Alarm Notifications & Sharing Dashboards with Customers

For troubleshooting assistance, see Quick Guide for Troubleshooting

Note: An MQTT license is not required for the OCS360 platform. However, you must have a valid OCS360 subscription plan to begin using the platform.

Provisioning the Device

Add Device

Perform the following steps to add a new device in OCS360 platform.

Navigate to Entities > Devices to open the Devices screen.

Click the + (plus) sign located in the top, right corner of the Devices screen to open the Add new device popup box.

Enter the following information in the Add new device popup box:

In the Name field, enter the device name.
In the MAC Address field, enter the unique MAC ID of the device LAN1 port.
Select the Confirm MAC address box.
Review all fields and then click Add.

The MAC ID of the device becomes available to the Cscape user following the connection of the device; see %SR35-36.

Note: The MAC ID is also available in the System Menu > Set Networks > LAN of the device.

Image: Canvas LAN Settings

Image: Prime LAN Settings

After the device is connected to the OCS360 platform, confirm that the state changed to Active status on the Devices screen.
Download the program to the device with the OCS360 configuration to begin publishing data to the OCS360 platform.
Verify that data has been published to the device from the Latest Telemetry section at Devices > Device Details > Latest Telemetry.

Step 2: Creating and Populating a Dashboard

A dashboard in OCS360 platform allows users to visualize, control and monitor data collected from devices.

NOTE: When creating multiple dashboards, the OCS360 default is to organize dashboards by their creation timestamps. New dashboards will always appear at the top of the list.

Create an Empty Dashboard

Use the following steps to crate a new dashboard.

Log into OCS360.
From the left sideboard menu, select Dashboards.
From the Dashboards menu, select the + (plus) symbol to open the dashboard options.
From the dashboard options, select Create New Dashboard. This opens the Add Dashboard box.
In the Add Dashboard box, type the new dashboard's title in the Title field.
Click the Add button.

NOTE: After creating the dashboard, it will open automatically, and the user can start adding widgets to it.
To save the dashboard, click the Save button.
Dashboard has been successfully created. As user continues to add new dashboards, they will appear at the top of the list. This default sorting is based on the creation timestamp.

Adding a Widget to a Dashboard

A widget is an element that displays a specific type of information or functionality on a dashboard. When a new dashboard is created, it opens automatically to the Add New Widget window. It can also be accessed through the dashboard.

Though there are many different types of widgets, following is an example of how to add and configure a chart widget.

Use the chart widget to display time series data with customizable line charts and bar charts.

In the dashboard where the chart widget will be placed, enter Edit Mode Pencil Icon
From the menu at the top of the window, select the Add Widget button.
From the Select Widgets Bundle window, select Charts. Additional options will display.
Select the Timeseries Line Chart widget.
Specifiy the previously created device Machine 1 in the Device field.
Specifiy the Temperature 3 Data Key in the Series section.
Click the Add button.

Resizing a Widget

To resize the widget, publish different telemetry values multiple times, as in Step 2.

NOTE: The widget displays only one minute of data by default.
Click Save to apply changes.
Open the Time Selection window.
Change the interval and aggregation function.
Update the time window setting by clicking the Update button.

Add an Alarms Table Widget

The Alarms Table Widget displays alarms related to the specified entity in the certain time window. The Alarm widget is configured by specifying an entity as the alarm source, and the corresponding alarm fields.

Enter Edit Mode and click the Add New Widget button at the top of the screen
Select Alarm Widgets Bundle.
Select Alarms Table widget.
Specify the previously created device Machine 1 in the Device field and select the status and severity of alarms to display in the alarm widget.
Scroll down and locate the new Alarm widget. Drag and drop the Alarm widget to the free space and resize it as desired.
Click Save to apply changes.

Configuring Alarm Rules

The Alarm Rules feature is used to create the rules for Alarm generation. For example, we will use the Alarm Rules feature to trigger the alarm when the Temperature 3 reading is greater than 50º. For this purpose, we should edit the device profile and add a new alarm rule. The Machine 1 device is using the Default Device Profile.

NOTE: We recommend creating dedicated Device Profiles for each corresponding device type but will skip this step for simplicity.

Go to the Profiles section and click on the Device Profiles tab. Then click on the Default Device Profile row to open the details.
Navigate to the Alarm Rules tab and click the pencil icon to enter Edit Mode.
Click Add Alarm Rule button.
Specify the alarm type and click the + (plus) symbol to add an alarm rule condition.
Click the Add Key Filter button to specify a condition.
Select a key type, enter a key name, and select a value type. Then, click the Add button in the Filters section.
Select an operation and enter a threshold value. Click Add button in the lower right corner.
Click Save.
Click Apply Changes.

