Getting started with alarm handling

This guide is aimed at providing general information in dealing with alarms, without delving into specifics or advanced features. You will notice a number of buttons and controls not described here; information on these can be found in the main guide.

After logging in, you’ll be shown the alarm screen. This screen shows an overview of all current activity on the system.

The alarm queue shows all the active events on the system that aren’t being handled.  You can see how long ago the event started, where it is taking place, as well as how critical and how many alarms are in that event.

The map next to the alarms list shows where all the alarms on this page are placed. Alarms that are waiting for someone to handle them are shown as red pins; those that are currently being processed are shown in orange.

At the top of the page, the tabs allow you to add alarm filters. These narrow down what is shown on this page by limiting what is relevant.

At the bottom of the page, you can expand out the Processing and Parked section. “Processing” shows events that are being handled by another operator. “Parked” events have been put aside for a fixed period of time, and will return to the alarms list when this time is up. 

Clicking an alarm in the event queue page takes you to the response screen. When you open this screen, it will also open the media matrix screen in a new window.

The response screen is how you process and respond to an alarm.

The audit section gives you a list of everything that has happened in this event. The options above let you filter this list down; “All” shows the full list, “Alarms” will hide everything except alarms, etc. Alarms in this list that are shaded red have not been acknowledged - you can click them to acknowledge each in turn, or bulk-acknowledge using the Ack button.

The map shows where the event is taking place, and all nearby assets. You can use the controls in the top-right to go up and down floors, and show/hide what assets you’d like to see.

The actions section shows a checklist to perform while processing the alarm. Not every action has to be performed, but those highlighted in red will need to be completed in order to finish the alarm.

At the top of the page, you can see the name of the location of the alarm. Clicking this will open a popup that will give you information about this location. If there is an icon next to the location name, you can see a list of notes that other operators have left regarding this location.

At the top right, you will see buttons to control the event.

At the far-right, you will see End, which will close out the event. You can only end the event if all alarms are acknowledged, if there are no outstanding restore signals expected, and if all required actions have been completed. When closing an event, you will need to describe the category of the event. You will need to pick from a predefined list of categories, but can further describe what occurred below.

Next to the end button, you will see a leave button. This allows you to stop processing the event without finalising it. If you are the only person currently processing the event, then you will need to specify how long the event show stay in “Parked” before returning back into the queue to be processed again.