Skip to content
SecurOS ACS

Alarm definitions

Alarm is a high-priority event state that indicates a security threat or abnormal condition. All alarms are triggered by events, but not all events become alarms.

Any alarm requires an immediate response, such as notifying security personnel, or contacting emergency services. Alarm is stateful. It has an active state and remains so until cleared by a user or the system.

Acknowledgement workflow is described here Acknowledgements

Alarm examples:

  • A door being forced open
  • An unauthorized card access attempt
  • A door being held open for an excessive period
  • System hardware tampering

Alarm definition is a collection of properties which specify a triggering event reference coupled with the necessary response from the system and/or operator.

NOTE: alarm definition may specify either alarm with additional processing instructions, or event with predefined processing instructions.

Alarm definition contains the following properties:

  • event type, defines what kind of event will trigger the alarm
  • event source, a combination of a Device Type and a specific Device unit, registered in the database.
  • trigger delay

and processing instructions:

NOTE: agents are treated as devices in this context.

Acknowledgement Templates

ACK template is a part of Alarm Definition, it specifies an automatic action as a response to a triggering event. This feature ensures that critical events are addressed and recorded, maintaining a clear audit trail. Example of such an event might be a “door forced open” or “door held open”.

Acknowledgement template contains a predefined Alarm action message, configured separately in Alarm Messages section and selected from the list.

The template includes Primary and Secondary acknowledgement required intervals, and Alarm options’:

  • Active alarm clear
  • Auto alarm clear
  • Acknowledgement comment required

When an operator sees the alert on their dashboard, they must “acknowledge” it. This action usually involves filling out a form based on a pre-configured template.