Accounts in Alarm are organized into Dispatch Queues to ensure access by appropriate operators. Operators are assigned to specific Dispatch Queues for their qualifications. stages™ allows for dynamic setup of Dispatch Queues to facilitate Operator supervision in normal and “disaster” conditions. Dispatch Queues can be permanent or temporary. Queues are assigned Rule Sets. Rule Sets are combinations of Priorities, Locations, Site Groups and Site Types.
Dispatch Queues
To set up a dispatch queue, open the Dispatch Queue setup. (Setup > Queue Setup > Dispatch Queue) Queues are listed on the left, and edited in the detail on the right.
The Dispatch Queue window is designed to be primarily a setup window and the status information must be refreshed manually to see the current status of the queues. The Dispatch Queue displayed in the stages Summary window refreshes automatically to display the current status at all times.
The Order# determines the display order in the stages® Summary window (Utilities > stages™ Summary). Leaving Order# blank will not include the queue in the stages™ Summary.
Queues can be flagged as 'Exclusive' so that an Alarm that matches the Exclusive Queue's Rule Set will only be placed in that Queue. In the event that an Alarm can be placed into more than one exclusive queue, the queue with the lowest Exclusive Order# will own the alarm.
In the Stages™ Summary window, when the Oldest Alarm in the Queue reaches the Warning Seconds, the field will display in orange text. When the Oldest Alarm reaches the Critical Seconds, the field will display in red text.
The Rule Sets are edited by pressing the Rules button Image.
Temporary queues are created by copying an existing permanent queue by pressing the Create button Image. Temporary Queues are managed in the window (Setup > Queue Setup > Temporary Dispatch Queue Setup). Temporary Queues are created with a Start Date/Time and an End Date/Time.
Users can be set up with Permission to create/edit just the temporary queues, or both the temporary and permanent queues.
Rule Sets
Dispatch Queues are assigned Rule Sets. The Rule Set is displayed on the bottom left pane in the Dispatch Queue setup. To change the Rule Set, press the Rules button Image to open the Dispatch Queues Rules window. Alarms will be filtered into Dispatch Queues by their Rule Set. The Dispatch Queue Rules window utilizes multi-select lookups for many of its rule parameters. The Rule Set requires at least one entry for Priority. If no locations, site groups, or site types are entered, stages™ will include all.
Rule Sets are displayed on the Dispatch Queue window in a tree. The tree includes the four categories: Priorities, Locations, Site Groups and Site Types. Expanding the tree will list all the entries made in the Dispatch Queue Rules window. If there is no option to expand, then there are no entries for that category.
Priority
During Signal Processing, Incoming alarms are applied with an Event Code. The event code assigns a Priority to the alarm. The priority belongs to a Priority Group such as “Emergency” or “Follow Up”.
To set up a priority group, open the Priority Group setup. (Setup > Queue Setup > Priority Groups) Use the Add button on the window bar to create a new group. Priorities are assigned to groups in the Priority setup. (Setup > Queue Setup > Priority)
Priorities are assigned to Rule Sets by either a listing of Priority Groups, or a range of Priorities.
Locations
Sites are assigned to a Region. Regions are user-defined. (Setup > Queue Setup > Region) Regions are typically defined geographically so that Rule Sets can be rearranged to reflect geographic conditions. Regions are assigned to specific Dispatch Groups.
To set up a dispatch group, open the Dispatch Group setup. (Setup > Queue Setup > Dispatch Group). Use the Add button on the window bar to create a new dispatch group. Both the dispatch group label and description are required. In the Region setup window, assign the primary Dispatch Group.
Site information also includes City, State and Zip Code. In stages™, cities are tied to a state. This eliminates confusion in situations such as Orange, Florida and Orange, California.
Locations are assigned to Rule Sets by any combination of Dispatch Groups, Regions, States, Cities, and Zip Codes.
Site Groups
Accounts in alarm can be filtered into queues by Site Groups.
Note: Users are only allowed to access Site Groups they are assigned in the User Partition window (Utilities | Operator Supervision | User Partitions).
Site Types
Accounts in alarm can be filtered into queues by Site Type, Dispatch Type, and Site Language.
Sites can belong to multiple Dispatch Types. If one dispatch type on the site matches the queue, the account will be placed in the queue.
“Storm” Processing
In the event of a natural disaster, such as a Storm, there may be a lot of alarm signals coming in that are false alarms. Also, it may be necessary to dispatch from an alternate location. In these circumstances, stages™ provides flexibility.
Override Dispatch Location in the Region setup window allows for an alternate dispatch center to dispatch for the affected Region.
Rule sets can be modified at any time to reflect the current situation. A ‘disaster’ Dispatch Queue can be created, or preset ‘disaster’ queue(s) can be used. When a situation is discovered, a Rule Set can be applied to take all alarms matching its parameters and an appropriate amount of operators assigned to the Queue.
Operators
The bottom right pane of the Dispatch Queue setup displays the operators assigned to this queue that are logged into stages™.
Operators are assigned to one or multiple Dispatch Queue(s) using the User Dispatch window (Utilities > Operator Supervision > User Dispatch). Select the operator on the left pane, activating the other panes. To assign or un-assign a queue, use the assign and remove buttons at the beginning of the row. Queues can also be flagged as Secondary.
Operators will process any alarm in their primary queues before their secondary queues, even if the alarm in the primary queue has a lower priority.
Supervisors (stages Users with the Supervisor flag checked in their User Role) will receive a message when a Queue does not have an assigned operator logged into stages. Stages will also send an email to the address entered in the ‘Queue w/o Operator Email Address’ stages™ Option. Once the message has been delivered, it will not be sent for another 10 minutes. Options for the Queue Without Operator message are set up in stages Options and include ‘No Supervision’, ‘Must have Users in Auto Feed’, and ‘Must have Users with role of Operator’.
Queue Timers
Dispatch Queue Timers allow for the definition of rules regarding alarms in Queues. The Queue Timers will automatically take action when an alarm is in a queue for a specified period of time. The Queue timer can move the Alarm to a different Queue, and/or generate an Auto Process Email, SMS message, or IVR call.
Timers will log an Operator Action to the account if the alarm has not been accessed in the specified Timer Period. The operator action can change the priority of the alarm and/or initiate an Auto Process. Timers can be filtered to only apply to specific Site Types, Dispatch Types, Site Groups or combinations of the three. A Dispatch Queue Timer will only affect an alarm once.