Alarms Desktop

The Alarms desktop is used to view and to acknowledge alarm events. Alarm events are defined in the Event Parameter menu (System > Event Parameters). Any event can be defined as an alarm event. Alarm events require operator acknowledgement and are displayed in the Alarms desktop. A schedule must be defined for all alarms (System > Event parameters, Alarm settings). When an alarm is generated during a valid schedule, operators have to acknowledge the alarm. Alarms are displayed with date and time, alarm description, details, instructions (if defined) and associated graphic or video clip. New events are added at the bottom of the Alarm desktop unless you have setup the list to display in descending order (in the Alarm Desktop Properties dialog).

Defining an Alarms Desktop

1 - From the Desktop main window, select the desktop in which you want to display alarm messages, then define the window type. Floating or Desktop.

2 - Specify the secondary windows that will be associated with the Alarms desktop:

•   Display on new alarm:  Will open the Alarms desktop automatically when an alarm occurs.

•   Message screen: This window allows operators to view and acknowledge alarms that have an “acknowledgement schedule” selected in the Event Parameters definition menu ( System  > Event Parameters > Alarm settings ) or to display the auto-acknowledge button configured in the Operator dialog ( System  > Operator > Privileges ).

•   Instructions screen:  This window displays the instruction that is linked to the event to be acknowledged (i.e. call the police, send a message to a client application, etc.). Instructions are defined in the System  > Instructions . Then after, they may be associated with events.

•  Graphic screen: This window will display the location of the alarm being reported (if graphics are defined in the system). For more information on assigning graphic, see Graphics Definition.

NOTE: An Alarm desktop may be defined as a Message window, a graphic window and an Instruction window. These features may apply to a single desktop. When you select a desktop defined with these three features, three windows are displayed simultaneously. For a better display, you may need to re-size and to position the windows.

Viewing System Alarm Messages

1 - Select the Alarm desktop. Alarm events are displayed according to the criteria selected in the Sorted by field.

NOTE: Alarm messages are archived and can be retrieved at all times.

2 - You can double-click the log area (middle of the window) to add a comment. The Add a comment window opens and enables you to enter text data. Once you have finished and clicked the OK button to close the window, the alarm event will be preceded by a + sign, indicating that an annotation has been added to the alarm event.

NOTE: Acknowledgements and flags will not be identified by a “ + ” sign.

3 - You may change/define the sorting order (Sorted by drop-down list):

•   Trigger destination : Alarms are sorted by their order of arrival. This the default sequence. The window scrolls to the end each time a new alarm is displayed.

•   State : Alarms are sorted according to their status (acknowledged, to be acknowledged or flagged). When you use this option, you interrupt the normal scrolling of events. Select “sequence” to go back to the default display.

•   Date and time : Alarms are sorted according to the date and time of their arrival.

•   Event : The Event messages  column is sorted in alphabetical order, grouping identical  events. For example, all Input in alarm  events are grouped.

•   Priority : Events are sorted by priority (as defined in Event   parameter ).

4 - You may right-click anywhere in the window to enable the Properties window from which you can enable alarm status buttons:

•   Red : To be acknowledged or suspended. If suspended, the suspension delay is displayed. When the delay expires, the operator is required to acknowledge again. If the delay is not expired but the operator wishes to acknowledge a suspended alarm, he/she has to click on the delay. The delay will be reset to zero.

•   Green : Acknowledged.

•   Yellow : Flagged.

•   Black : Deleted. To view alarms that have been manually deleted, select the View deleted logs  from the Properties .

•   Blue : Manual log.

5 - Select the Manual / Automatic buttons to toggle the acknowledgement method (automatic or manual). Only operators who are assigned this feature in the Operator Definition menu can use this option. For more information, see Operators Definition.

NOTE: The Manual / Automatic   acknowledgement option is only available through the Alarms Desktop. When the operator logs out, it will return to “manual” by default.

6 - Right click an alarm message to perform additional tasks on alarm events:

•   Acknowledge : When selected, a green point is inserted beside an alarm event to indicate that the event was acknowledged.

•   Re-visit : When selected, the system flags the selected event. A yellow indicator is inserted beside flagged events.

•   Clear re-visit : Remove the flag for the selected event.

•   Add comment : Allows operators to enter comments concerning the selected event. The added comments are displayed in the bottom part of the alarm window. A blue + sign beside an alarm event indicates that a comment was added to the alarm event (visible when buttons are enabled: right-click an alarm event > Properties  > Show buttons ).

•   Print event and comment : When selected, the system prints the alarm event and the associated comment.

•   Delete event : When selected, the selected alarm event is marked for deletion (the indicator becomes “black” to indicate that the event has been marked for deletion). To view the events marked for deletion, before you actually purge them, right click anywhere in the window and select Properties  then select View deleted logs .

