Overview
This tutorial discusses the Alarm Tab and auxiliary procedure window of the Limelight XE console and how an operator uses this section to manage alarms and procedures.
Prerequisites
- Completion of Understanding Alarm Management and Procedures - Part 1.
Introduction
The ability of operators to understand and respond to alarm conditions is mission critical for all organizations. Limelight XE's console has a dedicated section to handling alarms as well as an optional Procedure Manager window that can be made visible by either pressing F4 or via the main menu: View -> Procedure Window. The procedure window allows multi monitor operator stations to expand the view of the alarm and procedures across multiple screens providing more information.
The Anatomy of an Alarm Entry
Individual alarms carry the following information that connects the alarm back to the source
- Alarm Priority - (1 = Advisory ... 7 = Critical).
- Time Stamp - when the alarm first occurred (subsequent alarms do not update this value).
- Status - set as the operator handles each alarm
- Location - What / where the alarm occurred (in general values comes from an object's title - so use accordingly).
- Message - The alarm message
- Owner - The name or GUID of the account user that owns the alarm
Each alarm item has this information along with additional data accessible by the console in the Alarms tab. The right section has two major components - the alarm management section and the procedure section. Not all alarms will have assigned procedures - nor should they. Sometimes alarms are used simply to indicate a state where no action is required.
Operator Alarm Management Section showing resolved alarm
Here is an overview of each control in this part of the window
Alarm Ownership
- Acknowledge - This button allows an operator to accept the alarm and act on it - this is only enabled for alarms with PENDING status. Once an operator acknowledges an alarm, other consoles will prevent other operators from acknowledging the same alarm (this button is disabled). in addition, if the alarm item does not have an assigned procedure, it will immediately move to the RESOLVED state. If a procedure is assigned, it will begin running the procedure displaying the status in the procedure windows as the alarm manager interacts with the operator.
- Force - Administrators can "take back" control of an alarm if required by selecting the item and clicking this button. They will become the new owner of the alarm item(s) in what ever state the last operator left it. This is useful when training operators or when they may get overwhelmed in certain conditions. It is not recommended to force alarm ownership in normal operation.
- Rescind - This button allows an operator to return an item to the alarm pool for other operators to acknowledge. This can be useful if an operator needs to move to a higher level alarm and wants to return certain alarms so that other operators can act on them.
Alarm Management (This section is only enabled for alarms with active procedures owned by the operator )
- Shelve - This button will temporarily suspend the alarm (place it into the operators alarm pool) for some period and then return it later to the operator. This is useful when handling multiple alarms and higher level alarms arrive.
- Suppress - This button will suppress a specific alarm item from re-occurring for some period of time to keep nuisance alarms (e.g. those caused during maintenance or upgrading) from filling the alarm pool. This is used when an alarm is occurring multiple times and the cause is already known such as when a sensor is being changed out or a repair is in progress.
- Reset - This button will reset a suppressed item to allow that alarm code / object to be re-armed. Following the resolution of a nuisance alarm, the offending object's specific alarm can be reset or re-armed using this function.
- Silence - This button will turn off any audible alarms for this item (or items).
- Refresh - This button will reload all alarms from the server up to the limit set in the Alarm Manager properties (default is 100). This is useful if the list seems out of date or a temporary communication lapse with the server may have occurred.
- Silence All Alarms (checkbox) - If checked all alarm audible alerts will be silenced including new alarms.
- Alarm View (dropdown) - Changes which alarms are visible in the alarm view
- All Alarms - All alarms in chronological order starting from the newest to the oldest are retrieved from the alarm database.
- Pending and Working Alarms - Only alarms that are in the pending or acknowledged states are returned.
- Pending, Working and Resolved Alarms - Pending, acknowledged and resolved alarms are returned.
- Suppressed Alarms - Only alarms that have been previously suppressed will be returned.
- Shelved Alarms - Only alarms that have been previously shelved will be returned.
- Resolved Alarms - All resolved alarms will be returned (up to the maximum limit set) in chronological order.
Alarm Source Details
- Find Object - This button will find the object (if possible) in the Components tab automatically switching to that view. This is only active when the object is on the same server where the console is logged in. Operators must have the correct level of privileges for this feature to be enabled.
- Find Account - This button will find the associated account in the Accounts tab and automatically switch to that view. This is useful when an operator is trying to reach a specific user when their account is causing an alarm (e.g. an access violation). Operators must have the correct level of privileges for this feature to be enabled.
- Locate... - This button will use the geolocation data embedded in the alarm (if available) and launch a browser to Google Maps automatically showing the location of the alarm. This button is only enabled if valid geolocation data is present.
- Additional Information (text area) - This control displays any additional information carried with the alarm. It varies by alarm type and the object that caused the alarm.
Operator Procedures
Operator Procedure Section showing resolved procedure
The bottom section of the Alarm Management section is the procedure controls. If an alarm has a procedure tied to it, then it will appear here. Procedures can include operator interaction such as making a choice or simply acknowledging a condition. In the area above the COMPLETED, FAIL and ABORT buttons is a custom area where additional controls will appear depending on the current task and the procedure programming. This information is also shown in the optional Procedure Window (toggled via F4) or via the main menu View -> Procedure Window.
Here is an overview of each control
- Procedure Item (textual) - This text area presents a list of all tasks and their states in this procedure. Each procedure item can be of the following types:
- Comment - simply a textual comment to the operator
- Run Script - will simply run a script automatically (no user intervention is required)
- Wait for Operator - will wait some period (set by the designer) for the operator to perform a task
- Wait for Operator Function - will wait some period of time for the operator to interact with custom controls that appear below the "Current Task / Action" window. These can include buttons or drop down controls. If the operator fails to make a decision within the allotted time, the default values will be used.
- Wait or Acknowledge - This type will wait for an operator to acknowledge the alarm. It can be placed in the procedure following automated processes such as running scripts. This can start automatic functions before an operator ever acknowledges the alarm helping to expedite the resolution and help prevent equipment damage.
- Current Task / Action (textual) - This text area shows the current operator action that should be completed before moving on (e.g. pressing the Completed button below). This is a Rich Text Format (RTF) control which allows formatting of the text (e.g. color, font, size, etc.).