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i4connected Knowledgebase 5.6

Online Alarms

Abstract

Check out this article to learn more about the Online Alarms panel and the functions that one can organize in this view.

The i4connected portal displays the events in a dedicated panel, which can be accessed using the events icon from the portal's top bar.

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The events icon

Note

The events icon is visible for all system users, regardless of their permissions level, therefore, the users can see alarms for which they have been set as owners.

The number of ongoing alarms is illustrated by the events icon, therefore the user can quickly establish how many alarms are opened and unacknowledged.

Since version 5.6.16 of i4connected, users were provided with a better overview in the status bar. The alarms will be grouped in the status bar, on basis of their priority, showing the count and the priority color.

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Example of display for multiple priorities visible in the status bar

Tip

Alarm priorities can be displayed in the status bar if the "Display in Status Bar" toggle is enabled. 

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Display in Status Bar toggle button

For more details about Event priorities please visit the dedicated article, here.

Further on, the user can click on the events icon to open the Online Alarms panel. The Online Alarms panel allows the user to view, filter, and manipulate open and ongoing alarms.

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The Online Alarms panel

Important

Depending on the roles and permissions, the list of Online Alarms will display different results, as follows:

Permission

Assignment level

Result

No permission

-

The Online Alarms icon is visible if at least one alarm owned by the currently logged-in user is running.

The user can open the Online Alarms panel to view his/her owned alarm.

Without additional rights to manage occurrences, no further actions will be allowed.

View event occurrences

Global

The View event occurrences permission, assigned on a global level, grants the user with the possibility to view all the alarms having as a source an entity with which the user has a relationship.

Additionally, the user can only see Events of other users if an equal or inferior relationship between the users exists.

Without additional rights to manage occurrences, no further actions will be allowed.

Hierarchical

The View event occurrences permission, assigned on a hierarchical level, grants the user with the possibility to view all the alarms having as a source an entity in the context of which this permission was explicitly assigned.

Additionally, the user can only see Events of other users if an equal or inferior relationship between the users exists.

Without additional rights to manage occurrences, no further actions will be allowed.

The Online alarms filtering options

The entity filtering system is shared with other panels inside the i4connected portal, and can be accessed using the top-right filter buttons.

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The Online alarms filters

The user can filter the list of Online alarms as follows:

  • by means of Object filters

    Object_filters.jpg

    The Object filters panel allows the user to narrow down the results displayed by the Online Alarms list, to only show alarms having as a source one or multiple selected entities, such as Sites, Areas, Organizational Units, and Devices.

    Tip

    For more details regarding the usage of the Object Filters panel please also visit the article here.

  • by means of Alarms filters

    Alarms_filter.jpg

    The Alarms filter panel allows the user to narrow down the results displayed by the Online Alarms list, to only show alarms originating from one or multiple Event definitions.

    The Advanced filter button allows the user to apply additional filters to the Event definitions list, by filtering by Event types and Event groups.

    Alarrm_filter.jpg
  • by means of quick filters

    • Search filter - allows the user to filter the open events using a custom text. The panel will display only the events for which the imputed text matches any textual information of the alarm (Event, Metadata, Owner, Source).

      Simple_search.jpg
    • Owner filter - allows the user to filter the list of online alarms by their owner. The user can select one of the three available options:

      Owner_Filter_with_no_system_events.jpg
      • All - displays all the events, regardless of their owner.

      • Assigned to me - displays all the events owned by the currently logged-in user.

      • Not Assigned - displays all the events with no owner assigned.

    • Acknowledgment filter - allows the user to filter the events based on their acknowledgment status. The user can select one of the three available options:

      ack_filter_with_no_system_events.jpg
      • All - displays all the events, regardless of their acknowledgment status.

      • Acknowledged - displays the acknowledged events.

      • Acknowledged by Me - displays the events acknowledged by the currently logged-in user.

      • Not Ack - displays the events with "not acknowledged" status.

    • Priority filter - allows the user to filter the events based on their priority. In this view, all the system priorities are displayed, allowing the user to choose one or multiple priorities, to apply the filter.

      Prio_filter_with_no_system_events.jpg

      Tip

      For more details about Event priorities, please also visit the dedicated article, here.

    • Type filter - allows the user to filter the events based on their alarm types. In this view, all the system event types are displayed, allowing the user to choose one or multiple types, to set the apply the filter.

      Type_filter_with_no_system_events.jpg

      Tip

      For more details about Event types, please also visit the dedicated article, here.

    • Group filter - allows the user to filter the events based on their alarm group. The filter is structured as a hierarchical tree, where the user can select multiple alarm groups (nodes) from the hierarchical structure. When multiple groups are selected, the events belonging to any selected group will be displayed together, not just the events that belong to all selected groups simultaneously (this filter does not act as an intersection of the selected groups).

      group_filter_with_no_system_events.jpg

      Tip

      For more details about Event groups, please also visit the dedicated article, here.

    • Time filter - allows the user to filter the events list based on their Start/End date and time, as follows:

      Time_filter_with_no_system_events.jpg
      • By setting a custom time interval, using the From/To calendar selectors

        Calendar_view_with_no_system_events.jpg
      • By choosing one of the predefined Time range options: Last hour, Last day, Last 7 days, Last 30 days.

        Time_range.jpg

      Tip

      The user can apply permanent time filters to the Online Alarms list, by opening the Online Alarms tile in edit tile mode. The Parameters selector area provides the user with the possibility to set a custom Start/End date and time or apply a predefined date range.

      Tile_parameters.jpg

After setting the desired filters to the Online Alarms list, the user can also preserve the current settings, by clicking the Save user panel setting button Save_settings_button.jpg.