Creating an Alarm

We created the alarm rule in the previous steps. Once the telemetry data Temperature 3 value is greater than 50º Celsius an alarm is triggered.

• User can acknowledge and clear the alarms

• When the new alarm occurs, the user will receive a message in the notification center. The user can view the message by clicking on the Bell icon in the upper right corner.

Alarm Notifications & Sharing Dashboards with Customers

The OCS360 Notification Center allows users to send notifications to their end users.

Share the Dashboard with Customers

The OCS360 platform supports the feature to create end-user dashboards. Each Customer User should see his own devices and should not be able to see devices or any other data that belongs to a different customer.

We have already created a Device and a Dashboard, now we will create a Customer and a Customer User and make sure they will have access to the device’s data and the dashboard. There are two options for how Tenant Administrator can give access to a certain Entity (Device, Dashboard, Asset, etc.) for a customer:

1. Assign the Customer as the owner of the entity. This option is useful to ensure that only this

customer can access the device and its data (see step 4.3 below)

2. Share the entity with the Customer. This option is useful to share a single dashboard with

multiple customers (see step 4.4 below).

Creating a Customer

Navigate to the Customers page. Click the + (plus) symbol to add a new customer.
Input customer title and click Add.

Assigning the Device to a Customer

The customers will have the ability to read and write telemetry and send commands to devices.

Open the Devices page, then select a device to open its details.
Click Assign to Customer button.
Select the customer that you want to assign the device to, then click Assign.

NOTE: Owner of the device is now changed to My New Customer.
Navigate to Customers page to confirm that the device is assigned to your customer. Find your customer in the list and then click on the Manage Customer Devices icon.
Confirm that the device is assigned to your intended customer.

NOTE: User can make the customer the owner of the device during the device creation stage.
Click on the + (plus) symbol in the top right corner of the table. Input device name (for example, Machine 2) and navigate to the Customer drop down.
Select the customer that you want to assign the new device to, then click Assign.

NOTE: The device has been created and it belongs to the selected customer.

Assigning the Dashboard to a Customer

The customer will have read-only access to the dashboard.

Open the Dashboards page. Check the preferred dashboard box and click the Assign Dashboards icon.
Select the customer from the drop down list. (in this example it is My New Customer) Click Assign.
Navigate to the Customers page and click the Manage Customer Dashboards icon under My New Customer.

NOTE: My New Dashboard is now assigned to the selected customer.

Creating a Customer User

Create a user that will belong to the customer and will have read-only access to the dashboard and the device. Optionally, the user can configure the dashboard to appear just after they login to their OCS360 account.

Navigate to Customers page. Find your customer in the drop down list and click on the Manage Customer Users icon.
Click the Add User icon in the top right corner of the table.
Specify the email address that the user will use to log-in and click Add.
Copy the activation link and save it to a safe place. It will be used later to set the password. Click OK.
Click on the created user to open the details. Click the Pencil icon to enter edit mode.
Select the default dashboard and check Always Fullscreen. Apply changes.

Select the default dashboard and check Always Fullscreen. Apply changes.

Activate Customer User

User will receive an email from the OCS360 team for account activation.

Click the activation link in the email to activate your OCS360 account.
User can also activate their account by pasting the previously created (and saved) activation link into a new browser tab and pressing Enter.
Enter a password as required and select Create Password. This will automatically log you in as a customer/user.

NOTE: Customer/User has now logged in. User can browse the data and acknowledge/clear alarms.

Working With Alarms

Main Concepts

Let's review the main concepts of the alarm below:

Originator

The alarm originator is an entity that causes the alarm. For example, “Device A” is the initiator of an alarm if OCS360 platforms receives a temperature reading from it that exceeds the threshold value specified in the alarm rule, and it creates a “High Temperature” alarm.

Type

Alarm type helps to identify the root cause of the alarm. It is set when creating an alarm rule. For example, “High Temperature” and “Low Humidity” are two different alarms.

Severity

Each alarm has severity which is either Critical, Major, Minor, Warning, or Indeterminate (sorted by priority in descending order). Also, set when creating an alarm rule.

Status

Alarms in OCS360 platform can be Active or Cleared. The system can automatically clear an alarm if a predefined condition is met, though setting such an Alarm clear condition is optional. Additionally, users have the option to manually clear alarms.

