I was running a basic, get in and grab a brief case full of incriminating documents. The place is a plastic surgeon clinic in Bellevue (front area has no cameras to ensure privacy of the the client). The importance of the documents only known by the Johnson and the accountant laundering money.

One player had no plan, walked off while the other players went inside the building disguised as a girl-scout... she's 16.... after sneaking into the back and distributing free cookies, she managed cause a slight amount of chaos with the guards and cameras.

Another player broke in disguised as a janitor... (this company hires meta for demeaning jobs like security detail and service, he also took blandness) he headed straight to the room, while fulfilling his role by cleaning up messes left by careless employs.

A team of two players went in through the back door, one manning a Lonestar car (One of the Runners is an ex-lonestar) keeping the ex-cop updated while directing the NPC tecnomancer at her house (He is 15 and homeless).

Finally, the Ex commando broke in through the ventilation shaft (the motion sensor was in disrepair).

As a fairly new Gm, I did not know how to react... this was 4 groups within the table of 5, acting independent of each-other... causing enough chaos for each other to create a whacky day at the office but nothing overt as cameras shutting down.

I did what any self respecting Gm does in that situation... find a reason for them to get caught... turns out when you ask the prodigy hacker to make you a pass that opens any door, this kinda grabs the attention of the security spider...(Because no one has access to everywhere). Needless to say the security spider locked down the back entrances and turned off the doors leading out of the back level. (they do not want to create a situation for their clients)

Things went well, everyone got out... but this begs the question of what does a Gm do when the party decides to split off into several groups, do their own thing and basically operate without each other's knowledge. Basically giving them 4 shots to do the job.

Some questions:

Was this their first time running the PC's together?

Did the Johnson hire them seperately?

If yes, then this is expected. If no, then you got some issues to address regarding team work/building. Of course they might have planned to create enough chaos that they get the papers and the office staff is just going WTF.

I'd say let them try. They'll soon learn the error of their ways. Remember: if one messes up they all can suffer. Ventilation shafts are only really meant to hold air. An ex-commando falling through the ceiling in the middle of a corp princess' boob job would keep things interesting. Or have the asshole boss keep the newly hired janitor wiping up toilets for a good couple hours. Or even have the girl scout run into the back door's resident guard dog( a barghest, of course). Get creative and they'll soon learn that going "All right chummers lets do this LEEEEERRRROOOOOOOY JEEEENNKIIIIIINNSSSS" doesn't usually work.

When building the security of a place, put all the pawns that you deem necessary for that place. Next, imagine several security scenarios you think might happen. Always imagine that it is you versus the players. Each place will have its own security protocols to minimize breaches, but security has a cost. That's why you can't place whatever you want. The generic consensus is that as soon as the alarm is sounded, the entire place is going to be active looking for culprites, and they won't stop until everyone is found.

Also, don't forget that Lone Star is probably in the neighborhood, so make sure you know the security rating and track that time.

Besides that, let the players devise their own strategy. Sticking together and/or splitting up the team have both pros and cons, but in the end, that's the players' choice. If they split, you need to be able to quickly switch between groups to let each one of them react and reassess their role based on the current situation.

As a GM, you're task is to react to their decisions. If it makes sense and you're totally blasted by their ideas/decisions/luck, let them win it. If they make a mistake or they under plan, don't give them chances. I also include the unlucky part in that because it's part of their decision factors to keep moving or to retreat (plus, if the GM is unlucky, you can bet that players will take benifit of that).

Lastly, don't forget any outcome of their decisions: Notoriety and factions are two examples.