Alarm Processing Queue

This is likely where you will spend the majority of your time within Sureview. The screen is shown after login and will look something like this:

Incoming alarms are displayed here in the queue and ordered by their priorities. Each alarm includes the following information: 

• How long ago the event was triggered
• Where the event occurred
• The name of the event
• The alarm priority
• How many times the alarm has been triggered

When there are active alarms in the queue, a red border will periodically flash around the Sureview window. If sound is enabled, an alarm will also play to encourage the completion of the event.

The alarm queue displays a list of alarm events that need to be handled. An alarm event is one or more alarms grouped together to be processed together. 

Each event in the queue shows how long ago the first alarm in the event came in, the area the alarm is taking place in, the name and type of the highest priority alarm in the event, the priority and how many alarms are grouped into this event. 

For each event, you may also see a number of other icons:

• means the event has previously been handled, but was returned to the queue without being closed
• means that the event has a physical location. Hover the cursor over this for the location to be highlighted on the map.
•  means that the event has not been processed within its target response time (defined by the 'Alarm Age Warning' pref)

By default, this queue is sorted by priority first, and for alarms that have matching priority, it will show the oldest alarms at the top. 

By clicking the column headers, you can sort by that column. Clicking on the column additional times will first reverse the order, and then reset the sort back to default. 

Clicking on an event in the queue will start handling it - it will remove it from the active alarm queue for all other users, and move you into the response screen. You can enable the feature PickUpOnName to only allow alarm to be pick up by clicking on the title rather than the alarm row.

Alarms\EventQueue\ServerEventTitleInQueue (BETA)

This feature allows you to either show (enabled) or hide (disabled) the "Type" column on the main Alarm Queue. This column will show the "type" of the alarm (i.e. Door Forced, Door Held Open, Panic Alarm etc)

Note: The Alarm Queue Page will need to be refreshed after enabling or disabling this feature to see the changes.

Alarm Filters

Often a security operation center will be divided into different regions, each of which handling some subsection of the incoming alarms. These alarms are separated into different queues by the use of alarm filters. The first time you log in, you will have to add these filters by clicking the button with the small plus sign, depicted below.

When you log back in, you will always be returned to the filter you last viewed. The numbers next to the name of the filter represent how many alarms are present in that queue.

Overview Tabs

In the bottom of the alarm processing queue are the overview tabs. This area provides quick access to information pertaining to ongoing events, separated into four tabs. Each tab is a filter describing the content of the feed below. They are described in more detail in the following sections.

Processing

When an operator begins processing an event, the event is removed from the queue for all other operators. It is then put into the tab labeled “Processing”, visible on the left of the overview tabs in the alarm processing queue. This is where you can see any events that have been started by an operator, but have not yet been ended or parked. The event’s time, location, name, and associated operator will be shown in a list format.

The "Processing" tab can be hidden by enabling the Alarms>EventQueue>DisableProcessingActiveAlarms feature and disabling the "CanProcessActiveAlarms" permission. Please note that this permission will also disable the event sharing button in the Alarm Handling Window only has an effect if the feature is enabled as shown in the diagram below.

Parked

Events that have been parked are visible in the overview tabs in the tab labeled “Parked”. The specifics behind parking events will be discussed later. For now, these are simply events that are not currently being processed, but have been taken from the queue without being ended. The event’s time, location, name, when it was initiated, and how long it has been parked for will be shown in a list format.

The parked queue can be enabled and disabled in the features list under Alarms>EventQueue>Parked. This is managed by your Sureview administrator.

If you wish you can enable the ability to see the note the operator has entered in the parked queue so that you don't have to enter the event to read the note. This can be done by enabling the Alarms>EventQueue>ParkedNote feature. Again this is controlled by your system administrator.

Tours

The tab labeled “Tours” is where you can see all ongoing manual tours being performed by other operators. The specifics behind manual tours will be discussed later. For now, it is simply a method to view cameras without processing an alarm. The tours’ time, location, and status will be shown in a list format. 