Apart from the active and cleared states, OCS360 platform also monitors whether an alarm has been acknowledged by a user.

To summarize, there are four alarm statuses:

• Active unacknowledged (ACTIVE_UNACK) - alarm is not cleared and not acknowledged yet;

• Active acknowledged (ACTIVE_ACK) - alarm is not cleared but already acknowledged;

• Cleared unacknowledged (CLEARED_UNACK) - alarm was already cleared but not yet acknowledged;

• Cleared acknowledged (CLEARED_ACK) - alarm was already cleared and acknowledged.

Managing Alarms can be done through the “Alarms” page, via a dashboard widget, or within an entity’s details tab.

Alarm Uniqueness

OCS360 platform identifies alarm using a combination of originator, type, and start time. Thus, at a single point in time, there is only one active alarm with the same originator, type, and start time.

Let’s assume user has provisioned alarm rules to create a “HighTemperature” alarm when the temperature is greater than 20. And also provisioned alarm rules to clear the “HighTemperature” alarm when the temperature is less than or equal to 20.

Assuming the following sequence of events:

• 12:00 - temperature equals 18

• 12:30 - temperature equals 22

• 13:00 - temperature equals 25

• 13:30 - temperature equals 18

So, a single “High Temperature” alarm will be generated with start time = 12:30 and end time = 13:00.

Alarm Timing Details

The alarm has a start time and a creation time. The alarm start time is determined by the moment the set threshold is exceeded (i.e., when the conditions for triggering the alarm first occurred), while the alarm creation time refers to the moment when the OCS360platform received telemetry from the device and processed it. By default, start time and creation time are the same.

However, a device may send telemetry with a timestamp from the past, for example, if it was offline or if it’s transmitting data for a specific time period with a delay. And if the processing of this telemetry reveals that a threshold has been exceeded, OCS360 platform will generate an alarm. The alarm start time will be the timestamp of the message with the threshold value exceeded, and the alarm creation time will be the time OCS360 platform processed messages from the device. In this case, the start time and alarm creation time will be different.

Imagine we have an air quality monitoring system that tracks pollution levels. The threshold for triggering an alarm is set at 100 pollution units.

• At 12:00, the sensor measures the pollution level, and it is 95 units — the alarm threshold is not exceeded.

• At 12:05, the next measurement shows 105 pollution units - the alarm threshold is exceeded.

• At 12:08, the OCS360 platform receives data from the device, analyzes it, and registers the alarm. The alarm created time is 12:08, as that is the moment when the OCS360 platform received and processed the device message. The alarm start time is 12:05 because that is the exact moment when the conditions for triggering the alarm were first met.

Thus, the alarm start time and the alarm creation time can differ, which is important to consider when analyzing the system’s response to emerging events.

Also, within the alarm’s rule settings, user can define specific conditions under which the alarm is created:

• Simple - if the threshold value is exceeded, an alarm is created immediately:

• Duration - an alarm will be created if the duration of exceeding the threshold value exceeds the specified value. For example, user can configure to allow a short-term increase in temperature in the room.

• But if the temperature remains elevated for more than 5 minutes, an alarm is created:

• Repeating - an alarm will be created if the threshold value is exceeded the specified number of times. For example, user can configure to allow the room temperature to rise above the threshold value four times. On the fifth occurrence, an alarm will be created.

When OCS360 platform creates an alarm, in addition to the creation and start time, it also stores the end time of the alarm. By default, the start time and the end time are the same. If the alarm trigger condition repeats, the platform updates the end time:

Assignee

User can assign an alarm to a specific user so that, for example, the assignee can respond to the elevated temperature in the room and take appropriate action.

Assignee for an alarm can be configured from “Alarms” page, in the “Alarm Table” widget, or on the “Alarms” tab in the details window of the selected entity.

Note: To assign an alarm to specific user, this user must be the owner of the device from which the alarm triggers.

NOTE: Once the alarm is assigned, the user will receive a notification about it.

How to Create the Alarm

The user must define parameters and rules according to which the alarm will be triggered. The easiest way to create an alarm is to use the Alarm Rules in the Device Profile.

Notification About Created or Cleared Alarm

In OCS360 Notification center is available to send notifications, including alarms to all users. By default, user will receive notifications about all associated alarms and alarms of their customers. The Notification Center allows users to flexibly configure rules for sending notifications about alarms to end users through the OCS360 web interface, email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or SMS.

Alternatively, user can configure your custom logic in the Rule Engine, using the Send Email and Send SMS rule nodes or others from the External Nodes to configure.