What is Alarm Module
The Alarm Module is a complete solution to manage real-time alarms, notification events and Audit-Trail information.
It includes the following functionalities:
Real-time Alarm States Processing
- Agnostic storage on any Database provider
- Store and Forward when archiving to remote databases.
- Automated replication in hot-stand-by scenarios
- Organize and manage alarms hierarchically
- Define System AuditTrail event and Track Operator actions
- Send Notifications by SMS or e-mails.
- Universal Time and Daylight Saving always considered for accurate time-stamp
- Timestamps precision up to 0.1 ms
- Dynamic Language localization of alarm messages
Key Concepts
AlarmGroup
Alarm groups allow you to configure common settings for a collection of alarms. For example, if the alarms in the groups require Acknowledgement.
Also, the query real-time informational automatically consolidating the alarm in the group. For example, the Total Active alarms in the group. <<<< please, review this information >>>>
AlarmArea
Adds more context information to the alarm, linking it to one Area in Tree structure.
The Hierarchical organization of the AlarmAreas allows to get information, filter or act, in all alarms of one area, or include its children alarms.
AlarmItem
Any defined event that can create an alarm is an AlarmItem. For instance, if a Tag has the configuration to generate a HI alarm at 70, and a HiHi alarm at 90, we have two AlarmItems defined.
Each AlarmItem belongs to one AlarmGroup and one AlarmArea.
AuditTrail
Pre-defined AlarmGroup intended to track system events and Operations actions aiming to create records for auditing log.
AlarmHistorian
The alarm events can be logged using the database connection defined at Edit → Datasets → Dos → AlarmHistorian.
Alarm Module Settings
Some settings affects the behavior all alarm and the execution of Alarm Module.
Those fields are located above the header on Edit → Alarms → Groups table.
Alarm Module Configuration Settings | |
|---|---|
Setting Field | Description |
Initial disable time | Defined time for an alarm to be active after startup. This gives the system time to stabilize before any alarms can be triggered. |
Life Time | Number of days that will define the useful life of the information in this alarm. |
Log User Fullname | The user's entire name will be saved in an alarm historian. |
Ignore Alarms During TimeDeadband | Used in conjunction with "InitialDisableTime". After the "InitialDisableTime" time, if "Ignore Alarms During Time Deadband" is "true", then the alarm states will not be checked. |
Enable Limits by Shift | Used in conjunction with "CurrentShift". If "Enable Limits By Shift" is "true", then "CurrentShift" is used to check which of the limits of "AlarmItem:" should be used
|
The Alarm Database
The alarm database stores the events from the AlarmGroups and Audit Trail.
By default, it is mapped to a SQLlite database with name <project name>.tAlarm , defined at Datasets → Dos → AlarmHistorian.
You can change the Alarm Database to use any other SQL connection, following this steps:
- Go to Datasets → Dos.
- Rename or delete the AlarmHistorian object.
- Create a new DB connection with name AlarmHistorian connected to desired Database.
Configuring AlarmGroups
There are 3 pre-defined AlarmGroups:
- Warning (Warning messages that do not require acknowledgment).
- Critical (Critical Messages that require acknowledgment).
- AuditTrail (System Events log).
To configure alarm groups, you can customize the existing groups or add new ones.
- Go to Alarms → Groups.
Add new rows or edit the table, setting the desired values to the fields.
Alarm Group Configuration Properties | |
|---|---|
Column / Field | Description |
Name | Enter a name for the alarm group. The system allows you to know if the name is not valid. |
AckRequired | If required, the alarm stays in the alarm list until someone acknowledges the alarm by double-clicking it in the application. |
| ActiveTimeDeadband | Enter a time deadband that will create a delay after an alarm occurs. The alarm will trigger again only after the deadband. |
AckTimeout | Defines a timeout for acknowledging the alarm. If the alarm is not acknowledged after the specified time, the alarm becomes active again. |
AutoAckTime | If the alarm is not acknowledged after the specified time, the system acknowledges the alarm. |
Sound | Select the sound that will play when the alarm occurs. |
Show | Select the list for the alarm to display in the alarm window in the application. |
LogEvents | Select when you want the alarm to be logged to the alarm historian:
|
Colors | Select the colors you want to use for each state:
|
| NotificationMethod | Calls a Script → Class method that triggers a code when the alarm happens. |
Description | Enter a description of the alarm group. |
Configuring AlarmItems
The definition of an AlarmItem has 3 mandatory fields: TagName, Condition and AlarmGroup.
