Alarm Details

The Alarm Details page appears when you click the name of an alarm from the Alarms module on the Asset dashboard, from the Current Alarms page for the asset, or from the Historical Alarms page for the asset. Note that the editable fields for a current alarm (in the Started, Acknowledged, or Escalated states) are Severity, State, state notes, and additional notes. While you can edit these fields for a current alarm when you select it in the Alarms module on the dashboard or in the Current Alarms page, you CANNOT edit it when you select it in the Historical Alarms page.

This page shows the following details for a specific alarm selected from the list of alarms for this asset.

§ For alarms sent by Axeda® Gateway and Axeda Connector Agents and Axeda Agent Embedded, this field shows the name of the analog or digital data item whose value triggered the alarm. If the Agent sent a custom alarm, this field shows the name assigned to the custom alarm in the Agent configuration. If the Agent forwarded an alarm that was generated by a driver running on the asset (a "dynamic" alarm), this field shows the name of the alarm as sent by the driver.

§ For an Axeda® IDM Agents, this field shows "Fault Generated By Asset" if the alarm came directly from the Agent. If the alarm was created as the result of an expression rule that processed the original "Fault Generated By Asset," then the name given to the alarm by the expression rule would appear here.

§ For an alarm generated by an expression rule, an action, or by the Axeda Platform Web services, the name given to the alarm when the rule, action, or Web services call was created.

o Description - If provided with the alarm instance, displays user-defined information about this alarm. If this text is longer than the field can hold, the text is truncated to fit the field and an ellipsis is displayed. You can move the cursor over the ellipsis to view the complete text. For an Axeda Gateway or Axeda Connector agent, the information shown in this field depends on the main category of alarm (analog, digital, custom, or dynamic):

§ Analog alarms -- If the alarm is a Value alarm, this field shows the Description entered for the Value Level (LoLo, Low, HiHi, or High) in Axeda® Builder. If this alarm is a Deviation alarm, this field shows the Description entered for the Minor Deviation or Major Deviation in Builder.

§ Digital alarms -- This field shows the text entered for the Message in the configuration of the Digital Alarm Style in Builder.

§ Custom alarms -- This field shows the text entered for the Message in the configuration of the Custom Alarm Style in Builder.

o Date created -- Displays the date and time (short format) that the alarm was created in the Platform. For example, "9/23/10 10:58 AM".

o Type -- Displays a string supplied with the alarm that indicates the nature of the alarm. An analog alarm from an Axeda Gateway or Axeda Connector agent might have a Type of "HiHi" (Value alarm) or "Major Deviation" (Deviation alarm), for example. In general, the Types of alarms correspond to the "Categories" of alarms available when configuring Alarm Filters in Axeda Builder.

o Severity -- Displays the severity reported with the alarm. If the alarm is current and you displayed this page from the Alarms module or the Current Alarms page, you can change the severity by selecting the current severity in the text field and then typing a new severity, between 0 and 1000.

o State -- Displays the current state of the alarm. The possible states depend on whether the alarm is still "current" or if it is in a "terminal" state. Alarms in these states are visible in the Current Alarms and Historical Alarms pages. Depending on how recently they arrived and on how many alarms exist, they also appear in the Alarms module on the Asset dashboard. For details on states, click here; click again to hide the details

The following states are possible for a "current" alarm:

Started -- the alarm has been received at the Platform.
Escalated -- a user has changed the state of the alarm to "escalated"; the meaning of "escalated" is up to the individual companies using the Axeda Applications.
Acknowledged -- a user has changed the state of the alarm to "acknowledged", which can mean that the user has seen the alarm and is working on it (green).

The following states are referred to as "terminal" states (you cannot change the state and the alarm is not available to business rules); alarms in these states are visible only from the Historical Alarms page:

Closed -- a user has changed the state of the alarm to "closed", meaning, for example, that the cause of the alarm has been determined and addressed. Note that this value can appear as the current state of an alarm only when you click the alarm name in the Historical Alarms page. Once an alarm is closed, it is sent to Historical Alarms in the Platform and in the application pages.
Duplicate -- the Platform detected that the name of this alarm instance and the name of the asset sending it matched those for a current alarm. When support for the Duplicate state is enabled, a new instance of an alarm that is determined to be a duplicate is sent to Historical Alarms, with its state set to Duplicate. Note that if the severity, data item, or value of a data item sent with the duplicate instance differs from those of the current alarm, the current alarm is NOT affected. The different information is stored with the duplicate instance of the alarm. Depending on how the Platform is configured, you may never see this state. For more information, refer to Duplicate Alarms.
Suppressed -- a user has changed the initial disposition of the alarm to "Suppressed," which means that this alarm was received after that change. Suppressed alarms are sent directly to Historical Alarms and are not available to business rules in the Platform.

o Source Type -- Indicates where the alarm was generated, which can be one of the following values:

§ Asset (for any asset that is not running an Axeda Gateway, Axeda Connector, or Axeda IDM Agent; for example, wireless tracking devices).

§ Agent (for assets running an Axeda Gateway, Axeda Connector, or Axeda IDM Agent).

§ Expression Rule (the alarm was generated as the result of the execution of an expression rule).

o Source Details -- Displays additional information about the source, as reported with the alarm. If the alarm was reported in an eMessage from an agent, this field shows the model and serial number of the asset. If the alarm was created by the execution of a rule, then this field shows the name of the rule. If the alarm was created through Web services, this field shows the value set in the Web service call.

o Data Item: Value -- If applicable, displays the name of the actual data item and the value that triggered this alarm. If the name of the data item is longer than this field allows, the name is truncated and an ellipsis is shown. Position your cursor over the ellipsis to view the complete name. The value is shown in its entirety.

o Extended data -- If applicable, displays any user-defined data associated with the alarm through Web Services.

o Files -- If applicable, displays a scrollable list of the files uploaded to the Platform as the result of this alarm. To view or download a file, click its name.

o Select a state / State change notes -- Available only if the alarm is in the Started, Acknowledged, or Escalated states and if you displayed this page from the Alarms module or Current Alarms page; provides a way to change the state of a current alarm. For an alarm in the Started or Acknowledged states, the following changes are valid: Acknowledge, Escalate, and Close. For an alarm in the Escalated state, the Acknowledge and Close changes are valid. Once it is set to the Closed state, the alarm is not visible in the Alarms module or Current Alarms page but is visible in the Historical Alarms page; you cannot change the state once an alarm is closed. If desired, select the radio button for the state change and then type a note about the change. To commit the change, click Update.

o Additional alarm notes -- Any general notes previously entered for this alarm. These notes are editable if the alarm is still current and you displayed this page from the Alarms module or the Current Alarms page. Type additional information about the alarm, using up to 1000 characters (with no restriction on the types of characters). For example, you might want to add a note about resolving the issue.

o State change history -- This table is empty if the state of the alarm is still "Started" or if the initial disposition of the alarm was Discarded, Suppressed, or Duplicate. If the state of the alarm has been changed one or more times, the table displays the following details about the state changes:

§ State -- the state from which and the state to which the alarm was changed. For example, "Started to Escalated".

§ Note -- the text entered by the user who changed the state; this field is optional, so this column may be empty.

As needed, you can use the scroll bar in the table to view all the state changes.

After making changes and/or adding notes, click Update to save any changes you made or notes you added to the database. Alternatively, click Cancel to discard your changes. Either way, you return to the previous page. Note that the changes to the state of an alarm are not recorded in the Audit Log.

If you entered this page from the Historical Alarms page, click Close to exit the page and return to the Historical Alarms page.