Displaying Alarm Desktops Automatically

EntraPass enables users to display graphics automatically - from any desktop - as soon as an alarm occurs. This feature enables operators on duty to automatically view new alarms without having to open the alarm desktop and secondary windows associated with it. If Display on new alarm is checked the alarm desktop (and its secondary windows) will be displayed as soon as an alarm occurs regardless of the active window.

1 - Define a desktop and customize it as an alarm desktop: For this, you have to check the items of the Alarms desktop section.

2 - Check the Display on new alarm option so that operators can automatically view new alarms without having to open the alarm desktop and secondary windows associated with it.

NOTE: If this option is selected when defining a Filtered message desktop for instance and if the desktop button is selected, the filtered message desktop will be displayed (the background colour of its button turns blue), but the windows below the Display on new alarm section will not be displayed; they are only displayed when a new alarm occurs. If those windows are displayed (on new alarm), clicking the “X” in the top right hand corner of one of them will close all the open windows. If Display on new alarm  is not checked, the alarm desktop and all its secondary windows will be displayed on call (that is, when the alarm desktop is selected).

3 - Click OK and Go for your configuration to take effect immediately.

NOTE: When you define a desktop as an alarm desktop to be displayed on new alarm, it is recommended to reopen the Automatic Alarm Display desktop, to position its windows the way you want them to appear, then to click OK and GO  again. This way, it will appear exactly as you have defined it.

Acknowledging Alarms/Events

Usually, operators have to acknowledge receipt of an alarm condition (event—such as intrusion, input in alarm, etc.) by responding in ways such as clicking the acknowledgement button. In EntraPass, operators acknowledge alarm messages from an alarm warning box or from the Alarms desktop window.

NOTE: When an alarm message is acknowledged by an operator, the notification is acknowledged or removed at all workstations.

NOTE: A sound can be added to alarm events. For more details about setting options for an alarm sound, see Multimedia Devices Configuration.

Acknowledgement options are setup in the EntraPass application definition (Devices  > EntraPass application > Alarm  tab, Acknowledgement parameters). Events that require operator acknowledgement are defined in the System  > Event Parameters.

NOTE: If the   component that is in alarm is assigned to a video view, the video view or video recording is automatically displayed when an alarm occurs.

Automatic Acknowledgement

Alarms can be automatically acknowledged without operator intervention. This option is enabled in the Operator definition menu (System > Operators > Privileges, Auto acknowledge).

NOTE: In order for the Manual  button to display on the Alarm Desktop window, it is important to close the EntraPass session and reopen it after you have selected the Auto acknowledge option.

NOTE: Only   operators granted the appropriate access privilege should be using this option. If the Automatic acknowledge  feature is used, the alarm message box is not displayed; therefore, it will not be possible to suspend alarms. If this option is enabled in the Operator definition menu, the Manual button is added to the Alarms desktop. This button toggles between Manual and Automatic acknowledgement.

To Acknowledge an Alarm Message

1 - When the Acknowledgement required message box appears, take one of the following actions:

•   Click the Acknowledge  button to acknowledge the displayed alarm event. The red status button turns green once an alarm is acknowledged.

•   Click the Suspend  button to suspend alarms while doing other operations in the system. The alarm will be suspended for the delay time specified in the EntraPass application definition menu. Once the suspended alarm delay time expires, the system prompts the operator to acknowledge the alarm.

•   Click the Re-visit button if you want to acknowledge an alarm message, and if you want to identify it for future reference. A flagged alarm is identified by a yellow button.

•   Click the Mute button (speaker button) if you want to stop the alarm sound.

NOTE: The Acknowledgement required  message box will be presented in a format without the Instructions window if there are no instructions associated with the alarm message.

NOTE: If the   component that is in alarm is assigned to a video view, the video view or video recording is automatically displayed when an alarm occurs.

To Acknowledge Alarms from the Alarms Desktop

Each workstation has its own alarm desktop which displays alarm events received from the server. When a workstation starts up, alarms displayed on the desktop will have a “to be updated” status (a blue button in the second column). Once communication is established with the server, all events will be updated on the alarm desktop. The blue button will then be replaced by a red button (alarm), a yellow button (flag) or a green button (acknowledged).

NOTE: This process will occur each time a workstation have a communication failure with the server.

1 - Select the alarm event you want to acknowledge (one that has been flagged, for instance), right-click to enable a shortcut menu.

2 - Select Acknowledge from the sub-menu. The status indicator becomes green.

NOTE: To tag an alarm message for specific purposes, select the alarm event you want to identify; right-click and select Flag  from the sub-menu. You can also click an alarm message until the colour of its status indicator changes to the desired colour.

Mandatory Alarm Comment

If an instruction with the Mandatory alarm comment checkbox selected in System / Instruction is assigned to an alarm, the operator will have to add a comment in order to mark the alarm as “acknowledged” (see Instructions Definition for more details).

NOTE: The alarm sound will stop while a comment is entered by the user.

If the alarm event has already been acknowledged, a warning message will be displayed for you to confirm that the comment should be added.