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Units: How to Set Up a Data Alert

Set up a Data Alert when you want the system to send a notification to one or more contacts when an alarm event occurs at a data point. Examples of an alarm event include an out-of-spec channel measurement, low battery voltage, power on reset, or RSSI reading.

Complete the following tasks to set up a new data alert:

• select the unit for the data alert
• add a new data alert
• add conditions for a new data alert
• set up optional event monitoring for a new data alert
• set up contacts for a new data alert
• preview the messages that will be sent for a new data alert

To select the unit you want to add a new data alert

1. Click Units > Unit Admin.
2. Select the unit in the navigation tree of Unit Admin.
3. Verify Installed (Notifications ON) is selected in the Service Status field of the Info tab. (See Note 1 below for related information.)
4. Click the Alerts tab.
5. Add or edit a data alert by entering settings in the Setup, Conditions, Monitoring (optional), Contacts, and Preview tabs as described in the remaining procedures.

Note: Several methods are available for displaying a unit. For information on these additional methods, refer to the topic Units: Alerts Setup Overview.

To add a new data alert ˆtop of pageˆ

1. Click the Add icon (+) in the Alerts navigation tree of the Setup tab.
2. Type a name for the alert in the Name field.
3. Click the arrow in the Type field and select Data Alert.
4. Type a description for the alert and/or enter template tags in the Subject field.
5. If you want a user to acknowledge the alert, complete the following steps:
   1. Click the Acknowledge check box. (See Note 3 below for related information.)
   2. Click the arrow in the Tries field and select how many times the system should resend the notification until the alert is acknowledged.
   3. Type a value or use the arrow buttons in the Retry Interval field to indicate the number of minutes between repeated notifications.
6. Click the Enabled check box to turn on (or activate) the alert.
7. Click the Notify Only check box if you want the system to place the unit in the Normal status category in Unit System Status instead of the In Alarm status category.
8. Define the message format of the notification by entering message template tags in the Message Template fields. Or use the provided default settings.
9. Click Save and then continue with the next procedure to set up alert conditions.

To add conditions for a new data alert ˆtop of pageˆ

1. Verify the new data alert is selected in the Alerts navigation tree.
2. Click the Conditions tab.
3. Click the Add Condition (+) icon to display the Condition window.
4. Select a data point from the list of choices in the Data Point field.
5. Select an operator that will be applied to the Trigger Value from the list of choices in the Operator field.
6. Depending on the operator chosen in the Operator field, either enter a value or select a value from the list of choices in the Trigger Value field. This value will be used to determine if an alert has occurred.

For some Trigger Values, an engineering unit displays next to the Trigger Value field. After you save the new Condition, the engineering unit value is then displayed in the Eng. Units column in the Conditions tab.

7. Enter details about the alert condition (optional) in the Detail field, such as a description of the alarm condition or other data as required.
8. To have this condition combined with other conditions so that only when all these conditions are met will an alert be sent, click the Combination (AND) check box to add a check mark to the check box.
9. Click Save and then continue with the next procedure to set up optional event monitoring.

To set up optional event monitoring for a new data alert ˆtop of pageˆ

1. Verify the new data alert is selected in the Alerts navigation tree.
2. Click the Monitoring tab.
3. Click the check box Use this alert for Event Monitoring.
4. Click the up or down arrows in the Time-Out Hours field to select a time the unit should wait before resetting the event.

Hover the mouse over the field bubble to view a tool-tip description of Time-Out Hours.

5. Click the arrow in the Group field to select a unit group.
6. Click the arrow in the Before Event, After Event, and After Acknowledge fields to select icons that represent each of these events.
7. Click Save and then continue with the next procedure to set up alert contacts.

To set up contacts for a new data alert ˆtop of pageˆ

1. Verify the new data alert is selected in the Alerts navigation tree.
2. Click the Contacts tab.
3. Click the check box Add to All Alerts if you want to add contacts and contact groups to all alerts for the current unit.
4. If you want the system to send a notification to a user:
   1. Click the arrow in the Add Contact field and select a user contact name. (See Note 1 below for related information.)
   2. If you want the system to wait before sending a notification, adjust the Delay time (in minutes) using the up and down arrows.
   3. Click the add (+) icon. The user name is displayed in the Contacts table, where you can also edit the delay time for this contact or delete this contact.

Note: Delay time is the number of minutes the system waits to send a notification to a contact when an alarm condition still exists after sending a previous notification to a contact or contact group.

5. If you want the system to send a notification to a group of users:
   1. Click the arrow in the Add Contact Group field and select a contact group.
   2. Click Broadcast if you want the system to send notifications to all users in the contact group at the same time. (See Note 3 below for related information.)
   3. Click Fall-Over if you want the system to send notifications to a contact group one user at a time. (See Note 3 below for related information.)
   4. If you want the system to wait before sending a notification, adjust the Delay time using the up and down arrows. (See Note 2 below for related information.)
   5. Click the add (+) icon.
6. To remove the contact from all alerts, click the Remove from all Alerts check box to add a check mark to the box.

To preview the messages that will be sent for a new data alert ˆtop of pageˆ

1. Verify the new data alert is selected in the Alerts navigation tree.
2. Click the Preview tab. The Subject, Long Message, and Short Message for the data alert are displayed.
3. Click the Send Test Alert to send a test alert to all linked contacts.
4. Click Yes to send the alert or No to cancel on the Send Test Alert window.

Note 1: Alert and Notification characteristics based on a unit's service status: If a unit's Service Status is set up as Inactive on the Info tab of Unit Admin, the system does not process alerts. A unit's service status must be set up as Installed (Notifications ON) in order for the system to send a notification to one or more contacts.

 

Note 2: Broadcast and Fall-Over characteristics when using Delay time: When using Delay time with the Broadcast option, the system waits the specified delay time and then sends the notification to the entire contact group. With the Fall-Over option, the system sends a notification to the contact group one user at a time; waiting the specified delay time between one notification and the next.

 

Note 3: Fall-Over characteristics when a notification is acknowledged: The system automatically enables the Acknowledge check box when an alert is set up with the Fall-Over option. When a user in the Fall-Over contact group acknowledges a notification, the system stops sending notifications to other users in the contact group.