A method comprising: a heterogeneous host system receiving a triggering signal from a first access controller of a plurality of access controllers; the heterogeneous host system identifying a11 areas referenced by the first access controller; the heterogeneous host system identifying an area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller, wherein the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller indicates whether the plurality of access controllers referencing each of the areas referenced by the first access controller support and use a GLOBAL anti-pass back feature type, a SITE based anti-pass back feature type, or an AREA based anti-pass back feature type, and wherein which of the plurality of access controllers should receive an anti-pass back status update message for the first access controller depends on the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller; the heterogeneous host system identifying and selecting the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute for one of the areas referenced by the first access controller as a least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type, wherein GLOBAL is the least restrictive form of an anti-pass back feature, followed by SITE based, and then followed by AREA based the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to all of the plurality of access controllers when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the GLOBAL anti-pass back feature type; the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to a11 unique access controllers of the plurality of access controllers that are in a respective site of the first access controller and located in the areas referenced by the first access controller when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the SITE based anti-pass back feature type; and the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to all of the plurality of access controllers that are located in the areas referenced by the first access controller when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the AREA based anti-pass back feature type. a heterogeneous host system receiving a triggering signal from a first access controller of a plurality of access controllers; the heterogeneous host system identifying a11 areas referenced by the first access controller; the heterogeneous host system identifying an area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller, wherein the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller indicates whether the plurality of access controllers referencing each of the areas referenced by the first access controller support and use a GLOBAL anti-pass back feature type, a SITE based anti-pass back feature type, or an AREA based anti-pass back feature type, and wherein which of the plurality of access controllers should receive an anti-pass back status update message for the first access controller depends on the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute associated with each of the areas referenced by the first access controller; the heterogeneous host system identifying and selecting the area specific anti-pass back feature type attribute for one of the areas referenced by the first access controller as a least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type, wherein GLOBAL is the least restrictive form of an anti-pass back feature, followed by SITE based, and then followed by AREA based the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to all of the plurality of access controllers when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the GLOBAL anti-pass back feature type; the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to a11 unique access controllers of the plurality of access controllers that are in a respective site of the first access controller and located in the areas referenced by the first access controller when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the SITE based anti-pass back feature type; and the heterogeneous host system transmitting the anti-pass back status update message to all of the plurality of access controllers that are located in the areas referenced by the first access controller when the least restrictive type of anti-pass back feature type includes the AREA based anti-pass back feature type.