Techniques for managing access to a physical area are provided. In one technique, first data is extracted from a digital file. Based on identification data within the first data, a database is searched. A data item in the database is identified that matches the identification data. The first data is associated with the data item. After associating the first data with the data item, code data is generated. Encoded data that encodes the code data is then generated. The encoded data is sent over a computer network to a mobile device, or an account, of a user that is associated with the data item.