Alarm Handling

To begin processing an Alarm, click on its name from within the Alarm Processing Queue. This will take you to the Alarm Handling window, similar to this:

Alarm Map

The map on the response screen gives context to the location of the Alarm and other nearby assets. 

The map initially shows a radius of 30 meters, centered on the location of the first Alarm in the event. If the event has no Alarms, eg. a 'tip off', or if none of the Alarms in the event have a location, it will instead show the center of the floor plan of the area; if the area has no floor plan, it will instead use the area address. If this is not set, then no map will be available.

 

The   button lets you hide any of the various types of assets on the map. Clicking it shows a full list of all asset types; you can click each type to show or hide it.

Actions

For most events, a predefined set of Actions need to be carried out to handle the situation. In SureView Ops, these actions are listed in the Alarm handling window on the right side of the screen. Actions with a red background are required, and need to be executed before closing out the event. Those with a gray background are optional. Actions can be "yes" or "no" questions; requests for input; instructions to dispatch a field officer; or simply a general instruction.

Completed Actions will collapse to free up space on the Actions bar. It can be expanded again by simply clicking on the Action Plan title. 

Audit Record

The audit section displays a record of everything that took place in this event. 

At the top, you can switch between different filters to see specific types of records. 

An Alarm record will be displayed in red if you are required to acknowledge it. You must acknowledge every alarm in an event before you are able to close it out. To acknowledge, click on the Alarm or click the "Ack All" button to acknowledge all Alarms in the event.

Any action performed directly by an operator is marked with their initials under the Operator column. 

On the right-hand side, you may this icon on a record  —this means the record corresponds to a location on a map. This can be shown for Alarms or anything else that is triggered by a map location. Clicking this will jump the map to this location.

At the bottom of the audit section, you can add notes for the event. These are shown in the audit records section, and will appear in the Notes filter. When a new note is added, anyone else in the event will see a number in the Notes filter header. This allows chat between operators.

Event Details

Additional details about the event can be seen by clicking the chevron to the far-right of each alarm. This will reveal a window giving extra information—as pictured below:

Filters

The first tab, labelled “All”, will show all information audited throughout the course of an event. Each subsequent tab is a filter that restricts the feed to information related to the tab’s name. The “Alarms” tab will show the alarms associated with this event, the “Operator” tab will show all operator activity logged to this event, and so on.

Notes

This is where you will enter any additional notes/attachments you feel are relevant and not addressed by the Actions. The “Add a note” prompt will be visible regardless of the tab you are on, but notes are only visible in the “All” and “Notes” tabs. These notes are logged for supervisors and other operators to see. 

Area Details

By clicking the Area name in the top left corner of the response screen, you can see the Area details.

This window displays the information set up for this Area, including address, telephone numbers, and contacts. You can click  "All Roles" to filter the list of Contacts displayed.

Area Notes

In the alarm processing window, to the right of the site name in the upper left, is the Site Notes button. This is where temporary notes related to the site will be stored. This can be information such as unexpected closures, building-wide events, temporary changes in office hours, and so on.

Clicking the Site Notes button will bring up the following menu. From here, you can see all existing Site Notes and, of course, create new ones. Notes can be set to expire after a predetermined time, or remain indefinitely if a time-window is not set.

Sites that have Area notes will have an icon beside them when in the alarm queue.

Command Corner

This is in the upper right portion of the alarm handling window. It contains many of the tools you will use to respond to events, including the ability to communicate with supervisors and field officers. The following sections describe these features in greater detail:

Event Sharing

When handling an alarm, you may want to invite additional people to assist or take over. 

On the top bar of the response screen, you will see circles with each person currently added to this event

The circle shows that person's identifying color and initials (this same circle is shown on the Audit and Actions for that person). The white highlight shows who has control of the event. This individual can add additional people to the event and end the event. 

If the circle displayed appears faded, it means that person doesn't currently have the event open.

Click the  to manage event sharing. 

On the right, you can see the list of who is currently added to the event. The person who has control of the event has a blue star icon. If that is you, you can pass control to someone else by clicking the grey star by their name. You can also remove people by clicking the X; this will remove them from the event, and if they have it open, they will be notified and sent back to the alarm queue. When you do this, they remain in this list as "Removed", so you can still see how they participated in the event. 

On the left, you can add new people into the event. You can use the search bar to find someone by name, and you can add more than one person at once. As well as individuals, you can also add entire routing groups—this will allow someone who's part of that group to join the event without you needing to know exactly who you're inviting. As you add people on the left, they will show in the search section. Click the  when you're ready to add them to the event.

If you have been invited to an event you will get a pop-up, once you have clicked "Join" you will be moved into the event screen.

 

Dispatching Guards
Requires the Field Operations module to be enabled.

Dispatching field staff to an event is a regular occurrence in Security Operation Centers. Keeping track of which officers have been dispatched, arrived at, and left a scene, is an important part of maintaining situational awareness. SureView Ops, achieves this by using the "Dispatch" button in the Command Corner, which is shown above.

When you click Dispatch, a menu with all available guards appears within the associated Dispatch Zone. This menu is depicted below:

After dispatching one of the guards, a different prompt will appear next to the guard’s name with two buttons. These will let you either mark the guards arrival time—the button on the left with the figure in the circle— or clear the dispatch request—the button on the right with the X in the circle. Be sure to clear the dispatch before ending the event in order to ensure that the guard is again marked as Available. Here's what these buttons look like. 

Flagging Events

If you wish to bring an event to the attention of your supervisor or other operators, it can be flagged using the small flag button in the top right corner of the screen This makes it easier for others to find the event within the SureView Ops Event Search feature, (which will be covered in another section).

Sitrep

Occasionally while processing an event, you will need to bring a non-operator up-to-speed . The Sitrep button is used to generate a PDF with information pertaining to the alarm being handled. Upon clicking the button, the following menu will appear:

What is included in the PDF is up to you as an operator. The “Map” option will show a Google Maps picture of the area. The “Current Audit Trail” option will include the entire audit history of the event. Finally, the “Event Thumbnail” option will include a marker on the map of the precise location of the event. A brief summary may also be added to provide more detail of the event.

 

Leaving / Parking Events

"Leaving Event" is used to return to the alarm processing queue without actually ending the event, allowing another operator to pick up the event as normal.  This is done by clicking the “Leave” button in the top right corner of the screen.

When leaving the event you have the option to "Park" it for a specified length of time.  If you Park the event that event will be put on hold and be added to the "Parked" tab, instead of going back to the main queue.

Operators can re-open the event by going to the Parked tab and clicking it as normal. Alternatively when the parked time expires the event will automatically be escalated back to the main queue.

 

 

Ending Events

When all alarms have been acknowledged and all required actions have been completed, the event can be closed out. This is done by clicking the “End” button on the right of the Command Corner. The following prompt will appear:

Here you can select the type of outcome and provide a description of the event. Event outcomes are used in SureView's reporting feature, Insights, so should be chosen with care.

 

Masking / Disarming Alarms

Required Permissions: Mask Alarm Points and/or Mask alarm points for an extended period of time

Individual alarms can be quickly masked by clicking on the masking 'shield' button. Once open you can click the MASK button to temporarily suppress any further alarms, or use the interface to search for any other alarm points or areas to mask instead.

When an alarm point is masked it will stop triggering in SureView
Note: Masking does not stop the on-premise device from sending email alarms

If a user has the Mask Alarm Points permission they will be allowed to mask the alarm up to 24 hours (14,440 minutes)

If a user has the Mask Alarm Points for an extend period of time permission they'll be allowed to mask the alarm point indefinitely