That means, the Tag value that will be evaluated, the alarm condition to be verified, and if there is an alarm, which AlarmGroup will guide the tag processing behavior.
To create or modify AlarmItems:
- Go to Alarms → Items.
- Add new rows or edit the datagrid fields.
Alarm Items Configuration Properties | |
|---|---|
Column / Field | Description |
TagName | Enter a tag name or click "..." to select a tag. |
Condition | Select the condition you want to use for this alarm event (see the table below). |
Limit | Enter a value for the alarm limit to be used for the condition you selected. |
Deadband | Sets the deadband value. E.g.: for a Hi alarm item with limit as 100 and deadband as 10, the limit value is now 110; for a Lo alarm item, setting the deadband as 10 means the limit value is 90. |
Setpoint | Set a value or a tag that you want to compare other values to to determine if there is a deviation. |
SetpointDeadband | Set the deadband for the setpoint when compared with the deviation. |
Group | Select the alarm group that should control what happens when this alarm occurs. |
| Area | Once created on Alarms → Areas, the areas will be displayed here and will be able to be chosen. |
Priority | Enter a priority value that controls where the alarm displays in the list. The higher the number, the higher the priority. You can use the same priority for more than one alarm event. Enter 0 (zero) for alarms to be at the end of the list. |
Message | Enter the text that displays in the alarm list. |
PriorityOrder Property
It is also possible to set the priority using the PriorityOrder property in CodeBehind or in PropertyWatch. In this case, the LOWER the number, the HIGHER the priority. Default is 0 (highest priority).
E.g.: @Alarm.PriorityOrder = 1
The conditions options are described in the following table:
Alarm Condition Configuration Options | |
|---|---|
Field | Description |
Hi | Tag >= limit |
HiHi | Tag >= limit (when acknowledged, a Hi alarm is automatically acknowledged for the same Tag) |
Lo | Tag <= limit |
LoLo | Tag <= limit (when acknowledged, a Lo alarm is automatically acknowledged for the same Tag) |
RateOfChange | Tag rate of change >= limit |
DeviationMinor | Absolute value (tag - Setpoint) > limit |
DeviationMajor | Absolute value (tag - Setpoint) > limit |
Equal | Tag = limit |
GreaterThan | Tag > limit |
GreaterEqual | Tag >= limit |
LessThan | Tag < limit |
LessEqual | Tag <= limit |
Changed | Tag value changed |
ChangedUp | Tag value increased |
ChangedDown | Tag value decreased |
NotEqual | Tag different from limit |
The limit is a specific value on which the condition is based. The setpoint, if used, may be either a value or another tag.
If you need to dynamic change the alarm limit, just use the Limit property of the alarm conditions. E.g.: Tag.<tag name>.Hi.Limit modifies the HI Limit condition for the tag.
Notification Events
In order to a apply custom action using .NET scripts, subscribe to notifications of alarms and events.
These notifications are typically used to send SMS or email warnings, execute custom calculations, add custom notification messages or audio alarms, text-to-speech audio alarms, and to perform any kind of action defined by custom programming.
To subscribe to alarm events, create a method in any Script Class of type Server, with the following prototype:
void Notification(AlarmEventInfo[] info)
Select the method in the Notification Method column on Alarms → Groups.
The name of the method can vary; The important is the expected parameters.
The AlarmEventInfo structure is defined in the namespace Alarm.
Acknowledging Alarms
There are several methods for acknowledging alarms:
- Using the alarm visualization object in the displays.
- Tag properties.
- Alarm group or the alarm item's runtime properties.
Acknowledge All Alarms
You can use the <Alarm.AckAll> property that acknowledges all active alarms.
Acknowledge a Single Alarm or the Highest Priority Alarm
The <Alarm.PriorityItem.UnAck> property allows the acknowledgment of the highest priority alarm configured in the "Priority" column on Alarms → Items if there is a pending ack alarm.
Acknowledge a Specific Alarm
To acknowledge a specific alarm, use the <Alarm.Items.IDxx.Unack> property. To check the contents of the IDxx alarm columns, go to the alarm item and add the ID column (right-click in the table and select "ID").
Alarm Visualization
To visualize alarms and events, you can use the built-in object in your displays or reports.
The Alarm Namespace
The Alarm namespace has the properties of the alarm server.
The Alarm.Group object has the list of all defined groups and their properties.
The Alarm.Item object has all alarm items and their properties.
The tag properties are connected with the alarm module. For example, tag.tagname.Hi: configuration and runtime status of the HI alarm. The naming of all tag properties follow this same method.
In this section...