. What to leave alone: health questions, dates of birth, anything about the visitor's reason for being there that would embarrass them on a badge, and any field nobody will ever read back.
What happens to the answers
They become a record with a retention period, and the visitor is entitled to a straight answer about that. The site is the controller of the record and the software vendor is the processor acting on its instructions, which is the ordinary arrangement and should be written down rather than assumed. A privacy notice at the kiosk that says what is kept and for how long takes one screen.
Signatures at the kiosk
Plenty of sites ask visitors to accept site rules or sign an NDA at registration. Done well it is a tick and a name that attaches to the visit record. Done badly it is three screens of legal text that nobody reads and everybody resents while a queue forms behind them. If the document matters, send it with the invitation instead.
Questions people ask about visitor registration system
Should visitors sign an NDA at the desk?
Only if the document is short and the site genuinely needs it. Anything longer belongs in the invitation, signed before the visitor travels.
Is pre-registration worth setting up?
For expected visitors, yes: it makes the arrival a confirmation and warns the host. It is the biggest single improvement to a busy lobby.
What do we tell visitors about their data?
What is collected, why, how long it is kept and who to ask about it. One screen at the kiosk, and the same words in the visitor policy.