On Test

Devices can be put on test so its test or runaway alarms are not put into a dispatch queue. Events associated with devices on test or runaway will appear italicized and grayed out in the History. Devices can be placed on test from Alarm Dispatch, Quick Call, and Site Data Entry (by stages® Option).

Place On Test

Device Tests/Runaway displays a list of current, scheduled (future), and expired tests. Current tests display in blue, bolded text, scheduled tests display in black text, and expired tests display in muted, italicized text. Selecting a row from the list will activate the Test Events for the test history in the bottom left and a recurring test’s day/time schedule in the upper right.

Tests are entered on the bottom left ‘Place on Test’ pane.

The Test Category displays in the Device Test/Runaway list and the comment of the Place on Test operator action in History. Test Categories are configured in a setup table and can default the test hours into the effective/expire dates.

Test Types include ‘All points will be placed on test’, ‘Listed items will be placed on test’, and ‘All except listed items will be placed on test’. ‘All points…’ puts the entire device on test. For ‘Listed Items…’ and ‘All except…’ types, multi-selects are available for device points and event codes, and an advanced details list can be created for points, event codes, service types, and point-event code combinations and point-service type combinations.

Site Groups can be configured to require ‘Verify Contact for Test’. When this is in effect, contacts with proper authority will need to be verified by codeword or PIN before the test can be started. Users with the proper permissions can override this and start a test without verification.

The Test Category can be set by default in the stages™ Options window. This will populate the category, effective date/time, and expire date/time automatically when the window is opened. The default values can be edited by the user.

Changing the Effective Date will recalculate the Expire Date based on the Test Category duration. The Expire date can be changed but is restricted by the Maximum Test Duration. The maximum days a device can be placed on test is set globally in the stages™ Options window. A specific user can be limited to a number of hours in the Application User window (Setup | User Setup | Application User). Contacts can be limited to a number of hours in their Authority settings. The application will detect the lower duration from the global, user, and authority settings and give an error message if the user attempts a longer test. If the Expire date is manually updated by the user, the Effective date will no longer recalculate the expire date.

Once confirmed, the test will appear in the list in the Device Tests/Runaway pane. A test in effect can be cleared or the expiration time can be extended. Tests scheduled for the future can be removed.

When clearing the test, if Points were tripped that track restores and have not been restored, the Pending Restoral window will open.

On Test From History

An event coming in to a point with a signal code can be placed on runaway from the Recent History pane on the dispatch window. For appropriate entries in the history, an On Test button is displayed. When opened, the On Test window will already have the points and signal code entered. Once the combination of point and signal code is on test/runaway, matching incoming signals will be ignored and the test button will not show in the history for that combination. The category of the test will default to the category entered in the stages™ Options utility. The Recent History bar of the Alarm Dispatch window will display a Possible Runaway Condition when the configured conditions in the stages™ Options are met.

External On Test

Devices can be placed on test by external users in the External (Dealer) Application, Mobile Phone applications, IVR, and the SMS interface.

Mass On Test/Runaway

Devices can be placed on test/runaway for a combination of regions and event codes in the Mass On Test/Runway window (Utilities | Mass On Test/Runaway). The on test/runaway can be filtered by site groups or a range of transmitter codes.

Sites placed on test with the Mass On Test utility appear in the Mass On Test/Runaway list pane. The Test can be cleared from the list.

stages™ Options

stages™ Options contains a tab for Test/Runaway with the following options

Test Categories can be entered to default categories for Device Tests, On Test from History, SMS Tests, and Mass on Test.
The global value for Max number of days on test and on runaway are defined.
For Device Tests, the default value for Test Type can be defined.
Device Test can be available on the Data Entry window.
Contact Authority rules can be turned on or off for On Test verification.

Test List

A list of devices on test/runaway is available in the Test/Runaway List window (Data > Status > Test/Runaway). The list can be filtered by site group in the search or left blank for all. The Site can be accessed by double clicking the row.