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The Save user panel setting button

As soon as the Save user panel setting button is clicked, a toast message is displayed at the bottom right side of the browser page, indicating that the save operation was successful.

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User panel settings saved

The saved settings will be persisted to the Online Alarms panel, for the currently logged in user, until the user clicks the Reset user panel setting button Reset_panel_settings_button.jpg

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The Reset user panel setting button

After clicking the Reset user panel setting button, a toast message is displayed at the bottom right side of the browser page, indicating that the reset operation was successful.

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User panel settings reset

The Online alarms list

The ongoing events are listed in the table available in the main area of the Alarms panel. Their visibility is guarded by several criteria, such as roles and permissions and the user's relationship with the source of the alarm.

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The list of online events

The events table consists of multiple columns which show important event details, such as:

  • Priority - the priority of the alarm, stated by the priority number (actual priority value) and the color code of the priority stage.

  • Event - the name of the alarm.

  • Metadata - additional information for this specific alarm.

  • Acknowledge - the date of acknowledgment of the alarm. If the alarm is not acknowledged, a live counter will display the time since the alarm has been opened up to the current time.

  • Owner - the user which owns the alarm

  • Entity type - the type of entity where the current event draws its origin. If available, an icon will also be associated with the respective entity type.

  • Source - the origin for this occurrence which can be a Site, an Area, an Organizational Unit, a Device, an Adapter, or the i4connected Server.

    Warning

    The list of events also considers the currently logged-in user's access permissions to the Event Source. Hence, if the user does not have access to the Event Source, the Event will not be listed in the Online Alarms panel.

  • Start - the date and time when the alarm was opened (the current event has occurred)

  • End - the date and time when the alarm was closed (or the event occurrence was terminated). If the alarm is still open, a live counter will display the time since the alarm has been opened up to the current time.

  • Comment - the most recent alarm comment.

    Note

    Visibility of the Comment column is conditioned by the View event occurrence comments permission. Users that do not have this permission enabled will not see the Comment column, in the Online Alarms panel.

  • Status - the state of the alarm, represented by symbols: Open, Acknowledged, or Closed.

The actions bar of the Alarms panel allows the user to perform various actions on one or multiple alarms, based on the assigned permissions set.

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The Alarms actions bar

In order to activate the top menu buttons, at least one alarm needs to be selected from the list. The selection is done by marking the check-boxes corresponding to the desired alarm(s).

The following actions can be performed on one or more alarms, depending on the user's rights:

When the user clicks on an alarm from the events table, the Occurrence panel is opened, presenting more detailed information about the current alarm.

The Occurrence panel

The Occurrence panel displays detailed information about the current alarm (occurrence of the selected event).

Depending on the user's permissions set some of the actions and information in this panel may be displayed or not.

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The Event occurrence panel

The panel's header will reflect the alarm status and event as title, as well as an alarm priority colored flag.

Users having additional permissions enabled are provided with a set of actions, as follows:

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The Occurrence actions bar

  • Acknowledge - acknowledges the alarm.

    The Acknowledge alarm button is available only for users having the Acknowledge event occurrences permission enabled.

    ack.jpg
  • Close - closes the alarm occurrence.

    The Close alarm button is available only for users having the Close event occurrences permission enabled.

    close.jpg
  • Take ownership - assigns the current user as the owner of the alarm, if the current user is not the owner of the alarm already.

    The Take ownership button is available only for users having the Take event occurrence ownership permission enabled.

    own.jpg
  • Assign ownership - allows the current user to assign another user as the owner for this alarm. Clicking this button will open the Select Users panel, allowing, where the desired user can be searched and selected.

    The Assign ownership button is available only for users having the Assign event occurrence ownership and View users permissions enabled.

    assign_owner.jpg
  • Prioritize - allows the current user to assign a priority to the current alarm occurrence. The Priorities panel lists all available priorities and allows you to define new ones.

    The Prioritize button is available only for users having the Change event occurrence priority permission enabled.

    prio.jpg
  • Change Comment - allows the current user to change the current comment of the alarm occurrence. The Change comment panel displays the latest available comment and allows you to edit it. The Comment button is available only for users having the Comment event occurrences permission enabled.

    comm.jpg

The Status and Information section of the Occurrence panel, located below the top menu, displays all the available information about the alarm. The data displayed in this area can vary from one Alarm to another.

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The Occurrence status and information area

Note

An Alarm comment can only be viewed by a user having the View events comments permission enabled.

By clicking the Extra Information button, the Status and Information section is expanded to provide the user with more data about the current occurrence.

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The Extra Information area

The Context section of the Occurrence panel displays the source of origin for the alarm. This section is located under the Status and Information section. The Event Occurrence Context can be either Logbook (manual events), Device, Server, Adapter, or Query.

Depending on the event, the event occurrence context can be a hierarchical entity (Site, Area, or Organizational Unit), a Device, an Adapter, the i4connected Server, or a Query.

If the Context on the Event occurrence is a Site, an Area, an Organizational Unit, of a Device the user can open the entity in detailed view mode, where additional information and actions are available.

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Example of an Event Occurrence having a Device as a source

If the Context of the Event occurrence is an Email parser Device, an Email target Device, or an Email Adapter, the user can open the Email Alarm scripts panel in order to check the script and manually test its results. For more details about the Email Alarm scripts, please also visit the dedicated article here.

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The Occurrence Script

The History section of the Occurrence panel displays all the actions performed on the current alarm, being ownership assignments, acknowledgments, etc. The Event occurrence history area is displayed for all users having the View event occurrence history permission enabled.

Each action log is represented in real-time, along with the date and time of the action and the user who performed the action.

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The Occurrence History