The queue can be enabled/disabled by ticking/unticking the feature Alarms>EventQueue>Patrol in the fetures list.

On Test

The tab labeled “On Test” is where all entities that are classified as “on test” are listed. The specifics behind putting an entity on test will be discussed later, but for now it is a method used to disable a site or alarm point for a predetermined period of time. For each entity on test, the location, alarm point name, duration, and reasoning will be listed along with the operator who started the test. 

Alarm Points

In the upper right corner of the Alarm processing queue is a button labeled “Alarm Points”. Clicking this opens the menu depicted below, which is used to temporarily disable a particular alarm point or site. This can be done for maintenance purposes, such as when a particular point is repeatedly throwing false alarms. Upon doing so you will be prompted for a reason and for a duration of time to put this entity on test. 

If you have the alarm points/Alarm history feature enabled you will be able to see the last 50 events for the alarm point you have selected, this can be alarms, mask/unmask actions or on test actions.

There a two further features for alarm masking, they are "Require Note" and "Require Reason" These add an extra required field that operators must complete before they are able to mask an alarm point.

If you have the feature "On Test" enabled this is where you are able to place an alarm point on test mode. Test mode creates a separate event that all alarms from the specific alarm point that you select goes into. 

Selecting "Put Alarm point on test" allows you to specify how long the point is on test for, either in hours and minutes or selecting a date/time for it to come off test. 

Quick Control 

In the upper right corner of the Alarm processing queue is a button labeled “Quick Control”. Clicking this opens the menu depicted below, which is used to send a five second momentary unlock to any relay within Sureview. Relays must be searched for by name, and a reasoning must also be provided. This may be used to grant access to approved maintenance personnel, etc. This is controlled by the feature "Quick Control" within the alarms feature group.

In the case where users are required to view linked cameras first, this can be enabled by a feature flag. By enabling the feature "Alarms/QuickControl/Cameras", live streamed footage of linked cameras will be loaded. The user can then select different cameras from the dropdown list to load other linked cameras. Once a linked camera has successfully loaded, the user can then proceed provided a reason note has been given. In the case where all linked cameras fail to load, the user can still proceed. An example of the menu with live footage shown can be seen below. 

In the case when some users are not required to view footage, this can be achieved using a permission.  The permission "CanPerformQuickControlWithoutFootage" can be enabled for those users so that they can proceed without the need to view a linked camera.

Process Top Priority

In the upper right corner of the Alarm processing queue is a button labeled “Process Top Priority”. It is rather self explanatory, but for the sake of being thorough, it begins processing the alarm with the highest priority. This will be the first alarm in the queue. Clicking this button will take you to the Alarm Handling Window, which will be discussed later.

Manual Raise

In the upper right corner of the Alarm processing queue is a button labeled “Manual Raise”. This is how you create an alarm within Sureview after being informed of an alarm-worthy event. Sureview receives alarms from connected devices, but of course some events will be reported directly to the SOC. These events are logged using manual raises. Clicking the button will show the following menu:

To appropriately create a manual raise, you will be prompted to enter the following information:

• The associated site
• The type of event being reported
• Any additional events notes you may have
• The person who reported the event to the SOC
• A specific location on the map

Be sure to assign a specific location to the event by clicking somewhere on the map to drop a pin at that location. This will be used for Sureview to know which guards are available for dispatch. If needed, you may type in an address within the map to search for the appropriate area to drop the pin. You may also toggle between satellite view and map view to help navigation. 

The checkbox labeled “Automatically Claim”, if checked, will send you directly to the alarm handling window to begin processing this event. If left unchecked, the manual raise will be created and the alarm will be added to the queue. 

Manual Tour

In the upper right corner of the Alarm processing queue is a button labeled “Manual Tour”. This is used to view camera feeds within Sureview without initiating an alarm. Often manual tours will be scheduled at regular intervals throughout the day. 

The menu opened by clicking “Manual Tour” is identical to the menu opened by clicking “Manual Raise”, and is therefore depicted in the section above. The paragraphs following the image are then of course also relevant to manual tours. The Media Matrix will also be opened, which will be described later