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Critical Alarms

CriticalAlarmAutomation works with your building automation system to notify you as soon as it senses a problem. The Critical Alarms that you add into your account are the ones that you want to create work orders for when they are detected. The BAS system will detect an alarm condition and send an email to Dude Solutions servers. The Dude then searches to see if the Alarm ID matches up to an existing Alarm ID and checks to see if there is an open work order for that alarm condition.

 

  • If there is not an open work order, the system creates a new one to address the specific need of that alarm using the information you entered on the CAA Alarm ID template.
  • If there is already an open work order, the system documents that we received the alarm, but does not create a new work order.

 

There is no limit to the amount of alarms you can add to your account.

How to Add a Critical Alarm

  • Click on the Critical Alarms tab.
  • Click the + Add New Item link on the top right side of the list.
  • You can also click on Add in the Actions menu and select Critical Alarms.
  • Enter information into the fields on the form and click Save at the bottom of the page.

 

Alarm ID

This text field is created by the system when the alarm is saved. The first part of the ID is your account number which is then followed by a five character alphanumeric string which identifies the specific alarm.

Critical Alarm Name(Required)

Used to describe and identify the alarm.

Priority(Required)

Used by Work Order to prioritize how the work order is assigned and handled once the work order is created.

  • Emergency
  • Low
  • Medium
  • High
  • Scheduled
  • Safety

Description(Required)

The text description that is displayed on the work order.

Location

Select the location where the critical alarm work order is created.

Building

Select the Building where the critical alarm work order is created.

Area

If needed, select the area where the critical alarm work order is created.

Escalate After (min.)

Select the number of minutes that is to elapse prior to escalating the critical alarm work order to the next level.

  • No Escalation
  • 15
  • 30
  • 45
  • 60
  • 120

Purpose

Select the purpose code specified in MaintenanceDirect that best describes the reason/purpose of the work order. You will want to create a Critical Alarm purpose code in MaintenanceDirect to be used here. Selecting this purpose code will color code the work orders created by CAA with a bright green background and will allow you to group and report on your Critical Alarm work orders as a whole. The Critical Alarm purpose code will also allow you to set up specific routing rules that will automatically assign CAA work orders to the correct users in MaintenanceDirect.

Budget

Select the budget code for the work order, if needed.

Craft

Select the craft that will be listed on the work order.

Equipment

Select the appropriate piece of equipment associated with this alarm. Lists the available equipment from MaintenanceDirect.

Incoming Email

The email address of the BAS or the system emailing Dude Solutions with the Alarm ID.

 

At the bottom of the form, you can Save, Delete, or Search for Alarms.

Search for Alarms

If you need to see the Alarm messages that have been received from a specific Critical Alarm, click the Search for Alarm button at the bottom of the Update Critical Alarm page. This will bring up a list of Alarm Messages received from this Alarm ID. It shows the Date Received, Message Type, and Message Body.

 

You can also use the drop down boxes at the top of the screen to filter for Incoming Email, Alarm ID, Critical Alarm Name, and Date Received.